If a player has drawn a 5, 6 or 7, the banker should draw, even if he has 5 or 6. If the player draws an 8 or 9, the banker should stand at 4 or 5, sometimes even with 3. It must be remembered that the banker should have a sharp eye to the relative amounts staked on each side of the table, which will often decide which player he should try to beat. For example: The banker has 5, and the player on his right has drawn a 10, the one on his left a 7. The banker has an excellent chance to win all the bets on the right, and should have a certainty of standing off with them, and unless those on the left very much exceeded them, the banker would be very foolish to risk losing everything by drawing to 5, simply to beat the player on his left. _=BACCARA CHEMIN DE FER.=_ In this variation, each player in turn on the left becomes the banker, taking the deal as soon as the first banker loses a coup. The banker gives cards only to the player on his right, and to himself. If this player will not go banco, each of the others in order beyond him may do so. If no one goes banco, each player in turn to the right makes what bets he pleases, within the limit of the bank’s capital.
If the missing suit is led, and the player on the right trumps, his unknown card must be one of the two other suits, and the player with the command of them should keep both, and throw away his small trump. The discards on the next trick may enable him to determine the suit of the losing card on his right. _=The Last Trump.=_ If two players have an equal number of trumps, each of them having an established suit, it will be the object of both to remain with the last trump, which must bring in the suit. The tactics of each will be to win the third round of trumps; and then, if the best trump is against him, to force it out with the established suit, coming into the lead again with the last trump. So often is it important to win the third round of trumps that few good players will win the second round, unless they can win the third also. With an established suit, a card of re-entry, and four trumps King high, a player should lead trumps; but if his partner wins the first round and returns a small trump, the King should not be put on, no matter what Second Hand plays, unless the card next below the King is fourchette. Some of the most brilliant endings in whist are skirmishes for the possession of the last trump; the player who is at a disadvantage often persistently refuses the fatal force, hoping the leader will be compelled to change his suit, or will lose the lead. _=Drawing the Losing Trump.=_ It is usually best to draw losing trumps from the adversaries, unless a player can foresee that he may want the best to stop a strong adverse suit.
--Halliwell s _Dictionary_. Buck, Buck A boy stoops so that his arms rest on a table; another boy sits on him as he would on a horse. He then holds up (say) three fingers, and says-- Buck, buck, how many horns do I hold up? The stooping boy guesses, and if he says a wrong number the other says-- [Two] you say and three there be; Buck, buck, how many horns do I hold up? When the stooping boy guesses rightly the other says-- [Four] you say and [four] there be; Buck, buck, rise up. The boy then gets off and stoops for the other one to mount, and the game is played again.--London (J. P. Emslie). Similar action accompanies the following rhyme:-- Inkum, jinkum, Jeremy buck, Yamdy horns do au cock up? Two thà sès, and three there is, Au ll lea n thee to la ke at Inkum. --Almondbury (Easther s _Glossary_). A different action occurs in other places.
Patterson). IV. Up the plain and down the plain, As stippy [slippery] as a glass, We will go to Mrs. ---- To find a pretty lass. [Annie] with her rosy cheeks, Catch her if you can, And if you cannot catch her I ll tell you who s the man. [Annie] made a pudding, She made it very sweet; She daren t stick a knife in Till George came home at neet [night]. Taste [George], taste, and don t say Nay! Perhaps to-morrow morning ll be our wedding day. [The bells shall ring, and we shall sing, And all clap hands together.][2] --Earls Heaton (Herbert Hardy). (_b_) A full description of this game could not be obtained in each case.
In cutting, the ace is low, the other cards ranking as in plain suits. A player cutting the Joker must cut again. _=COUNTERS=_ or whist markers may be used for keeping the score, but it is much more common to use the small cards from the deleted portion of the pack. The game is five points, and the best method of scoring is to use the 4 and 3 of any suit. When the 3 is face up, but covered by the 4 face down, it counts _=one=_. When the 4 is face up, covered by the 3 face down, it counts _=two=_. When the 4 is face down, covered by the 3 face up, it counts _=three=_. When the 3 is face down, covered by the 4 face up, it counts _=four=_. [Illustration: [🃓 covered by [🃔 covered by [🃓 covering a [🃔 covering a facedown card] facedown card] facedown card] facedown card] ONE. TWO.
--Cork (Mrs. B. B. Green). IX. London Bridge is broken down, Broken down, broken down, London Bridge is broken down, My fair lady. [Other verses commence with one of the following lines, and are sung in the same manner--] Build it up with penny loaves. Penny loaves will melt away. Build it up with iron and steel. Iron and steel will bend and bow.
