So, if you are interested, you will find articles that don’t specifically relate to Czechia<\/a>, Greece<\/a> or Ireland<\/a> on Travel Shepherd.com<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0Take a look, please.<\/p>\n This article was originally published in The Opinions Post which is no longer extant. \u00a0The original title was Poker or S***heat: \u00a0Card Game of the Future<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Poker is a card game that started in the US on Mississippi riverboats, spread west with the California gold rush and then around the world among those who enjoy gambling.\u00a0 The last few decades have seen its popularity skyrocket due to major TV sports coverage.\u00a0 Now there are signs that popularity is waning as other forms of entertainment come to the front.\u00a0 Will Poker be replaced by Shithead as the most popular tournament game?<\/p>\n Shithead is a card game of unknown origin that has been spread around the world by student travelers.\u00a0 A web site called List Nerd lists Shithead as the Number One \u201cbest playing card game of all time\u201d. \u00a0It is certainly my favourite game.\u00a0 My wife and I have played best-two-out-of-three hands after dinner as a routine for the last 15 years (This tradition helped by the fact we did not have TV reception for many of those years.).\u00a0 I think the game is utterly brilliant and its inventor ought to win a Nobel Prize or something.\u00a0 The card play is diabolical and the outcome is never known until the last hidden card is turned over.\u00a0 Some say there are no winners in this game only losers and that is how it got its name.<\/p>\n However, there may not be an inventor because as the game has travelled the rules have evolved.\u00a0 Every location seems to have their own variation. \u00a0Yet just as international travelers overcome the language barrier they manage to adapt to the varied use of each card.\u00a0 \u00a0The Czech Republic and specifically the college town of Ji\u010d\u00edn may be the international capital of the game at this time.\u00a0 There English instructor Scott Lee Hansen combined his favourite game with the chance to get Czech students speaking English with each other as well as a few native speakers.\u00a0 He founded the Ji\u010d\u00edn International Shithead League<\/a> which meets in the back room of a local pub.<\/p>\n This is a well-organized league with once a month sessions that culminate in a championship at the end of the school year.\u00a0 Instead of a rotating trophy there is a rotating shirt emblazoned with Czech Champion.\u00a0 The winner does get to take home a bottle of wine, but it is their duty to contribute one for the next month\u2019s winner.\u00a0 I think there is a cash prize for the annual champion; last year they got to keep the wine and a watermelon.<\/p>\n In 2013 Charles University law student Robin Brad Fle\u010dek who is from Ji\u010d\u00edn started the Prague International Shithead League.\u00a0 Though he does confess my wife and I were the first non-Czech players when we showed up for the fifth tournament.\u00a0 It was great fun playing with the future lawyers all of whom spoke better English than we did Czech.\u00a0 We were treated as honored guests but did not survive the elimination round.<\/p>\n Also I have located regular Shithead Mondays at the Thistle Pub in Paris and the Overseas Club in Cologne, Germany has an annual tournament.\u00a0 Any readers who know of other venues please comment.\u00a0 One aficionado with programming skills has created a computer game you can find at Shithead-Cardgame.com \u00a0 \u00a0There are smart phone apps available as well.\u00a0 I liked this statement from the GooglePlay version:\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cBecause Shithead is so widely spread all over the continents, there are several ways to play. \u00a0We incorporated this by defining a standard rule set and allowing the player to optionally enable several more rules.\u201d<\/p>\n There is another major difference between Poker and Shithead. The recently crowned European Poker Champion from Greece, Sotiris Koutoupas emphasized, \u201cPoker is a game of mental skill, not chance\u201d.\u00a0 In contrast Shithead involves a great deal of chance since each player\u2019s last three cards are unknown by everyone.\u00a0 Yet skill is required to get to that point before the others and then again in tactics and strategy as the same cards get played back and forth among players in the end game. So, if you like to make your own rules, learn this game.\u00a0 Then start your own league that requires everyone to play by your rules.\u00a0 What could be better than that!\u00a0 You may be the next star of the World Series of Shithead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Oeuvre: \u00a0I bet you don’t see that word very often. \u00a0I wonder if I will have to change the title for better search engine results. So this page is not my complete body of works, rather it is to reference … Continue reading International Card Games<\/h2>\n
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