Seka Combinations and How to Count Points

Seka combinations come in just five kinds, and they all come down to one number: points. The ace is worth 11, the king, queen, jack and ten 10 each, every other card its face value. Cards of one suit add up, two aces make 22 whatever their suits, and the seka, three cards of the same rank, beats everything. Below, each combination is ranked by strength, and the figures are our own: a 36-card deck holds 7,140 different three-card hands, and we counted every one of them under the rules described here.

Seka cannot be played on tamashebi.cc yet; its rules and combinations are already described on the /seka page. When it opens, the only stake will be the virtual Domino Coin.

The main combinations

Seka: three cards of the same rank

Three sevens, three jacks, three aces. A seka is not counted as a total: three sixes are not 18 but a seka, and they beat even a single-suit 31. When two sekas meet the higher rank wins, and the highest is three aces, usually called 33. In a 36-card deck a seka comes up 36 times out of 7,140 hands, roughly once in two hundred.

31: an ace and two ten-pointers in one suit

Ace, king and queen of hearts; ace, ten and jack of clubs. This is the highest total one suit can produce, which is why 31 is often called a "clean" hand. It is even rarer than a seka: only 24 of the 7,140 hands make 31.

Three cards of one suit

All three cards share a suit and the points add up. The weakest such hand is six, seven and eight of one suit, 21; the strongest is 31. Any three-card flush is worth at least 21, so it usually beats two cards of one suit.

Two aces: 22

Two aces of different suits make 22 points. This is the one case where suit does not matter. If the third card shares a suit with one of the aces, count both ways and take the higher: ace of spades, ace of hearts and king of hearts give 21 in hearts and 22 in aces, so the hand is 22.

Two cards of one suit

Two cards share a suit and the third is different. The two count; the third is lost. Ace and ten of diamonds make 21, nine and eight of spades 17. This is the most common kind of hand in Seka.

A single card

All three suits are different. Your score is just your most valuable card: an ace 11, a picture or ten 10, a nine 9 and so on. These are the weakest hands, from 7 to 11.

Yet a weak hand can still win: if everyone else drops out of the betting, the last player left takes the pot and never has to show his cards. So knowing the combinations is only half of Seka. The other half is how much you stake, and when.

What each combination is worth

The list runs from strongest to weakest. The figure after each line is how many hands give that result in a 36-card deck, out of 7,140. These are our own counts and apply to the rule with no joker and two aces counted as 22.

• Seka (three of a rank): beats everything; three aces are 33. 36 hands, 0.5%.
• 31 (ace plus two ten-pointers in one suit): 24 hands, 0.3%.
• 25 to 30: only three-card flushes can reach these. 260 hands, about 3.6%.
• 22 to 24: two aces or a weak three-card flush. 240 hands, about 3.4%.
• 20 to 21: for example ace and nine of one suit, or two ten-pointers of one suit. 1,132 hands, about 16%.
• 13 to 19: two cards of one suit. 2,664 hands, about 37%.
• 7 to 11: only one card counts. 2,784 hands, about 39%.

One important thing follows: the typical hand is very weak. More than half of all hands are worth 16 or less, only one hand in four reaches 20, and 22 or better turns up in roughly one hand in twelve. A score of 12 is impossible: a single card is worth at most 11, and two cards of one suit at least 13.

Declaring a combination

Nobody announces a combination in advance in Seka: a hand is only revealed at the showdown, when two players remain. When you turn your cards over you state your score and your opponent checks it. That is why it pays to count automatically: silence and recounting slow the table down.

1. First check for a seka: are all three cards of one rank? If so, you are done.
2. Then the aces: do you hold two? Remember 22.
3. Then the suit: which suit repeats? Add up only those cards.
4. If nothing repeats, your score is your most valuable card.
5. Declare the highest number these steps give you.

Example: you hold the ace of spades, the ace of diamonds and the ten of diamonds. Not a seka. Two aces: 22. Diamonds: ace and ten, 21. The higher of the two is 22, and that is what you declare. Second example: queen, nine and seven of spades, three of one suit, 10 + 9 + 7 = 26.

If the scores are equal it is svara: most often the pot stays and the tied players replay. Some tables split the pot, and at others the rank of the picture cards breaks the tie. Agree on this before you play.

Disputed hands

A few cases that cause the most arguments at the table, and how they are counted under the usual rule:

• King, queen and jack of one suit: 30, not "three pictures". A seka is only three cards of the same rank; suit and pictures change nothing here.
• Ten, king and ace of three different suits: 11. The ace is the most valuable card and the rest do not count.
• Two aces plus a ten matching one of them: ace of spades, ace of hearts, ten of hearts. Hearts give 21, aces 22. The hand is 22.
• Three aces: this is a seka, not 22 and not "two aces plus an ace". The result is the same, 33, but it counts as the top seka.
• Six, seven and eight of one suit (21) against ace and ten of one suit (21): a tie. That is svara, unless your table breaks ties another way.
• 20 against 20, two ten-pointers of one suit each: also svara. The rank of the pictures is normally ignored.

Frequently asked questions

What is the maximum score in Seka?

In one suit, 31 (an ace and two ten-pointers). But a seka, three cards of the same rank, beats even 31, and the highest seka, three aces, counts as 33.

Is there a joker or "shakha" in Seka?

In some versions, yes: by agreement one card (often a black seven or a six) is a wild card that replaces any card. Ordinary Georgian Seka has no joker, and the figures here were counted without one.

Do two aces beat three cards of one suit?

Rarely. Three cards of one suit are worth at least 21 and often 23 to 27. Two aces (22) beat only the weakest three-card flush, but they beat two cards of one suit almost every time.

• Seka online: the game page
• Seka rules: the complete guide
• Seka strategy: how to play better
• Bura or Seka: how the two games differ
• Bura and maliutka: the combinations

Games on tamashebi.cc are free to play. Some tables use Domino Coin, a virtual in-game coin: it is never money, cannot be bought or cashed out, and means nothing outside the site. The games are for fun and for skill. The site is available in Georgian, English, Russian and Turkish.