B. Gomme. An account sent me from Deptford (Miss Chase) is doubtless the same game. It begins with taking two gobs at once, and apparently there are eight stones or gobs to play with. The marble or round stone which is thrown up is called a tally. The directions for playing are-- We take twoses, We take threeses, We take fourses, We take sixes, We take eights. Chain eggs--_i.e._, to pick up one and drop it again until this has been done to each stone. Arches--_i.
|Give your hand to me. |Take one, take the | | | | |fairest you can see. | | 10.| -- | -- |Pretty [ ] come to | | | | |me. | | 11.| -- | -- | -- | | 12.| -- | -- |You shall have a duck,| | | | |my dear. | | 13.| -- | -- |I will give you pots | | | | |and pans. | | 14.
_=1st Method.=_ Some table in the series, which must not be either the first or the last, deals no original hands, but overplays all the hands coming from the other tables to the East of it. The four players sit still, taking no part in the progression; thus obliging those whose turn it would be to play at their table to pass on to the next. _=2nd Method.=_ Each gentleman should carefully note the number of the hand originally dealt at the table from which he starts. He progresses until he meets this hand again. The first to observe this should give notice to the company by a bell tap, as all the gentlemen must meet their original hands at the same time. Instead of stopping at the table at which this tray is encountered, all the gentlemen move on to the next, leaving the trays as they are. This skip enables each to finish the round without playing any of the hands twice. _=Scoring.
To justify this expenditure he must have some permanent advantage, and if no such advantage or “percentage” is inherent in the principles of the game, any person playing against such a banker is probably being cheated. At Monte Carlo, everything is perfectly fair and straightforward, but no games are played except those in which the percentage in favour of the bank is evident, and is openly acknowledged. In Faro there is no such advantage, and no honest faro bank can live. It is for that reason that the game is not played at Monte Carlo, in spite of the many thousands of Americans who have begged the management to introduce it. The so-called percentage of “splits” at Faro is a mere sham, and any candid dealer will admit that they do not pay for the gas. Roulette, Rouge et Noir, Keno, and Chuck Luck are all percentage games, although the banker in the latter is seldom satisfied with his legitimate gains. The peculiarity about all percentage banking games is that no system, as a system, will beat them. The mathematical expectation of loss is so nicely adjusted to the probabilities of gain that the player must always get just a little the worst of it if he will only play long enough. Take any system of martingales, and suppose for the sake of illustration that in 1000 coups you will win 180 counters. The mathematical expectation of the game is such that just about once in a thousand coups your martingale will carry you to a point in which you will lose 200 counters, leaving you just 20 behind on every 1000 if you keep on playing.
It is considered obligatory to play three rubbers, in order that each may have whatever advantage or disadvantage may be supposed to attach to the dummy. The three rubbers so played are called a Tournée. It is sometimes agreed that one player shall take dummy continuously, on condition that he concedes to his adversaries one point in each rubber. When this is done, the largest rubber that the dummy’s partner can win is one of seven; and he may win nothing; whereas his adversaries may win a rubber of nine, and must win at least two. This concession of a point is not made, as many imagine, because it is an advantage to have the (dummy) partner’s hand exposed; but because it is an advantage to have the player’s hand concealed. He knows the collective contents of the adversaries’ hands; each of them knows only the contents of dummy’s hand and his own. _=Cutting.=_ The player cutting the lowest card has the choice of seats and cards; but he must deal the first hand for his dummy; not for himself. The methods of spreading, cutting, deciding ties, etc., described in connection with whist, are those employed in dummy.
Draw a bucket of water For the farmer s daughter; Give a gold ring and a silver watch, Pray, young lady, pop under. --Sporle, Norfolk (Miss Matthews). X. Draw a bucket of water For my lady s daughter; A guinea gold ring And a silver pin, So pray, my young lady, pop under. --Haydon (Herbert Hardy). XI. Draw a bucket of water To wash my lady s garter; A guinea gold ring And a silver pin, Please, little girl, pop under. --Earls Heaton (Herbert Hardy). XII. See-saw, a bucket of water, To wash my lady s garter.
The French Defence and the Petroff are good openings for Black. The theory of opening is to mobilise your forces for the attack in the fewest possible moves. Lasker thinks six moves should be enough for this purpose, and he recommends that only the King’s and Queen’s Pawns should be moved, after which each piece should be placed at once upon the square from which it can operate to the best advantage. He thinks the Knights should be first brought out, and posted at B 3, and then the K’s B, somewhere along his own diagonal. The great mistake made by beginners is that they rush off to the attack and try to capture some of the adverse pieces before they have properly prepared themselves for re-inforcement or retreat. It should never be forgotten that the game is not won by capturing the adversary’s pieces, but by check-mating his King. Take the board and pieces, arrange them with the white men next you, and play over the following simple little game. Remember that the figures above the line are for the white men; those below for the black. P-K4 Kt-KB3 Kt-QB3 B-B4 1 ---- 2 ------ 3 ------ 4 ----- P-K4 P-Q3 P-KR3 B-Kt5 The third move made by Black accomplishes nothing, and is simply a waste of time. He should have continued by bringing his Knights into play.
