We may now turn our attention to the conventionalities used by players who are opposed to the establishment of suits in the hands of the leader and his partner. These are divided between the Second and the Fourth Hand, the former being the more important. Generally speaking, they are the tactics of defence. _=SECOND HAND PLAY.=_ The player who is second to play on any trick is called the Second Hand. It is his duty to protect himself and his partner, as far as possible, in the adversaries’ strong suits. The chief point for the beginner to observe in Second Hand play, is the difference between the circumstances requiring him to play high cards, and those in which he should play low ones. _=High Cards Led.=_ When a card higher than a Ten is led on the first round of a suit, the Second Hand has usually nothing to do but to play his lowest card, and make what inference he can as to the probable distribution of the suit. But if he holds the Ace, or cards in sequence with it, such A K, he should cover any card higher than a Ten.
Where s your father going to lie? Lie on the footman s bed. Where s the footman going to lie? Lie in the cowshed. Where s the cows going to lie? Lie in the pig-sty. Where s the pig going to lie? Lie in the dolly-tub. And what am I to wash in? Wash in a thimble. A thimble wunna hold a cap. Wash in an egg-shell. An egg-shell wunna hold a shirt. Wash by the river-side. Suppose the clothes should float away? Get a boat and fetch them back.
If he holds A Q alone on a Ten led, the Ace should be played. With A Q x, the Ten should be passed. With Ace and small cards, the Ace should be played on the Ten. With Queen and small cards the Ten should be passed. When Third Hand plays Queen on a Ten led, it should be a certainty that he has no more of the suit. If he holds A K and only one small card, the King should be played on a Queen led. If he holds Ace and only one small card, the Ace should be played on the Jack led. If Third Hand has four trumps and a card of re-entry, the Ace should be played on Jack led, regardless of number, in older to lead trumps at once, to defend the suit. _=When Partner Leads Low Cards=_, the Third Hand should do his best to secure the trick. If he has several cards of equal trick-taking value, such as A K Q, or K Q J, he should win the trick as cheaply as possible.
Some judgment is necessary in making announcements, the question of time being often important. Suppose hearts are trumps, and the winner of the trick holds double bézique, sixty Queens, and a royal marriage:-- [Illustration: 🃋 🃋 🂭 🂭 🃍 🂽 🂾 ] He cannot lay all these cards down at once, and claim 600 points. Neither can he lay down four Queens and two Jacks, and score 560; nor four Queens and a King and score 100. He may announce them if he chooses to expose his hand in that manner, but he can score only one combination, and must win a separate trick to score each of the others. It would be better for him to select some one of the combinations, and declare it, waiting until he won another trick to declare the next one. A beginner would be apt to declare the highest count first, 500 for the double bézique; but under the rule which prevents a player from making a declaration which forms part of a higher one of the same class already made, he would lose the 40 points for the single bézique. It would be better to declare the single bézique first, scoring 40 points for it, and after winning another trick to show the other bézique, scoring 500 points more for the double combination. A player is not allowed to score 40 for the second bézique, and then 500 for the two combined; because if new announcements are made in the same class, at least one new card must be added from the player’s hand when the announcement is made, even if it is not scored until later. _=Double Declarations.=_ It frequently happens that a player is forced to make two declarations at the same time, although he can score only one of them.
I _have_ healed the sick! Don t get uppity, I said. So have I. You see, I told her. I m a doctor. Not much of a one, I admitted, pointing to my weak right arm. I can t heal myself. Oh, yore pore arm, she said. Show me, I said, turning on her. Heal me! I m to have a sign! she wailed. Well, she got one.
He also mentions another account of the game which had been sent him, which describes the game as played in a similar manner to the versions given by Chambers. Stewart, in his _Ben Nevis and Glencoe_, p. 361, records the following rhyme:-- Here we go with merry shout, Up and down and round about, And dance a merry-ma-tandy, but he does not describe the game in detail. Milking Pails [Music] --Monton, Lancashire (Miss Dendy); London (A. B. Gomme). [Music] --Earls Heaton, Yorks. (H. Hardy). I.
All these varieties have been entirely supplanted and overshadowed by bridge. When they play whist at all, the English think there is nothing better than the original whist, counting honours, and playing to the score. The Americans think Duplicate superior to all other forms, especially when two tables are engaged, and four players are opposed by four others for a specified number of deals. We are inclined to agree with Clay that the French game of Mort is “charming and highly scientific.” He says English dummy is a “very slow game.” Whether it is because the game has been found ‘slow,’ or because its more attractive forms are little known, it is certainly true that writers on whist pay little or no attention to dummy. The English authors mention it only in connection with laws and decisions. No American text-book makes any allusion to the game, and there is no reference to it in the American Whist League’s code of laws. In the first edition of this work, written in 1895, the author ventured to prophesy that the day was not far distant when dummy would supersede all other varieties of whist among the most expert players; either in the form of the charming Mort or the fascinating Bridge. Very few persons who have played either of these games sufficiently to appreciate their beauties care to return to the platitudes of straight whist.