If one side goes out by cards, the other cannot score honours. Thirteen tricks taken by one side is called a _=slam=_, and it counts 6 points. Twelve tricks is a _=little slam=_, and it counts 4. Either of these must be made exclusive of revoke penalties. _=RUBBERS.=_ The rubber is won by the side that first wins four games of ten points each; and the winning side adds 8 points to its score. _=SCORING.=_ The game score should be kept on a whist marker, using the four large keys on one side for single points, and the single large key on the opposite side for five points. The three small keys are used to show how many games of the rubber have been won by that side. [Illustration: TWO GAMES WON, AND 2 POINTS SCORED ON THE THIRD.
=_ A revoke is a serious matter in Solo Whist. The penalty for it is the loss of three tricks, and the revoking players must pay the _=red=_ counters involved in the call whether they win or lose; but they may play the hand out to save over-tricks. For instance: A proposer and acceptor make 11 tricks; their adversaries having claimed a revoke. After deducting the revoke penalty, 3 tricks, the callers still have 8 tricks left, enough to make good the call. They each lose a red counter; but no white ones, having saved their over-tricks. Had they taken only 8 tricks altogether, the penalty for the revoke would have left them only 5, and they would each have had to pay one red and three whites. If either adversary of the callers revokes, the individual player in fault must pay for all the consequences of the error. If the player in fault can show that the callers would have won in spite of the revoke, his partners must pay their share; but the revoking player must settle for the three tricks lost by the revoke. For instance: Z calls solo; A revokes; Z makes 6 tricks, which it can be shown he must have done in spite of the revoke. A, Y, and B each pay Z 1 red and 1 white counter, and then A pays Z 9 white counters in addition for the tricks taken as revoke penalty.
The discard of any card higher than a Seven is known as a single-card-call. Even if it was not so intended, it is assumed that a trump lead cannot injure a player with nothing smaller than a Nine in his hand. _=Answering Trump Signals.=_ In response to partner’s call, a player should lead the best trump if he holds it; one of the second and third best if he holds them; the highest of three or less; the lowest of four; and the fourth-best of more than four. Holding any of the regular high-card combinations in trumps, he should lead them in the regular way in answer to a call. _=After a Force.=_ If the player is forced before he can answer the call, he may indicate the number of trumps originally held by playing them in this manner:-- With 3 or less; trumping with the lowest; leading the highest. With 4 exactly; trumping with the 3rd-best; leading the highest. With 5 or more; trumping with the 3rd-best; leading the 4th-best. These methods of taking the force must not be carried to extremes.
Each player throws in turn, and the highest die is left on the table; if two are equally high, only one remains. The two other dice are thrown again, and the higher left. The sum of these two is then added together, and the third die is thrown as a multiplier, the result of the multiplication being the player’s score. ROUND THE SPOT. Any number can play, and three dice are used. Nothing counts but the spots that surround a centre one; so that ace, deuce, four, and six count as blanks. The trey counts as 2, and the five as 4. Each player has three throws with the three dice, and the highest total wins. VINGT-ET-UN. Any number of persons can play, making up a pool for the winner.
|Sweetheart is dead. |True love is dead. |True love is dead. | |19.| -- | -- | -- | |20.| -- | -- | -- | |21.| -- | -- | -- | |22.| -- | -- | -- | |23.|He sent letter to turn|He sent letter to turn|He sent letter to turn| | |your head. |your head.
|Mend it up with penny |Build it up with penny|Build it up with penny| | |loaves. |loaves. |loaves. | |16.|Penny loaves will wash|Penny loaves ll get |Penny loaves will | | |away. |stole away. |tumble down. | |17.| -- | -- | -- | |18.| -- | -- | -- | |19.
and Q._, ii. 518, says it is now (1850) danced with a handkerchief instead of a cushion as formerly, and no words are used, but later correspondents contradict this. See also _N. and Q._, iii. 282. (_d_) Two important suggestions occur as to this game. First, that the dance was originally the indication at a marriage ceremony for the bride and bridegroom to retire with the bowster to the nuptial couch. Secondly, that it has degenerated in Southern Britain to the ordinary Drop Handkerchief games of kiss in the ring.
