B, hoping to get his partner into the lead again, leads a heart up to Dummy’s weakness, and leads a heart which will beat Dummy’s best heart. At the eleventh trick, unless the dealer can make two tricks in spades by the finesse, he cannot win the game. The second example shows the importance of preserving a re-entry card in the hand which is longer in the suit the dealer intends playing for. If the dealer lets the heart come up to him, it is true that he will make win the first trick with the Jack; but he will never win a trick with the Queen, and therefore he can never get in to make his clubs, even if he establishes them. By putting up the Ace of hearts, and keeping both Q and J in his own hand, he is certain of a re-entry in hearts. On the second round of clubs, the adversary still holding up or underplaying, the dealer must be careful to overtake Dummy’s ten with his own Jack, so as to continue the suit without losing the lead. VARIETIES OF BRIDGE. _=THREE HAND AUCTION.=_ This is a game for three active players only, but four may form a table. Each player is for himself, there being no partnerships except the temporary combination against the declarer for each deal.
This is called a _=Bold Stand=_. _=In Double Pools=_, an extra hand is dealt for the widow, and a trump is turned. No player is allowed to look at his cards until it comes to his turn to declare. The dealer, beginning on his left, asks each in turn to announce his intentions. The player may _=stand=_ with the cards dealt him; or may _=take the widow=_ in exchange; or may _=pass=_. If he passes or takes the widow, he gives his original hand to the dealer, who places it on the bottom of the pack. If he takes the widow or stands, he must win at least one trick, or he is looed, and will forfeit three red counters to the next pool. If all pass but the player who has taken the widow, he wins the pool without playing, and the next deal must be a simple. If only one player stands, and he has not taken the widow, the dealer, if he will not play for himself, must take the widow and play to defend the pool. If he fails to take a trick, he is not looed; but the payment for any tricks he wins must be left in the pool, and the red counters for them should be changed for white ones, so that the amount may be easily divided at the end of the next pool.
The players play in the order in which the colors appear on the pool marking board. A player pocketing a ball scores its value as against each of the other players, and when penalized, pays the penalty to each of them. In a game where sides are formed a player either scores for his own side, or is penalized to the opposing side or sides. 3. When commencing a game the fifteen red balls shall be placed as in the game of Pyramids. For each of these balls pocketed, according to rule, the striker shall score one point. The pool balls to be used are the yellow, green, brown, blue, pink, and black, which shall be spotted as follows at the commencement of the game, and have the appended values when pocketed according to rule: The Yellow ball shall be placed on the right hand spot of the baulk line and count two points; The Green ball shall be placed on the left hand spot of the baulk line and count three points; The Brown ball shall be placed on the middle spot of the baulk line and count four points; The Blue ball shall be placed on the spot between the two middle pockets and count five points; The Pink ball shall be placed at the apex of the pyramid and count six points; The Black ball shall be placed on the billiard spot and count seven points. The White ball shall be used in rotation by the various players taking part in the game solely as the striker’s ball, and shall be played from the “D” at the start of a game by the first player, and at any other period of the game, after it has been off the table from any cause whatever. 4. The ball shall be struck with the point of the cue and not “pushed.
The card left face upward in the box is the _=winner=_ for that turn, so that there must be a winner and a loser for every turn; the loser outside the box, and the winner left in it. On the next and all following turns, the winning card on the previous turn will be placed on the same pile as the Soda, so that it shall be possible at any time to decide which cards have won, and which have lost. The _=Object of the Game=_ is for the players to guess whether the various cards on which they place their money will win or lose. They are at liberty to select any card they please, from the ace to the King, and to bet any amount within the established limit of the bank. _=The Layout.=_ All bets are made with counters of various colors and values, which are sold to the players by the dealer, and may be redeemed at any time. These counters are placed on the layout, which is a complete suit of spades, enamelled on green cloth, sufficient space being left between the cards for the players to place their bets. The ace is on the dealer’s left. [Illustration: +----------------+ | 🂦 🂥 🂤 🂣 🂢 🂡 | |🂧 | | 🂨 🂩 🂪 🂫 🂭 🂮 | +----------------+ ] There are a great many ways of placing bets at Faro. For instance: A player may make bets covering twenty-one different combinations of cards, all of which would play the Ten to win, as follows:-- [Illustration: 🂥 🂤 🂣 20 12 13 21 18 3 19 14 15 16 17 🂨10 🂩 2 8🂪9 4 🂫 11🂭 6 5 7 ] If the first bet is supposed to be flat upon the Ten itself, 2, 3 and 4 would take in the card next the Ten; 5 the cards on each side with the Ten; 6 and 7 the three cards behind which the bets are placed, the Ten being one in each instance; 8 and 9 take in the Ten and the card one remove from it in either direction; 10 and 11 are the same thing, but placed on the other card; 12 to 17 inclusive take in the various triangles of which the bet is the middle card; 18 and 19 take in the four cards surrounding them; 20 and 21 are _=heeled=_ bets, the bottom counter being flat on the corner of the card, and the remainder being tilted over toward the card diagonally across from the one on which the bet is placed, playing both cards to win.
