=_ Poker and its congeners have received more attention from the greeks than any other family of card games. In fact it is generally believed that the term greek, as applied to a card sharper, had its origin in the Adam of the poker family, which was a gambling game introduced by the Greeks in Italy. So numerous and so varied are the methods of cheating at Poker that it is an axiom among gamblers that if a pigeon will not stand one thing he will another. The best informed make it a rule never to play Poker with strangers, because they realize that it is impossible for any but a professional gambler to know half the tricks employed by the poker sharp. It is a notorious fact that even the shrewdest gamblers are continually being taken in by others more expert than themselves. What chance then has the honest card player? There are black sheep in all flocks, and it may be well to give a few hints to those who are in the habit of playing in mixed companies. Never play with a man who looks attentively at the faces of the cards as he gathers them for his deal; or who stands the pack on edge, with the faces of the cards towards him, and evens up the bunch by picking out certain cards, apparently because they are sticking up. Any pack can be straightened by pushing the cards down with the hand. The man who lifts them up is more than probably a cheat. Never play with a man who looks intently at the pack and shuffles the cards slowly.
| |23.| -- | -- | -- | |24.| -- | -- | -- | |25.| -- | -- | -- | |26.| -- | -- | -- | |27.| -- | -- | -- | |28.| -- | -- |Here s a prisoner I | | | | |have got. | |29.|What has this great |O, what has my poor |What s the prisoner | | |prisoner done? |prisoner done? |done to you? | |30.|Stole a watch and lost| -- |Stole my watch and | | |the key.
If any one buys the dealer’s turn-up card, the purchaser places it on his own cards, leaving it face up. Whether it is sold or not, the elder hand proceeds to turn up the top card of his three. If this is not a trump, the next player on his left turns up his top card, and so on until a trump is turned that is better than the one already exposed. The player who possesses the original turn-up, does not expose any more of his cards until a better trump is shown. As soon as a better trump appears it is offered for sale, and after it is sold or refused, the cards are turned up again until a better trump appears, or all the cards have been exposed. The holder of the best trump at the end takes the pool. OLD MAID. Strange to say, this oft-quoted and continually derided game is not mentioned in any work on cards, a singular omission which we hasten to supply. Any number of young ladies may play, and a pack of fifty-one cards is used, the Queen of hearts having been deleted. Any player can deal the cards, which are distributed one at a time until the pack is exhausted; if every player has not the same number it does not matter.
19) |my dear. | | 13.| -- |I will give pots and | -- | | | |pans. | | | 14.| -- |..... brass.
Hoodle-cum-blind. Hoodman Blind. Hooper s Hide. Hop-crease. Hop-frog. Hop-score. Hop-scotch. Hop, Step, and Jump. Hornie. Hornie Holes.
A new King will not make another marriage with the old Queen. A binocle has been melded, and the Jack has been played; another Jack will not make a new binocle with the old Queen. _=Double Declarations.=_ When a player makes a meld containing certain cards which will form a counting combination with other cards already on the table, it is called a double declaration, that is, a meld in two different classes at the same time. For instance: A player has melded and scored four Kings, and on winning another trick he melds binocle. Two of the cards on the table form a marriage in spades, and as the marriage is in a different class from either of the other melds, he may claim it and score it; but if he does, he will lose the score for the binocle, being prevented by the rule about a fresh card from the hand for each individual meld. The only way to secure both scores would be to meld the marriage first, and afterward to lay down the Jack and meld the binocle. _=Time.=_ On account of the number of combinations possible, and the fact that there are only twelve tricks to be played before the scores for announcements are barred, it frequently happens that a player has not time to score everything he holds. He is allowed to count the cards remaining in the talon, provided he does not disturb their order, and it is often important to do so toward the end of a hand.
If at any time there is a strong indication that the adversaries will have a cross-ruff, it is usually best to stop leading plain suits, and attempt to get out the trumps. _=THE LEADER’S PARTNER=_, or the Third Hand, has several conventional plays to remember; the most important of which are the following: _=When Partner Leads High Cards=_, the Third Hand has usually little to do but to play his lowest of the suit. The exceptions are: If he holds A J alone, on a King led, the Ace should be played. If he holds A Q alone on a Ten led, the Ace should be played. With A Q x, the Ten should be passed. With Ace and small cards, the Ace should be played on the Ten. With Queen and small cards the Ten should be passed. When Third Hand plays Queen on a Ten led, it should be a certainty that he has no more of the suit. If he holds A K and only one small card, the King should be played on a Queen led. If he holds Ace and only one small card, the Ace should be played on the Jack led.
