If a player cannot propose, he says: “Je passe,” and each of the others in turn from right to left have the opportunity to make a proposal. When any player proposes, any player in turn after him may accept, although such a one may have already passed. If the fourth player proposes, the three others having passed, and no one will accept him he is bound to play solo against three such weak adversaries, and must make five tricks, either in belle or in petite. He is not allowed to play in a plain suit if he has made a simple “demand.” The only solo bids allowed are those for six, eight, or nine tricks, which outrank one another. A player cannot bid seven to over-call six; he must go to eight; and a player cannot _=bid=_ five tricks without a partner, although, as we have just seen, he may be forced to _=play=_ in that manner. When six, eight, or nine tricks are bid, the suits outrank one another for equal numbers of tricks; but as the suit called need not be the bidder’s true intention, nor the same as the card laid on the table, the proposer must be careful that his play will be as good as his bid. For instance: He intends nine tricks in spades, but proposes eight in diamonds. He cannot bid nine in diamonds, for that would be a better bid than he intends to play; but the ruse may succeed in inducing a player not to bid against him, hoping diamonds is the true suit. It is a common artifice to bid the true suit, because few will believe it to be such.
=_ _=Cutting Out.=_ At the end of a rubber the players cut to decide which shall give way to those awaiting their turn to play. After the second rubber, those who have played the greatest number of consecutive games give way; ties being decided by cutting. _=7.=_ _=Cutting.=_ In cutting, the ace is low, the other cards ranking, K Q J 10 9 8 7, the King being the highest. A player exposing more than one card, or cutting the Joker, must cut again. _=8.=_ _=SHUFFLING.=_ Every player has a right to shuffle the cards, the dealer last.
BRAG. There are two varieties of this old English game; single, and three-stake Brag. Both are played with a full pack of fifty-two cards; the positions of the players, arrangements for counters, decision of the betting limit, etc., being the same as in Draw Poker. Three to twelve players may form a table. There is a special value attached to three cards which are known as _=braggers=_. These again have a rank of their own; the best being the _=ace of diamonds=_; then the _=Jack of clubs=_, and then the _=nine of diamonds=_. All other cards rank as in Poker. A player to whom any one of these braggers is dealt may call it anything he pleases. If he has a pair of nines and a bragger, or a nine and two braggers, he may call them three nines, and bet on them as such.
If a trump is led, every one must follow suit if able to do so, and it must be remembered that the Left Pedro is one of the trump suit. When a plain suit is led, any player may trump if he chooses, although holding one of the suit led; but if he does not trump, he must follow suit if he can. If he has none of the suit led he may trump or discard at pleasure. The highest card played of the suit led wins the trick, and trumps win all other suits. The Five of trumps, or any higher, will win the Left Pedro; but the Left Pedro will win the Four of trumps, or any lower. The winner of the trick gathers it in, turning it face down, and leads for the next trick, and so on, until all six tricks have been played. The tricks themselves have no value, and need not be kept separate. The last trick turned and quitted may be seen, but no other. _=Irregularities in Playing.=_ If, during the play of a hand, any person is found to have too many cards, his hand is foul, and neither he nor his partner can score any points for that deal, but they may play the hand out to prevent the adversaries from scoring everything.
3--return with stone in your palm. Throw into No. 4--return with stone on your head. Throw into No. 5--return with stone on your back. In each case, upon reaching the goal without dropping it, throw up and catch it as it falls. In the second plan (fig. 2) the game is:--Throw stone into No. 1. Pick it up.
In hands not containing a pair, for instance, ace high will beat Jack high, but it is much more common to hold ace high than Jack high. The exact proportion is 503 to 127. A hand of five cards only seven high but not containing a pair, is rarer than a flush; the proportion being 408 to 510. When we come to two pairs, we find the same inversion of probability and value. A player will hold “aces up,” that is, a pair of aces and another pair inferior to aces, twelve times as often as he will hold “threes up.” In the opinion of the author, in all hands that do not contain a pair, “seven high” should be the best instead of the lowest, and ace high should be the lowest. In hands containing two pairs, “threes up” should be the highest, and “aces up” the lowest. _=ECCENTRIC HANDS.=_ In addition to the regular poker hands, which are those already given, there are a few combinations which are played in some parts of the country, especially in the South, either as matter of local custom or by agreement. When any of these are played, it would be well for the person who is not accustomed to them to have a distinct understanding in advance, just what combinations shall be allowed and what hands they will beat.
