The value of the point is the number of cards that go to make it. In England, they count a point containing the 7 8 and 9 as worth one less than the number of cards. This is a modern invention, unknown to the older writers on the game, and not always played. _=Sequence.=_ Three or more cards of the same suit, if next in value to one another, form a sequence. The French terms are generally used to designate the number of cards in the sequence: Tierce, Quatrième, Quinte, Sixième, Septième, Huitième. Many English works on cards erroneously spell quinte without the “e,” and give “quart” for a sequence of four. If one is going to use the French language at all, it may as well be used correctly. Sequences outrank one another according to the best card, if they are of equal length; so that a quinte to a King would be better than a quinte to a Queen; but a longer sequence always outranks a shorter one, regardless of the high cards. The player holding the best sequence is entitled to score it, together with any inferior sequences he may hold in other suits.
The black spots at every angle and intersection of the lines are the places for the men to be laid upon. The men are different in form and colour for distinction s sake, and from the moving these men backwards and forwards, as though they were dancing a morris, I suppose the pastime received the name of Nine Men s Morris, but why it should have been called Five-penny Morris I do not know. The manner of playing is briefly thus:--Two persons, having each of them nine pieces or men, lay them down alternately, one by one, upon the spots, and the business of either party is to prevent his antagonist from placing three of his pieces so as to form a row of three without the intervention of an opponent piece. If a row be formed, he that made it is at liberty to take up one of his competitor s pieces from any part he thinks most to his own advantage, excepting he has made a row, which must not be touched, if he have another piece upon the board that is not a component part of that row. When all the pieces are laid down they are played backwards and forwards in any direction that the lines run, but can only move from one spot to another at one time. He that takes off all his antagonist s pieces is the conqueror. The rustics, when they have not materials at hand to make a table, cut the lines in the same form upon the ground and make a small hole for every dot. They then collect stones of different forms or colours for the pieces, and play the game by depositing them in the holes in the same manner that they are set over the dots on the table. Hence Shakespeare, describing the effects of a wet and stormy season, says-- The folds stand empty in the drowned field, And crows are fatted with the murrain flock-- The Nine Men s Morris is filled up with mud. --_Midsummer Nights Dream_, act ii.
If the dealer’s side is at the bridge, the score being 4 to 1 or 4 to 0 in their favour, and the eldest hand passes, the dealer’s partner must be on the alert to prevent the pone from placing a lone hand. He should assist unless a bower is turned, or he has it himself, or holds such cards that, combined with the turn-up, he is sure of a trick. For instance: The dealer’s partner has the King and two other trumps, and the ace is turned. It is impossible for the pone to make a lone hand, even if he has both bowers, and the ace is bare; for he cannot catch the King, even if his partner leads the trump through it. But if a small trump was turned, the pone might easily make a lone hand with both bowers and the ace. _=TAKING UP.=_ The average expectation of the dealer is something over two trumps, including the turn-up. With more than two trumps, or with two strong trumps, and a reasonably certain trick in a plain suit, the dealer should take up the trump. Three trumps of any size and an ace in plain suits is a strong take-up hand. It is better to take up the trump with only one plain suit in the hand, and small trumps, than with two strong trumps and two weak plain suits.
Up wi her on the bane dyke, She ll be rotten or I ll be ripe: She s made for some ither, and no me, Yet I thank ye for your courtesy. Then I ll gie ye Nell o sweet Sprinkell, Owre Galloway she bears the bell. I ll set her up in my bed-head, And feed her wi milk and bread; She s for nae ither, but jist for me, Sae I thank ye for your courtesy. --Mactaggart s _Gallovidian Encyclopædia_. II. I maun ride hame, I maun gang hame, And bide nae langer here; The road is lang, the mirk soon on, And howlets mak me fear. Light doon and bide wi us a night, We ll choose ye a bonnie lass; Ye ll get your wull and pick o them a , And the time it soon wull pass. Which ane will ye choose, If I with you will bide? The fairest and rarest In a the kintra side. A girl s name was then mentioned. If the lad was pleased with the choice made, he replied-- I ll set her up on a bonnie pear-tree, It s tall and straight, and sae is she; I d keep wauken a night her love to be.
