Editing Basset (banking game) (section)

== Modern Rules ==
This interpretation is based on the glossary<ref>[http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/5963855 OCLC 5963855 Andrew Steinmetz, "Chapter X: Piquet, Basset, Faro, Hazard, Passe-dix, Put, Cross and Pile, Thimble-rig"], ''The Gaming Table: Its Votaries and Victims: In all times and countries, especially in England and in France'' Vol. II, London: Tinsley Brothers, 1870 ; reprinted 1969, Montclair, N.J.; Patterson Smith, 1969</ref> and the rules in [[The Compleat Gamester]] as described in the 5th edition (1725).<ref>[https://archive.org/details/bim_eighteenth-century_the-compleat-gamester-o_cotton-charles_1725 Charles Cotton, "Chapter III: Basset, A French Game"],''The Compleat Gamester; Or, Instructions how to Play at Billiards, Trucks, Bowls and Chess ... Cards ... Dice, To which is Added the Arts ... of Riding, Racing, Archery, and Cockfighting'' 5th edn with additions. J. Wilford, London, 1725, pp. 38–39. {{PD-notice}}</ref>

Each player (''punter'') takes a "book" of cards from another deck (13 cards of the same suit). Players place cards whose rank they wish to bet on to the table. They can place as many (or as few) cards as they wish. The amount wagered (''couch'') on each card can also vary according to the player's choice. No new cards may be added once play begins. 

The banker (''talliere'') shuffles a deck of 52 cards (without jokers) and lifts the deck to reveal the bottom card (''fasse''). Any players who have bets on this rank must pay half the value of their wager to the banker (from their personal stock, not from the cards themselves). This bottom card is then discarded. The banker then reveals the first players’ card (winning). Any players who have wagered on that card's rank may receive a payout of 1:1. The banker then reveals a second card, the bank's card (losing). Any players who wagered on this rank lose their wager and their card of that rank is removed from play (this rank can no longer truly "win" wagers on any draw for the rest of this round as all players' wagers on this rank have now been lost). The banker continues in this manner, drawing a players’ (winning) card, then a bank’s (losing) card, calling out the values and resolving wagers.

If a rank is revealed as both the players' and the bank's (twins, a tie) the draw is null and no wagers (or parlays) are lost or paid. However, if a rank is drawn as the players' "winning" card twice in a row (including after a tie), it instead loses.

If a player's wager wins, instead of accepting the payout (1:1), they may place a token (small die, coin, etc.) on a corner of a card to [[parlay]] (''paroli'') their bet. If this card wins again (before being drawn as the bank's), the player wins an increased payout (see Parlay Table below). Instead of accepting this increased winning, the player may again refuse the payout to push their luck further by placing another token on a second corner. The player may continue in this manner on subsequent wins, either accepting the payout or continuing to parlay with tokens added to the card. If the deck runs out and the player still has a parlayed card on the table, that card must carry over into the next round until it either pays or loses. Any wager that has been parlayed may not be altered until it either wins or loses. If a parlayed card ever loses (drawn as the bank's), the player only loses the original wager that was placed on the card regardless of any current parlay.

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Parlay Table
|-
! Win # !! Payout !! Name
|-
| 1st Win || 1:1 || ''The Pay''
|-
| 2nd Win || 2:1 || ''Paroli''
|-
| 3rd Win || 7:1 || ''Sept-et-le-va''
|-
| 4th Win || 15:1 || ''Quinze-et-le-va''
|-
| 5th Win || 33:1 || ''Trent-et-le-va''
|-
| 6th Win || 67:1 || ''Soissant-et-le-va''
|}

Alternatively, after a card wins (either for a 1:1 payout or after the payout of any parlay), the player may remove their card of that rank from play and place no more wagers on it. Or, the player may accept the payout (either 1:1 or after any successful parlay) and place the same wager as their original bet (or higher) on that same card as a new bet (''masse'') with any previous parlay tokens removed. 

The final card in the deck is null and pays nothing, no wagers (or parlays) are lost or paid. Players then prepare for the next round by placing new cards and wagers or removing others from the table. However, any standing parlays may not be removed or altered until the next round reveals whether they win or lose.

=== Paroli System ===
Sources differ on whether the first parlay pays 2:1 or is the ''sept-et-le-va'' of 7:1. Many sources, including Andrew Steinmetz's 1870 work,<ref>[http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/5963855 OCLC 5963855 Andrew Steinmetz, "Chapter X: Piquet, Basset, Faro, Hazard, Passe-dix, Put, Cross and Pile, Thimble-rig"], ''The Gaming Table: Its Votaries and Victims: In all times and countries, especially in England and in France'' Vol. II, London: Tinsley Brothers, 1870 ; reprinted 1969, Montclair, N.J.; Patterson Smith, 1969</ref> source back to the ruleset described in the later editions of [[The Compleat Gamester]]. The second parlay is most commonly depicted as being the ''sept-et-le-va'', per these rules. However, this would give a mathematical edge to the players with approximately a 25% chance to win 7 times their wager.

In all editions of The Compleat Gamester which include Basset, this issue is confused by the wording of the glossary. This includes that to achieve a ''soissant-et-le-va'' requires carrying the parlay into the next round,<ref>[https://archive.org/details/bim_eighteenth-century_the-compleat-gamester-o_cotton-charles_1725 Charles Cotton, "Chapter III: Basset, A French Game"],''The Compleat Gamester; Or, Instructions how to Play at Billiards, Trucks, Bowls and Chess ... Cards ... Dice, To which is Added the Arts ... of Riding, Racing, Archery, and Cockfighting'' 5th edn with additions. J. Wilford, London, 1725, pp. 38–39. {{PD-notice}}</ref> but not the ''trent-et-le-va''. However, the same glossary describes the player adjusting the ''third corner'' of their card for a ''quinze-et-le-va'' and the ''fourth corner'' of their card for a ''trent-et-le-va''. If the ''sept-et-le-va'' follows the original paroli, only one corner would have been adjusted, suggesting another parlay that is not well described. 

The glossary entry for ''The Pay'' in [[The Compleat Gamester]] mentions the doubling of the player's wager if "by this adventure Fortune favors him" after having already established the 1:1 payout of whatever their first stake may be on their first win. This suggests a 2:1 payout that precedes the 7:1 ''sept-et-leva''. This accounts for both the number of corners altered before the described ''quinze-et-le-va'' (the first being the 2:1, then the 7:1, and third the 15:1) and gives the mathematical edge to the bank for which the game of Basset is historically infamous. Additionally, this interpretation of the parlay system is more consistent in the use of odds as associated with other games of chance that include [[Parlay|parlays]].

===Variants===
[[The Compleat Gamester]] states that a ''masse'' is only permitted on winning cards. However, in Act IV of [[Susanna Centlivre|Susanna Centlivre's]] 1705 comedy ''The Basset Table'' (in which the characters are playing Basset), losing cards are not removed from the table and players seem to be permitted to ''masse'' a further couch on them (as in [[Faro (banking game)|Faro]]).