-+---+-.-+ | | . | | . | | . | | . | +---+-.-+---+-.-+---+-.-+---+-.-+ | | .
Even if a player has straddled the blind, he must still make the first bet after the draw, because he straddled of his own free will, and knew at the time that the only advantage the straddle would give him was the last say as to whether or not he would make good his ante and draw cards. If the player next to the age has passed out before the draw, the next player to the left who still holds cards must make the first bet. The player whose turn it is to bet must either do so, or throw his hand face downward in front of the player whose turn it will be to deal next. If he bets, he can put up any amount from one white counter to the limit, two blues. It then becomes the turn of the player next on his left who still holds cards to abdicate, better, or call. If he calls, he does so by placing in the pool an amount equal to that staked by the last player, and it then becomes the turn of the next player on the left to say what he will do. But if he goes better, he adds to the amount staked by the player on his right any further sum he sees fit, within the limit of two blues. Each player in turn has the same privilege, the age having the last say. Suppose five play, and that A has the age. B has straddled, and all but the dealer have made good the ante and drawn cards.
For example: Holding A Q 3 of a suit led by the partner, to play Q is a finesse against fourth hand having the King. Each of these systems has its advantages, and almost every hand will offer opportunities for practice in all of them. The most important thing to impress on the beginner is that whist cannot be played by machinery. Some authorities would have us believe that certain theories alone are sound; that certain systems of play alone are good; and that if one will persevere in following certain precepts, in such matters as leading, management of trumps, etc., that the result will be more than average success at the whist table. Nothing can be further from the truth. As in all other matters largely controlled by chance, there is no system, as a system, which will win at whist. One cannot succeed by slavish adherence to either the long or the short-suit game; by the invariable giving of information, or the continual playing of false cards. The true elements of success in whist lie in the happy combination of all the resources of long and short suits, of finesse and tenace, of candour and deception, continually adjusted to varying circumstances, so as to result in the adversaries’ losing tricks. _=HOW TO STUDY WHIST.
3), and having thrown the handkerchief to one of the boys, she went off to her own side among the girls, and was pursued by the chosen boy (fig. 4). When all were thus paired, they formed into line, facing each other, and danced somewhat like the country dance of Sir Roger. [Illustration: Fig. 1.] [Illustration: Fig. 2.] [Illustration: Fig. 3.] [Illustration: Fig.
If A plays the 4-0 on the blank end, he will have to play again with his 4-5; but if he plays it on the 4 end he blocks himself. Whether to block the game or not depends on the probable comparative value of the dominoes held by A and B. If A blocks the game by making both ends blank, both players show their remaining dominoes, and the one with the greater number of pips loses as many points as he has pips in excess of the other player. In order to judge whether to block or play, it should be remembered that as there are 147 pips in the entire set, the average value of each domino will be 5¼. If A blocks the game, he will have 17 pips left in his hand, which is above the average value of two dominoes; but his adversary will have four dominoes to count, and it is probable that they will be worth about 21 points. The fact that the seven dominoes already played are 13 pips above the average will reduce the probable value of B’s dominoes to about 20. On the other hand, A knows that B has no blanks, which would slightly increase the weight of B’s dominoes. If A blocks the game, as he should do with the odds in his favour, he will win 7 points, the difference between his 17 and B’s 24. If he does not block, he must follow the 4-0 with the 5-4. This will bring in B’s ace suit, bringing him back to his long suit of 6’s.
| -- | -- | -- | |32.| -- | -- | -- | +---+----------------------+----------------------+----------------------+ +---+----------------------+----------------------+ |No.| Forest of Dean. | Wakefield. | +---+----------------------+----------------------+ | 1.| -- | -- | | 2.|Round the green |Around the green | | |gravel. |gravill. | | 3.| -- | -- | | 4.
+-----+ +-----+ +-----+ | | | | | | +------+ | | | | | | |Trump.| | | | | | | +------+ +-----+ +-----+ +-----+ ] When three play, the cards are dealt in much the same manner; two separate hands of six cards being given to each player. When four, five, six, seven, or eight play, the cards are dealt in rotation from left to right until the pack is exhausted, the last card being turned up for the trump. When five or seven play, either the spade 6 must be thrown out of the pack, or the thirty-sixth card must be shown, after the dealer has turned the thirty-fifth for the trump. When eight play, all four sixes are deleted. The deal passes to the left, each player dealing in turn until the game is finished. The general rules with regard to irregularities in the deal are the same as at Whist. _=STAKES.=_ When stakes are played for, they are for so much a game. Rubbers are not played.
_=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. No complaint respecting an adversary’s time can be considered, unless this rule be strictly complied with. But nothing herein is intended to affect the penalty for exceeding the time limit as registered. _=Abandoning the Game.=_ If either player abandon the game by quitting the table in anger, or in any otherwise offensive manner; or by momentarily resigning the game; or refuses to abide by the decision of the Umpire, the game must be scored against him. If a player absent himself from the table, or manifestly ceases to consider his game, when it is his turn to move, the time so consumed shall, in every case, be registered against him. _=Disturbance.=_ Any player wilfully disturbing his adversary shall be admonished; and if such disturbance be repeated, the game shall be declared lost by the player so offending, provided the player disturbed then appeals to the Umpire.