23 is by no means considered impossible by the peasantry. 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).
Where must I follow? where must I follow? Follow, follow me. Where must I follow? where must I follow? Follow, follow me. --Earls Heaton (H. Hardy). VI. Mr. Monday was a good man, He whipped his children now and then; When he whipped them he made them dance, Out of Scotland into France; Out of France into Spain, Back to dear old England again. O-u-t spells out, If you please stand out. I had a little dog and his name was Buff, I sent him after a penn orth of snuff, He broke the paper and smelled the snuff, And that s the end of my dog Buff. He shan t bite you--he shan t bite you--he shan t bite you, &c.
=_ Some of the fine points in bridge arise in situations which require a careful consideration of the Dummy’s cards. There are three great principles in playing against Dummy:-- 1st. Lead through the strong suits, and up to the weak. 2nd. Do not lead through a fourchette. 3rd. Do not lead up to a tenace. These rules must not be blindly followed in every instance. They are simply general principles, and some of the prettiest _=coups=_ arise from the exceptional cases. _=Leading Through Dummy.
When a King wins, your partner knows you have the Ace, if he does not hold it. Then tell him what he does not know, that you have the Queen also. Suppose you have led the King from these combinations:-- [Illustration: 🂱 🂾 🂽 🂻 | 🂡 🂮 🂭 🂢 ] Your partner knows you have the Ace, because your King wins. From the first, go on with the Jack, which is just as good as the Ace, but tells your partner you have not only the Ace but the Queen, still in your hand. From the second, go on with the Queen, the card your partner does not know, which tells him you still have the Ace, _=but not the Jack=_. If you have not the Queen, you will have to go on with the Ace, and your leading the Ace _=will deny the Queen=_. If you have not the best, lead one of the second and third-best, if you hold both:-- [Illustration: 🃞 🃝 🃛 🃚 | 🂾 🂽 🂻 🂲 ] From the first of these, having led the King, if it wins, go on with the ten, whether you have any smaller cards or not. From the second, if the King wins, go on with the Jack, which denies the ten, but tells your partner you still have the Queen. No mistake is more common among beginners than leading a low card on the second round, on the assumption that the partner must have the Ace. If you have led from King and Queen only, you must go on with the fourth-best; because you have not both the second and third-best.
The only points affected by the revoke are Jack and Game. _=If the Jack is not in play=_, there is only one point that can be affected by the revoke, the score for Game; and the revoke penalty is one point, which the adversary may add to his own score, or deduct from the score of the revoking player. The adversary may also score the point for Game if he makes it; but it cannot be scored by the revoking player; who may mark only High or Low if he holds either or both of those points. _=If the Jack is in play=_, two points may be affected by a revoke. The player in fault cannot score either Jack or Game, and the penalty for the revoke is two points; in addition to which the adversary of the revoking player may score either or both Jack and Game if he makes them. The revoking player cannot win the game that hand, no matter what he scores, but must stop at six. A revoke is established as soon as the trick in which it occurs has been turned and quitted, or a card has been led or played to the next trick. _=Exposed Cards.=_ When four play, all exposed cards must be left on the table, and are liable to be called by the adversaries if they cannot be previously got rid of in the course of play. All cards led or played out of turn are exposed, and liable to be called.
This language Lyndsay puts into the mouth of a Popish parson. The game seems to be that of ball played with the hand, as distinguished from Football. --Jamieson. See Ball. Call-the-Guse This game is supposed by Jamieson to be equivalent to Drive the Goose, and the game seems to be the same with one still played by young people in some parts of Angus, in which one of the company, having something that excites ridicule unknowingly pinned behind, is pursued by all the rest, who still cry out, Hunt the Goose! --Jamieson. Camp A game formerly much in use among schoolboys, and occasionally played by men in those parts of Suffolk on the sea coast--more especially in the line of Hollesley Bay between the Rivers Orwell and Alde, sometimes school against school, or parish against parish. It was thus played: Goals were pitched at the distance of 150 or 200 yards from each other; these were generally formed of the thrown-off clothes of the competitors. Each party has two goals, ten or fifteen yards apart. The parties, ten or fifteen on a side, stand in line, facing their own goals and each other, at about ten yards distance, midway between the goals, and nearest that of their adversaries. An indifferent spectator, agreed on by the parties, throws up a ball, of the size of a common cricket-ball, midway between the confronted players, and makes his escape.
