First described by Lucas in 1721, Brag is principally from the central part of the tripartite game of Post and Pair, or Belle Flux et Trente-un. For a lot of the 18th century it was popular with the same sort of society that played Whist, particularly with its distaff facet, which accounts for the fact that Hoyle himself went as far as to write a Treatise on it published in 1751. Brag – which suggests ‘vie’ or ‘bluff’ according to context – is a three-card vying recreation. The version described by Lucas which has formed the idea of most printed descriptions till the last quarter of the 20th century, is definitely of a three-stak model, nevertheless it had shed its two outer parts by the time of Hoyle’s effusion. The latter describes a sport performed by 5 with a short pack of 22 playing cards, or by six with certainly one of 26, 4 of which – the black Jacks and the red Nines – had been known as ‘braggers’ and could symbolize anything, together with themselves. The first spherical of betting was followed by a ‘draw’ to offer every participant a likelihood to enhance a pair to a pair-royal or a lone card to a pair or pair-royal by discarding and ‘taking in’ fresh replacements from stock.

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