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(2) The Blow at the Rear game is decided when at least three men of one force reach any point in the back line of their antagonist. He is then supposed to have suffered a strategic defeat, and he must retreat his entire force over the back line in six moves, i.e. six of his moves. Anything left on the field after six moves capitulates to the victor. Points count as in the preceding game, but this lasts a shorter time and is better adapted to a cramped country with a short back line. With a long rear line the game is simply a rush at some weak point in the first player s line by the entire cavalry brigade of the second player. Instead of making the whole back line available for the Blow at the Rear, the middle or either half may be taken. (3) In the Defensive Game, a force, the defenders, two-thirds as strong as its antagonist, tries to prevent the latter arriving, while still a quarter of its original strength, upon the defender s back line. The Country must be made by one or both of the players before it is determined which shall be defender.
He had drawn a greedy old character, a tough old male whose mind was full of slobbering thoughts of food, veritable oceans full of half-spoiled fish. Father Moontree had once said that he burped cod liver oil for weeks after drawing that particular glutton, so strongly had the telepathic image of fish impressed itself upon his mind. Yet the glutton was a glutton for danger as well as for fish. He had killed sixty-three Dragons, more than any other Partner in the service, and was quite literally worth his weight in gold. The little girl West came next. She drew Captain Wow. When she saw who it was, she smiled. I _like_ him, she said. He s such fun to fight with. He feels so nice and cuddly in my mind.
It is, in fact, a part of the Three Dukes game. The first part is a kiss-in-the-ring game, a version of Here stands a Young Man, Silly Old Man, and Sally Water. Hewley Puley Take this, What s this? Hewley Puley. Where s my share? About the kite s neck. Where s the kite? Flown to the wood. Where s the wood? The fire has burned it. Where s the fire? The water s quenched it. Where s the water? The ox has drunk it. Where s the ox? The butcher has killed it. Where s the butcher? The rope has hanged him.
--Chambers _Popular Rhymes_, p. 139. II. Will ye gang wi me, Curcuddie, Gang wi me o er the lea? I lookit roun , saw naebody; Curcuddie, he left me. --Biggar (William Ballantyne). (_b_) This is a grotesque kind of dance, performed in a shortened posture, sitting on one s hams, with arms akimbo, the dancers forming a circle of independent figures. It always excites a hearty laugh among the senior bystanders; but, ridiculous as it is, it gives occasion for the display of some spirit and agility, as well as skill, there being always an inclination to topple over. Each performer sings the verse (Chambers; Mactaggart s _Gallovidian Encyclopædia_). Mr. Ballantyne says that each one apart tried to dance by throwing out their feet and jumping sideways.
, are exactly the same as at Spoil Five. _=THE POOL.=_ Each successive dealer puts up five counters, to form or to augment the pool. _=DEALING.=_ The cards having been properly shuffled and cut, five are given to each player; two the first round and three the next, or three the first round and two the next. An extra hand, known as the _=widow=_, is dealt face downward in the centre of the table. The dealer gives cards to the widow just before dealing to himself in each round. When all are helped, the next card is turned up for the trump. Irregularities in the deal are governed by the same rules as in Spoil Five. _=DECLARING TO PLAY.
=_ If any player is found to have an incorrect number of cards, it is a misdeal if no bid has been made. If a bid has been made, the deal stands good if three players have their right number of cards. If the first trick has been played to by a person holding too many cards, neither he nor his partner can score anything that hand; but they may play the hand out to save what points they can. If a player has too few cards, there is no penalty, but he should draw from the discard to make up the deficiency, plain-suit cards only being available. _=Exposed Cards.=_ The following are exposed cards, which must be left face up on the table, and are liable to be called by either adversary: 1. Every card faced upon the table otherwise than in the regular course of play. 2. Two or more cards played to a trick; the adversaries may elect which shall be played. 3.
He trotted away. Darlin Billy! she said, and her heart stopped. She was dead. I picked her up in my arms and carried her to the same sawdust-strewn private dining room where I d given Barney the Blackout. I had to split the lift. The tourniquet was an absolute necessity, or more of the nerve poison would enter her system. But her heart _couldn t_ stop. The brain can only stand a few seconds of that. I hadn t let it miss three beats. Even as I carried her from the casino, I lifted the main coronary muscle and started a ragged pumping, maybe forty beats a minute.