--Somerset (Holloway s _Dict. of Provincialisms_). See Half-Hammer. Hide and Seek (1) A writer in _Blackwood s Magazine_, August 1821, p. 36, mentions this as a summer game. It was called Ho, spy! the words which are called out by those boys who have hidden. He says the watchword of Hide and seek was hidee, and gives as the rhyme used when playing-- Keep in, keep in, wherever you be, The greedy gled s seeking ye. This rhyme is also given by Chambers (_Popular Rhymes_, p. 122). Halliwell gives the rhyme as-- Hitty titty indoors, Hitty titty out, You touch Hitty titty, And Hitty titty will bite you.
In both cases the transition is due to traditional circumstances, and not to any formal arrangements. All invented games of skill are therefore excluded from this collection, but it includes both indoor and outdoor games, and those played by both girls and boys. The bulk of the collection has been made by myself, greatly through the kindness of many correspondents, to whom I cannot be sufficiently grateful. In every case I have acknowledged my indebtedness, which, besides being an act of justice, is a guarantee of the genuineness of the collection. I have appended to this preface a list of the collectors, together with the counties to which the games belong; but I must particularly thank the Rev. W. Gregor, Mr. S. O. Addy, and Miss Fowler, who very generously placed collections at my disposal, which had been prepared before they knew of my project; also Miss Burne, Miss L.
=_ The non-dealer on the first hand of each game is allowed to peg three holes as a compensation for the advantage his adversary derives from having the first deal. Although the rules allow these three to be pegged at any time during the game, they should be put up immediately, in order to avoid disputes. There is no further play after a go is declared, or either player has reached 31. The score for 31 is two holes; and for the go, one hole. Great importance is attached to the score for the go at five-card Cribbage, because so little is made in play that every point counts. _=The Crib.=_ This is the most important thing in the five-card game, and it is much more important to baulk your adversary’s crib than to preserve your own hand. The best baulking cards are a King with a 10, 9, 8, 7, 6 or A. Never lay out a Jack, nor two cards which form a five, nor any pair, nor any two close cards. In laying out for your own crib, Fives, Sevens and Eights are the best.
The great disparity in the values of the suits as then played practically confined the bidding to the hearts and royal spades. This soon brought about another change, which was to raise the values of all the suits except spades and to cut down the no-trumper. This was done in 1912, and made it possible for any suit to go game on the hand. All the well known writers on whist and bridge came out with text-books on auction, and the newspapers took up the subject in weekly articles. Although to many the game now seemed perfect, there were those that felt the helplessness of weak hands to offer any defence in the bidding against a run of no-trumpers or hearts and royals. To remedy this, F.C. Thwaites of the Milwaukee Whist Club suggested the introduction of the nullo. This was a bid to lose tricks, at no trump only, and its value was to be minus 10, that is, it was to be outranked only by a no-trumper to win. At first, this bid was largely used simply as an additional game-going declaration, and was strongly objected to by many leading players.
Any counters once placed in the pool, and the owner’s hand withdrawn, cannot be taken down again, except by the winner of the pool. _=32. Betting Out of Turn.=_ Should any player bet out of his turn, he cannot take down his counters again if he has removed his hand from them. Should the player whose proper turn it was raise the bet, the player who bet out of turn must either meet the raise or abandon his hand, and all interest in that pool. _=33. Mouth Bets.=_ Any player stating that he bets a certain amount, but failing to put up the actual counters in the pool, cannot be called upon to make the amount good after the hands are shown, or the pool is won. If the players opposed to him choose to accept a mouth bet against the counters they have already put up, they have no remedy, as no value is attached to what a player says; his cards and his counters speak for themselves. Any player wishing to raise a mouth bet has the privilege of raising by mouth, instead of by counters; but he cannot be called upon to make the amount good after the hands are shown, or the pool has been won.
| -- | | |drawers. | | | | 7.|Let it lie an hour. |Let it stand an hour. | -- | | 8.| -- | | -- | | 9.| -- | -- | -- | |10.| -- | -- | -- | |11.| -- | -- | -- | |12.|One of my rush, two of|One may rush, two may |One in a bush, two in | | |my rush.
