Chicago combines the styles of poker and trick-taking into one game. The higher ranking the poker hand, the more points you will score!
Find the video tutorial and written explanation for how to play Chicago below.
Chicago Tutorial
Needed
52 card deck, two to four players, pen and paper for scorekeeping
Deal
Each player is dealt five cards, one card at a time
Objective
The object of the game is to score points by having the best poker hand in each phase, and by winning the last trick in the trick taking phase.
Only the best poker hand each phase scores points, and the point amount is based on the rank of the poker hand. Five points are awarded to the winner of the last trick in the trick taking phase.
Game Play
In the first phase, players try to get the best poker hand. Starting with the player left of the dealer, players will discard as many cards as they want. The dealer will give each player cards to get back to five cards.
After each player has new cards, players announce their poker hand or pass. The player with the highest poker hand will score points (per the below table).
Another round of discarding occurs with players receiving new cards. Again, after each player has new cards, players announce their poker hand or pass. The player with the highest poker hand will score points (per the below table).
A third round of discarding occurs with players receiving new cards. In this phase, trick taking play occurs. Starting with the player left of the dealer, each player plays a card down in front of him/her.
Players must play a card in the same suit as the first card played if possible. The player with the highest ranking card in the lead suit wins the trick. The player that wins the trick leads the next trick. The player that wins the last trick wins 5 points.
After the last trick is laid down, the player with the highest ranking poker hand scores points for it.
Scoring
Royal Flush - 52 points
Straight Flush - 8 points
4-of-a-kind - 7 points
Full House - 6 points
Flush - 5 points
Straight - 4 points
3-of-a-kind - 3 points
2 pair - 2 points
1 pair - 1 point
Win
The first player to 52 points wins the game.
Rules
If you think you can win all five tricks during the trick taking phase, you can announce “Chicago” before the first trick. If you successfully take all five tricks, you are awarded 15 points. If you lose one or more tricks after announcing Chicago, you lose 15 points, and the round is immediately over. No one scores for the trick taking phase, and the last poker hand is not scored. A player must have 15 points before announcing Chicago as no player is allowed to have negative points during the game.
If a player breaks up a winning poker hand after the first or second phase, the winning hand must be shown to all players before the cards are discarded.
If a player has 46 or more points after a round, the player is not allowed to discard cards starting in the next round.