There are thirty-two cards in the Écarté pack, of which eight are trumps, and one of these is always turned up. The turn-up and the player’s hand give us six cards which are known, and leave twenty-six unknown. Of these unknown cards the dealer holds five, and he may get these five in 65,780 different ways. The theory of the jeux de règle is that there are only a certain number of those ways which will give him two or more trumps. If the player holds one trump, the odds against the dealer’s holding two or more are 44,574 to 21,206; or a little more than 2 to 1. If the player holds two trumps, the odds against the dealer’s holding two or more are 50,274 to 15,506; or more than 3 to 1. It is therefore evident that any hand which is certain to win three tricks if the dealer has not two trumps, has odds of two to one in its favour, and all such hands are called jeux de règle. 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.
_=CARDS.=_ Solo Whist is played with a full pack of fifty-two cards, which rank as at Whist, both for cutting and playing. Two packs are generally used, the one being shuffled while the other is dealt. _=MARKERS=_ are not used in Solo Whist, every hand being a complete game in itself, which is immediately settled for in counters representing money. At the beginning of the game each player should be provided with an equal number of these counters. They are usually white and red, the red being worth five times as much as the white. Twenty white and sixteen red is the usual allotment to each player when the game begins. Some one player should be the banker, to sell and redeem all counters. _=PLAYERS.=_ Solo Whist is played by four persons.
H. Patterson). II. London Bridge is broken down, Dance o er my lady lee, London Bridge is broken down, With a gay lady. How shall we build it up again? Dance o er my lady lee, How shall we build it up again? With a gay lady. Silver and gold will be stole away, Dance o er my lady lee, Silver and gold will be stole away, With a gay lady. Build it up with iron and steel, Dance o er my lady lee, Build it up with iron and steel, With a gay lady. Iron and steel will bend and bow, Dance o er my lady lee, Iron and steel will bend and bow, With a gay lady. Build it up with wood and clay, Dance o er my lady lee, Build it up with wood and clay, With a gay lady. Wood and clay will wash away, Dance o er my lady lee, Wood and clay will wash away, With a gay lady.
The _=Laws=_ vary so little from those used in the regular game of Boston that it is not necessary to give an additional code, either for Fontainbleau or for French Boston, which follows. FRENCH BOSTON. _=CARDS.=_ French Boston is played with a full pack of fifty-two cards, which rank as at Whist, both for cutting and playing; except that the diamond Jack is always the best trump unless diamonds are turned up, in which case the heart Jack becomes the best trump, and the diamond Jack ranks next below the diamond Queen. _=COUNTERS=_ are used as in Boston, their value being a matter of agreement before play begins. _=THE POOL=_ is made up by the dealer’s contributing ten counters for the first eight rounds, and twenty for the last two. It is increased from time to time by penalties, and is won or lost by the players, just as in Boston. There is no limit to the pool. If any player objects to dividing it at the end of the game, it must be played for until some player wins it. _=PLAYERS.
The same rule applies to the pone if he takes into his discards an unseen card of the stock. _=Irregular Discards.=_ If a player discards less cards than he intended, it is too late to remedy the error if he has touched the stock. If he discards too many cards, as the dealer frequently will by laying out five instead of three, he may take them back if he has not touched those in the stock, but if he touches any card in the stock, he must play with the short hand if there are not enough cards left in the stock to make his hand up to twelve. _=Irregular Drawing.=_ If the pone draws one of the three cards which properly belong to the dealer, he loses the game; and if the dealer draws any of the first five, before the pone has announced that he leaves them, the dealer loses the game. The dealer has no right to touch any part of the stock until the pone has discarded and drawn; but if the pone draws without making any announcement about leaving cards, the dealer has a right to assume that five cards have been taken, and that only three remain in the stock. For instance: The pone discards five cards, but draws four only, without saying anything. The dealer proceeds to discard and draw. He has of course taken one of the pone’s cards, but it is too late to remedy the error or claim a penalty, and the pone must play with eleven cards.
B bids two royals as he can stop the hearts twice and ruff the clubs. Z cannot pursue the hearts, but shows his supporting minor suit, bidding three diamonds. This says to Y, “Go no trumps if you can stop the spades.” When A passes, having bid his hand on the first round, Y goes two no trumps and makes game. B leads the top of his partner’s declared suit, and A leads a fourth round, hoping to get in with the club jack. At tricks 8 and 9, B signals control in hearts. A keeps the protection in clubs to the end and saves a trick by it. Y keeps two clubs in dummy, so that if club is led, he will have one to return after he has made his diamonds. In the second example, they are playing nullos, Y declaring. The points in the play are holding the spade queen, so as to lead a diamond or a spade at trick 6.
