Suppose he draws a card that will fit one of his sequences; it is to his advantage to pass it; but upon laying it on the table his adversary may take it up and force him with it, by placing it at the end of his sequence, at the same time saying: “Discard.” In the same manner a player holding one of the cards of his adversary’s show-down sequence or triplet may force after using a card, by placing his discard on his adversary’s sequence, instead of laying it on the table. If it is laid on the table, the adversary may pass it at once, by turning it down, and it is then too late to compel him to use it. Suppose you think your adversary holds two cards of an unplayed sequence, and has a triplet on the table. If you can use one of those sequence cards in his hand to advantage, and can force him by giving him the fourth card of his triplet, which is of no use to you, you should do so; but you must remember that you cannot force except after using a card yourself, because you are not allowed to discard under any other circumstances. If a player looks at any of the cards that have been passed and turned down, his adversary may take up and examine the remainder of the stock, but without disturbing the position of the cards therein, and without showing them. If a player looks at any of the cards in the stock except the one he draws, his adversary may look at all of them. If a player draws out of turn, his adversary simply claims the card. _=Showing.=_ After the last card is drawn from the stock and passed, each player shows the remainder of his hand, and as neither can combine his cards so as to get eleven down, it is a tableau, and each puts a counter in the pool for the next hand.
If it is unlikely that he will lose a pic or repic, he should try for the _=point=_, which very often carries with it the sequence. It must be remembered that there are only eight cards in each suit, and by comparing those that you hold with those that your adversary may hold it is comparatively easy, in the majority of hands, to estimate the possible scores against you. Next to the point, the most important thing is the score for _=cards=_. The point will save pic and repic, but the cards will make the greatest difference in the score in the long run. Sequences are always valuable, especially those that are Ace high in the elder hand, because they enable him to win a succession of tricks in play. The elder hand should risk a good deal if he has a fair chance to make a pic or repic, which will often settle the game. If there is any choice as to what to keep of two nearly equal chances, always preserve the combination that will be most likely to secure the count for cards. In _=Leading=_, it is best to begin with the point, unless you know that you are leading up to tenace, or to high cards that will bring in a long adverse suit. The piquet player soon learns the importance of tenace and fourchette, and can sometimes see how things must be managed for five or six tricks ahead, so as to secure the odd trick. Tenace is the best and third-best of any suit, such as A Q, while a fourchette is any two cards within one of each other, such as K J, or Q 10, and the lead from such combinations should always be avoided.
Each selects as many cards as he wishes, or thinks he can watch, and places upon them their price, usually twenty-five cents each. An assistant comes round and calls out the numbers of all the cards to be played, and they are “pegged” on a large board provided for the purpose. Ninety small ivory balls, with flattened surfaces to carry the numbers, are placed in a keno goose, which looks like a coffee urn with the spout at the bottom. This spout can be screwed out to put in the balls, and is controlled with a spring cut-off like a powder horn, which lets out only one ball at a time. When all the cards have been pegged, the goose is rapidly revolved several times back and forth, and then a number is taken out, and placed in a little tray with ninety depressions in it, numbered in regular order, which hold the balls as they come from the goose. The keno roller calls each number distinctly, and the players who find it on their cards cover it with a button. The first player to get a horizontal row of five numbers covered in this manner, calls out “Keno!” or bangs the table with a card, and that stops the game. An assistant comes round to the table and calls out the number of the card; if it has been paid for and pegged, he proceeds to call the numbers forming the keno, and these are checked by the roller from the balls on the tray. If everything is correct, the player is given all the money paid by the other players for their cards, less the ten per cent which goes to the house. If two kenos are made on the same number, they divide the pool equally.
=_ Few games lend themselves more readily to the operations of the greek than Seven-up. Turning Jacks from the bottom of the pack; setting up the half-stock for the beg; dealing oneself more than six cards, and dropping on the tricks already won those counting for Game; getting the A J 10 and 2 of a suit together during the play of a hand, and then shifting the cut to get them on the next deal, turning up the Jack; marked cards; strippers; wedges; reflectors; these and many other tricks are in common use. Those who are not expert enough to deal seconds or shift cuts will sometimes resort to such trifling advantages as abstracting one of the Tens from the pack, so that they may know a suit from which a small card can always be led without any danger of the adversary’s making the Ten. One very common swindle in Seven-up is known as _=the high hand=_, which consists in giving the intended victim the A K J 10 9 2 of trumps, and then inducing him to bet that he will make four points. No matter how skilful the player may be, he will find it impossible to save both Jack and Game. CALIFORNIA JACK. This is a variety of Seven-up for two players, in which the number of cards in the hand is constantly restored to six by drawing from the remainder of the pack. The trump suit is cut for before the cards are shuffled and dealt. The usual method is to cut for seats and deal, and the highest cut determines the trump suit at the same time. After each player has been given six cards, three at a time, the remainder of the pack is turned face up on the table, and the winner of each trick takes the top card, his adversary taking the next one.
| -- | -- | |12.| -- |How shall we build it | -- | | | |up again? | | |13.|Stones and lime will | -- |Build it up with | | |build it up. | |bricks and mortar. | |14.| -- | -- |Bricks and mortar will| | | | |not stay. | |15.| -- | -- |Build it up with penny| | | | |loaves. | |16.| -- | -- |Penny loaves will | | | | |mould away.
-+---+-.-+---+-.-+---+ | . | | . | | . | | . | | +-.-+---+-.-+---+-.-+---+-.
If the pone finds himself without a K Q or J, he should immediately claim 10 points for carte blanche. If the dealer holds carte blanche, he does not declare it until the pone has discarded. _=DISCARDING.=_ The five cards on the top of the talon belong to the pone, and he may discard from his hand any number of cards from one to five, and replace them by an equal number from the top of the stock. He must take at least one card, and he must take from the talon in the natural order of the cards. If he has elected to let a deal stand in which he has been given thirteen cards, he is entitled to four cards only from the talon, and must in all cases leave himself with twelve cards after his discard and draw are completed. If he does not take all five cards, he must announce distinctly how many he leaves, for if he fails to do so the dealer is not liable for having too many cards. The dealer then discards, first declaring carte blanche if he holds it. In England, he need not draw at all, in France he must draw at least one card. Besides the three cards which belong to him, he is entitled to take as many as he pleases of those left by the pone, and in drawing from the talon he must take the cards in the order in which they come.
The hostess decides the hour at which play shall cease, and is the referee in all disputes. MILITARY EUCHRE. The hostess arranges each table as a fort, with a distinguishing flag and a number of small duplicate flags. The partners who sit East and West progress round the room from table to table, and play one game of five points at each, no lone hands allowed. The winners of each game get a little flag from the losers as a trophy. By the time the E and W pairs have made the circuit of all the tables and got home again, the game is ended, the victors being the fort that has captured the greatest number of flags. RAILROAD EUCHRE. Railroad Euchre is the name given to any form of the four-handed game in which every expedient is used to make points rapidly. _=Cards.=_ A pack of twenty-five cards is used, all below the 9 being deleted, and the Joker added.
| | |21.| -- | -- | -- | |22.| -- | -- | -- | |23.| -- |Build it up with wood | -- | | | |and clay. | | |24.| -- |Wood and clay will | -- | | | |wash away. | | |25.| -- |Build it up with stone| -- | | | |so strong. | | |26.|Get a man to watch all| -- | -- | | |night.