A tripoli board is any kind of board that includes 9 spaces, each designated with one of the following labels:
Poker chips are not strictly necessary, any kind of object will work. Before the game, divide the poker chips evenly among the players. It doesn't really matter how many there are, just as long as they are equal. I recommend at least 30 chips per player.
Each round, deal out all the cards into hands. Deal one more hand than the number of players. The last hand dealt will be the extra hand and will not go to any player (see below). Each round is divided into four phases.
To ante for the round, each player must place one chip in each section of the board. Once players have received their hands, the dealer has a choice. The dealer can abandon their hand and take the extra hand as their own, or they can auction off the ability for anyone else to do so. The extra hand must go to the highest bidder (even if that bid is lower than the dealer would like) if the dealer chooses not to take it.
Players take all the chips on any of the spaces representing melds that they have (all spaces except the kitty and the pot). It's possible that some melds will be claimed by no one, if so the chips will just remain on the board until the next round. If multiple people have the 8-9-10 in suit, they split the chips between them.
From their hands, players select a five-card poker hand (see below). Beginning to the let of the dealer, players may bet on their hands. Each player must call (bet the same as the player before them), raise (bet more than the player before them), or fold (leave the poker game and cut their losses). Bets are added to the pot. Once all players but one have folded, or all players that haven't folded have put the same amount of chips into the pot (everybody calls someone), the player that everybody called reveals their hand. Any player who has a higher hand may reveal it. The non-folding player with the highest hand wins the pot. For a better explanation of how poker works, see my page titled "Poker."
Hand values: high to low
If two hands are of the same type, look at the values of the cards. For a straight or straight flush, whoever has the highest card wins. For the other types, the highest card in the main figure (of the three in three of a kind, of the pair in a pair, etc.) (full house looks at the three of a kind first), wins. If there is still a tie, the pot is split.
Players reassemble their original hands. Whoever has the two of clubs must play it into the center of the table. If no one has it, whoever has the lowest club card must play it. Then whoever has the next card in sequence (one rank higher and in the same suit) must play that. If a card is missing (in the extra hand), whoever played the most recent card picks a suit other than the one just played, and plays their lowest card of that suit. After an ace is played, whoever played it may also play the lowest card of whichever other suit they wish. If the player needing to do this has only one suit, they just play their lowest card. When one player runs out of cards, the shedding is over. All players then add one chip to the kitty for the number of cards remaining in their hand. The player that ran out of cards then takes the whole kitty.
The last player in the game (that hasn't run out of chips) is the winner, or the player with the most chips when everyone decides to stop.
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