Strip Nine Card Brag - rules

How to play: Basic rules for a game of Strip Nine Card Brag - as featured in the erotic short story: 'Something To Brag About'.

Nine Card Brag is a British card game, similar to poker, and, as such, it easily lends itself to a strip version. Whilst most forms of Brag involve betting, the simple version played in 'Something To Brag About' removes the gambling element and focuses solely on the strength of hand. Only when a player wins all three hands do their opponents have to strip. Because there usually is not a winner every round, this can end up being a long game! If you're looking for a quick thrill, this is probably not the game for you!

The game uses a standard deck of 52 cards and is suitable for 2 - 5 players, although the ideal number is 3 or 4.

Tip #1 - Make sure everyone consents to play

Never force anyone to play. All players should be consenting adults.

Of course, alcohol may help some of those initially more hesitant!

Tip #2 - Agree on what counts as clothing

Ideally all players should start off wearing the same amount of clothes. To make sure everyone starts equally, it is suggested that, prior to the first deal, each player writes the numbers one to ten down the side of a piece of paper. Against the number 10 the player writes down the last item of clothing they would remove when stripping; against nine the second to last, and so on up the list. If a person doesn’t have ten items of clothing on, the first numbers are likely to be spares. For example, it could look something like this:

1 Spare

2 Shoe

3 Shoe

4 Sock

5 Sock

6 Jumper

7 Blouse

8 Jeans

9 Bra

10 Panties

In this case, if the player were to lose the first hand they would simply cross out ‘spare’ and not remove any clothing. If they then then lost the second round they'd cross out shoe – and remove a shoe; and so on all the way until their panties came off!! Note – jewelry / watches etc can be included if given a number (eg in the example above, they could have called their watch number 1).

Generally the more players there are, the less clothes should be worn. In 'Something To Brag About' the three players are wearing eight items each. As mentioned previously, this can be a long game, so you could get away with fewer clothes.

Also agree how far the game will go. Is your group daring enough to get completely naked, or will they only be comfortable stripping to their undies?

"Louise started to unbutton her shirt. I was so close to her that I could discern that her fingers were trembling. With each button that came undone, I got a tantilising glimpse of her bra. When the buttons were all undone, she untucked her shirt from her jeans and peeled it off." – Extract from 'Something To Brag About'

Tip #3 - Make sure everyone knows the ranking of the hands before you start

Without understanding the Brag hand rankings, you won’t know whether your starting hand is strong or weak, and you may end up losing your clothes as a result. There are six different brag hands in total, starting with the highest-ranking Four-of-a-Kind, to the lowest - a pair, with a pair of twos being the lowest. (Note: In our game we ignore high card only hands).

So, in order:

1) Four of a kind. – four cards of same rank in following order of precedence: 9, A, K, Q, J, 10, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2; 2)

2) Prial (three of a kind) – three cards of same rank, same order as above.

3) Running Flush: a set of three consecutive cards of the same suit. Although the ace is high, A-2-3 counts as a valid run. In fact A-2-3 is the highest run, A-K-Q of a suit is the second highest, then K-Q-J, and so on down to 4-3-2

4) Run – as above only where cards are of different suits.

5) Flush – 3 cards of same suit. When comparing flushes, the highest card is compared first, then if these are equal the middle card, and finally if necessary the lowest. Therefore K-9-2 beats Q-10-5, which beats Q-10-3, which beats Q-9-8.

6) A pair - A pair consists of two cards of equal rank. When comparing pairs, the rank of the pair is compared first, and if these are equal the odd card determines which is higher. So for example 9-9-3 beats 8-8-K, which beats 8-8-J.

If some players are not sure, then supply a 'cheat sheet' for them to refer to.

"Toni dealt. At last, I was given a decent hand. In fact, I really fancied my chances of taking all three tricks. I had three Eights to start with, followed by an Ace, Two, Three, run, and a Three, Four, Five, run. The girls couldn’t stop me – I’d won! – Extract from 'Something to Brag About'

Tip #4 - Game Play

Once all the preliminaries are sorted, the game can begin! All players pick a card and the one with the highest is dealer for the first round. Nine cards are dealt face down to each player. The players look at their cards. If anyone has four of a kind, they show it and the best four of a kind wins the pot. If anyone has four pairs, they can show them and "save the game".

The highest hands are exposed first, beginning with the player to dealer's left. Whoever has the best, highest hand (or the first of these if there is a tie) begins exposing the middle (next highest) hands, and whoever has the best of these begins exposing the right (lowest value) hands.

To get the other person(s) to remove an item of clothing, a player must win all three hands outright. If this does not happen no one wins and no-one takes off anything on that round. This is where the skill comes in – sorting the hands out to either try to win all three hands or trying to stop the opponent winning all three hands. Remember – clothes only come off if all three hands are won (not tied).

"Toni continued pulling her tights down until they were completely off. Her panties were sheer black; we could see her bottom quite clearly through them." – Extract from 'Something to Brag About'

Once the loser(s) has removed an item of clothing, the next player deals and the game continues.

Remember: all the losers have to take something off.

Tip #5 - Variations

There are a number of variations that can make the game more risky.

Firstly, you could include high card hands to make it easier to form three hands. In 'Something to Brag About' the lowest hand was a pair.

Secondly, what happens if someone get an uncontested four-of-a-kind can be changed. In 'Something to Brag About' the players chose to double the forfeit - two items of clothes were removed. But you could be even more daring and say that, if someone gets four-of-a-kind, everyone else strips.

“You won’t believe this!” Toni exclaimed. She turned over her hand with a flourish. She’d got four Kings. “Sorry, Louise. I’m afraid it means you’ve got to take your jeans and bra off.” Toni said. – Extract from 'Something to Brag About'

Tip #6 - And the winner is....

The winner will be the one with the most clothes on at the end of the game. The loser(s) will be easier to identify - they'll have least on, and may even be naked! This will depend on how far you agree to go at the start.

"I stood in front of the girls totally naked with everything on display; my erect member pointing directly at them." – Extract from 'Something to Brag About'

Remember

All three hands must be won. Only the losers must take anything off. In games involving three players or more, there will be more than one loser each time a game is won. Therefore, more than one person will need to strip. This can take the pressure off an individual

Have fun, if it's not fun then stop.