LA BELLE LUCIE: A variant of Trefoil Solitaire, this page.

LALAPALOOZA: Poker. See this page.

LAMEBRAIN PETE: Another name for Cincinnati Liz, in Poker. See this page.

LAMEBRAINS: The same as Cincinnati, in Poker. See this page.

LANSQUENET: A famous old dealing game. Two cards of different value are turned up, one for the players, on which they place bets, the other for the dealer. More cards are turned up one by one, and if they represent new values, players can wager on them as well. As soon as a card appears matching a player’s card, the dealer pays off all bets on it; and cards of that value are rejected from then on. But if the dealer matches his own card in value, he collects all outstanding bets, and the deal ends. The game is frequently played with two or more packs shuffled together. Sometimes it is played in reverse, with the dealer winning when he matches a player’s card and paying all remaining bets when he matches his own.

LANTERLOO: See Loo.

LAPS: A form of Euchre, this page, in which the winner of a game applies his excess score as a start to the next. This mode of scoring is sometimes used with other games. See this page for Laps.

LAST IN: A typical trump game with a fifty-two-card pack ranking A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2. With six players, each is dealt four cards; five players, five cards; four players, six cards. The last card is dealt face up to establish trump, then is taken into the dealer’s hand. Player at dealer’s left leads any card; others follow suit if possible; otherwise they trump or play another suit. Highest card of suit led wins the trick unless trumped; then highest trump wins. Now comes the important feature:

The player who wins the trick draws a card from the top of the pack before leading to the next trick; but nobody else draws. This applies to every trick that follows. So the game narrows down to the point where only one player is left, automatically becoming the winner. If down to two players on the last trick, whoever takes the trick wins. Hence the game is usually played with all players contributing to a pool to start.

LAZY EDNA or LAZY LUCY: Popular terms for One-Card Poker. See this page.

LEFTY LOUIE: Poker. See this page.

LEG IN POT: See this page for Leg in Pot.

LIFT SMOKE: An old and somewhat debatable title for the game of Last In, which is described under that head. See this page.

LIVERPOOL RUMMY: Another name for Contract Rummy, this page.

LONG WHIST: See English Whist, this page.

LOO or LANTERLOO: Highly popular around the year 1800, this is still an intriguing, fast-moving trump game, involving any number of players from four or five, up to a dozen, or even more, using a fifty-two-card pack with each suit ranking A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 in descending order. The dealer places three chips or counters in a pool, which is termed a “simple” or “single” pool, and deals three cards face down to each player. The first player on the dealer’s left leads any card, and the rest follow suit in rotation, with the proviso that each must play a higher card if he has one; otherwise, he plays from an odd suit. High card of the suit led wins the trick, and the winner of each trick leads to the next, making three in all. However, each player must keep his tricks face up in front of him because:

Any time a player is unable to follow suit, the top card of the pack is turned up to designate a trump suit. If a player happened to discard from that suit, he wins the trick, unless another player discarded higher in the same suit. That suit stands as trump for the next trick, or tricks, if two are still to be played; and the winner of a trick must lead a trump to the next trick, if he has one; and others must overtrump if they can. If a player is out of the suit led, he must trump if able.

For each trick won, a player takes one third of the pool. Any player who failed to take a trick is “looed” and must contribute three chips to the next pool, along with the customary three put up by the new dealer. The deal moves to the left and is termed a “double” pool, although it may contain far more than twice the usual three. Example: In a seven-player “simple” pool, four players are sure to be looed, which means that twelve additional chips must be put into the double pool that follows.

Play with a Double Pool follows a special pattern. An extra hand is dealt, termed the “miss,” which serves as a “widow”; and following the deal, the top card of the pack is turned up as trump. Each player, in turn, may then “pass,” putting his hand face down; or he may “stand” and play out the hand. If he stands, he can exchange his hand for the widow, if he wants; but only one player has that privilege.

If all players pass until the dealer, he simply stands and wins the pool automatically. If only one player stands and takes the widow, he wins the pool; but if he does not take the widow, the dealer must do one of two things: (a) Stand and play his own hand, also ignoring the widow; (b) Exchange his hand for the widow and play against his lone opponent merely to defend the pool, by preserving as much of it as possible for the next deal. In this case, the dealer neither wins nor loses, but simply acts in behalf of the players who passed.

Rules vary regarding play with a “double pool,” the simplest being that a player must always lead a trump if he has one; and that if he holds the ace of trump, he must lead it, or the king, if the ace happened to be turned up as trump. Otherwise, the play is the same as with a simple pool, including the rule that each succeeding player must try to take each trick by “heading” it, even when the next player is apt to go higher.

The winner of each trick takes one third of the double pool, and if no one is looed (as may happen if only three players or less decided to stand), the next deal reverts to the simple or single pool. If any players are looed, they must each put up the usual three chips for the next deal, so that the double pool still holds.

If a player is dealt a “flush,” consisting of three trumps, or if he takes the widow and finds a flush therein, he waits until everyone has decided to pass or stand, and then shows his hand. The flush gives him the entire double pool automatically, and each player who decided to stand is automatically looed and forced to put three chips into a new double pool. In the case of two or more flushes during the same deal, the player nearest the dealer’s left is the winner.

Popular developments of loo include the following:

Irish Loo: This is “double pool” without a widow. The dealer puts up three chips and deals three cards to each player, finally turning up trump. Players pass or stand, and whoever stands can discard any cards he does not want, drawing replacements from the top of the pack, the turned-up trump being laid aside to facilitate that action. Play then proceeds as with a double pool, the flush rule being optional.

Five-Card Loo: Played like Irish loo, but with the dealer putting up five chips and dealing five cards to each player. Players pass, stand, draw, and play as usual, with the winner of each trick taking one fifth of the pool. In this game, the J, known as “Pam,” may be rated as the highest trump by preliminary agreement. As another option, a flush in any suit wins the pool, with Pam counting as a card of that suit; and in some circles, a blaze, consisting of any five cards, has equal rating with a flush. For further ratings see Pam-Loo, this page.

Unlimited Loo is any form of the game in which any player who is looed must put up an amount equal to the existing pool.

Irregularities in Loo, if serious, carry the simple penalty of having the offender put three chips into the pool, or five in five-card loo. This applies to both deal and play.

LOUIS NAPOLEON: A Solitaire game, variant of Napoleon’s Favorite. See this page.

LOWBALL: A highly developed form of Low Poker, with special rules of its own. Very popular in California. See Lowball, this page.

LOW POKER: Any form of Poker in which the low hand wins instead of the high hand. See this page.

LUCAS: A form of Solitaire, this page.