Hi Canasta Lovers,
What a great time we had Monday at our third beginner's canasta lesson. I started both lessons with demonstrations of what to do and what not to do when your partner melds. Let's say your partner meld with two kings and a big joker, three eights, and three fours with a deuce. (Very nice all requirements have been met.) What should you do with the two kings, two eights and one four that you are holding? Would you lay everything down or would you hold back in hope that you might be able to pick up that big, beautiful, juicy pack? We had a lively give and take and everyone seemed to understand the concept of keeping control of your hand by not immediately laying everything down or by not adding your singleton to a triple (hopefully you'll double up.) After a little more discussion ("I still think canasta is as hard as Bridge") the cards were dealt and we began to play.
Near the end of the last hand of the day beginner Susie wanted to take the pack with her two sevens. She had a count of six but the other two sevens could have been anywhere. I usually advise against picking a pack like that if you are not sure, but Susie was adamant. (I thought there might be a lesson here...who knew? So Susie picked the pack, laid down her six sevens and discarded a five. Her partner Sally, was holding two wild cards and that one important seven. Looked like everything was going to work out for the girls, but alas, Sally picked another wild card. Because Sally had nothing in fifth position to put her jokers on, she had to put that sweet seven in the discard tray. Goodbye lovely seven canasta, goodbye 3500 wonderful points. What a shame! What a good lesson!
Next week we will talk about special hands and add a little strategy to the mix. Maybe one of the girls will make pairs. That would be exciting. "Newbies" no more, they will soon be ready to join the ranks of Canasta Goddesses, playing their favorite game with friends, old and new.
Wishing all goddesses lots and lots of joker canastas.
Love, Barbara
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
Beginners Part Deux
Hi Canasta Lovers,
Yesterday was the second lesson of my two beginner groups. The girls all walked in looking as confused as they did when they left last Monday, all these strange rules bouncing around in their brains. With no time to lose we attacked the Tricky Threes, the Sexy Sevens and the Crazy Aces. I demonstrated how the threes can enhance you hand or damage your score. Moving on to those ("I just don't get them") Sexy Sevens, we discussed how important it is to watch the discards for seven signals, how important it is to keep those two sevens if you signaled them, how you can safely discard your sevens in if your partner has signaled them? Finally we moved on to those Crazy Aces. Why can you use them with wild cards on your initial meld, but not later on? Why can't I lay down those three pretty aces in the middle of the hand? Why are we penalized for holding more than two sevens or aces when the game ends?
We put these lessons into practice as we dealt the first hand. Don't forget to replace your threes! We played on, everyone was very conscious of who was discarding those Sexy Sevens and how many were in the pack.
I am happy to say those confused faces disappeared by the end of the first hand. Everyone seemed to develop a rhythm to their play. One team made a joker canasta (always exciting). Everyone was very protective of their sevens, but those crazy Aces still need a little work. The time flew by and all the girls are looking forward to next week's lesson.
Next week we will talk about holding some cards back, not laying everything down at once. New players and even some seasoned ones are often too fast to meld and to empty their hands. I like to hold on to a few cards in case of emergencies. What do you think?
Thanks Canasta Goddesses, I appreciate all the feed back last week and hope to hear from more of you this week.
Love, Barbara
Yesterday was the second lesson of my two beginner groups. The girls all walked in looking as confused as they did when they left last Monday, all these strange rules bouncing around in their brains. With no time to lose we attacked the Tricky Threes, the Sexy Sevens and the Crazy Aces. I demonstrated how the threes can enhance you hand or damage your score. Moving on to those ("I just don't get them") Sexy Sevens, we discussed how important it is to watch the discards for seven signals, how important it is to keep those two sevens if you signaled them, how you can safely discard your sevens in if your partner has signaled them? Finally we moved on to those Crazy Aces. Why can you use them with wild cards on your initial meld, but not later on? Why can't I lay down those three pretty aces in the middle of the hand? Why are we penalized for holding more than two sevens or aces when the game ends?
We put these lessons into practice as we dealt the first hand. Don't forget to replace your threes! We played on, everyone was very conscious of who was discarding those Sexy Sevens and how many were in the pack.