The four girls then choose four lads, and so on. At Earls Heaton the children stand against a wall in a line. Another child walks up and down singing the verses, and chooses a partner. He spreads a handkerchief on the ground, and they kneel and kiss. (_c_) The Shipley version is a Kiss in the Ring game. A version sent by the Rev. W. Slater Sykes from Settle, Yorkshire, is almost identical with the Earls Heaton version. Northall (_Folk Rhymes_, p. 369) says to kiss on the floor --_i.
If the Second Hand plays King first round on a small card led, he has Ace also, or no more. If he plays Ace under the same conditions, he has no more. [See Minneapolis Lead.] If a suit is led, and neither Third nor Fourth Hand has a card in it above a Nine, the original leader must have A Q 10, and the second player K J. When neither Third nor Fourth Hand holds a card above the Ten, the major and minor tenaces are divided between the leader and the Second Hand. If it can be inferred that the leader held five cards in the suit originally, he holds the minor tenace. When a player, not an American leader, begins with a Jack and wins the trick, the adversaries may conclude that his partner had two small cards with the Ace, and had not four trumps and another winning card. When a good player changes his suit, he knows that it will not go round again, or that the command is against him. This is often a valuable hint to the adversaries. When he quits his original suit and leads trumps, without his partner having called, the adversaries may conclude that the suit has been established.
Now, metal buttons being rare, it is played with pieces of brass or copper of any shape. The expression, I haven t a cot, is sometimes used to signify that a person is without money.--Easther s _Almondbury and Huddersfield Glossary_. See Banger, Buttons. Course o Park The game of Course of the Park has not been described, but is referred to in the following verse:-- Buff s a fine sport, And so s Course o Park. --_The Slighted Maid_, 1663, p. 50. Crab-sowl, Crab-sow A game played with a bung or ball struck with sticks (Brogden s _Provincial Words, Lincolnshire_). This is played on Barnes Common, and is apparently a form of Hockey (A. B.
Among some players the original lead of a strengthening card is an evidence of four trumps, and is called an _=Albany Lead=_. A player holding three cards of any plain suit, such as the 3, 4, 5, may show the number of his trumps by playing these small cards as follows:-- No of trumps. 1st trick. 2nd trick. 3rd trick. 3 or less 3 4 5 4 exactly 4 5 3 5 ” 4 3 5 6 ” 5 3 4 7 or more 5 4 3 The second of these is the four-signal; the last three are trump signals. They are used only in following suit. The four-signal is sometimes used in the trump suit as a _=Sub-echo=_, to show three trumps exactly. Apart from signalling, trump strength may often be inferred, especially from player’s passing doubtful tricks, forcing their partners, etc. _=Trump Suit Leads.
_=A Pair=_; such as two Aces and three odd cards. If no pair is shown, the _=Highest Card=_ wins. A short hand, such as four cards, cannot be claimed as either a straight or a flush. _=36. Ties.=_ In case of ties, the highest of the odd cards decides it. Ultimate ties must divide the pool. When combinations of equal rank are shown, the one containing the highest cards wins, the rank of the cards being, A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2; so that two pairs, K’s and 4’s, will beat two pairs, Q’s and J’s. Three 5’s and a pair of 2’s, will beat three 4’s and a pair of aces. JACK POT LAWS.
The following forms are those known to me, with their names. They are produced seriatim. 1. The cradle. 2. The soldier s bed. 3. Candles. 4. The cradle inversed, or manger.
If you lead the ♡ 4, the only chance for it to win is that one player has no hearts, and that the 2 and 3 are divided. The odds against this combination of circumstances will vary with the number of hearts you hold with the 4, but may be generally stated on the average as about 50 to 1. It is usually considered a safer lead than a high card of a plain suit, even if you have only three of the suit. If your only heart is the 5, and you propose to lead it, the chances that the 2, 3, and 4 are not each in separate hands are about 19 in 25, or 19 to 6 against it, which is about 3 to 1. If you lead the 5, the odds against your winning the trick decrease as the number of hearts you hold with the 5 increases. If you have four hearts, the 5 being the lowest, the odds against its winning the trick, if you lead it, are about 29 to 11. If you have eight hearts, the 5 being the lowest, it is about an even chance. If your only heart is the 6, it is about an even chance that it will win the trick; but the odds against you increase rapidly with the number of additional hearts that you hold. If you propose to lead the 7, the chances that it will win the trick are 2 to 1 under the most favourable circumstances, which are when it is your only heart. These odds against you increase rapidly with the number of additional hearts that you hold.
Rimbault from oral tradition is Little Bingo. The words of this are very similar to the Lancashire version of the game sent by Miss Dendy. There is an additional verse in the nursery song. Bird-apprentice A row of boys or girls stands parallel with another row opposite. Each of the first row chooses the name of some bird, and a member of the other row then calls out all the names of birds he can think of. If the middle member of the first row has chosen either of them, he calls out Yes, and all the guessers immediately run to take the place of the first row, the members of which attempt to catch them. If any succeed, they have the privilege of riding in on their captives backs.--Ogbourne, Wilts (H. S. May).
