=_ 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. With marked edges, the pone can cut down to a card of any desired denomination. Some audacious gamblers make it a rule to get a starter by simply removing the top card and turning up the next one. It is needless to say that the second card has been carefully pre-arranged. Any person who fingers the pack longer than necessary in cutting starters, or who cuts sometimes by the edge and sometimes by the side, will bear watching. Marked cards and second dealing are great weapons in a game where so much depends on a knowledge of the adversary’s hand, and on securing good counting cards for yourself. _=SUGGESTIONS FOR GOOD PLAY.=_ In the six-card game the hand is more valuable than the crib, because you know what it contains, whereas the crib is largely speculative.
Beginners usually have some difficulty in following the moves of the Knights, because it frequently happens that the same square can be reached by either of them. The Bishops cannot be confused in this way, because they never change the colour of the square they stand upon. In some sets of chessmen the Knights are distinguished by putting a small crown on the King’s Knight, but this is never done in the regulation Staunton model. The beginner will find it very convenient, when following out the play of published games, to screw off the bottom of one white and one black Knight, and to exchange the bases. The white King’s Knight will then have a black base, and the black King’s Knight will have a white base, and they can be easily identified at any period of the game. _=GERMAN NOTATION.=_ Many of our standard chess books, and some of the best edited chess columns, are in German, and the student should be familiar with the German notation, which is much simpler than the English. The white men are always considered as the side nearer the player; the vertical columns are designated from left to right by the letters a b c d e f g h; and the horizontal rows by the numbers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8, beginning at the bottom, or white side. The pieces are designated by one capital letter only, as follows:-- K for König, or King. D for Dame, or Queen.
If, whilst dealing, a card be exposed by the dealer or his partner, should neither of the adversaries have touched the cards, the latter can claim a new deal; a card exposed by either adversary gives that claim to the dealer, provided that his partner has not touched a card; if a new deal does not take place, the exposed card cannot be called. 39. If, during dealing, a player touch any of his cards, the adversaries may do the same, without losing their privilege of claiming a new deal, should chance give them such option. 40. If, in dealing, one of the last cards be exposed, and the dealer turn up the trump before there is reasonable time for his adversaries to decide as to a fresh deal, they do not thereby lose their privilege. 41. If a player, whilst dealing, look at the trump card, his adversaries have a right to see it, and may exact a new deal. 42. If a player take into the hand dealt to him a card belonging to the other pack, the adversaries, on discovery of the error, may decide whether they will have a fresh deal or not. A MISDEAL.
=_ Euchre may be played by any number of persons from two to seven; but in the seven-handed game the full pack of fifty-three cards is used. Whatever the number of players, they cut for positions at the table, for partners, and for the deal. _=CUTTING.=_ The cards are usually spread, face down, and each candidate for play draws a card. [Illustration: SPREADING THE PACK.] When _=two=_ or _=three=_ play, the lowest cut has the choice of seats, and takes the first deal. When _=four=_ play, they cut for partners; the two highest pairing against the two lowest. The lowest has the choice of seats, and deals the first hand. When _=five=_ or _=seven=_ play, they have the choice of seats in their order, the lowest first, and the lowest cut deals. When _=six=_ play, the three lowest are partners against the three highest, the lowest cut having the choice of seats, and the first deal.
The dealer then distributes the cards four at a time for three rounds, giving to his adversary first, and then to himself. The twenty-fifth card is turned up for the trump. If this card is a Nine, the dealer claims _=dix=_, and counts ten for it immediately. The trump card is laid aside, and the remainder of the pack, which is called the _=stock=_, or _=talon=_, is slightly spread, to facilitate the process of drawing cards from it, and to be sure that none of the cards remaining in the stock are exposed. The trump is usually placed face up under the last card of the stock. In _=Sixty-four-card Binocle=_, the Sevens and Eights are added to the pack. There are then two ways to play: If eight cards are dealt to each player, the game is simply Bézique, except for some minor details relating to the combinations and their value. These are usually disregarded, and the regular game of Bézique is played. If twelve cards are dealt to each player, the game is the same as the one about to be described, but with eight cards added to the pack, and the Seven taking the place of the Nine for dix. _=Misdealing.
In America, the last two items are usually reduced, and are given as follows:-- | | ♣♠ | ♡ | ♢ | | Slam, thirteen tricks | | 250 | 300 | 350 | | Spread slam | | 350 | 400 | 450 | | ----------------------+--------+-----+-----+-----+---------+ Why a player should be paid more for spreads than for eleven or twelve tricks while the trick bid outranks the spreads, is difficult to understand; but we have no authority to change the tables. Misère Partout wins nothing but the pool. If partners play, it is usual for the losers to pay the adversaries on their right; or, if partners sit together, to pay the adversary sitting next. _=THE POOL.=_ Besides the white counters won and lost by the players individually, the successful player takes the pool. Successful partners divide it equally, regardless of the number of tricks bid or taken by each. If the partners fail, they must contribute to the pool an amount equal to that which they pay to one adversary. For instance: A calls seven diamonds, and asks for a partner. Y accepts him, and the pair win only nine tricks. Each pays 135 counters to the adversary sitting next him, and then they make up 135 more between them for the pool.
_=SUGGESTIONS FOR GOOD PLAY.=_ Volumes might be written for the guidance of the poker player without improving his game a particle, unless he possesses at least one of four qualifications: Control over his features and actions; judgment of human nature; courage; and patience. The man whose face or manner betrays the nature of his hand, or the effect of an opponent’s bet or raise, will find everyone to beat his weak hands, and no one to call his strong ones. Unless he is a fair judge of human nature he will never be able to estimate the strength or peculiarities of the players to whom he is opposed, and will fail to distinguish a bluff from an ambuscade. Without courage he cannot reap the full benefit of his good hands; and without patience he cannot save his money in the time of adversity. Of one thing every player may rest assured, and that is that Poker cannot be played by mathematical formulas. 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.
=_ The second round of spades betrays A’s dangerous suit to the other players. _=7th Trick.=_ A must risk the King and 3 being divided, for if they are in one hand nothing will save him. Z keeps ♢9 and ♣Q in order to be sure of getting a lead, as he is the only player who can load A by putting him in on spades at the end making him take in his own hearts. _=8th Trick.=_ B cannot risk playing the high clubs while there is any chance for him to win the pool. He can count A to be safe in diamonds, with two hearts and two spades. _=10th Trick.=_ A clears his hand of the very dangerous spade before leading his tenace in diamonds. _=12th Trick.
She puppy-dogged behind me to the crap table I had decided needed my attention. It was crowded, but there s always room for one more sucker. And still one more, for the sniffly girl with the hair-colored hair pressed in against my useless right arm when I elbowed my way in between the gamblers, directly across from the dealers. Billy Joe! she said, just loud enough to hear over the chanting of the dealers and the excited chatter of the dice players. Billy Joe! What a corn-ball routine! * * * * * I took stock before beginning to lose my stack of chips. There were more than twenty gamblers of both sexes pressed up against the green baize of the crap layout. Three stick-men in black aprons that marked them for dealers were working on the other side or the table. We had at least one dealer too many for the crowd. That screamed out loud the table was having trouble. Big gambling layouts know within minutes if a table is not making its vigorish.