_=19.=_ Should the striker [whose ball is in hand], in playing up the table on a ball or balls in baulk, either by accident or design, strike one of them [with his own ball] without first going out of baulk, his opponent may have the balls replaced, score a miss, and follow on; or may cause the striker to play again, or may claim a foul, and have the red spotted and the balls broken again. _=20.=_ The striker, when in hand, may not play at a cushion within the baulk (except by going first up the table) so as to hit balls that are within or without the line. _=21.=_ If in hand, and in the act of playing, the striker shall move his ball with insufficient strength to take it out of baulk, it shall be counted as a miss to the opponent, who, however, may oblige him to replace his ball and play again. [Failing to play out of baulk, the player may be compelled to play his stroke over again.] _=22.=_ If in playing a pushing stroke the striker pushes more than once it is unfair, and any score he may make does not count. His opponent follows by breaking the balls.
Beginning on his left, the dealer distributes four cards to each player in two rounds of two at a time, giving two to the table just before helping himself in each round. No trump is turned, and the remainder of the pack is left face downward on the dealer’s left. The four cards dealt to the table are then turned face up, and the play begins. After the four cards given to each person have all been played, the dealer takes up the remainder of the pack, and without any further shuffling or cutting, deals four more cards to each player, two at a time, but gives none to the table. These four having been played, four more are dealt in the same manner, and so on, until the pack is exhausted, after which the deal passes to the left in regular rotation. _=Irregularities in the Deal.=_ If the pack is proved to be imperfect, or if a card is found faced in the pack there must be a fresh deal by the same dealer. If a player deals out of turn, he must be stopped before the cards on the table are turned face upward. A misdeal loses the deal. It is a misdeal if the pack has not been cut, or if the cards are shuffled after the pack has been properly cut; or if the dealer deals a card incorrectly, and fails to remedy it before dealing to the next player; or if he deals too many or too few cards to any player or to the table.
A similar game to this is played at Sporle, Norfolk (Miss Matthews). It is there called Long Tag. The players stand in line behind one another, and an odd one takes her place somewhere near the front; at a given signal, such as clapping of hands, the two at the back separate and try to meet again in front before the one on the watch can catch them; they may run where they please, and when one is caught that one becomes the one out. See French Jackie. Loup the Bullocks Young men go out to a green meadow, and there on all-fours plant themselves in a row about two yards distant from each other. Then he who is stationed farthest back in the bullock rank starts up and leaps over the other bullocks before him, by laying his hands on each of their backs; and when he gets over the last one leans down himself as before, whilst all the others, in rotation, follow his example; then he starts and leaps again. I have sometimes thought that we (the Scotch) have borrowed this recreation from our neighbours of the Green Isle, as at their wakes they have a play much of the same kind, which they call Riding Father Doud. One of the wakers takes a stool in his hand, another mounts that one s back, then Father Doud begins rearing and plunging, and if he unhorses his rider with a dash he does well. There is another play (at these wakes) called Kicking the Brogue, which is even ruder than Riding Father Doud, and a third one called Scuddieloof. --Mactaggart s _Gallovidian Encyclopædia_.
I had a little cat, it shan t scratch you, Shan t scratch you, nor you, nor you. I wrote a letter to my love, and on the way I dropped it. And one of you have picked it up and put it in your pocket. It wasn t you, it wasn t you, nor you, nor you, but it was _you_. --London (A. B. Gomme). XIV. I have a little dog and it lives in my pocket. It shan t bite you, &c.
_=6.=_ If he plays with the wrong ball, except as provided in foregoing Law 10. _=7.=_ If the player touches the cue-ball more than once in any way, or hinders or accelerates it in any other way than by a legitimate stroke of the cue; or if, during a stroke or after it, he in any way touches, hinders, or accelerates an object-ball, except by the one stroke of the cue-ball to which he is entitled. _=8.=_ As touching any ball _in any way_ is a stroke, a second touch is a foul. _=9.=_ It is a foul against the striker if any ball be disturbed, hastened, or hindered by an opponent or any one but himself, whether the ball or balls are at rest while he is aiming or striking, in motion after he has struck, or at rest again after he has struck, and pending his again taking aim. _=10.=_ Should a ball that has once come to a standstill move without apparent cause, while the player is preparing to strike, it shall be replaced.
--Isle of Man (A. W. Moore). These verses and the game are now quite forgotten, both in English and Manx. It was sung by children dancing round in a ring. Clowt-clowt A kinde of playe called clowt-clowt, to beare about, or my hen hath layd. --_Nomenclator_, p. 299. Clubby A youthful game something like Doddart. --Brockett s _North Country Words_.