The rentrant takes the loser’s seat and cards, and cuts with the successful player for the first deal. The loser of the second game adds another stake to the pool, and retires in favour of the waiting player. The pool is won by any player winning two games in succession. If the winner of the first game won the second also, he would take the pool, which would then contain five stakes; the three originally deposited, and the two added by the losers of the two games. A new pool would then be formed by each of the three depositing another stake, and all cutting to decide which should sit out for the first game. In some places only the two players actually engaged contribute to the pool, the loser retiring without paying anything further, and the rentrant contributing his stake when he takes the loser’s place. The outsider is not allowed to advise either player during the first game, nor to call attention to the score; but on the second game he is allowed to advise the player who has taken his seat and cards. This is on the principle that he has no right to choose sides on the first game; but that after that he has an interest in preventing his former adversary from winning the second game, so as to preserve the pool until he can play for it again himself. NAPOLEON, OR NAP. This is one of the simplest, and at the same time most popular of the euchre family.
Every failure means out, and then your opponent has his turn. The winner is the one who gets through first. Such is the game as I remember it, but I have an uneasy suspicion that I have missed something out. I seem to remember one trick in which all the stones on the ground had to be picked up at once _where they lay_--scrambled up so to speak. Or it may be (and, in fact, I think it was) that sometimes, to add to the difficulty of the game, we picked up the groups of two, three, and four in Two-ers, Three-ers, and Four-ers in this fashion, instead of first placing them together.--Epworth, Doncaster (C. C. Bell). In Wakefield the set of pot checks, which represents five hucklebones, now consists of four checks and a ball about the size of a large marble. The checks are something like dice, but only two opposite sides are plain, the other four being fluted.
_=20.=_ The striker, when in hand, may not play at a cushion within the baulk (except by going first up the table) so as to hit balls that are within or without the line. _=21.=_ If in hand, and in the act of playing, the striker shall move his ball with insufficient strength to take it out of baulk, it shall be counted as a miss to the opponent, who, however, may oblige him to replace his ball and play again. [Failing to play out of baulk, the player may be compelled to play his stroke over again.] _=22.=_ If in playing a pushing stroke the striker pushes more than once it is unfair, and any score he may make does not count. His opponent follows by breaking the balls. _=23.=_ If in the act of drawing back his cue the striker knocks the ball into a pocket, it counts three to the opponent, and is reckoned a stroke.
B. Gomme). In this game the children all follow one who is styled the mother, singing: I ll follow my mother to market, To buy a silver basket. The mother presently turns and catches or pretends to beat them.--Dorsetshire (_Folk-lore Journal_, vii. 231). We ll follow our mother to market, To buy herself a basket; When she comes home she ll break our bones, We ll follow our mother to market. --Hersham, Surrey (_Folk-lore Record_, v. 84). A version familiar to me is the same as above, but ending with For tumbling over cherry stones.
This chicken was underfed in a way that wasn t stylish. They call it malnutrition. Her strapless gown didn t fit her, nor anybody within twenty pounds of her weight. She was all shoulder blades and collarbones. I suppose that a decent walk would have given her _some_ charm--most of these hustlers have a regular Swiss Movement. But this thing had a gait that tied in with the slack way her skirt hung across her pelvic bones and hollered White Trash! at you. I wasn t much flattered that she had tried to pick me up. People have a pretty accurate way of measuring their social station. And she thought she was what I d go for. Well, I guess I don t look like so much, either.
Same as Hockey. Chinny-mumps A school-boys play, consisting in striking the chin with the knuckles; dexterously performed, a kind of time is produced.--Addy s _Sheffield Glossary_. Chock or Chock-hole A game at marbles played by chocking or pitching marbles in a hole made for the purpose, instead of shooting at a ring (Northamptonshire, Baker s _Glossary_). Clare mentions the game in one of his poems. Chow A game played in Moray and Banffshire. The ball is called the Chow. The game is the same as Shinty. The players are equally divided. After the Chow is struck off by one party, the aim of the other is to strike it back, that it may not reach the limit or goal on their side, because in this case they lose the game, and as soon as it crosses the line the other party cry Hail! or say that it is hail, as denoting that they have gained the victory.
