Quote:
Originally Posted by NutzyClutz
Understand the chouette rules.
When you are the box , take all or drop all.
Chouette rules vary extensively from club to club, so you need to tailor what you're doing to the rules of your club. Some clubs force the box, when doubled by several people, to either take all cubes or drop all cubes. Others allow the box to take or drop specific cubes ("I take Joe and Paul, and I drop Jason".)
The most popular variation is to allow the box to specify how many cubes he's taking or dropping (as long as he takes at least half the cubes) and then the team members, in order starting with the captain, decide if their cube was taken or dropped.
So the conversation might go like this:
Five team members all double the box.
Box: I take three cubes.
Captain: I'll play.
Team #2: I'll play.
Team #3: I take a point.
Team #4: I take a point.
Now Team #5 has no choice -- he has to play.
This latter rule (which I prefer) allows for some interesting maneuvering. For instance, you're the captain with four team members, all of whom are LAGs. (Some poker ideas spill over into chouettes.) You're a TAG, and you reach a position where you think it's clearly not a double. However, your four teammates all double! Since the box is somewhat tight, you double as well, knowing that the box probably won't take all five cubes. Sure enough, the box (who knows it's a clear take but is too nitty to take all five cubes) says "I'll take three". You then say "I take a point" and stand up. You netted a point from a position which wasn't a double, a very good result.