The pone may stand on the first card, or draw; but he does not say anything if he overdraws. The dealer then draws or stands, and both show their cards. The one nearest to 15 wins; but if the result is a tie, or if both have overdrawn, the stakes are doubled, and another hand is dealt, the deal passing from player to player in rotation. BACCARA. This very popular variation of Vingt-et-un originated in the south of France, and came into vogue during the latter part of the reign of Louis Philippe. It is neither a recreation nor an intellectual exercise, but simply a means for the rapid exchange of money, well suited to persons of impatient temperament. The word “Baccara” is supposed to mean “nothing,” or “zero,” and is applied to the hands in which the total pip value of the cards ends with a cypher. There are two forms of the game in common use; Baccara a deux tableaux, and Baccara chemin de fer. The first will be first described. _=Players.
If the 10 is not led the adversary may turn up an honour, and will then have major tenace over the 10 and 8. The end game always offers some interesting problems for solution by the expert in tenace position, and in placing the lead. WHIST FAMILY LAWS. While the code of laws drawn up by the American Whist League, and finally approved and adopted at the Third Congress, [in Chicago, June 20th to 24th, 1893,] refers exclusively to the parent game of Whist, its general provisions equally apply to all members of the whist family of games. The author believes it will save much repetition and confusion to interlineate the exceptions which are necessary in order to cover the special features of such important variations as Boston, Cayenne, and Solo Whist. Where no exceptions are made, the law applies equally to these games and to Whist. The unnumbered paragraphs show the inserted laws. It is a common practice for the framers of laws to insert rules which are simply descriptive of the manner of play. The author believes in adhering to the proper definition of a law, which is a rule carrying with it some penalty for its infraction, or defining the rights of individual players. Such a statement as that the Dummy player may not overlook his adversary’s hand is not a law, because there is no penalty if he does so.
=_ It is often a nice point to decide whether or not you can afford to make minor declarations while holding higher ones in your hand. In Rubicon many players will give up the trump marriage if they have the sequence, especially with a good chance of re-forming it several times with duplicate cards. The number of cards in hand will often be the best guide. In Rubicon, if you held trump sequence and double bézique, it would be better to declare the sequence first, and to lead the card you drew. One of the trump sequence on the table would then be free to regain the lead and declare the double bézique; but if the bézique was declared first, the sequence might have to be broken into to regain the lead. With a plain-suit sequence and four Aces, declare the Aces first. They will then be free to win tricks for the purpose of making other declarations. It is seldom right to show the bézique cards in other combinations, and four Jacks is a very bad meld, because it shows your adversary that he cannot hope for double bézique. By holding up bézique cards, even if you know they are of no use to you, you may lead your adversary to break up his hand, hoping to draw the card or cards you hold. _=Trumps.
If he throws a six on either die, he passes a counter to his left-hand neighbour, who will have the next throw. Two sixes passes both counters if the caster still has so many. The players throw in turn until all the counters but one have been placed in the pot. If a player has no counters, the throw passes him to the next player on his left who has counters in front of him. The last counter of all cannot be put in the pot by throwing an ace; but it must be passed along to the left when a six is thrown. The player with the last counter in front of him must throw both dice three times in succession, and if he succeeds in avoiding a six, he keeps the counter and wins the pool. If he throws a six, the player who gets the counter must throw three times, and so on, until some one throws three times without getting a six. Instead of a pool, it is sometimes agreed that the final holder of the last counter shall pay for the refreshments. MULTIPLICATION. Any number can play, and three dice are used.