A doctor, quick, I said. She s been pinked with nerve poison. She s gone, then, he said huskily. Who done it? Fowler Smythe, I said bitterly. A snake within the Lodge. You might try to stop him. But your partner, Rose, is the real crook. Get the doc, then tie up Rose. She s gone, he insisted. Nerve poison kills right now.
When a deal has been played the cards of the respective players, including the trump card, must be placed in the tray face down and the trump slip placed face up on top of the dealer’s cards. SEC. 8. If on the overplay of a deal, the dealer turns a trump card other than the one recorded on the trump slip, and such error is discovered and corrected before the play of the deal is commenced, the card turned in error is liable to be called. SEC. 9. If such error is not corrected until after the overplay has begun and more than two tables are engaged in play, the players at that table shall take the average score for the deal; if less than three tables are in play there must be a new deal. SEC. 10. Should a player record on the trump slip a different trump from one turned in dealing and the error be discovered at the next table, there must be a new deal.
If he bid three tricks, they pay him three counters each; four counters each for four tricks bid; and the value of three tricks for a misère. If he fails to win the specified number of tricks, he pays each adversary; three counters if he bid three tricks, or a misère; four if he bid four. Any player bidding nap, and succeeding in winning all five tricks, receives ten counters from each adversary; but if he fails, he pays only five to each. When penny nap is played, the settlement being in coin, it is usual to make naps win a shilling or lose sixpence, in order to avoid handling so much copper. _=SUGGESTIONS FOR GOOD PLAY.=_ In calculating his chances for success in winning a certain number of tricks, the player will often have to take into consideration the probability of certain cards being out against him. This will vary according to the number of players engaged. For instance: If four are playing, and the bidder holds K Q of a plain suit, the odds against the ace of that suit being out against him are about 2 to 1. As it would be impossible for any person to remember all the jeux de règle for three tricks at Napoleon, each must learn from experience the trick-taking value of certain hands. Trump strength is, of course, the great factor, and the bidder should count on finding at least two trumps in one hand against him.
If the dealer has not a natural, each player in turn, beginning with the eldest hand, examines his two cards to see how nearly their total value approaches 21. If he has a natural, he exposes it immediately, and the dealer must pay him double the amount staked. It is sometimes the rule for the holder of a natural, the dealer having none, to take the stakes of all the other players; but this variation is not in favour. _=Drawing.=_ No natural being shown, each player in turn may draw another card, or stand on the two dealt him, which are not shown under any circumstances. If he is content, he says: “I stand.” If he wants a card he says: “One,” and the dealer gives it to him, face up. If the pips on the card drawn, added to those already in his hand, make his total greater than 21, he is créve, and passes over to the dealer his stake, throwing his cards in the centre of the table, still face down. If the total is not 21, he may draw another card, and so on until he is créve or stands. The first player disposed of in this manner, the dealer goes on to the next one, and so on until he comes to himself.
The moment any player finds himself with a flush, three cards of the same suit, regardless of their value, whether dealt to him, or made by exchange, he says: “My Ship Sails;” and all exchange is stopped, and the hands are shown. Should there be more than one flush, the pips win, counting ace for 11, and other court-cards for 10 each. If no player has secured a flush after two rounds of exchanges, the hands are shown, and the highest number of pips in the two-card flushes wins the pool. The elder hand wins ties. BOUILLOTTE, OR BRELAN. This is an old and famous French gambling game, often referred to in stories of fast life in European society. It was the rage during and long after the French Revolution, but has lately had to share public attention with Baccara, and even with Le Poker Américain. It has many points in common with three-stake Brag, and is evidently descended from the same stock. By many persons Bouillotte is considered superior to Poker, because it offers the player many opportunities to speculate on winning by the aid of cards that are not in his own hand. _=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. Should a player score more than he is entitled to; as, for instance, scoring 80 for four Queens, his adversary may take down the superfluous score, 20 points in this instance, and may add it to his own score for a penalty. _=CHEATING.=_ Apart from the usual weapons of false shuffles, strippers cut to locate or pull out the binocle cards, and the opportunities always offered to the greek when the cards are dealt three or four at a time, the bézique family of games are particularly adapted to the use of marked cards. These will show the philosopher the exact value of both the cards in the next draw, and will enable him to vary his play accordingly. It is for this reason that in France the top card of the stock is always drawn by the same player, no matter which wins the trick. In Rubicon Bézique, a person should be very familiar with the movements peculiar to dealing seconds before he ventures to play in a public café, or he may find his adversary with the most astonishing run of repeated combinations, and will be rubiconed almost every game. Never play with a man who cuts the pack with both hands, watches the cards closely as he deals, or looks intently at the top of the stock before he plays to the current trick. Players who have a nervous affection which makes them pass over too many counters at once will also bear watching. Colour blindness may lead them to take over a blue instead of a white in a close game.
If both players displace their front pegs, as by accident, they may agree to replace them where they believe them to have stood; but if they cannot agree they must call the game void. _=Pegging Out.=_ In pegging during the play, the first man to reach his game hole wins, no matter what either may have in hand or crib. If neither can peg out in play, the non-dealer has the first show. If he cannot show out, the dealer proceeds to count his hand and then his crib. If he cannot show out there must be a new deal. _=CHEATING.=_ The greatest advantage at Cribbage is to secure good starters, and for this purpose the greek adopts various methods of trimming and marking the cards so that he may secure a starter exactly suited to his hand. After trimming certain cards a trifle longer or shorter than others, the pack to be cut may be presented to the pone in such a manner that he will unconsciously lift them either by the ends or the sides, according to the wish of the dealer, and so uncover a starter exactly suited to the dealer’s hand or crib. When the sharper has the cut, he can of course uncover any card he pleases.
, a slam. Chip Along, to bet a single counter and wait for developments. Chouette, à la, taking all the bets. Close Cards, those which are not likely to form sequences with others, especially at Cribbage. Club Stakes, the usual amount bet on any game in the club. Cogging Dice, turning one over with the finger after they have been fairly thrown. Cold Deck, a pack of cards which has been pre-arranged, and is surreptitiously exchanged for the one in play. Colours, a system of playing Faro according to the colour of the first winner or loser in each deal. Command, the best card of a suit, usually applied to suits which the adversary is trying to establish. Couper, F.
=_ While the hand remains upon a man, it may be moved to any square that it commands, except such squares as may have been touched by it during the deliberation on the move; but if all the squares which it commands have been so touched, then the man must be played to such of the squares as the adversary may elect. _=Counting Fifty Moves.=_ If, at any period during a game, either player persist in repeating a particular check, or series of checks, or persist in repeating any particular line of play which does not advance the game; or if “_a game-ending_” be of doubtful character as to its being a win or a draw, or if a win be possible, but the skill to force the game questionable, then either player may demand judgment of the Umpire as to its being a proper game to be determined as drawn at the end of fifty additional moves, on each side; or the question: “Is, or is not the game a draw?” may be, by mutual consent of the players, submitted to the Umpire at any time. The decision of the Umpire, in either case, to be final. And whenever fifty moves are demanded and accorded, the party demanding it may, when the fifty moves have been made, claim the right to go on with the game, and thereupon the other party may claim the fifty move rule, at the end of which, unless mate be effected, the game shall be decided a draw. _=Stale-Mate.=_ A stale-mate is a drawn game. _=Time Limit.=_ The penalty for exceeding the time limit is the forfeiture of the game. It shall be the duty of each player, as soon as his move be made, to stop his own register of time and start that of his opponent, whether the time be taken by clocks, sand-glasses, or otherwise.