If any player can show triplets, he receives one white counter from each of the other players, and the hands are then abandoned. If more than one triplet is shown, the inferior does not pay the higher. If no triplet is shown, the cards are redealt. A misdeal does not lose the deal. The deal passes to the right; but should the player whose turn it is to deal have lost everything on the previous deal, and have just purchased another stake, the deal passes to the player beyond him. If a player withdraws from the table when it is his turn to deal, the deal passes any newcomer who may take his place. _=Betting.=_ 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.
This is the simplest form of Stops, and requires no layout. Any number of players can take part, and a full pack of fifty-two cards is used. The players cut for deal and seats, low having the choice. Ace is low. The players are provided with an equal number of counters, and before the cards are dealt, each places an agreed number in the pool. All the cards are dealt out. If some have more than others it does not matter. The eldest hand begins by playing any card he pleases, and the next player on his left must either play the card next above it, or put one counter in the pool. Only one card is played at a time, and after the sequence has arrived at the King it must be continued with the ace, and go on until the suit is exhausted. The person who plays the thirteenth card of any suit must start another sequence, in any suit and with any card he pleases.
|Stepping up the green |Up and down the green |Tripping up the green | | |grass. |grass. |grass. | | 3.|Thus, and thus, and |This, and that, and | -- | | |thus. |thus. | | | 4.| -- | -- |Dusty, dusty day. | | 5.| -- | -- | -- | | 6.
[Illustration] See Bulliheisle, Wind up the Bush Faggot, Wind up the Watch. Ezzeka Old Ezzeka did one day stand Upon a barrel top; The bung flew out, and all at once It went off with a pop. --Dronfield (S. O. Addy). This game is usually played in a house or schoolroom, by boys and girls. A boy or girl is chosen who is considered to be able to stand a joke. He sits on a chair. A stool is put behind, upon which a boy called Ezzeka stands. Then the other boys and girls in the room sing the lines.
Your stockings are too dirty. I ll take them off. Your feet are dirty. I ll cut them off. The blood will run over the threshold. I ll wrap them up in a blanket. The blood will run through. This enrages the Mother, and she pushes her way into the supposed house, and looks about, and calls her children. She goes to one and says-- This tastes like my Monday. The Witch tells her it s a barrel of pork.
_=Suggestions for Good Play.=_ Beyond the usual qualifications necessary to succeed with any member of the poker family, Bouillotte requires some study of the probable value of the point, which value will vary with the number of players engaged in the coup. For instance: The first player to say, having only 21 in his hand, should ante; but if two other players had already anted, 31, or even 40 would be a doubtful hand. If a bet had been made and met by another player, such a point should generally be laid down. With good cards it is always better for the eldest hand to pass, especially with a brelan, for he will then have an opportunity to judge of the value of the hands against him, and he can raise the bet to his advantage. Good players will not bet on an ace alone, unless the suit is turned up; nor on a point of 21 with a weak card of the turn-up suit. If three play in a pool the point should be very strong to follow beyond the first raise; and if four players are engaged, it is almost a certainty that brelans will be shown. When a player with a brelan has frightened off his opponents with a big bet, it is usual to _=stifle=_ the brelan, as it is considered more to the player’s advantage to leave his adversaries under the impression that he may have been bluffing than to show the hand for the sake of the one white counter to which it entitles him. With three cards of one suit to the King, it is usual to bet high, in order to drive out anything but a brelan. Any player holding ace and another of the suit will of course abandon his hand, as his point is worth only 21 at the most, and the player with three to the King will get the benefit of his cards when the point is counted.
But as its true place as a defensive bid became better understood it soon came into favour. In the nullo there are no honours, and the declarer scores the tricks over the book made by his opponents, which he forces them to take. Many interesting card problems have been built upon the nullo. Toward the end of 1913 still another change seems to have suggested itself to some of the English players who were familiar with the Russian game of vint, and that is to play auction just as it is played up to the point of the lead to the first trick, but that no dummy is exposed, the four players holding up their cards and following suit just as they would at whist. Whether or not this game will ever become as popular as the combination of dealer and dummy, it is difficult to say, but appearances are against it. There seems to be a growing tendency in America to adopt the English rule of cutting out the spade suit at 2 a trick, and making it always a royal spade, worth 9. The dealer is allowed to pass without making a bid, the lowest call being one club. If all pass, the deal goes to the left. BRIDGE. There are two principal varieties of this game; straight bridge, in which the dealer or his partner must make the trump, their opponents having nothing to say about it except to double the value of the tricks.