On the third pile from the left, place another card face up, and then four more face down to the right. Continue this until you have seven cards face up, which will give you twenty-eight cards in your layout. Take out any aces showing, and place them in a row by themselves for “foundations.” Build up on these aces in sequence and suit to kings. On the layout, build in descending sequence, red on black, black on red, turning up the top card when any pile is left without a faced card upon it. If there is more than one card face up on any pile, they must be removed together or not at all. Spaces may be filled only with kings. The stock is run off three cards at a time, and any card showing can be used. The pack can be run through in this manner until no cards showing can be used, but there must be no shuffling or rearrangement of the cards. Sometimes it is the rule to run through the pack once only, turning up one card at a time.
The lead is a great advantage, because trumps can be exhausted immediately, and the suits protected. If the caller has not the lead he must calculate in advance for trumping in, and if his plain suits are not quite established, he will require more trumps than would otherwise be necessary. The greatest danger to an abundance player who has not the original lead, is that his best suit will be led through him, and trumped, either on the first or second round. The caller is often trapped into unnecessarily high trumping when suits are led through him a second or third time. _=The Adversaries=_ have little chance to defeat an abundance unless they can over-trump the caller, or ruff his good cards before he can exhaust the trumps. It is best for the Right to lead his longest suit, and for the Left to lead his shortest. A guarded King suit should not be led under any circumstances; nor a short suit Ace high. If an adversary has a single trump of medium size, such as a J or 10, it is often good play to trump a partner’s winning cards, so as to be sure of preventing the caller from making a small trump. If an adversary has trumped or over-trumped, it is very important to lead that suit to him again as soon as possible. The rules for discarding that are given in connection with Whist should be carefully observed; especially in the matter of showing command of suits.
[Illustration: O O O O . . . . . O ] The pins are set up as above. Three balls (not exceeding 6 inches in size) are allowed in each inning. If the four back pins are bowled down and the head pin is left standing, the score is 2. If all the pins are bowled down, the score is 1. There are no penalties.
This is now regarded as the most important variety of All Fours, and bids fair to supplant the parent game altogether. Properly speaking, Cinch is one of the pedro variations of Auction Pitch, the difference being that no one sells, and that there is added the always popular American feature of a draw to improve the hand. The derivation and meaning of the name, Cinch, seems to be very much misunderstood. Many persons assume it is simply a name for the Left Pedro, but such is not the case. Cinch is a Mexican word for a strong saddle-girth, and when used as a verb it refers to the manner of adjusting the girth on a bucking broncho so that no amount of kicking will get him free. The word is used in this sense to describe one of the principal tactics of the card game, which is to “cinch” certain tricks, so that the adversary cannot possibly get either of the Pedroes free. _=CARDS.=_ Cinch is played with a full pack of fifty-two cards which rank A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2. When the suit is trumps the 5 retains its natural position, and is known as the _=Right Pedro=_; but the 5 of the same colour as the trump suit, which is known as the _=Left Pedro=_, ranks between the 5 and 4 of the trump suit. The ace is highest in cutting and in play.
In setting up the men the inner table is always placed _=toward the light=_, whether it be a window or the gas. Each player must always have the majority of his men, five and three, on the side nearer him; and the minority, five and two, on the side farther from him. The side of the _=inner table=_ which is nearer the player will always be his _=home table=_. In all the illustrations in this work you are supposed to be playing with the black side next you, and with your inner or home table on your _=left=_ hand. The raised portion or hinge of the board, which divides the inner from the outer tables, is known as the _bar_, and the points, or flèches, in each player’s home table are numbered from 1 to 6, reckoning from the outer edge toward the bar. These six points are spoken of as the Ace, Deuce, Trey, Four, Five and Six points respectively, and they correspond to the six faces on a single die. The points in the outer tables have no numbers, but the one next the bar on each side is called the _=bar point=_. In giving the moves of the men in a game, the names of the six points in the home tables are disregarded, and each player, Black and White, numbers the board from 1 to 24, starting from the square on which he has only two men. The notation for the black moves would be as shown in the margin; that for white being exactly opposite, of course. [Illustration: +---+---+---+---+---+---++---+---+---+---+---+---+ | ⛂ | | | | | ⛀ || | ⛀ | | | | ⛂ | | ⛂ | | | | | ⛀ || | ⛀ | | | | ⛂ | | | | | | | ⛀ || | ⛀ | | | | ⛂ | | | | | | | ⛀ || | | | | | ⛂ | | | | | | | ⛀ || | | | | | ⛂ | | 1 2 3 4 5 6 || 7 8 9 10 11 12 | |24 23 22 21 20 19 ||18 17 16 15 14 13 | | | | | | | ⛂ || | | | | | ⛀ | | | | | | | ⛂ || | | | | | ⛀ | | | | | | | ⛂ || | ⛂ | | | | ⛀ | | ⛀ | | | | | ⛂ || | ⛂ | | | | ⛀ | | ⛀ | | | | | ⛂ || | ⛂ | | | | ⛀ | +---+---+---+---+---+---++---+---+---+---+---+---+ ] The men on each side are always moved in the direction of their notation numbers.
