Lesson 2 · The Duck's Course
Tricks, ties and truco
Who wins the hand, what happens on a tie, and what truco, retruco and vale cuatro are worth.
Two out of three
Each hand has up to three tricks, and whoever takes two wins it. If the first trick ties, whoever wins the second takes the hand. If a later trick ties, whoever won the first takes it. If all three tie, the hand goes to the team of the player who is hand: in Argentine truco nobody walks away empty-handed.
Truco, retruco, vale cuatro
A hand is worth 1. Truco raises it to 2, retruco to 3 and vale cuatro to 4. Whoever is challenged answers 'quiero' (accept), 'no quiero' (decline, giving away the previous value) or raises. Only the team that accepted can raise: if they called truco and you accepted, the retruco is yours to call.
What declining costs
They call retruco and you decline. How many points do they get?
They call truco, you have nothing
You hold 4, 5 and 6, the lowest cards in the deck. Play one and watch: if the Duck calls truco, answer.