Again: Holding Q 9 3, partner leading Ace then Eight; Second Hand playing King second round, Third Hand should give up the Queen. Again: Holding K Q, partner leading the 8 originally, won by Fourth Hand with Ace; the King should be discarded or otherwise got rid of at the first opportunity. _=Short-suit Leads.=_ Many players will not lead a long weak suit unless they have sufficient strength to justify them in hoping to establish, defend, and bring it in, with _=reasonable=_ support from the partner. With a long suit, headed by a single honour, weak trumps, and no cards of re-entry, they prefer selecting a strengthening card for the original lead, hoping it may be of some assistance to partner by affording a successful finesse. It is claimed that it is better for a person, especially with a strong hand, to play with the knowledge that his partner is weak, than under the impression that he may be strong. Such an opening lead should warn the Third Hand to finesse deeply, to hold any tenaces he may have, and to let nothing pass him which might be too much for his weak partner to attend to. This is a very difficult game to play well, and is seldom resorted to except by the most expert. _=Deschapelles Coups.=_ It often happens that after the adverse trumps are exhausted, a player will find himself with the lead, but unable to give his partner a card of his established suit.
The dealer’s strength in a no-trumper is usually scattered, and he may often be found with a weak or missing suit, which is generally the suit in which the eldest hand or his partner is long. We shall first consider the leads against trump declarations, because they are more common and are also the more useful. If a player makes a trump-hand lead against a no-trump declaration, he will not do nearly so much harm as if he make a no-trump-hand lead against a trump declaration. For that reason, if a player cannot master both systems of leading, it is better for him to learn the leads against trumps than those against no-trumps. _=Rules for Leading High Cards.=_ With such a suit as A K Q 2, no one need be told not to begin with the deuce. Whenever a player holds two or more of the best cards of a suit he should play one of them. If he holds both second and third best, playing one of them will force the best out of his way, leaving him with the commanding card. The cards which are recognised by bridge players as high, are the A K Q J 10, and if we separate the various combinations from which a player should lead each of them, a study of the groups so formed will greatly facilitate our recollection of them. In the first group are those containing two or more of the best cards.
=_ Each player has the right to shuffle the pack, the dealer last, and the cards are then presented to the pone to be cut. At least four cards must be left in each packet. Beginning on his left, the dealer gives six cards to each player, three on the first round, and three more on the second round, turning up the next card for the trump, and leaving it on the remainder of the pack. If this card is a Jack, the dealer counts one point for it immediately; but if any player is found to have an incorrect number of cards, and announces it before he plays to the first trick, the Jack cannot be counted, as it could not have been the proper trump. In _=Pitch, or Blind All Fours=_, no trump is turned. The first card led or “pitched” by the eldest hand is the trump suit for that deal. _=MISDEALING.=_ If any card is found faced in the pack, or the pack is proved to be imperfect, the same dealer deals again. If he deals without having the cards cut, or gives too many or too few cards to any player, it is a misdeal, and the deal passes to the next player on the misdealer’s left. If the dealer exposes a card, the adversaries may elect to have the deal stand, or to have a new deal by the same dealer.
In Diagram No. 10, for instance, if you have the black men, and it is your turn to play, you will find three men on your own system, and therefore you have the move, and must win by playing 10-15. When White moves, there will again be an odd number of men on your system, and you will still have the move, and he must sacrifice both his men. [Illustration: No. 10. +-.-+---+-.-+---+-.-+---+-.-+---+ | .
1.] [Illustration: Fig. 2.] [Illustration: Fig. 3.] A number of boys agree to play at this game, and sides are picked. Five, for example, play on each side. A square is chalked out on a footpath by the side of a road, which is called the Den; five of the boys remain by the side of the Den, one of whom is called the Tenter; the Tenter has charge of the Den, and he must always stand with one foot in the Den and the other upon the road; the remaining five boys go out to field, it being agreed beforehand that they shall only be allowed to run within a prescribed area, or in certain roads or streets (fig. 1). As soon as the boys who have gone out to field have reached a certain distance--there is no limit prescribed--they shout Relievo, and upon this signal the four boys standing by the side of the Den pursue them, leaving the Tenter in charge of the Den (fig.