12, for instance, the move would be recorded: S f 3 n e 5, that is, the Springer at f 3 “nimmt” whatever it found at e 5. A check is indicated by a plus sign, +, following the move. In Diagram No. 11, for instance, the last move of the white Queen would be: D e 8-c 6 +; and Black’s reply would be: D b 8-b 7. _=THE OPENINGS.=_ Time and experience have shown that it is best for each player to adopt certain conventional openings, in order to develop his pieces. White always has the advantage, usually believed to be equal to 55%, counting drawn games as one half. This is because White can usually take more risks in offering a gambit than Black can in accepting it, and the best judges say that they would rather give a Knight and take the white pieces, than give Pawn-and-move and take the black. _=Gambit=_ is a term used in Italian wrestling, and means that the adversary is given an apparent advantage at the start, in order more successfully to trip him up later on. There are a great many chess openings, all of which have been analysed as far as the tenth move, including every possible variation on the way.
If a card faced in the stock is not discovered until the first trick has been played to by the dealer, the exposed card must be turned face down, without disturbing its position. If the pack is found to be imperfect, the deal in which it is discovered is void; but all previous scores and cuts made with that pack stand good. In all misdeals the same dealer deals again. _=METHOD OF PLAYING.=_ After the trump is turned, the pone begins by leading any card he pleases. The second player is not obliged to follow suit, nor to trump; but may renounce or trump at pleasure until the stock is exhausted, after which the method of play undergoes a change. If the second player follows suit in any trick, the higher card wins. Trumps win plain suits. If identical cards are played to the same trick, such as two club Jacks, the leader wins. The winner of the trick takes in the cards, turning them face down, but before he leads for the next trick he has the privilege of announcing and scoring any one of certain combinations that he may hold in his hand.
The Devil then knocks, and the dialogue and action are repeated.--Deptford, Kent (Miss Chase). See Fool, fool, come to School. Auntieloomie The children join hands, and dance in a circle, with a front step, a back step, and a side step, round an invisible May-pole, singing-- Can you dance the Auntieloomie? Yes, I can; yes, I can. Then follows kissing.--Brigg, Lincolnshire (Miss Peacock). Babbity Bowster [Music] --Biggar (Wm. Ballantyne). Wha learned you to dance, You to dance, you to dance? Wha learned you to dance Babbity Bowster brawly? My minnie learned me to dance, Me to dance, me to dance; My minnie learned me to dance Babbity Bowster brawly. Wha ga e you the keys to keep, Keys to keep, keys to keep? Wha ga e you the keys to keep, Babbity Bowster brawly? My minnie ga e me the keys to keep, Keys to keep, keys to keep; My minnie ga e me the keys to keep, Babbity Bowster brawly.
6. The striker must pocket a red ball before playing upon a pool ball; otherwise the stroke is foul, and after pocketing a red ball he must play upon a pool ball, an order of play that must be observed throughout each break so long as a red ball remains upon the table. 7. After pocketing a red ball the striker is at liberty to select the pool ball upon which he will play, but when there is no longer a red ball on the table, the pool balls must be played at and taken in their order of value from lowest to highest, save that the player pocketing the last red ball shall be allowed to select the first pool ball upon which he plays, which, if pocketed, shall be respotted and the pool balls played at in their order of value. 8. When playing on a pool ball the striker, if asked the question by a player taking part in the game, shall “declare” the ball selected. 9. Any number of red balls may be taken in one stroke; but, if a pool ball is taken in conjunction with a red ball, the stroke is foul. After pocketing a red ball only the pool ball aimed at may be taken. 10.
|The grass is so green.| | 7.| -- |Fairest damsel ever |Fairest damsel ever | | | |seen. |seen. | | 8.| -- | -- | -- | | 9.| -- | -- | -- | |10.|Such beautiful flowers| -- | -- | | |ever seen. | | | |11.| -- | -- | -- | |12.
