Posted on by Californiacontrarian

Card Games

In my opinion the three best 30 minute TV sit-coms were Seinfeld, Mash, and Friends. I recall an episode of ‘Friends’ in which Chandler was about to marry Monica and thus was moving out of the apartment that he and Joey had shared for a long time. Chandler did not think that Joey could afford to pay the rent and the utilities, etc. and so he tried to give Joey $1000. Joey would not take charity, so Chandler invented a game through which he could ‘slip’ Joey some money without Joey feeling that he was a charity case. It was a card game that Chandler called “Cups”. As you might recall Joey was lovable but dense and Chandler had to ‘teach’ him how to play. On the first hand Chandler dealt himself 2 Queens, while Joey got a 7 and a 3 . . . and Chandler said something like, “Wow, that’s the second best Cups’ hand; you win!” They played for increasing amounts of money, double-or-nothing, etc. As the game progressed, Chandler made up increasingly more ludicrous rules, but he had to in order to be sure that what Chandler wanted to happen, would happen.

Alas, there another Chandler-esque card game, called “Pea-Knuckle” that is also played with some bizarre rules:
the deck had 48 cards instead of the usual 52 ,
you deal 3 or 4 cards to each player at once instead of one at a time
there is “Trump”, “marriages” (K-Q), and “Royal Marriages” (K-Q of Trump)
the highest card is an Ace, but then the second highest card is 10
a “pea-knuckle” is Jack of diamonds-Queen of spades , while the  9 of Trump is called a Dix.

Interesting and perhaps nostalgic, especially if you had watched Friends, but what does Pea-knuckle and Cups have to do with anything?
Both appear to be games with very “unusual” rules, but while Cups  was a fiction of Chandler’s imagination, Pea-Knuckle (Pinochle) is a real game.

Follow me with this analogy:
Let’s compare Chandler to ex-President Obama, who in essence, made up the rules as he went along. He appointed czars – many more than any other past president . . . a czar for this, a czar for that, etc. He made up what in essence were like laws that he did not submit to Congress (guidelines for who could use which bathroom; guidelines for how to handle illegal immigrants; guidelines on how to handle perceived sexual misconduct on college campuses). He entered into obvious treaties (The Paris Accord and the Iran Nuclear Deal) that he said did not have to be ratified by the Senate, because they were not treaties!?
In essence he made up his own rules, and all of the Joeys did not know any better.
He ‘knew what was best’, and if he had to invent stuff . . . so be it, as the rules  were never written down.

Pea-knuckle (Pinochle), however, is a real card game with its rules written down. In fact the rules are explained in detail in many books, including Bicycle Official Rules of Card Games which is analogous to the Constitution in real life. Though the rules appear complicated, the Constitution (the book of official rules) can be read at any time so that anyone should be able to ascertain exactly what the rules are. There is no “making it up as we go along”, as there was with Cups. The present president had not played pinochle before January of this year, but his advisors are very familiar with the rules of the game, and he appears to be a quick learner!
Unfortunately there are people out there (liberal judges) who are supposed to be familiar with the real rules according to Hoyle or Bicycle, but who seem to be intent on making up their own rules.
However at tournament time (there actually is a “World Series of Pinochle”), the Supreme [Court] judges will be familiar with the real rules and the Constitution will prevail.
Too bad for Joey, but good for America, and the rule of law!

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