If he declines, it is a call; if he raises, it goes on until every player has refused to avail himself of the privilege. If a player chooses to raise without waiting for his turn, of course he can do so. One of the fine points in the game is knowing when to raise the bet yourself, and when to pass the word. _=Rank of the Hands.=_ If a call is made, the hands are shown, and the best Bouillotte hand wins. There are only two classes of hands recognized in Bouillotte, the brelan, and the point; but there are three kinds of brelans, which rank in the following order: _=A Brelan Carré=_ is four of a kind; three in the player’s hand, and the fourth turned up on the pack. If any player holds a brelan, [three of a kind,] of a higher denomination than the brelan carré, the player may turn up the card under the retourne, and if this makes his hand a brelan carré also, he wins the pool. In addition to winning the pool, the holder of a brelan carré receives from each player four white counters. _=A Simple Brelan=_ is three of a kind in the player’s hand, three aces being the highest, and three eights the lowest. In addition to winning the pool, the holder of a simple brelan receives one counter from each of the other players at the table.
| | | |daughter. | | | 5.| -- | -- | -- | | 6.| -- |Put it in a chestnut | -- | | | |tree. | | | 7.| -- |Let it stay an hour. | -- | | 8.| -- | -- | -- | | 9.| -- | -- | -- | |10.| -- | -- | -- | |11.
The _dalies_ were properly sheep s trotters.--Halliwell s _Dictionary_. Evidently the same game as Fivestones and Hucklebones. Davie-drap Children amuse themselves on the braesides i the sun, playing at Hide and Seek with this little flower, accompanying always the hiding of it with this rhyme, marking out the circle in which it is hid with the forefinger:-- Athin the bounds o this I hap, My black and bonny davie-drap; Wha is here the cunning yin My davie-drap to me will fin. --Mactaggart s _Gallovidian Encyclopædia_. The davie-drap is a little black-topped field-flower. Deadily A school game, not described.--Mactaggart s _Gallovidian Encyclopædia_. Diamond Ring My lady s lost her diamond ring; I pitch upon you to find it! Children sit in a ring or in a line, with their hands placed together palm to palm, and held straight, the little finger down-most between the knees. One of them is then chosen to represent a servant, who takes a ring, or some other small article as a substitute, between her two palms, which are pressed flat together like those of the rest, and goes round the circle or line placing her hands into the hands of every player, so that she is enabled to let the ring fall wherever she pleases without detection.
, are the same as in Bézique, but the declarations and their values are quite different. _=Brisques.=_ There are twelve brisque cards, the Seven of each suit being added to the usual Aces and Tens. The brisques are not scored as taken in, except in the last six tricks. At the end of the hand all the brisques are counted, whether already scored in the last six tricks or not, and the player having more than six counts ten points for each above six. If each has six, neither scores. By this method, a player may make and score several brisques in the last six tricks, all of which he will reckon over again in the total count at the end. _=Declarations.=_ The winner of any trick, previous to the exhaustion of the stock, may announce and lay upon the table any one of ten different combinations, which are divided into three classes. These are as follows, with the number of points he is entitled to score for each: CLASS A.
This makes it not unlikely that they will win the rubber on the next hand with their deal. Under such circumstances the dealer must invariably leave it to his partner, in the hope that he can save the rubber by making it no-trump. The dealer’s partner should be aware that there cannot be any reasonable hope of four tricks in red in the leader’s hand, or a red trump would have been announced; and unless he has at least five probable tricks in his own hand he should not make it red. With three Aces he should make it no-trump. Four Aces is always a no-trumper, no matter what the rest of the hand may be. If he is obliged to make it black, and has three or four probable tricks, he should announce whichever suit he is best in. Attention should be paid to the score; for in many instances the suit must be selected so that the adversaries cannot win the game with the odd trick, even if they double. _=Doubling.=_ The dealer or his partner having announced the trump, the adversary should carefully consider the score before doubling or playing. Most players consider themselves justified in doubling when they have six reasonably certain tricks in their own hands, trusting partner for one only.
_=IRREGULAR HANDS.=_ If, after the first trick has been played to, any two players are found to have more or less than their correct number of cards, the pack being perfect, the one having less must draw, face downward, from the hand of the one having more; and each must pay five counters into the pool. _=OBJECTS OF THE GAME.=_ As a general proposition, the object of each player is to avoid getting any hearts in the tricks he takes in. In some varieties of the game his object must be to take no hearts; in others it will be to take less than his adversaries; while in others it will be to take less than four. After a person has taken in one or more hearts, his object will be to _=load=_ the others; that is, to see that they get some hearts also; or it may be to see that a given player takes at least one heart; or that no one but himself takes any. The manner in which a person must vary his play in accordance with these different objects will be discussed when we come to the suggestions for good play. In the meantime, it is necessary to bear in mind only the general principle that the object of the game is to avoid winning any tricks that contain hearts. _=METHOD OF PLAYING.=_ The cards dealt, the player to the left of the dealer begins by leading any card he pleases, and the others must follow suit if they can.
25.) | | |24.| -- | -- | -- | |25.| -- |She showed her ring |Married to-day so kiss| | | |and bells did ring. |one another. | |26.| -- | -- | -- | |27.| -- | -- | -- | |28.|[Wallflowers verses | -- | -- | | |follow.] | | | |29.