If the deal is allowed to stand, superfluous cards must be drawn at random by the adversary, who may look at the card or cards so drawn before placing them in the pack. If either player is found to have too few cards after having laid out for the crib, he has no remedy. His adversary pegs two points, and the short hand must be played and shown for what it is worth. _=Irregular Cribs.=_ If the superfluous card is found in the crib, and the non-dealer had the short hand, the dealer may reckon all the combinations he can make in the six-card crib; but if it was the dealer who had the short hand, the superfluous crib is void. If the crib contains a superfluous card, both the players having their right number, the non-dealer pegs two holes for the evident misdeal, and the crib is void. If both players have their right number, and the crib is short, it must be shown for what it is worth; but the non-dealer pegs two holes for the evident misdeal. _=Irregular Announcements.=_ There is no penalty if a player announces a wrong number as the total of the cards played, provided he does not peg an erroneous fifteen or thirty-one. If the following player does not correct the announcement, but plays and adds to it, the error cannot be rectified.
_=DECLARING.=_ Carte blanche must be announced and shown before a discard is made. Each player having discarded and drawn, the elder hand proceeds to announce any counting combinations he holds, which he must declare in regular order, beginning with the point. In announcing the point, the suit is not mentioned, only its value. The sequences are defined by the number of cards and the highest; “sixième to the King,” for instance. The fours and trios are defined in the same way; “four Kings,” or “three Jacks.” To each of these declarations, as they are made in regular order, the dealer must reply: “_=Good=_,” “_=Equal=_,” or, “_=Not good=_.” If the point is admitted to be good, the holder scores it; not by putting it down on the score sheet, but simply by beginning his count with the number of points it is worth. If the point is equal, neither player scores it, and secondary points have no value under any circumstances. If the point declared by the elder hand is not good, it is not necessary for the dealer to say how much better his point is; that will come later.
Maughan. Metheringham Mr. C. C. Bell. MIDDLESEX Miss Collyer. Hanwell Mrs. G. L. Gomme.
A player who is set back, either for overbidding his hand, or for refusing to sell and failing to make the number of points offered him, must withdraw from the pool as many white counters as were bid, and add them to his own. For instance: It is A’s sell. A and B each have two to go. B bids three, which A refuses, pitching the trump himself. A makes only two points, B scoring one, and a third player D, another. B and D score one each, but A scores nothing for the two points he made, and must take three white counters from the pool, which will make him five to go. Had the bid which A refused been two only, he would have won the game, as he made two points. In many clubs it is the custom for a player who is set back to add a red counter to the pool. _=Irregularities in Play.=_ If any adversary of the player who pitches the trump leads or plays out of turn, he may be called upon by the bidder to play his highest or lowest of the suit led; or to trump or not to trump the trick.
The natural inference from this is that such hands should always be played without proposing, unless they contain the King of trumps. The exception in case of holding the King is made because there is no danger of the dealer’s getting the King, no matter how many cards he draws, and if the player’s cards are not strong enough to make it probable that he can win the vole, it is better for him to ask for cards, in hope of improving his chances. If he is refused, he stands an excellent chance to make two points by winning the odd trick. While it is the rule for the player to stand when the odds are two to one in his favour for making the odd trick, and to ask for cards when the odds are less, there are exceptions. The chances of improving by taking in cards must not be forgotten, and it must be remembered that the player who proposes runs no risk of penalty. He has also the advantage of scoring two for the vole if he can get cards enough to win every trick, whereas the dealer gets no more for the vole than for the odd trick if the player does not propose. Some beginners have a bad habit of asking for cards if they are pretty certain of the point. Unless they hold the King this is not wise, for the player cannot discard more than one or two cards, but the dealer may take five, and then stands a fair chance of getting the King, which would not only count a point for him, but would effectually stop the vole for which the player was drawing cards. The most obvious example of a jeux de règle is one trump, a winning sequence of three cards in one suit, and a small card in another. For instance: Hearts trumps-- 1 [Illustration: 🂷 🃛 🃝 🃞 🂧] 44,724 to 21,056.
