It is not very marvellous for an abundance player to make twelve or thirteen tricks; but to announce thirteen tricks before a card is played is something phenomenal. All the adversaries can do against such a call is to show each other, by their discards, in which of the suits they have a possible trick. It is very annoying to have a player succeed in making a slam just because two of his adversaries keep the same suit. SOLO WHIST FOR THREE PLAYERS. The best arrangement is to play with a pack of forty cards, deleting the 2, 3, and 4 of each suit. The last card is turned up to determine the trump, but it is not used in play. There is no proposal and acceptance, solo being the lowest call. If all three players pass, the trump card is turned down, and each player in turn has the option of calling a six-trick abundance, naming his own trump suit. In some places it is the custom to allow the players to over-call each other, after the trump is turned down, each increasing the number of tricks he proposes to take. A misère over-calls eight tricks.
Don’t expect a “strike” every time you hit the head pin. Don’t blame the pin boys if you get a split. They will spot any pin you call their attention to. Don’t throw away a “spare” because you think you were entitled to a “strike.” Don’t use any unnecessary motions. Don’t exert yourself. Take it easy. A slow accurate ball is better than a swift wild one. Don’t put your whole thumb in the finger hole. One joint is enough.
50. If the adversaries interrupt a dealer whilst dealing, either by questioning the score or asserting that it is not his deal, and fail to establish such claim, should a misdeal occur, he may deal again. 51. Should a player take his partner’s deal and misdeal, the latter is liable to the usual penalty, and the adversary next in rotation to the player who ought to have dealt then deals. THE TRUMP CARD. 52. The dealer, when it is his turn to play to the first trick, should take the trump card into his hand; if left on the table after the first trick be turned and quitted, it is liable to be called; his partner may at any time remind him of the liability. 53. After the dealer has taken the trump card into his hand, it cannot be asked for; a player naming it at any time during the play of that hand is liable to have his highest or lowest trump called. 54.
This makes the game too much like Auction Pitch, and spoils some of the finer points in leading. _=Low=_ is sometimes counted for the person to whom it is dealt. Such a rule causes endless confusion and disputes. The old method of _=scoring=_ has already been mentioned. Another variation is that if the bidder’s side do not make at least 8 points they cannot score anything, no matter what they bid. If both sides score 7, neither having bid more than 7, neither scores. If one side bids 6, and makes 8, it scores 8; but the adversaries score the 6 they make. If the side bidding 6 had made 6 only, it would score nothing, while their adversaries would mark the 8 they made. The only good result of the 6 bid in this case is to prevent the adversaries from scoring for a failure; for if 7 had been bid, and only 6 made, the adversaries would have scored the 7 bid in addition to the 8 they made, or 15 in all. This system, while better than the old way, because it never sets players back, still allows one side to sweat out; because if the bidder does not make 14, the adversaries must count something every deal.
If no one makes a proposal of any sort, _=Misère Partout=_ is played; there being no trump suit. The player or players taking the least number of tricks win or divide the pool. There are no other losses or gains in Misère Partout. _=HONOURS.=_ In any call in which there is a trump suit, the A K Q and J of trumps are honours, and may be counted by the successful bidder if he carries out his proposal. If the single player, or a caller and his partner have all four honours dealt them, they score as for four over-tricks; if three, as for two over-tricks. Honours do not count for the adversaries under any circumstances. In bidding on a hand, it must be remembered that although honours will count as over-tricks in payments, they cannot be bid on. If a player has nine tricks and two by honours in his hand, he cannot bid eleven. If he bids nine and fails to make so many, he cannot count the honours at all.
If Tom Fool is wrong in his guessing after three trials, he is condemned to run the gauntlet, being pelted with gloves or handkerchiefs not too mercifully.--Bitterne, Hants (Miss Byford). In Sussex there is the same action with the following words, but there is no chasing or hitting-- Of all the birds in the air, Of all the fishes in the sea, You can pick me out [ ] If the children fail to do so, they say-- Poor fool, been to school, Learn more in a week; Been there seven years And hasn t learnt a bit. --Hurstmonceux, Sussex (Miss Chase). The same game is played indoors in Cornwall, the reply being-- Fool, fool, go back to school And learn your letters better. --Cornwall (_Folk-lore Journal_, v. 99-80). See Namers and Guessers. Foot and Over One boy out of a number stoops in the position for Leap-frog at an agreed fixed line. From the players he chooses a Leader and a Foot.