I am happy to say those confused faces disappeared by the end of the first hand. Everyone seemed to develop a rhythm to their play. One team made a joker canasta (always exciting). Everyone was very protective of their sevens, but those crazy Aces still need a little work. The time flew by and all the girls are looking forward to next week's lesson.
Next week we will talk about holding some cards back, not laying everything down at once. New players and even some seasoned ones are often too fast to meld and to empty their hands. I like to hold on to a few cards in case of emergencies. What do you think?
Thanks Canasta Goddesses, I appreciate all the feed back last week and hope to hear from more of you this week.
Love, Barbara
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
Beginners
Hi Canasta Lovers,
I started off the new year yesterday with two beginner classes. I thought it might be an interesting exercise to follow their progress over the next few weeks. Maybe you Canasta Goddesses can help me over the rough spots ("I will never understand those SEVENS!")
I start out each beginner class with a short history of Canasta. Did you know the game of Canasta originated in Uruguay? The word canasta means basket in Spanish. Canasta is the name of the basket or tray that we keep our draw cards and discards in. We then discuss what a canasta is and how we go about melding, which brings us to how to count our points. I have a little quiz sheet that teaches how to count the points in your hand and what makes them usable.
Example: "I have an ace, YOU said it is worth 20 points."
"Yes ma'am, but you need another ace and a wild card to use it."
"I don't get it."
"You will!"
First hurdle jumped.
And now we deal. I tell the girls to arrange their hand in numerical order. Suits are not important in Canasta (unless you are wearing a pretty new one.) I have found that most beginners like to play the first few hands open. However when so many cards are on the table confusion ensues. What is in your hand? Where are my melds? Yesterday I had the bright idea of putting masking tape on the tablecloth creating an outer ring where we lay down our hands for all to see, and the inside of the ring is where we meld and work on making our canastas. It seemed to work out pretty well.
Time to deal with those pesky "clean triples" What are they? "What if I never get one?" Stuff happens! At this point all my students say, "I thought this was supposed to be easy, this is as hard as Bridge." I explain that all the new rules that have been put into place makes canasta a little harder to learn but still so much fun to play.
Next week we will tackle sevens and aces, If two are good why aren't three better? Inevitably some one will make pairs or a joker canasta (remarkable how often that happens to newbies.) Excitement prevails! Follow us as we move these rookies along the road to the kingdom of canasta goddesses.
Love, Barbara
I started off the new year yesterday with two beginner classes. I thought it might be an interesting exercise to follow their progress over the next few weeks. Maybe you Canasta Goddesses can help me over the rough spots ("I will never understand those SEVENS!")
I start out each beginner class with a short history of Canasta. Did you know the game of Canasta originated in Uruguay? The word canasta means basket in Spanish. Canasta is the name of the basket or tray that we keep our draw cards and discards in. We then discuss what a canasta is and how we go about melding, which brings us to how to count our points. I have a little quiz sheet that teaches how to count the points in your hand and what makes them usable.
Example: "I have an ace, YOU said it is worth 20 points."
"Yes ma'am, but you need another ace and a wild card to use it."
"I don't get it."
"You will!"
First hurdle jumped.
And now we deal. I tell the girls to arrange their hand in numerical order. Suits are not important in Canasta (unless you are wearing a pretty new one.) I have found that most beginners like to play the first few hands open. However when so many cards are on the table confusion ensues. What is in your hand? Where are my melds? Yesterday I had the bright idea of putting masking tape on the tablecloth creating an outer ring where we lay down our hands for all to see, and the inside of the ring is where we meld and work on making our canastas. It seemed to work out pretty well.
Time to deal with those pesky "clean triples" What are they? "What if I never get one?" Stuff happens! At this point all my students say, "I thought this was supposed to be easy, this is as hard as Bridge." I explain that all the new rules that have been put into place makes canasta a little harder to learn but still so much fun to play.
Next week we will tackle sevens and aces, If two are good why aren't three better? Inevitably some one will make pairs or a joker canasta (remarkable how often that happens to newbies.) Excitement prevails! Follow us as we move these rookies along the road to the kingdom of canasta goddesses.
Love, Barbara
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