” 45. A player in his turn may overbid the previous adverse declaration any number of times, and may also overbid his partner, but he cannot overbid his own declaration which has been passed by the three others. 46. The player who makes the final declaration[9] must play the combined hands, his partner becoming dummy, unless the suit or no trump finally declared was bid by the partner before it was called by the final declarer, in which case the partner, no matter what bids have intervened, must play the combined hands. 47. When the player of the two hands (hereinafter termed “the declarer”) wins at least as many tricks as he declared, he scores the full value of the tricks won (see Law 3).[10] 47_a_. When the declarer fails to win as many tricks as he declares, neither he nor his adversaries score anything toward the game, but his adversaries score in their honour column 50 points for each under-trick (_i.e._, each trick short of the number declared).
[Illustration: Spreading. Squeezing.] The object of this examination is to ascertain the value of the hand dealt to him, and to see whether or not it is worth while trying to improve it by discarding certain cards and drawing others in their place. The player should not only be thoroughly familiar with the relative value of the various combinations which may be held at Poker, but should have some idea of the chances for and against better combinations being held by other players, and should also know the odds against improving any given combination by drawing to it. The value of this technical knowledge will be obvious when it is remembered that a player may have a hand dealt to him which he knows is comparatively worthless as it is, and the chances for improving which are only one in twelve, but which he must bet on at odds of one in three, or abandon it. Such a proceeding would evidently be a losing game, for if the experiment were tried twelve times the player would win once only, and would lose eleven times. This would be paying eleven dollars to win three; yet poker players are continually doing this. _=RANK OF THE HANDS.=_ The various combinations at Poker outrank one another in the following order, beginning with the lowest. Cards with a star over them add nothing to the value of the hand, and may be discarded.
Miss Burne mentions one penance designed to make the victim ridiculous, as when he is made to lie on his back on the floor with his arms extended, and declare-- Here I lie! The length of a looby, The breadth of a booby, And three parts of a jackass! --_Shropshire Folk-lore_, pp. 526-27. (_c_) Halliwell gives, in his _Nursery Rhymes_, pp. 324-26, some curious verses, recorded for the first time by Dr. Kenrick in his Review of Dr. Johnson s Shakespeare, 1765, on rules for seemly behaviour, in which the forfeits imposed by barbers as penalties for handling razors, &c, are set forth. Although barbers forfeits are not of the same nature as the nursery forfeits, it is possible that this general custom among so important a class of the community in early times as barbers may have suggested the game. Both Forby in his _Vocabulary of East Anglia_ and Moor in his _Suffolk Words_ bear testimony to the general prevalence of barbers forfeits, and it must be borne in mind that barbers were also surgeons in early days. A curious custom is also recorded in another East Anglian word-list, which may throw light upon the origin of the game from popular custom. A forfeit is incurred by using the word water in a brew-house, where you must say liquor; or by using the word grease in a chandlery, where it is stuff or metal.
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. Beginning with the eldest hand, each player sorts her cards into pairs of the same denomination; such as two Fives, two Jacks, etc., and all pairs so formed are laid upon the table face down, without showing them to the other players.
The dirge, or singing to the dead, is indicated by Nos. 18, 23, and 26, and the beauty of the first line is in complete accord with the mournful music. That No. 26 occurs in only two variants, Derbyshire and the Isle of Man, is curious, as the pathos of this appeal is very apparent in the movement of the game. The communion with the dead which is indicated by No. 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.
If she is, they both stand in the middle, and commence singing the words again with-- Here come _two_ virgins on their knees, &c. Probably a degraded version of Three Lords from Spain. Here I sit on a Cold Green Bank Here I sit on a cold green bank On a cold and frosty morning. We ll send a young man [_or_ woman] to take you away, To take you away, We ll send a young man to take you away, On a cold and frosty morning. Pray tell me what his name shall be? [_or_] Pray, whom will you send to take me away? We ll send Mr. ---- to take you away. The children form a ring around one of the party, who sits in the middle, and says the two first lines. Then those in the circle dance round her, singing the next four lines. This is repeated three times, with the refrain, On a cold, &c., after which the dancing and singing cease, and the child is asked, Sugar, sweet, or vinegar, sour? Her answer is always taken in a contrary sense, and sung, as before, three times, whilst the children circle round.
Last Trick, an expression used to distinguish the last trick when all the cards are played from the last when all the cards are not played, especially in Bézique and Sixty-six. Last Turn, the three cards left in the box at the end of the deal at Faro, the order of which may be bet upon. Lead, to play the first card in any trick. Levée, F., a trick. (Tric, is the odd trick.) Liées, F., to play rubbers. Limit, the amount by which one player may increase his bet over that of another. Long Cards, the dregs of a suit which has been led several times, and exhausted in the hands of the other players.
A player winning three tricks out of the five possible, counts one point toward game; winning all five tricks, which is called _=the vole=_, counts two points. The player holding or turning up the King of trumps may mark one point for it, but he is not compelled to do so. If the pone plays without proposing, and makes three or four tricks, he counts one point; if he makes the vole he counts two points; but if he fails to make three tricks the dealer counts two. If the dealer refuses the first proposal, he must make three tricks to count one point; if he makes the vole he counts two points; but if he fails to win three tricks the player who was refused counts two points. If the dealer accepts the first proposal, and gives cards, subsequent proposals and refusals do not affect the score; the winner of the odd trick scoring one point, and the winner of the vole two points. In no case can a player make more than two points in one hand by tricks. If the dealer refuses the first proposal, and the pone makes the vole, it counts two points only. If the pone should play without proposing, and the dealer should mark the King and win the vole, it would count him only three points altogether. The player first reaching five points wins the game. If a player has four scored, and turns the King, that wins the game, provided the King was the eleventh card.
If the game is a tie, called a _=tableau=_, each puts up a counter for a pool, and the winner of the next game takes the pool, in addition to the counter paid by his adversary. If the next game is also a tableau, each player adds another counter to the pool, and so on until it is won. _=Dealing.=_ Ten cards are dealt to each player in five rounds of two at a time, and the twenty remaining in the stock are laid upon the table face down, between the players, but a little to the left of the dealer. The stock may be slightly spread, to facilitate the process of drawing cards from it. _=Objects of the Game.=_The object of each player is to form triplets, fours, and sequences, by combining the cards dealt him with others drawn from the stock. These combinations are laid upon the table, face up, and the player wins the game who first succeeds in laying down eleven cards in this manner. _=Sequences=_ must be all of the same suit, and cannot be shorter than three cards. The Ace is not in sequence with the King, but the 7 is next below the Jack.