Han -and-Hail. Hand in and Hand out. Handy-Croopen. Handy Dandy. Hap the Beds. Hard Buttons. Hare and Hounds. Harie Hutcheon. Hark the Robbers. Hats in Holes.
Widow, any extra hand dealt in any game. Wimmeln, G., to bunch the points together; to fatten a trick for the partner. Wimmelfinte, G., leading a card which is calculated to induce the second hand to fatten the trick for his partner. Winning Hazards, pocketing the object ball. Winning Out, a card that wins four times in the same deal at Faro. Yarborough, a hand at Whist containing no card higher than a Nine; the odds against it are 1827 to 1. Younger Hand, the one not the leader in two-handed games. Zange, G.
In the fourth plan (fig. 4) the game is:--Throw stone into No. 1. Pick it up. Hop from No. 1 to No. 8, not touching lines. So successively into Nos. 2, 3, 4, &c. Walk into No.
When the original leader begins with a high card, the Third Hand should play his third-best if he holds four or more; and on the second round his second best, always retaining his fourth-best and any below it. The value of this echo is much disputed, and the adversaries can usually render it ineffective by holding up small cards; a practice very much in vogue with advanced players. _=Low’s Signal.=_ This is the latest system of indicating to the leader the number of cards in his suit held by the Third Hand. With four or more of the suit, the third-best is played to the lead of a high card, or when no attempt is made to win the trick. In retaining the suit, the second-best is led if three or more remain, and on the third round, or in a discard, the highest is played, always retaining the fourth-best and those below it. For instance: With the 8 7 5 2 of a suit which partner leads, the 5 is played to the first round. If the suit is returned, the 7 is played; and next time the 8. Holding only three originally, the lowest is played to the first round, and the higher of two returned, in the usual way. The chief value of this signal is that the return of the lowest of a suit shows absolutely no more, instead of leaving the original leader in doubt as to whether it is the only one, or the lowest of three remaining.
=_ Each of the foregoing games has what is called a unit of value, which is afterward multiplied several times according to the number of Matadores, and whether the game was schneider or schwarz. These unit values are as follows, beginning with the lowest: ---------------+------------------+------------------------- Suits Trumps:--| Jacks Trumps:-- | No Trumps:-- ----+----+-----+------------------+------------------------- |Turn| Solo| Turned Grand 12 | Gucki Nullo 15 ♢ | 5 | 9 | Gucki Grand 16 | ” if played open 30 ♡ | 6 | 10 | Solo Grand 20 | Solo Nullo 20 ♠ | 7 | 11 | Open Grand 24 | ” if played open 40 ♣ | 8 | 12 | Ramsch 20 | Revolution 60 ----+----+-----+------------------+------------------------- When one player takes no trick in a Ramsch, the player with the greater number of points loses 30. If two players take no trick, the loss is 50 points. _=All Guckis lose double if they fail=_, so that if a player announces a Gucki Nullo and loses it, he will lose 30; but if he won it he would get 15 only. If a player has a Gucki Null Ouvert, he must announce that it is to be played open before he touches the skat cards. It is then worth 30 if won; 60 if lost. _=Passt-mir-nicht tournées all lose double if they fail=_, but win the usual number of points if they succeed. _=Multipliers.=_ The foregoing are simply the standard counting values of these various games. In calculating the actual value of a player’s game, in order to see how much he may safely offer in the bidding, and how much he would win if successful in his undertaking, these standard values are multiplied as follows:-- Five classes of games are recognized, beginning with the lowest, in which the player gets the necessary 61 points, but does not make his adversaries schneider.
In Nullos, the game is lost the moment the revoke is discovered. _=Seeing Tricks.=_ The tricks must be kept separate as they are taken in, and any player is allowed to look at the last trick turned and quitted. Any player looking at any other trick but the last may be penalized ten points. _=Playing Ouverts.=_ The rules of the game require Ouverts to be exposed face upward on the table before a card is played. _=SCORING.=_ The score should always be kept by the player sitting on the right of the first dealer. This will mark the rounds. The score sheet should be ruled in vertical columns, one for each player at the table.