Each player has the right to shuffle subsequently. The dealer has the right to shuffle last, but should a card or cards be seen during his shuffling or while giving the pack to be cut, he must reshuffle. 30. After shuffling, the cards, properly collected, must be placed face downward to the left of the next dealer, where they must remain untouched until the end of the current deal. THE DEAL. 31. Players deal in turn; the order of dealing is to the left. 32. Immediately before the deal, the player on the dealer’s right cuts, so that each packet contains at least four cards. If, in or after cutting and prior to the beginning of the deal, a card be exposed, or if any doubt exist as to the place of the cut, the dealer must reshuffle and the same player must cut again.
Gomme. An account sent me from Deptford (Miss Chase) is doubtless the same game. It begins with taking two gobs at once, and apparently there are eight stones or gobs to play with. The marble or round stone which is thrown up is called a tally. The directions for playing are-- We take twoses, We take threeses, We take fourses, We take sixes, We take eights. Chain eggs--_i.e._, to pick up one and drop it again until this has been done to each stone. Arches--_i.e.
Nine Holes Nine round holes are made in the ground, and a ball aimed at them from a certain distance; or the holes are made in a board with a number over each, through one of which the ball has to pass.--Forby s _Vocabulary_. A rural game, says Nares, played by making nine holes in the ground, in the angles and sides of a square, and placing stones and other things upon, according to certain rules. Moor (_Suffolk Words and Phrases_) says: This is, I believe, accurate as far as it goes, of our Suffolk game. A hole in the middle is necessary. In Norfolk, Holloway (_Dict. Prov._) says that nine round holes are made in the ground, and a ball aimed at them from a certain distance. A second game is played with a board having nine holes, through one of which the ball must pass. Nares quotes several authors to show the antiquity of the game.
In confirmation of this being a representation of an old funeral ceremony, it may be pointed out that the action of turning backwards during the singing of the dirge is also represented in the curious funeral ceremony called Dish-a-loof, which is described in Henderson s _Folk-lore of the Northern Counties_, p. 53. Henderson s words are: All the attendants, going out of the room, return into it backwards, repeating this rhyme of saining. The additional ceremony of marriage in four of the games is clearly an interpolation, which may have arisen from the custom of playing love and marriage games at funerals and during the watching with the corpse, or may be a mere transition to the more pleasant task of love-making as the basis of a game. The Derbyshire incident (No. 24) may indicate indeed that the funeral is that of a young bride, and in that case the tendency to make the game wholly a marriage game is accounted for. The decay which has set in is apparent by the evident attempt to alter from green gravel to green grover and yellow gravel (Nos. 4 and 5), and to introduce pen and black ink (No. 17). The addition of the incongruous elements from other games (Nos.
When a trick is won, a beer-soaked finger wipes out the centre of a cross, and reduces its value to four. Successive cancellings of the remaining arms of the cross as tricks are taken gradually reduce it to nothing, and the player who is last to wipe out his third cross pays for the beer. No player is allowed to look at his cards until the trump is turned, and the dealer gives the word of command: “Auf.” The seven of diamonds is always the second-best card of the trump suit, ranking next below the ace. If it is turned up, the dealer turns up the next card for a trump, and when it comes to his turn, he can take both cards into his hand, discarding others in their place. If the dealer passes, the eldest hand may take up the trump. If only two declare to play, a trump must be led for the first trick; if three play, trumps must be led twice; if four play, three times. If the leader has no trump, he must lead his smallest card, face downward, which calls for a trump from such of the other players as have one. All penalties are made by adding fresh crosses to the delinquent’s score. LOO, OR DIVISION LOO.
So the fight wears on. Guns are lost or won, hills or villages stormed or held; suddenly it grows clear that the scales are tilting beyond recovery, and the loser has nothing left but to contrive how he may get to the back line and safety with the vestiges of his command.... But let me, before I go on to tell of actual battles and campaigns, give here a summary of our essential rules. III THE RULES HERE, then, are the rules of the perfect battle-game as we play it in an ordinary room. THE COUNTRY (1) The Country must be arranged by one player, who, failing any other agreement, shall be selected by the toss of a coin. (2) The other player shall then choose which side of the field he will fight from. (3) The Country must be disturbed as little as possible in each move.
Playing high cards to the best advantage, so as to secure the best results from such combinations as may be held. This is the basis of all _=systems of leading=_. 2nd. Leading from the longest suit, in order that higher cards may be forced out of the way of smaller ones, leaving the smaller ones “established,” or good for tricks after the adverse trumps are exhausted. This is called the _=long-suit game=_. 3rd. Trumping good cards played by the adversaries. This is called _=ruffing=_. When two partners each trump a different suit, it is called a _=cross-ruff=_, or _=saw=_. 4th.