For instance: an 8 and a 7 will beat a 10 and a 5. If this does not decide it, the elder hand wins. _=The Prime.=_ Four cards of different suits, sometimes called a Dutch flush, is a better hand than the point. If a prime is the best combination shown, the holder wins the pool, and receives _=two counters=_ from each of the other players. If the pips in the prime aggregate more than thirty, it is called _=Grand Prime=_, and the holder receives _=three counters=_ from each of the other players, instead of two. 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.
The various methods of throwing, and the rules governing all such games are as follows:-- _=THE DICE.=_ Although dice may be of any size, the standard pattern are half an inch square, of ivory or bone, with black spots one tenth of an inch in diameter. The opposite sides of the die always equal seven, and if the die is placed upon the table with the ace uppermost and the deuce nearest you, the four will be on the left and the three on the right. The positions of the three and four are sometimes reversed to enable sharpers to distinguish fair dice from those which have been doctored. At the beginning of any dice game, it is quite unnecessary to examine the dice to be used, because they are always fair. Crooked dice are _=rung in=_ during the game, and the player should make it a point to examine the dice frequently if he has any suspicions. First see that each die has all six figures upon it, for some dice are _=dispatchers=_, made with double numbers, so as to secure higher throws than the natural average. Double fives are great favourites with backgammon sharps. The next thing is to place the dice together in pairs, to be sure that they are exactly the same height each way. If dice are not square they can be made to roll over and over on the same faces.
E deals, and A passes; B takes the widow; C and D draw from B’s abandoned hand, and E knocks; without drawing, of course. A, who passed the first time, now has an opportunity to draw or exchange. So have each of the others in turn, up to D; but after D draws or exchanges, the hands must be shown, because the next player, E, has knocked. When the hands are shown, there are two ways to settle: If the counters have a money value, the best poker hand wins the pool, and the deal passes to the left. If the counters have no money value, there is no pool; but the player who has the worst hand shown puts one of his counters in the middle of the table. This continues until some player has lost all five of his counters, and he is then called upon to pay for the whiskey, or whatever refreshments may be at stake upon the game. Hence the name: Whiskey Poker. THIRTY-ONE. This game is sometimes called _=Schnautz=_. A pool is made up by any number of players.
On the second round, with the first two combinations, the difference between a suit of five or one of six cards may be indicated by following with the Ace if five were held originally; the King, if more than five. Seven cards may be shown with the first combination, by leading the Queen on the second round. The chief difference these leads make in the play of the Third Hand is that he should not trump any court card led, even if weak in trumps. The misunderstanding as to the meaning of the first lead, especially if it is a Queen, often occasions confusion and loss; but this is claimed to be offset by the value of the information given. Some lead 10 from Q J 10; 4th-best from K J 10. To the adversaries these leads are often of value, as they are frequently enabled to place the cards very accurately from the information given by the lead itself, regardless of the fall of the cards from the other hands. For instance: Second Hand holds A J of a suit in which King is led; Third Hand plays the Four; Fourth Hand plays the Nine. The leader remains with Q 3 2; Third Hand still has 8 7 6 5; and if he has also the 10, Fourth Hand has no more. Again: The leader shows a suit of six; Second Hand holding two only. If the suit is led a third time it is a doubtful trick, and with four trumps the Second Hand should pass.
For instance: D deals and turns the heart 8. A and B have passed out, but C has made a bet which D has called. Neither has a brelan, so all four players show their cards, and it is found that they lie thus:-- [Illustration: 🂮 🂭 🂨 +-------+ | B | 🂱 🂾 🂹 |C A| 🂡 🂩 🃙 | D | +-------+ 🃑 🃞 🃝 🂸 ] Spades are the winning suit: but neither C nor D has a spade, and as neither A nor B is in the call, the spade suit cannot win anything. As between clubs and hearts, D’s point is 40, and C’s 38; so D wins the pool. C of course had a great advantage in betting, as he knew four hearts were out, his own and the retourne; and all he feared was a brelan. A would have won the pool if he had backed his hand, because he would have had the highest card of the winning suit. _=Calling for a Sight.=_ Suppose four players have the following caves in front of them: A, 35; B, 60; C, 120; and D, 185. D blinds five, deals, and turns the heart 9. A puts up all his 35 counters.