, to raise the bet, to improve. Retourne, F., any card turned on the talon, or for a trump. Revoke, failure to follow suit when able to do so, as distinguished from a renounce or renege. Ring In, to exchange any unfair for fair gambling implements during the progress of the game. See Cold Deck. Robbing, exchanging a card in the hand for the turn-up trump, or discarding several for the trumps remaining in the pack. See Cinch and Spoil Five. Rooking, hustling, inveigling a person into a game for the purpose of cheating him. Round, a round is complete when each player has had equal advantages with regard to deal, dummy, etc.
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. The Joker is always the best trump. _=Players.
|Roving life. | | 2.| -- | | 3.| -- | | 4.|Seeks for a bride. | | 5.| -- | | 6.|Catch the bride. | | 7.| -- | | 8.
| | | 3.|Sift it into flour. |Grind my lady s flour.| -- | | 4.| -- | -- |For a lady s daughter.| | 5.| -- | -- | -- | | 6.|Put it in a chest of |Put it in a chestnut. | -- | | |drawers. | | | | 7.
If you have the odd trick in hand, make it at once, before you risk anything else, because the only difference between the odd trick and eleven tricks is the count for each card led in the tricks. _=The Dealer.=_ The first thing to guard against is a long run of winning leads from the elder hand, which might make the odd trick, or even capot. As there are no trumps it is very important for the dealer to keep guarded Kings and twice-guarded Queens. The principal thing for the dealer to remember is that if he cannot stop a long suit in the elder hand, he will have to provide in advance for a certain number of discards, and these must be so planned that guards will be preserved in the other suits. He should also get his hand into such condition that when he does get into the lead, he will not have to lead away from tenaces or guarded Kings. Careful attention to his adversary’s declarations, and a comparison of his own hand with his discards will usually guide the dealer to a correct conclusion as to what to keep and what to throw away in playing to tricks. Mathematicians have exhausted their resources on Piquet, but their conclusions are of little use to the average player. The subject of discards has been very fully illustrated by examples from actual play, especially in the _Westminster Papers_, but no one has yet given us any simple rules like the jeux de règle at Écarté. PIQUET NORMAND, FOR THREE PLAYERS.
| -- |Gay ladies, gay. | -- | |11.| -- | -- | -- | |12.| -- | -- | -- | |13.|Mend it up with bricks|Build it up with lime | -- | | |and mortar. |and sand. | | |14.| -- |Lime and sand will | -- | | | |wash away. | | |15.|Mend it up with penny |Build it up with penny|Build it up with penny| | |loaves.
All at once the two bring their arms down on one and make him (or her) prisoner. The prisoner is asked in a whisper, so as not to disclose the secret name, which of the two is to be chosen. The one so captured takes his (or her) stand behind the one chosen. The same process is gone through till all the players are taken captive, and have stationed themselves behind the one or the other of the two forming the gate. The last one of the line goes through three times. The first time the word breakfast is pronounced; the second time dinner; and the third time supper. The player then chooses a side. The two sides have then a tug of war. The game ends at this point with girls. With boys the conquered have to run the gauntlet.
_=When five or seven play=_, there are special scores for lone hands. When all five tricks are taken by one side, but not by an individual playing a lone hand, it is simply a march, and counts two points, no matter how many are playing. When two or three are playing, a march must of course be a lone hand, as there are no partnerships. As we shall see later, there are some varieties of Euchre in which a lone hand may play against a lone hand, but this is not permitted in the ordinary game. No one but the individual player who makes the trump can play alone. Except in five and seven-handed Euchre, the player or side first reaching five points wins the game. If three are playing, and two of them reach five points simultaneously by euchreing the third, they both win a game. If they are playing for stakes, they divide the pool. _=TAKING UP THE TRUMP.=_ After the trump is turned up, each player in turn examines his cards, and if he does not care whether the trump suit remains unchanged or not, he says: “_=I pass=_.
73. It is also a very ancient Irish game, and Mr. Kinahan says: Many places are called after it: such as, Killahurla, the hurlers church; Gortnahurla, the field of the hurlers; Greenanahurla, the sunny place of the hurlers; this, however, is now generally corrupted into hurling-green. The hurling-green where the famous match was played by the people of Wexford against those of Cather (now divided into the counties of Carlow and Wicklow), and where the former got the name of yellow bellies, from the colour of the scarfs they wore round their waist, is a sunny flat on the western side of North Wicklow Gap, on the road from Gorey to Trinnahely. There are also many other different names that record the game. --_Folk-lore Journal_, ii. 266. See Bandy, Camp, Football, Hockey, Hood, Shinty. Hurly-burly An undescribed boys game. In it the following rhyme is used-- Hurly-burly, trumpy trace, The cow stands in the market-place; Some goes far, and some goes near, Where shall this poor sinner steer? --Patterson s _Antrim and Down Glossary_.