[Illustration: Fig. 1.] Each of the two players has nine wooden pegs, which are either coloured or shaped differently, and the object of each player is to get three of his own pegs in a straight line (fig. 1). It is called Merrils. --Sheffield (S. O. Addy). Cotgrave s _Dictionarie_, 1632, says: _Merelles_, le jeu de merelles, the boyish game called merrils, or fiue-pennie morris. Played here most commonly with stones, but in France with pawns or men made of purpose, and termed merelles.
She was one homely sharecropper, that was a fact, but she had a nice feel for Lady Luck. Or for what I planned next. * * * * * Wanting to come out with an even thousand, I adjusted the size of her last bet. When I won it, I pulled my chips off the table, which Sniffles didn t resist. She used the lull to grab a handful of sandwiches from another waiter s tray. A gambler at the far end of the table came out, calling loudly to the dice. The cubes made the length of the table, bounced off the rail and came to a stop dead center, between me and the three stick-men in the black aprons. That s the instant when every eye is on the dice, trying to read the spots. And that s when the dice jumped straight up off the baize, a good six-inch hop into the air, and came down Snake Eyes, the old signal. Wow! I d had it! TK! somebody yelled.
Cards once used in combination cannot again be used in combinations of equal value of the same class. For instance: Four Kings have been declared, and one of them afterward used in the course of play. The player cannot add a new King to the three remaining, and announce four Kings again. A marriage in spades has been declared, and the King got rid of in play. A new King of spades will not make another marriage with the old Queen. A bézique has been scored, and the Jack got rid of in play; a new Jack of diamonds will not make another bézique with the old Queen. Some judgment is necessary in making announcements, the question of time being often important. Suppose hearts are trumps, and the winner of the trick holds double bézique, sixty Queens, and a royal marriage:-- [Illustration: 🃋 🃋 🂭 🂭 🃍 🂽 🂾 ] He cannot lay all these cards down at once, and claim 600 points. Neither can he lay down four Queens and two Jacks, and score 560; nor four Queens and a King and score 100. He may announce them if he chooses to expose his hand in that manner, but he can score only one combination, and must win a separate trick to score each of the others.
Beyond the most elementary calculations of the chances in favour of certain events the theory of probabilities is of no assistance. It is not necessary to call in a mathematician to prove that a player who habitually discards a pair of aces to draw to three cards of a suit will lose by the operation in the long run. Nor will any amount of calculation convince some players that they are wasting their money to stay in a jack pot in order to draw to a pair of tens, although such is the fact. The various positions occupied by the player at the poker table may be briefly examined, and some general suggestions offered for his guidance in each of them. In the first place he should look out for his counters. It is always best for each player to place the amount of his ante or his bet immediately in front of him, so that there need be no dispute as to who is up, or who is shy. Above all it should be insisted that any player who has once put counters in the pool, and taken his hand from them, should not again take them down. _=The Age=_ is the most valuable position at the table, but it is seldom fully taken advantage of. The age should never look at his hand until it is his turn to make good his blind. He may pick up his cards, but he should use his eyes in following the manner and facial expression of the other players as they sort their cards.
The penalty for a lead out of turn is to call a suit. RUM. There are several varieties of this game, and quite a number of ways of playing them, but the standard method, as adopted by the best clubs, is that here given. The principal divisions of the game are those played with the single pack, and those played with the double pack and two jokers. SINGLE-PACK RUM. _=CARDS.=_ The full pack of fifty-two cards is used, ranking from the K Q J down to the ace, the suits having no rank. The ace may also be used in sequence with the king as the top of a sequence. _=PLAYERS.=_ Any number from two to six may play, but four or five makes the best game.
If the player who knocks is mistaken, and cannot count out, he loses the game, no matter what his adversary’s score may be. If neither knocks, and at the end of the hand both players are found to have points enough to put them out, neither wins the game. If the game is 1000 points, it must be continued to 1250. Should both reach that point without knocking, it must be continued to 1500. If neither knocks, and only one has enough points to put him out, he wins the game on its merits. _=SCORING.=_ The game is usually 1000 points. All scores for dix, melds, and the last trick, are counted as soon as made; but the players are not allowed to keep any record of the score for cards, nor to go back over their tricks to refresh their memory. Any player going back further than the last trick turned and quitted, forfeits his entire score for cards. The player first correctly announcing that he has reached 1000 points, wins the game, no matter what his adversary’s score may be; but if the announcement is incorrect, he loses the game.