ILLUSTRATIVE SCOTCH WHIST HAND. We give a simple example hand, as an illustration of the manner of playing with four persons; two being partners against the other two. _Z deals and turns heart 8_ +-------+-------+-------+-------+ | A Y B Z | +-------+-------+-------+-------+ 1 | Q♢ | _K♢_ | 8♢ | 9♢ | 2 | _♣A_ | ♣K | ♣J | ♣8 | 3 | ♣7 | _♣9_ | ♣6 | 6♠ | 4 | 8♠ | J♠ | K♠ | _A♠_ | 5 | J♢ | 9♠ | A♢ | _Q♠_ | 6 | 7♢ | _10♠_ | ♣Q | 7♠ | 7 | _♡A_ | 10♢ | 6♢ | ♡Q | 8 | ♡9 | ♡6 | _♡K_ | ♡7 | 9 | ♣10 | ♡10 | _♡J_ | ♡8 | +-------+-------+-------+-------+ _A-B win 30 by honours._ _Y-Z win 2 by cards._ _=Trick 1.=_ _=Y=_ plays King second hand, hoping it will be taken by the Ace, so that he may become third or fourth player, and perhaps save his Ten. _=B=_, with the minor tenace in trumps, plays to avoid the lead as long as possible. _=Trick 2.=_ _=Y=_ gets rid of another winning card; _=B=_ keeping a small card to avoid the lead. _=Trick 3.
There are several minor or speculative draws which may be of interest. Drawing to an ace and a King, it is 3 to 1 against making a pair of either. It is 4 to 1 against making a pair of aces by drawing four cards to an ace; and 12 to 1 against making aces up, or better. It is 24 to 1 against making a straight by drawing to three cards of it, open at both ends. It is 12 to 1 against making either a straight or a flush by drawing to three cards of a straight flush, open at both ends. _=HOW TO WIN AT POKER.=_ There have been many alleged infallible receipts for winning at Poker. Proctor thought that refusing to go in on less than triplets would prove a certainty; but in the same paragraph he acknowledges that the adversaries would soon learn the peculiarity, and avoid betting against the player. Triplets before the draw occur about once in every 45 hands. If five were playing, a person following Proctor’s advice would have to blind 9 times, and ante in at least 12 jack pots in every 45 hands, to say nothing of fattening.
If he had four probable tricks originally, he may count the adversary who doubles for five, and of the four doubtful tricks remaining, the odds are against partner having the three which would be necessary to win the odd trick. _=Opening Leads.=_ The first lead must necessarily be made in the dark, but the selection of the suit will often depend on the trump, and whether it was named by the dealer or by his partner. If the dealer has made it red, and A has the A K of any plain suit, he should play the King, so as to retain the lead until Dummy’s hand is exposed. If the dealer passes it to his partner, he is probably weak in red. If Y makes it hearts, A should lead a supporting diamond, unless he has strength in another suit. If Y has made it diamonds, A should lead a supporting heart. But in either case, if A has in his hand such cards as A K, even of a black suit, he should play the King, and wait to see the Dummy’s hand. If Y has made it black, A must be guided by his own cards, but should give a red suit the preference for his opening lead. Details as to the correct card to lead and the play after the opening lead have been fully covered in connection with auction bridge, which see.
These are usually of three colours; white, red, and blue; representing cents, dimes, and dollars respectively. At the beginning of the game each player should be provided with an equal number, the general proportion being 20 white, 18 red, and 8 blue for each. Some one player should be selected to act as the banker, selling and redeeming all counters. _=STAKES.=_ The stakes in Boston depend upon the value of the counters. One cent for a white counter is considered a pretty stiff game; because it is quite possible for a single player to win or lose a thousand white counters on one hand, and the payments very seldom fall short of fifty. _=THE POOL.=_ In addition to the counters won and lost on each hand, it is usual for the players to make up a pool at the beginning of the game by each of them depositing one red counter in a small tray provided for the purpose. This pool may be increased from time to time by penalties; such as one red counter for a misdeal; four for a revoke, or for not having the proper number of cards, etc. The whole amount in the pool may be won or lost by the players, according to their success or failure in certain undertakings, which will presently be described.