If, after playing to the first trick, one player is found to have more than his right number of cards, the English rules say that the game is to be immediately abandoned, and the adversary of the player in error is to add 1300 points to his score at the time the error is discovered, together with all the points already scored by the player in error; but the latter amount must not exceed 900. The same penalties are enforced if one player has too many cards and the other too few; but in the latter case the hand is played out, the player not in fault scoring all he can. If both players have more than their right number of cards, the deal is void. If either has less than his proper number, his adversary having the right number, the deal stands good, and there is no penalty except that the player with the right number of cards wins and scores for the last trick. If both have less than the right number, the deal stands good, and the actual winner of the last trick scores it. It will be observed that these rules are quite different from the French rules, which have been given in connection with the ordinary game of Bézique. In France, it is always the custom to establish the _status quo_, if possible, and to assume that the error was quite unintentional. In England, all laws are based on the assumption that your adversary is a rogue, and the penalties are absurdly severe, but we have no authority to change them. _=Irregularities in Drawing.=_ If a player has forgotten to take his card from the talon, and has played to the next trick, the English laws compel him to play the remainder of the hand with eight cards; the French laws give his adversary the option of calling the deal void, or allowing the player in error to draw two cards from the stock next time.
If a player, or players, under the impression that the game is lost--or won--or for other reasons--throw his or their cards on the table face upward, such cards are exposed, and liable to be called, each player’s by the adversary; but should one player alone retain his hand, he cannot be forced to abandon it. 59. If all four players throw their cards on the table face upward, the hands are abandoned; and no one can again take up his cards. Should this general exhibition show that the game might have been saved, or won, neither claim can be entertained, unless a revoke be established. The revoking players are then liable to the following penalties: they cannot under any circumstances win the game by the result of that hand, and the adversaries may add three to their score, or deduct three from that of the revoking players. 60. A card detached from the rest of the hand so as to be named is liable to be called; but should the adversary name a wrong card, he is liable to have a suit called when he or his partner have the lead. 61. If a player who has rendered himself liable to have the highest or lowest of a suit called, fail to play as desired, or if when called on to lead one suit he lead another, having in his hand one or more cards of that suit demanded, he incurs the penalty of a revoke. 62.
=_ The game is sometimes played with the condition that if any player chooses to risk holding his hand until he can lay it all down at once, or lay down all but the one which he is allowed to discard, he wins double from each of the others. This prompts a player with a good hand to hold it up for a round or two on the chance of getting down a splash, but the player who sees there is no chance for him should get rid of as many cards as he can before the splash comes, and in many cases some player will get rid of all his cards in two or three rounds, and win without a splash. POKER RUM. _=CARDS.=_ In this variety of the game, the A K Q J are worth ten points each, the ace eleven, and the remaining cards their face value. The ace may be used as the top of a sequence Q K A, or the bottom of A 2 3, but not as part of a round-the-corner, K A 2. _=DEALING.=_ Ten cards are always given to each player, no matter how many are in the game. If there are more than three at the table, the double pack must be used, so as to leave cards enough for the stock. _=OBJECT OF THE GAME.
Z knows Y must have 9 or Ace of diamonds, or no more, and he avoids the error of opening another suit, especially a weak one. B continues with the trump Queen, hoping to drop King and Jack together. At trick 5, Z cannot give up the command of trumps, and as A’s lead and discard indicate that he wants spades led up to him, Z’s best chance is that Y has some clubs. Y leads to A. At trick 9, Z knows B cannot have 10 and 9 of trumps, or he would have led one of them to prevent the J and 8 both making, so Y must have one of those trumps. At trick 11, if B leads the club, he loses his call. He must again take the chance of bringing the trumps down together. In the second example A proposes, or calls Solo, and Y over-calls him with Misère. The great point in playing against Misère is to continue leading suits in which he is known to be long, so as to give your partners discards. This B does with the two long spades, the caller being marked with the ace and others on the second trick.