Partners sit opposite each other. _=DEALING.=_ Each player has the right to shuffle the pack, the dealer last. The cards are then presented to the pone to be cut, and at least four cards must be left in each packet. Beginning on his left, the dealer gives nine cards to each player, three at a time in three separate rounds. No trump is turned, and the remainder of the pack is left on the table face downward. _=MISDEALING.=_ If any card is found faced in the pack, the cards must be reshuffled and dealt again. If the dealer exposes a card in dealing, or turns up a trump by mistake, the adversaries may elect to have a new deal by the same dealer, or to let the deal stand. If the dealer gives too many or too few cards to any player, or fails to give the same number of cards in each round, it is a misdeal, and the deal passes to the next player on the left.
The fattening process is followed when the dealer can make the original ante what he pleases; but if the ante for jacks is a fixed sum, such as a red counter, it is not usual to fatten the pot at all. This saves all disputes as to _=who is shy=_, one of the greatest nuisances in Poker. _=Opening Jacks.=_ As there is no age or straddle in any form of jack pot, the player to the left of the dealer has the first say, and must examine his hand to see if he has Jacks or better; that is to say, either an actual pair of Jacks, or some hand that would beat a pair of Jacks if called upon to do so, such as two pairs, a straight, or triplets. In some localities it is allowed to open jacks with a _=bobtail=_; that is, four cards of a flush or straight. If the player on the dealer’s left has not openers, or does not care to open the pot if he has, he says: “I pass;” but he does not abandon his hand. The next player on his left must then declare. In some places players are allowed to throw down their cards when they pass; but in first-class games a penalty of five white counters must be paid into the pool by any player abandoning his hand before the second round of declarations, as it gives an undue advantage to players with medium hands to know that they have only a limited number of possible opponents. For instance: If six play, and the first three not only pass, but throw down and abandon their cards, a player with a pair of Jacks will know that he has only two possible adversaries to draw against him, which will so increase his chances that it may materially alter his betting. If no one acknowledges to holding Jacks or better, the pot is fattened, and the cards are reshuffled and dealt.
_=Dealing.=_ Ten cards are dealt to each player in five rounds of two at a time, and the twenty remaining in the stock are laid upon the table face down, between the players, but a little to the left of the dealer. The stock may be slightly spread, to facilitate the process of drawing cards from it. _=Objects of the Game.=_The object of each player is to form triplets, fours, and sequences, by combining the cards dealt him with others drawn from the stock. These combinations are laid upon the table, face up, and the player wins the game who first succeeds in laying down eleven cards in this manner. _=Sequences=_ must be all of the same suit, and cannot be shorter than three cards. The Ace is not in sequence with the King, but the 7 is next below the Jack. A sequence once started can be added to from time to time as the cards are drawn from the stock. _=Triplets=_ are any three cards of the same denomination, and they may be increased to _=Fours=_ at any time, by adding the other card.
If double five is the first set it counts 10. The 5-0 played to this would count 10 for the second player, because one end of the line being 10 and the other 0, the total value of the two ends is still 10. Double blank played to this would count 10 more. If 5-6 is now played on one end, and 0-4 on the other, the count will be 10 again, as shown on the diagram. The figures show the order in which the dominoes were played. [Illustration] The highest possible score is 20 points, made with the 4-4 and 6-6, at different ends. If either player makes a multiple of five without noticing or claiming it, his adversary says, “_=muggins=_,” and scores it himself. If a player makes an erroneous score, it must be taken down, and his adversary marks it as penalty. When a player cannot follow suit, he must draw from the bone-yard until he gets a domino that can be played; but the last two in the stock must never be drawn. When one player gets rid of all his bones, he calls _=domino=_, and scores the nearest multiple of five that is found in the dominoes remaining in his adversary’s hand.