The cards are dealt such that the last card is always dealt to the dealer. The cards are dealt starting from the player to the left of the dealer. The dealer distributes 11 cards to each player. The players may make use of canasta tricks to outwit the opponent and win the card game. The main purpose of the Canasta card game is to make maximum number of melds with or without the use of jokers (wild cards). Read along and understand how do you play canasta for beginners. There are variations for two players and six players too where the canasta game rules are altered a bit. This is game that is usually played by four players. We will explain how to play canasta step by step to make it easy for you to understand. The canasta card game rules are easy to understand if you are a rummy player. The canasta card game belongs to the rummy family of card games.