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Thirty One is one of the card world’s oldest games, dating back to the 1440’s. Considered a gentleman’s gambling game, Thirty One was mentioned in one of Bernadine of Sienne’s anti-gambling sermons. Many games scholars consider Thirty One to be an early ancestor of the games Blackjack and Cribbage. A standard 52 card deck is used. For scoring hands, the Ace is worth 11 points, the Kings, Queens, and Jacks are worth 10, and all other cards are worth their pip value. The value of a three card hand is calculated by adding up the value of the cards held in any one suit. So if you have three cards of the same suit, you can add up all three. If only two cards are in the same suit you can add those, or use the value of the odd card if it is higher than the sum of the other two. If you have three different suits the value of your hand is the value of the highest card in it. The maximum hand value is 31, consisting of the ace and two ten-point cards in the same suit. The Play Before play begins