Mr. Newell (_Games_, p. 55) prints words and tune of a song which is very similar to that ballad, and he mentions the fact that he has seen it played as a round by the Arabs of the street. He considers it to be an old English song which has been fitted for a ring game by the addition of a verse. See Lady on Yonder Hill. Lady on Yonder Hill I. Yonder stands a lovely lady, Whom she be I do not know; I ll go court her for my beauty, Whether she say me yea or nay. Madam, to thee I humbly bow and bend. Sir, I take thee not to be my friend. Oh, if the good fairy doesn t come I shall die.
477. Cope (_Hampshire Glossary_) calls the game I spy I. Lowsley (_Berkshire Glossary_) says, In playing this game, the seeker has to call out I spy! to the one he finds before he may start for home. It is called Hy Spy in Patterson s _Antrim and Down Glossary_; Evans _Leicestershire Glossary_, Hide and Wink; Barnes _Dorset Glossary_, Hidy Buck. In Pegge s _Alphabet of Kenticisms_ the game is given as Hide and Fox. _Cf._ Hide Fox, and all after, _i.e._, let the fox hide and the others go to seek him; Hamlet, iv. 2, 32.
This B does with the two long spades, the caller being marked with the ace and others on the second trick. Then Z allows B to discard his high diamonds on the clubs. SCOTCH WHIST, OR CATCH THE TEN. _=CARDS.=_ Scotch Whist is played with a pack of 36 cards, which rank in plain suits, A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6; the Ace being highest both in play and in cutting. In the trump suit the Jack is the best card, the order being, J A K Q 10 9 8 7 6. _=MARKERS.=_ There are no suitable counters for Scotch Whist, and the score is usually kept on a sheet of paper. _=PLAYERS.=_ Any number from two to eight may play.
A player exposing more than one card must cut again. _=Stakes.=_ The game is played for so much a point. The largest winning or loss for the single player is 140, but such an amount is almost impossible, and the average payments are 10 or 20. _=Dealing.=_ The cards are presented to the pone to be cut, and at least four must be left in each packet. The dealer then distributes them to the players four at a time, until each has twelve, four remaining in the stock or talon, which is left upon the table face down. No trump is turned. The deal passes to the left. There are no misdeals.
=_ 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. To each of the other declarations replies are made in the same manner, except that fours and trios cannot be “equal.
The best method of avoiding this is for each player, as the game proceeds, to announce and claim the lowest trump which has so far appeared, and instead of giving it to the current trick, to leave it turned face up in front of him if it is of no counting value. For instance: Four are playing, and a round of trumps comes out, the six being the lowest. The player holding it announces: “Six for Low,” and keeps the card face up in front of him until some smaller trump appears. It often happens that a player holds a 7 or 8, and having no idea that it will be Low, takes no notice of it. At the end of the hand it is found that both the 7 and 8 are out, the 7 being Low, and the holders of those two cards get into an argument as to which card each of them held. _=SCORING.=_ The last card played, the various points for High, Low, Jack, (if in play), and the Game are claimed, and the player or side holding them puts a counter in the pool for each. The side first getting rid of its seven counters wins the game. If both sides make points enough to win the game on the same deal, High goes out first, then Low, then Jack, and then Game. As already noticed, one card may be both High and Low; the Jack may be High, Low, Jack; and it is even possible, if there is no other trump or counting card in play, for the Jack to be High, Low, Jack, and the Game.
(Miss M. Kimber). I. London Bridge is broken down, Grant said the little bee,[4] London Bridge is broken down, Where I d be. Stones and lime will build it up, Grant said the little bee, Stones and lime will build it up, Where I d be. Get a man to watch all night, Grant said the little bee, Get a man to watch all night, Where I d be. Perhaps that man might fall asleep, Grant said the little bee, Perhaps that man might fall asleep, Where I d be. Get a dog to watch all night, Grant said the little bee, Get a dog to watch all night, Where I d be. If that dog should run away, Grant said the little bee, If that dog should run away, Where I d be. Give that dog a bone to pick, Grant said the little bee, Give that dog a bone to pick, Where I d be.
In the ring, love, in the ring, love, In the ring, love, Farewell! --Long Eaton, Nottinghamshire (Miss Youngman). XII. Elizabella, Farewell! Last night as we parted She left me broken-hearted, And on a green mountain She looked like a dove. Choose your loved one, Choose your loved one, Choose your loved one, Farewell! Go to church, love, Farewell! Say your prayers, love, Farewell! In the ring, love, Farewell! Shake hands, loves, Shake hands, loves, Farewell! Give a kiss, loves, Give a kiss, loves, Farewell! --Liphook, Hants (Miss Fowler). XIII. Last night when we parted She was nigh broken-hearted, To-morrow we gather And a bright welcome be. Then give me your hand, love, Your hand, love, your hand, love, Then give me your hand, love, Isabella for me. Isabella, Isabella, Isabella for me. --North Derbyshire (S. O.