1.2 How to pick and discard cards?
To make proper sets we need to understand:
- How to pick a card?
- How to discard a card?
How to pick a card?
In http://taashtime.com player can easily pick a card by clicking on the card which he/she wants to pick. Player can pick a card from
a) Closed deck
b) Open deck
Once a player picks a card from open or closed deck he needs to throw (discard) card for the next player to take as open card.
How to discard a card?
In http://taashtime.com player can easily discard a card by pressing on the card or dragging a card from his sets to open card area or by just double clicking on the card which he wants to discard
Alternatively:
Once a person decides which card he needs to discard he then just click once on the card and then there is a discard button which on the card, which he could press and discard a card.
1.3 How to observe the discarded cards and what to do about it?
Discarding is not about just removing the cards from our sets but checking what other players are discarding and accordingly discard.
http://taashtime.com gives a button to keep track of discards
Discards of all the players can be seen in the above picture, this will help us to identify which cards are thrown already and weather any of our required cards are in them.
If we have our required cards in the discards then instead of waiting for that card, we might decide to change the sets.
We could also check the cards discarded by opponent
In the above picture, opponent player Tahoma’s name is in black highlighted which means the cards shown are the cards of the Tahoma.
By looking at the above cards, he had discarded Hearts 9 and Hearts J , we can infer that he may not need Hearts 10 , but one in ten cases it could be that he has two sets of both hearts 9 and J and hence he discarded them.
When we are trying to take decision to throw Hearts 10, it will be easier if we look at his discards and understand the above fact. YES! There is a chance that they are his Calling cards!
What are calling cards?
A player when discards a particular card there could be the following reasons:
- The card is not useful( No connecting cards, all the connecting cards have been already discarded on table) and is increasing his points
- Calling Card
Calling card is a card which by throwing the player pretends that he doesn’t need any adjacent cards to the discarded card:
1 But actually he would have had two cards of the same type (Hearts 9, Hearts 9) this typically happens when players are playing with two decks
2 Or he has other adjacent cards like in a set of Hearts 9, 10, J, Q he has 9, J, Q and he discards a Hearts 9 then assuming that he wouldn’t require adjacent card the opponent might put Hearts 10 which is then used to make a set of hearts 10, J, Q.
Here Hearts 9 is called CALLING CARD.
Rummy, taash, cards... 