Blind Hookey, also known as Dutch Bank, Banker and Broker and Honest John, is a simple game of chance using playing cards. The game is popular in Germany where it is known as Häufeln, Bockspiel or Päckchen wenden, after the little packets of cards used.
Häufeln is recorded as early as 1773 as a card game in which there are as many piles (Häufeln) as players.[1] The name Blind Hookey appears in 1824 in Gallignani's Messenger. In 1835, Häufeln, is described as "a pernicious game of chance, similar to Pharo." But it was also played as a family game for e.g. nuts.
Either a 52-card, French-suited pack is used or a 32-card French- or German-suited pack. The banker shuffles, offers the cards for cutting, places any number of piles of cards face down on the table and keeps one for himself, selected by the punters. The punters then bet on the rest.
The bottom cards in the piles decide who wins and loses:If the lowest card in a pile is higher than the banker's card, the punter wins 1:1; if the bottom card is equal or lower in rank, the banker wins.
Winning and losing are decided by two cards:
Thus the house advantage is:
If, in the case of cards of equal rank, the banker collects only half the stakes, the house advantage reduces to 1/34 = 2.9% when using a pack of 52 cards, or to 3/62 = 4.8% when using a pack of 32 cards.
. Walter B. Gibson. 1993 . 1974 . Hoyle's Modern Encyclopedia of Games . Reprint . Devizes, Wiltshire . Selecta Book Ltd . 9781856481144.