_=Scoring.=_ Instead of putting down the amount made in each inning, the total of the frame is added to the total of the previous score, so that the last figure put down shows the total score up to and including that frame. The following illustration shows the total score of a player for ten innings. The top line of figures gives the number of the frame. The second shows the number of pins knocked down by each ball rolled, and the third line shows how the scores would be actually put down on the blackboard, the strike, spare, and break marks being placed above the figures. With the exception of the second line of figures, which is put in for purposes of illustration only, this might be a copy of an actual score. Frames | 1 | 2 | 3| 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 --------+---+---+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+----- Pins |8-2|5-5|10|9-0|7-2|8-2|10 |8-2|8-1|7-3-9 --------+---+---+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+----- | \ | \ | X| - | - | \ | X | \ | - | \ Score |15 |35 |54|63 |72 |92 |112|140|149|168 As the player made a spare on the last frame, he had another ball to roll, on what was practically a new frame, with which he made 9 pins. _=Averages.=_ If a team is playing a match, and one of the players is unavoidably absent, it is the custom to give him credit for his average, according to the records of his previous games during the tournament or the season. This is considered better than appointing a substitute to play for him.
_ 35 counters. He therefore takes down 105 as his share of the pool, leaving 170 to be decided between C and D. Now, although C has a better point than D, it is one of the principles of the game that the suit that wins cannot lose at the same time; and as D has a card of the winning suit, while C has not, D wins the remainder of the pool. If neither C nor D had a card of the winning suit, C would win from D on account of his better point. If we transposed the club ace and spade ace, spades would be the winning suit, because the elder hand, A, had the best card of it; but C would take the remainder of the pool, because he held a spade, while D did not. As it is, C is decavé, and must purchase another stake, or retire from the game. If C had lost this pool with a brelan in his hand, he would not be decavé; because after losing the pool, and all he had staked therein, B, who had passed out, would have to pay him for the brelan, and with this one white counter he would have to call for a sight in the next pool he entered. _=Methods of Cheating.=_ As in all games in which winning depends entirely on the cards held, and not on the manner of playing them, Bouillotte offers many opportunities to the greek. The small number of cards in the pack, and the consequent ease with which they may be handled, enable even the clumsiest card sharpers to run up brelan carrés, make false shuffles, and shift cuts.
If there are five candidates for play, they all sit at the same table, each taking his turn to sit out for one hand while the four others play. The dealer is usually selected to sit out. If there are only three players, one suit must be deleted from the pack, or the 2, 3, and 4 of each suit must be thrown out. _=CUTTING.=_ The table being formed, the players draw from an outspread for the deal, and choice of seats and cards. The player drawing the lowest card deals the first hand, and it is usual for him to dictate to the other players what seats they shall occupy with relation to himself. Ties are decided in the same manner as at Whist. _=POSITION OF THE PLAYERS.=_ The four players at Solo Whist are usually distinguished by the letters A B Y Z. [Illustration: Y +-----+ | | A | | B | | +-----+ Z ] Z is the dealer, and A is known as the _=eldest hand=_.
A pool is made up by any number of players. The dealer takes a pack of fifty-two cards and gives three to each, face down, and three extra cards to the table, dealt face up. Each player in turn to the left can exchange one of his own cards for one of those on the table, the object being to get a flush of three cards of some suit having a pip value of thirty-one; or else to get three of a kind. The aces are worth 11, the other court cards and the ten, 10 each. If no one can get a flush worth thirty-one, three of a kind wins the pool. If no one has three of a kind, the highest pip value shown in one suit wins. Drawing is kept up until some player knocks, after which only one more draw is allowed, the knocker not being allowed to draw again. A player can knock without drawing at all if he wishes to prevent the others from beating his original hand. PROGRESSIVE POKER. There are several ways to play Progressive Poker, but the description of one will suffice.
It is evident to A that neither B nor Z holds either Jack or Seven of trumps; so both those cards must be with Y. As B has no more trumps the adversaries must have both Pedroes, and Y must have one, as he holds four trumps. If they are divided, A can catch both by cinching this trick with the King and leading the Ace; but if Y has both Pedroes, such a course would lose Jack, Game, and one Pedro. If A cinches this trick with the Ten, allowing Y to win with the Jack, A must catch both Pedroes, no matter how they lie, provided Y leads the trump Seven, for A will refuse to win it. Y sees his danger, and by leading a Pedro to A, forces him either to pass it, or to get into the lead and free the other Pedro. A-B score nothing: Y-Z score 7 for Jack, Game, Pedro; and 8 in addition, for points bid but not made by A-B; 15 altogether. _=No. 2.=_ At trick 2, Y sees that he cannot save Low, and the lead would be a great disadvantage, because either A has all the remaining trumps, or Y’s partner has an unguarded Pedro. At trick 3, A knows that if Y has Ace, and Z Pedro, A can still make his bid by catching Jack, and saving his own Pedro.