The winner of the first trick leads for the next, and so on, until all the cards have been played, or the game is acknowledged as won or lost, and abandoned. In a Grand, if a Jack is led, players must follow suit with the other Jacks, they being trumps. _=Abandoned Hands.=_ If the single player finds he has overbid himself, or sees that he cannot make as good a game as bid, he may abandon his hand to save himself from being made schneider or schwarz, provided he does so before he plays to the second trick. A Solo cannot be abandoned in this manner, as the rule is made only to allow a player to get off cheaply who has been unlucky in finding nothing in the Skat to suit his hand. For instance: A player has risked a Tourné with a missing suit, and turns up that suit. He can abandon his hand at once, losing his bid or the next higher game, but escaping schneider. _=Irregularities in the Hands.=_ If, during the play of a hand, any person is found to have too many or too few cards, the others having their right number, it is evident that there has been no misdeal if the pack is perfect and there are two cards in the Skat. If the player in error has too few cards, probably from having dropped one on the floor, or having played two cards to the same trick, he loses in any case, but the adversary may demand to have the hand played out in order to try for schneider or schwarz, and the last trick, with the missing card, must be considered as having been won by the side not in fault.
If two or more primes are shown, the one with the highest number of pips wins. If this is still a tie, the elder hand wins. _=A Sequence=_ is a bobtail straight flush; that is, three of the four cards are in sequence, such as the 2, 3 and 4 of spades, with an odd card, such as a 9. This is a better combination than a prime, and the holder receives _=three counters=_ from each player. In case of ties, the highest sequence wins. If the sequence flush is one of four cards, it is a doublet. _=A Tricon=_, or three of a kind, is better than a straight, and entitles the holder to _=four counters=_ from each of the other players. Pairs have no value. _=A Flush=_ is four cards of the same suit, not necessarily in sequence, and is better than a tricon. The holder is paid _=five counters=_ by each of the other players, in addition to winning the pool.
If the Ace is accompanied by other honours, such as the Queen or Jack, it is better to avoid opening the suit, unless you have five or more cards of it. But if you do lead a suit headed by the Ace, _=without the King=_, be sure that you lead the Ace, when playing against a trump declaration, or you may never make it. All such combinations as the following should be avoided, if possible, as more can be made out of them by letting them alone:-- [Illustration: 🃑 🃝 🃚 🃔 | 🃞 🃛 🃘 🃔 🂱 🂻 🂺 🂴 | 🂽 🂻 🂶 🂴 🂮 🂨 🂧 🂤 | 🂫 🂪 🂩 🂤 🃍 🃆 🃅 🃄 | 🃊 🃉 🃈 🃄 ] But with three honours, A Q J, the Ace should be led. _=Rules for Leading Short Suits.=_ It will sometimes happen that the only four-card suit in the leader’s hand will be trumps or a suit headed by honours not in sequence, which it is not desirable to lead. In such cases, if there is no high-card combination in any of the short suits, it is usual to lead the highest card, unless it is an Ace or King. Many good players will not lead the Queen from a three-card suit, unless it is accompanied by the Jack. All such leads are called _=forced=_, and are intended to assist the partner, by playing cards which may strengthen him, although of no use to the leader. The best card should be led from any such combinations as the following:-- [Illustration: 🃝 🃛 🃖 | 🃊 🃉 🃄 🃋 🃊 🃅 | 🃙 🃘 🃔 🂫 🂥 🂣 | 🂷 🂶 🂴 ] _=Small-card Leads.=_ If the suit selected for the lead does not contain any combination of high cards from which it would be right to lead a high card, good players make it a rule to begin with the fourth-best, counting from the top of the suit.
Five tricks; or eight with a partner, in belle. _=Simple in belle=_. Six tricks solo, in any suit. _=Petite independence=_. Little misère. _=Petite misère=_. Eight tricks solo in any suit. _=Grand independence=_. Grand misère. _=Grand misère=_, or _=misère sans ecart=_.
If even, a dummy must be put in; but as that is objectionable in a social gathering, it is better to adopt one of the two systems following, unless half the number of tables is an odd number, when the method already described may be used. _=1st Method.=_ Some table in the series, which must not be either the first or the last, deals no original hands, but overplays all the hands coming from the other tables to the East of it. The four players sit still, taking no part in the progression; thus obliging those whose turn it would be to play at their table to pass on to the next. _=2nd Method.=_ Each gentleman should carefully note the number of the hand originally dealt at the table from which he starts. He progresses until he meets this hand again. The first to observe this should give notice to the company by a bell tap, as all the gentlemen must meet their original hands at the same time. Instead of stopping at the table at which this tray is encountered, all the gentlemen move on to the next, leaving the trays as they are. This skip enables each to finish the round without playing any of the hands twice.