--Belfast (W. H. Patterson). VII. How many miles to Gandigo? Eighty-eight almost, or quite. Can I [we] get there by candle-light? Yes, if your legs are long and light. Open the gate as high as the sky, And let the king and his queen go by. --Dorsetshire (_Folk-lore Journal_, vii. 230, 231). VIII.
=_ The cards dealt, each player in turn, beginning with the one to the right of the dealer, or to the right of the last straddler, if any, can do one of three things: Equal the amount of the ante; increase it as much as he pleases within the limits of his cave; or pass, retaining his cards but betting nothing. If any player _=opens=_ the game by making a bet, the player on his right may equal or raise it; but he cannot pass after the game is opened, unless he withdraws from the pool. Any player may call for a sight for the amount in front of him, but that does not prevent the others from continuing the betting. If no one will open, the deal is void, and each player puts five counters in the pool for the next deal. If a player opens, and no one will equal or raise him, he wins the antes and straddles, if any. If any player makes a raise which no one will meet, he takes whatever is in the pool, unless a player has called for a sight for a small part of it. _=Calling and Showing.=_ If only two players bet against each other, either may call the other, and demand a show of hands at any time; but if three or four are betting, the privilege of calling falls upon each in turn from right to left. For instance: A, B, C, and D play. D blinds five counters, and deals.
The play is continued in this manner until some player gets rid of all his cards, and so wins the game. Enflé is usually played for a pool, to which each player contributes an equal amount before play begins. The game requires considerable skill and memory to play it well, it being very important to remember the cards taken in hand by certain players, and those which are in the tricks turned down. THE LAWS OF HEARTS. 1. Formation of table. Those first in the room have the preference. If more than the necessary number assemble, the choice shall be determined by cutting, those cutting the lowest cards having the right to play. Six persons is the largest number that can play at one table. The player cutting the lowest card has the deal.
At the end of the hand the declarer counts up the tricks he has won over the book and if he has made good on his contract he scores the value of those tricks toward game. As soon as either side reaches 30, it is a game, but the hands are played out, and all the tricks counted. _=RUBBERS.=_ Three games, 30 points or more each, make a rubber, but if the first two are won by the same partners the third game is not played. The side that first wins two games adds 250 rubber points to its score. _=SCORING.=_ Apart from the game score, which is made entirely by tricks won on successful declarations, there are several additional scores that have no influence in winning or losing the game, although they may materially affect the ultimate value of the rubber. These are all entered under the head of “honour scores,” or “above the line.” _=Honours=_ are the five highest cards in the trump suit, A K Q J 10; when there is no trump, they are the four Aces. The partners holding three, four or five honours between them, or four honours in one hand, or four in one hand and the fifth in the partner’s, or all five in one hand, are entitled to claim and score them, according to the following table.
This system of scoring will show at once whose turn it is to deal, if the total number of amounts under which no line is drawn are counted up. For instance: Three persons play; A dealt the first hand. In the first three columns are shown the amounts won and lost in the three rounds, while the last three columns show the manner in which these losses and gains were entered on the score sheet:-- | Points won and lost. | | Score Card. | | 1st Round.| 2nd Round.| 3rd Round.| | A | B | C | +-----------+-----------+-----------+ +----+----+----+ | A won 33 | A lost 16 | C lost 36 | | +33| +40| +55| | C won 55 | B won 40 | B won 48 | | +17| +88| +67| | C won 12 | A lost 24 | C lost 12 | | -7| | +31| | | | | +----+ +----+ | | | | | | | +19| At the end of the second round a line was drawn under A’s account, which then contained three items; and after the first game in the third round a line was drawn under C’s account. If we suppose the game to be stopped at this point, the scores would be balanced as follows: We take the three scores and bring them down on one line. We draw a line under them, and proceed as follows: First we take A, who has lost 7 to B, and from whom B has also won 88.
