Question 637: Hit, Split or Surrender

The first written reference is found in a book by the Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes, who is most famous for writing Don Quixote. Cervantes was a gambler, and the main characters of his tale Rinconete y Cortadillo, from Novelas Ejemplares, are a couple of cheaters working in Seville. They are proficient at cheating at ventiuna (Spanish for __X__), and state that the object of the game is to reach __X__ without busting and other such modern rules. The game is played with the Spanish baraja deck, which lacks eights, nines and tens. This short story was written between 1601 and 1602, implying that ventiuna was played in Castilia since the beginning of the 17th Century or earlier. Later references to this game are found in France and Spain.

ID whats being described here

Clue: