Drinks, jazz music, poker and plenty of prizes are just around the corner. The doors of the Great Hall open at 7:00 pm on Saturday, September 23 for the annual Annie Wright Casino Night.

It will cost $5 per bag of chips, and there is a maximum of 4 bags per person. Any high school students are welcome. Around 150 people are expected to attend.

Student Life and Governance, a new Upper School for Girls activity this school year, has taken the lead to plan the event. A highlight of their planning process has been naming drinks for the Italian Soda bar. This year your trusty bartenders will be none other than Mr. Soustelle, Mr. Freshwater and Ms. Matthaei. Get ready to Order Up, Coconut!

Semi-formal to formal attire is appropriate for the night. Heels are fine, but dressy flats will work well also. If you are feeling festive, the colors red, blue and black would be classic casino attire.

A variety of Upper School teachers will deal Blackjack, Roulette and Texas HoldEm. Guests can rotate between tables and enter new games at any time. Below are the basic rules of each poker game.

Blackjack

• The object of blackjack is to draw cards that when combined, their values equal as close to 21 as possible without going over
• Cards 2-10 are all worth their face values. Kings, queens,  and jacks are all worth 10, and aces can either be worth 1 or 11
• Whoever has the hand closest to 21, between the player and the dealer, wins the hand

Roulette

• The dealer sends a small white ball around a wheel that is numbered 0-36
• There is a chart with corresponding numbers on the table
• Players bet on where the ball will land by placing chips on the number slots
• The player that bet correctly wins all chips on the table

Texas HoldEm

• Each player is dealt two cards face down (these are called your hole cards)
• Then there is a round of betting where you can either check, bet or fold
• When all of the betting is done three cards are placed face up in the middle of the table
• Then there is another round of betting, and a fourth card is revealed
• Then there is another round of betting and the final card is placed down
• Whoever is still in the game and has not folded yet will reveal their hand and whoever had the highest hand wins the round and receives all the chips that were bet

Poker Hands

• Royal Flush: ace high straight flush (A-K-Q-J-10)
• Straight Flush: a five card straight all in the same suit
• Four of a Kind: Four cards of equal value
• Full House: three cards of one value and two cards of another value
• Flush: all of the cards are the same suit
• Straight: Five cards of sequential value (1-2-3-4-5)
• Three of a kind: Three cards of the same value
• Two of a kind: two cards of one value and two cards of another value
• One pair: Two cards of the same rank
• Highest card: the highest ranked card between you and your opponents

Poker Dictionary

• Check: Passing action to the next player but keeping your cards
• Raising: the action one takes to raise a bet
• Folding: The act of ending participation in a hand, the player is no longer required to put any more chips in for raised bets (a player can fold at any of their turns when they do not wish to continue)