Beginning a card game is generally pretty straightforward — you deal the proscribed number of cards to the players. However, ending a card game can be a little different. Some games continue until a player reaches a certain score, others require a specific number of deals. The following list of popular card games tells you that you keep playing until . . .
Blackjack: The players run out of money (don’t worry about the casino) or decide they’ve had enough.
Bridge: One side wins a rubber of two games, then the side with the higher score wins. If playing Chicago Bridge, you change partners after four deals. If playing Duplicate Bridge, you play a session of between 20 and 26 deals — whatever the Tournament Director decrees.
Canasta: A player or team scores 1,500 points.
Cribbage: A player scores 121 points.
Eights: A player scores 250 points (or whatever number is agreed on by the players).
Euchre: One side scores 10 points.
Fan Tan: One player cleans out all the rest, or when everybody has had enough.
Gin Rummy: A player scores 250 points in one game or a series of games.
Hand and Foot: You finish four deals. Whoever has the most points wins.
Hearts: A player amasses 100 penalty points, at which point the player with the fewest penalty points wins.
Oh Hell!: You complete cycle of hands (starting with 7 cards to each player, and then reducing to 1, and going up again to 7 cards). The player with the highest score wins.
Pinochle: A player or partnership scores 1,000 points.
Poker: The players lose their money or lose interest.
President: Everybody gets bored of humiliating one another.
Rummy: A player scores 100 points – or whatever total is agreed by the contestants.
Setback: A player scores 11 (or 21) points.
Spades: One side scores 500 points.
Whist: One side wins a rubber of two games by getting to 7 points first on two occasions. At a Whist drive, a session typically ends after 24 deals.