If you don't have a Poch board, place 8 cups in a circle, and the 9th in the center. Label the 8 outside cups as: 'Ace', 'King', 'Queen', 'Jack', 'Ten', 'Marriage', 'Sequence', and 'Pocher'. The center cup remains unlabelled.
Cards rank (from low to high): 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K, A.
Discard all 2's, 3's, 4's, 5's, and 6's from the deck. These cards aren't required for play.
Each player antes 1 chip in each cup.
Choose a dealer by whichever means. The dealer deals all the cards, and places the last card face up on the table, as the trump card. Some players may end up with more cards than others, but that doesn't matter.
There are 3 stages to play:
Players show cards or combinations of cards in the trump suit that match the labels on the cups, and win the chips from that cup.
For example, a player with a King of the trump suit wins the chips from the King cup.
Players with a King and Queen of the trump suit win the chips from the King cup, Queen cup, and the Marriage cup.
Players with a 7, 8, and 9 of the trump suit win the chips from the 7 cup, 8 cup, 9 cup, and the Sequence cup.
Any chips not won are carried forward to the next round.
Players bet on who has the best set of cards of the same rank in their hand. Going clockwise starting with the dealer, players bet 1 or more chips, placing them in front of themselves, if they believe they have a better set of cards, or may pass if they don't. Subsequent bets must be equal to or higher than the previous (like 'calling' and 'raising' in traditional poker).
The sets of cards are:
Higher-ranked sets beat lower-ranked sets. In case of a draw, a set that contains a card of the trump suit wins.
Players who pass must move any chips they've bet to the Pochen cup.
The betting continues until all players who haven't passed have bet the same amount as each other.
If at least 2 players are still in, they reveal their cards and determine who has the best combination. If only 1 player is in, that player wins, and doesn't have to reveal their cards. If all players pass, the Pochen cup remains as is.
Shedding begins with the winner of the Pochen stage, or the dealer if everyone passed.
That player plays any card in their hand to the center of the table. The player who has the next card in the sequence of the same rank plays that card. This continues until a card cannot be played. The player who played the last card starts again by playing any card from their hand.
The first player to discard all their cards wins, and collects the chips from the center cup, plus 1 chip from the other players for each card remaining in their hand.
When a player runs out of chips, often when they cannot ante the required 9 chips before dealing, the game ends. Whichever player has the most chips wins.