Her eyebrows shrugged, but she did as I told her. I came out, and tipped the dice to eleven. I kept the dice, but lost my chips, which is what I wanted. Throwing six more down on the Don t Pass side, I rattled the ivories in my left hand. Tears began to roll down her unhealthy cheeks. Lose! she cried nasally, and sniffled. Billy Joe! Listen to me, darlin Billy! You ll lose! Her eyes rolled up toward the top of her head as I ignored her and came out. Sniffles gasped, Hit s a seven! Well, that s the number I d tipped them to, but she called it before the dice stopped rolling. That left me thirteen chips. Half absent-mindedly, I put three of them on the Pass side of the line and tipped the dice to twelve.
The state of the score must be a constant guide in all end games. For instance: You hold Q 10 x, Dummy having J 9 x. If you want only one trick, play the Queen; but if you want two, play the small card. _=SECOND HAND PLAY.=_ The easiest position to play as second hand, is, of course, with the Dummy on your left, because Dummy’s cards will show what is best to be done. If a small card is led, you having King, put it on if Dummy has not the Ace; unless you want partner to get the lead. If Dummy has only two cards of the suit, neither of them the Ace, always play your King. When the declarer leads a suit it is often important to count how many he and your partner can possibly hold. For instance: You have four, K x x x; Dummy has four, A J 10 x, and declarer leads the Queen. It is useless to play your King; for either the Queen is a singleton, and the declarer cannot continue the suit, which will compel Dummy to lead it to you eventually; or, the third round will be trumped, perhaps by your partner.
Mr. Wood says there is a rougher game played at country feasts and fairs in which a pig takes the place of the boy with the bell, but he does not give the locality (p. 7). Strutt also describes it (_Sports_, p. 317). Blind Bucky-Davy In Somersetshire the game of Blind Man s Buff. Also in Cornwall (see Couch s _Polperro_, p. 173). Pulman says this means Blind buck and have ye (Elworthy s _Dialect_). Blind Harie A name for Blind Man s Buff.
If he wishes to stand on the merits of the hand dealt to him, without drawing to it, he _=knocks=_ on the table, which also passes the option of taking the widow to the next player on his left. If any player takes the widow, the next player on his left can do any one of three things: He may discard from his own hand any card he pleases, taking one from the widow in its stead; the card which he discards being placed on the table face upward, and becoming part of the widow; or he may exchange his entire hand for the widow; or he may stand on the hand dealt him, and knock. Whether he draws one card, exchanges his entire hand, or knocks, the next player on his left has the option of drawing, exchanging, or knocking; and so on, until some player does knock. Should no player take the widow until it comes to the dealer’s turn, he must either take it, or turn it face upward on the table. Even if the dealer knocks, he must turn up the widow, and allow each player an opportunity to draw from it, or to exchange his entire hand for it. When a player knocks, he signifies that no matter what the players following him may do, when it comes to his turn again the hands must be shown. A player cannot draw and knock at the same time; but a player can refuse to draw or exchange after another player has knocked, not before. In some localities it is the rule to turn the widow face up at once if any player knocks before it is taken; allowing all those after the knock an opportunity to draw or exchange; but this is not the usual custom. Suppose five play. E deals, and A passes; B takes the widow; C and D draw from B’s abandoned hand, and E knocks; without drawing, of course.
The one-spade bid simply means, “I pass,” but it does not signify that he will not be willing to bid on the second round. It has nothing whatever to do with the spade suit. The dealer should never call any suit on the first round of bids unless he has two sure tricks in it. If it is a losing suit, he may have just those two tricks and nothing else, and the shorter the suit the better, but the tricks must be A K, or K Q J, or A Q J. If it is a winning suit he must have at least five cards of it and a trick or two in some other suit to back it up. If the dealer bids two spades, he shows two sure tricks in a short spade suit and a sure trick outside. If he bids three spades he shows five or more spades and strength enough outside for royals, but denies two sure tricks in the spade suit itself. The dealer should bid no trumps when he has not length enough to bid hearts or royals, but has a hand as good as three aces, well protected in three suits. _=The Second Hand=_ should declare just as if he were the dealer when the dealer starts with one spade. He may even go no trump on a lighter hand.
=_ Bézique is played for so much a game, 1,000 points up; or for so much a point, the score of the loser being deducted from that of the winner. When a partie of five games is agreed upon, it is usual to have an extra stake upon the odd game, and when three games have been won by the same player, the partie is at an end. It is usual to count it a double game if the loser has not reached 500 points. _=PLAYERS.=_ Bézique is played by two persons, one of whom is known as the _=dealer=_, and the other as the _=pone=_. They cut for choice of seats and deal, the player cutting the highest card having the first choice, and electing whether or not to deal himself. In cutting, the cards rank as in play, and the ace is the highest. If a player exposes more than one card, he must cut again. _=DEALING.=_ The cards are thoroughly shuffled, and presented to the pone to be cut.
The revoke is established if the accused player mixes the cards before the claimants have time to examine them. 26. A revoke must be claimed before the tricks have been mixed, preparatory to shuffling for the next deal. 27. If a player is lawfully called upon to lead a certain suit, or to play the highest of it, and unnecessarily fails to comply, he is liable to the penalties for a revoke. 28. Any trick once turned and quitted must not again be seen until the hand is played. Any player violating this rule is subject to the same penalties as for a lead out of turn. 29. In settling at the end of the hand, the player having taken no hearts, [each of the others having taken at least one,] wins the pool.