) We ve come to see poor Jenny Jones, poor Jenny Jones, poor Jenny Jones, We ve come to see poor Jenny Jones, how is she to-day? Poor Jenny is poorly, poorly, poorly, Poor Jenny is poorly, you can t see her to-day. When can we see her? At five o clock. (Clock strikes five.) We ve come to see poor Jenny Jones, poor Jenny Jones, poor Jenny Jones, We ve come to see poor Jenny Jones, how is she to-day? Poor Jenny is dying, dying, dying, Poor Jenny is dying, you can t see her to-day. When shall we see her? (Come) at six o clock. (Clock strikes six.) We ve come to see poor Jenny Jones, poor Jenny Jones, poor Jenny Jones, We ve come to see poor Jenny Jones, how is she to-day? Poor Jenny is dead, dead, dead, Poor Jenny is dead, you can t see her to-day. What colour will you have for the funeral for poor Jenny Jones? Red? Red is for the soldiers, soldiers, soldiers, Red is for the soldiers, and that won t do. Blue? Blue is for the sailors, sailors, sailors, Blue is for the sailors, and that won t do. Pink? Pink is for the babies, babies, babies, Pink is for the babies, and that won t do.
Bringing in a Suit, making tricks in a plain suit after the adverse trumps are exhausted. Brûler, F., to burn a card. Bûche, F., cards that count for nothing, such as the tens and court cards in Baccara; equivalent to the G. Ladons, or Fehlkarten. Bucking the Tiger, playing against the bank at Faro. Bumblepuppy, playing Whist in ignorance or defiance of conventionality. Bumper, a rubber of eight points at English Whist. Burnt Cards, cards which are turned face upward on the bottom of the pack, usually in banking games.
After the turn is made, the dealer first picks up all the bets he wins, and then pays all he loses, after which he waits for the players to rearrange their bets for the next turn. Between each turn a player may make any change he pleases. A lookout sits on the right of the dealer to see that he pays and takes correctly, and to watch that no bets are changed, or coppers slipped off, during the turn. _=Splits.=_ If two cards of the same denomination win and lose on the same turn, it is a split, and the dealer takes half the bets on the split card, no matter whether it is bet to win or lose. Splits should come about three times in two deals if the cards are honestly dealt. _=Keeping Cases.=_ As the cards are withdrawn from the box they are marked on a case-keeper, which is a suit of thirteen cards, with four buttons running on a steel rod opposite each of them. As the cards come out, these buttons are pushed along, so that the player may know how many of each card are still to come, and what cards are left in for the last turn. In brace games, when the cards are pulled out two at a time to change the run of them, the case-keeper is always a confederate of the dealer, and is signalled what cards have been pulled out under the cards shown, so that he can secretly mark them up.
8, not touching lines. So successively into Nos. 2, 3, 4, &c. Walk into No. 1 with stone on foot, and out at No. 8. Kick it up and catch it. The same with stone on thumb. Toss it up and catch. Again with stone on your back.
=_ Any player failing to follow suit, when able to do so, may amend his error if he discovers his mistake before the trick in which it occurs has been turned and quitted. The card played in error then becomes an exposed card. Those who have played after him have the privilege of withdrawing their cards and substituting others, without penalty. Should the revoking player not discover his error in time, the hand must be played out, and if the revoke is detected and claimed the player in error must pay all the losses on that hand. Should the revoking player win the pool himself, he must pay the thirteen counters to the pool, and leave them for a _=Jack=_. Should he divide the pool with another player, he must pay his co-winner six counters, and put up the other seven for a Jack. If two or more players revoke in the same hand, each must pay the entire losses in that hand as if he were alone in error; so that if two should revoke and a third win the pool, the latter would receive twenty-six counters instead of thirteen. In Auction Hearts, the revoking player must also refund the amount put up by the bidder. A revoke must be claimed and proved before the pool is divided. Non-compliance with a performable penalty is the same as a revoke.