Not three milliseconds had elapsed. * * * * * Father Moontree was talking human words and was saying in a voice that moved like cold molasses out of a heavy jar, C-A-P-T-A-I-N. Underhill knew that the sentence was going to be Captain, move fast! The battle would be fought and finished before Father Moontree got through talking. Now, fractions of a millisecond later, the Lady May was directly in line. Here was where the skill and speed of the Partners came in. She could react faster than he. She could see the threat as an immense Rat coming direct at her. She could fire the light-bombs with a discrimination which he might miss. He was connected with her mind, but he could not follow it. His consciousness absorbed the tearing wound inflicted by the alien enemy.
The player holding the best card of that suit must be his partner, but he does not declare himself. When the highest card of the suit asked for falls in play, the partner is disclosed. As the whole pack is not dealt out, it often happens that the ace, or even both ace and king, of the suit called for are in the talon. Should it turn out that the caller has the highest card of the suit himself, he has no partner. When six play, 32 cards are used, and only one remains unknown. When five play, the sevens are thrown out. When four play, the eights are also discarded. If the maker of the trump does not want a partner, he may either say “alone” or he may ask for a suit of which he holds the ace himself. If the maker of the trump and his partner get three tricks, they score 1 point each. If they win all the tricks, they score 3 points each if there are five or six in the game; 2 points if there are not more than four players.
It is a common stratagem to turn it down for a euchre when the dealer is better in the next suit, and has only 2 to go. _=PLAYING ALONE.=_ The dealer has the best chance to get a lone hand; but the eldest hand is more likely to succeed with one, on account of the advantage of the lead. It is an invariable rule for any player to go alone when he has three certain tricks, unless he is 3 up, and can win the game with a march. A lone hand should be played with both bowers and the ace, no matter how worthless the other cards; or with five trumps to the ace without either bower; or two high trumps and three aces in plain suits; or three good trumps and two aces. The theory of this is that while the march might possibly be made with partner’s assistance, if partner has the cards necessary to make a march, the adversaries have little or nothing, and there is a very good chance to make a lone hand if three tricks of it are certain. Both bowers and the ace, with only the seven and eight of a plain suit have made many a lone hand. If the lone player is not caught on the plain suit at the first trick, the adversaries may discard it to keep higher cards in the other suit; or they may have none of it from the first. There is always a chance, and it should be taken. The dealer’s partner, and the pone, should be very careful in playing lone hands, and should never risk them except with three certain tricks, no matter what suit is led first.
Cayenne and Bridge introduce the first changes of importance. In Cayenne, the dealer and his partner have the privilege of changing the trump from the suit turned up; in Bridge they name the trump suit without any turn-up, and play the hands as at dummy. In Boston, and Boston de Fontainebleau, in addition to making the trump suit instead of turning it up, further departures are introduced by naming the number of tricks to be played for, allowing the player to take all or none without any trump suit, and by ‘spreading’ certain hands, without allowing the adversaries to call the exposed cards. French and Russian Boston are simply varieties of Boston. Solo Whist is an attempt to simplify Boston by reducing the number of proposals and the complications of payments, and eliminating the feature of ‘spreads.’ Scotch Whist introduces a special object in addition to winning tricks--catching the ten of trumps; that card and the honours having particular values attached to them. This variety of whist may be played by any number of persons from two to eight; and its peculiarity is that when a small number play, each has several distinct hands, which must be played in regular order, as if held by different players. Humbug Whist is a variety of double-dummy, in which the players may exchange their hands for those dealt to the dummies, and the dealer may sometimes make the trump to suit himself. German Whist is played by two persons, and introduces the element of replenishing the hand after each trick by drawing cards from the remainder of the pack until the stock is exhausted. Chinese Whist is double-dummy for two, three, or four persons, only half of each player’s cards being exposed, the others being turned up as the exposed cards are got rid of in the course of play.
The cards he does not take, if any, are turned down again, and are placed with his discards, forming a stock of four cards, which must not be seen or touched until the last card is played, when it becomes the property of the side that wins the last trick, and any counting cards it may contain are reckoned for that side. _=Playing.=_ The discards settled, the eldest hand leads any card he pleases, and the others must follow suit if they can, but no one is obliged to win a trick if he has a smaller card of the suit led, and does not want the lead. The two adversaries of the single player do their best to get him between them, and combine their forces to prevent him from winning tricks that contain counting cards, especially Aces. Whatever tricks they win are placed together, and the counting cards contained in them reckon for their joint account. The tricks have no value as such, except the last. _=Showing.=_ The winner of the last trick takes the stock, and each side then turns over its cards and counts the total value of the points won. The lower score is deducted from the higher, and the difference is the value of the game. If all 35 points are won by either side, they count double, 70.