F. Foster. * Gist of Whist, by C.E. Coffin. x Howell’s Whist Openings, by E.C. Howell. Laws and Principles of Whist, by “Cavendish.” Modern Scientific Whist, by C.
=_ Any hand containing a double combination will beat any single combination. For instance: A player holds three of a kind, and the fourth card in his hand is of a different suit from any of his triplet. His hand is a double combination, prime and tricon, and will beat a flush. A sequence of four cards of the same suit is a double combination, and will beat anything but a fredon. When doublets are shown, the holder is paid for both combinations, _=six=_ for tricon and prime, or _=eight=_ for sequence and flush, as the case may be. _=A Fredon=_, or four of a kind, is the best possible hand, and the holder is paid _=ten or eleven counters=_ by each of the other players, according to the pip value of his cards. He is paid eight counters for fredon, and two for the prime, if it is smaller than 8’s; but he claims grand prime if he has four 9’s, or four 10’S, and gets eleven counters. In case of _=ties=_ which cannot be decided by the pip values, the elder hand wins. Even if a player has lost his entire stake in the pool, he must pay the various combinations shown, and it is usual to reserve about ten counters for this purpose. _=Betting the Hands.
H. Low, in _Strand Magazine_, ii. 516, says the divisions are respectively named onesie, twosie, threesie, foursie, and puddings. It is called Hop-bed at Stixwold in Lincolnshire (Miss Peacock), Hop-score in Yorkshire (Halliwell, l.c.), and Hitchibed in Cleveland, Yorks. (_Glossary of Cleveland Words_). Strutt describes it (_Sports_, p. 383); and Wood s _Modern Playmate_, p. 32, gives a diagram similar to one seen on a London pavement by A.
IMPERIAL, OR PIQUET WITH A TRUMP. Impérial differs from Piquet in some minor details, although the leading principle is the same. There are no discards; sequences of court cards are the only ones that count; tierces are worthless; and a trump suit is added. The _=cards=_ rank K Q J A 10 9 8 7; the K Q J A and 7 of trumps are called honours, and in all sequences the four highest cards in the suit are the only ones that count. _=Counters.=_ Each player is supplied with six white and four red counters, which are passed from left to right as the points accrue. Each red is worth six white, and when all six white counters have been passed over, they must be returned, and a red one passed over in their place. When all the counters, four red and six white, have been passed over, the game is won. _=Dealing.=_ Twelve cards are given to each player, two or three at a time, and the twenty-fifth is turned up for the trump.