Poem._ Mr. Emslie says he knows it under the name of Baste the Bear in London, and Patterson (_Antrim and Down Glossary_) mentions a game similarly named. It is played at Marlborough under the name of Tom Tuff. --H. S. May. See Doncaster Cherries. Bag o Malt A bag o malt, a bag o salt, Ten tens a hundred. --Northall s _English Folk Rhymes_, p.
44. A declaration of a greater number of tricks in a suit of lower value, which equals the last declaration in value of points, is a higher declaration; _e.g._, a declaration of “three spades” is higher than “one club.” 45. A player in his turn may overbid the previous adverse declaration any number of times, and may also overbid his partner, but he cannot overbid his own declaration which has been passed by the three others. 46. The player who makes the final declaration[9] must play the combined hands, his partner becoming dummy, unless the suit or no trump finally declared was bid by the partner before it was called by the final declarer, in which case the partner, no matter what bids have intervened, must play the combined hands. 47. When the player of the two hands (hereinafter termed “the declarer”) wins at least as many tricks as he declared, he scores the full value of the tricks won (see Law 3).
I looked across the table and grinned at Fowler Smythe. His scowl had an awful lot of forehead to work on. What the devil! I could read his lips say over the racket. But Barney, the stick-man who d felt my Blackout, caught on a lot quicker. I was about to freeze him with a clamp on his thyroid. It s just as effective as wrapping your fingers around the throat. But Pheola upset the apple cart. She grabbed my right arm, so newly powerful. No, Billy Joe! she cried. I _don t_ want to die! Who s dying? I snapped.
These 12 points can be made by winning six by cards with spades for trumps; three by cards with clubs; or two by cards with diamonds or hearts. But if the hand can be played without a trump, the odd trick wins the game. It is hardly necessary to say that a player would be very foolish to engage himself to win six by cards if the odd trick would equally answer his purpose; nor would he undertake to win three by cards with clubs for trumps, if he had as good a chance of making two by cards with diamonds or hearts. In other words, the player should not make the trump which promises the greatest number of tricks, but should select that which will yield the largest number of points. It is for this reason that every good player first considers the advisability of making it “no-trump,” and if he thinks that injudicious, hearts or diamonds, leaving the black suits as a last resort. It is the custom invariably to make it no-trump with three Aces, unless the hand is strong enough for a heart make, or holds great honour value in red. In estimating the probabilities of trick-taking, it is usual to count the partner for three tricks on the average. Conservative players do not depend on him for more than two. Generally speaking, the maker of the trump should have four pretty certain tricks in his own hand. The dealer should seldom announce a black trump unless he has a certainty of the game in his own hand, without any assistance from his partner, or unless he has such a poor hand that he must make it a “defensive spade.
Smythe would have killed me with that dart gun of his. _You_ were my vigorish! We rode the copter together to the airport. Old Grand Master Maragon would sneer out of the other side of his face when I brought Pheola to him. He couldn t keep _her_ from PC training. She _had_ it. Tell me, I asked her. Can you always tell what I m going to do next? I reckon, she said. If I think hard about it. But you can t _control_ what I m going to do next, can you? I grinned. I wonder, she said.
=_ As soon as any player can show down his hand, the game is at an end. He lays out his combinations and pushes them aside. Then he announces the pip value of his deadwood, after discarding a card in place of the one drawn. Suppose he draws the seven of hearts, and lays down the 6 7 8 9 of that suit; J Q K of clubs; discards the king of spades and leaves two deuces and a five for his deadwood. That is nine points. Each of the other players in turn to the left then lays down his hand and pushes aside all combinations held. If the pip value of his deadwood is more than that of the player calling for the show-down, he pays the difference. If any player has less than the caller, then he is the winner, and each one at the table pays him, the caller paying him double as a penalty. In case of ties for low, they divide the losses of the others. POKER GIN.
BANFFSHIRE-- Duthil, Keith, Strathspey Rev. W. Gregor. ELGIN-- Fochabers Rev. W. Gregor. KIRKCUDBRIGHT-- Auchencairn Prof. A. C. Haddon.
2--return with stone on your eye. Throw into No. 3--return with stone in your palm. Throw into No. 4--return with stone on your head. Throw into No. 5--return with stone on your back. In each case, upon reaching the goal without dropping it, throw up and catch it as it falls. In the second plan (fig. 2) the game is:--Throw stone into No.