An ace or King two or three times guarded is very safe for a misère, as it is very improbable that any player will be able to lead the suit more than twice; and if the bidder’s missing suit is led, the high card can be got rid of at once. In playing against a misère, discards are important, and the first should be from the shortest suit, and always the highest card of it. A suit in which the bidder is long should be continued, in order to give partners discards. More money is lost at Napoleon by playing imperfect misères than in any other way. _=Variations.=_ The foregoing description applies to the regular four-handed game; but there are several variations in common use. Better bids than “nap” are sometimes allowed, on the understanding that the bidder will pay double or treble stakes if he fails, but will receive only the usual amount if successful. For instance: One player bids _=Nap=_, and another holds what he considers a certainty for five tricks. In order not to lose such an opportunity the latter bids _=Wellington=_, which binds him to pay ten counters to each player if he fails. Another may outbid this again by bidding _=Blucher=_, which binds him to pay twenty to each if he loses, but to receive only ten if he wins.
What s your father to sleep on, Daughter, daughter, What s your father to sleep on, Gentle sweet daughter o mine? Put him in the truckle bed, Mother, mother, Put him in the truckle bed, Gentle sweet mother o mine. What are the children to sleep on, Daughter, daughter, What are the children to sleep on, Gentle sweet daughter o mine? Put them in the pig-sty, Mother, mother, Put them in the pig-sty, Gentle sweet mother o mine. What are the pigs to lie in, Daughter, daughter, What are the pigs to lie in, Gentle sweet daughter o mine? Put them in the washing-tubs, Mother, mother, Put them in the washing-tubs, Gentle sweet mother o mine. What am I to wash in, Daughter, daughter, What am I to wash in, Gentle sweet daughter o mine? Wash in the thimble, Mother, mother, Wash in the thimble, Gentle sweet mother o mine. Thimble won t hold your father s shirt, Daughter, daughter, Thimble won t hold your father s shirt, Gentle sweet daughter o mine. Wash in the river, Mother, mother, Wash in the river, Gentle sweet mother o mine. Suppose the clothes should blow away, Daughter, daughter, Suppose the clothes should blow away, Gentle sweet daughter o mine? Set a man to watch them, Mother, mother, Set a man to watch them, Gentle sweet mother o mine. Suppose the man should go to sleep, Daughter, daughter, Suppose the man should go to sleep, Gentle sweet daughter o mine? Take a boat and go after them, Mother, mother, Take a boat and go after them, Gentle sweet mother o mine. Suppose the boat should be upset, Daughter, daughter, Suppose the boat should be upset, Gentle sweet daughter o mine? Then that would be an end of you, Mother, mother, Then that would be an end of you, Gentle sweet mother o mine. --London Nursemaid, 1876 (A.
If there are two ways to play, one of which will employ the numbers on both dice, the other only one of them, the former must be played. If either, but only one, of the two numbers thrown can be played, the larger of the two must be selected. _=13.=_ If a player throws off men before all his men are at home, the men so thrown off must be placed on the bar, and re-entered in the adversary’s home table, just as if they had been captured in the course of play. The same penalty attaches to throwing off men while one is on the bar. RUSSIAN BACKGAMMON. In this variety of the game, no men are placed upon the board at starting, but each player enters his men by throws of the dice, and both players enter upon the same table, so that all the men on both sides move round the board in the same direction, and both players have the same home table, which is always the one opposite the entering table. After having entered two men on the first throw, the player is at liberty either to continue entering his men with any subsequent throws, or to play the men already entered. In moving or in entering a player may capture any blots left by his adversary; but he cannot enter upon a point covered by two or more of the adversary’s men. If a player cannot enter a fresh man with the throw made, he must play a man if he can.
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.
, to establish a suit. Age, the eldest hand; sometimes erroneously spelt Edge. Albany Lead, a lead in Whist, to show four trumps and three of each plain suit. American Leads, leads that show the number of cards in the suit led, at Whist. Ames Ace, double aces thrown with dice. Anchor Shot, getting the object balls against the cushion and astride the line at baulk-line billiards. Ante, a bet made before playing, but after seeing the hand. Antepenultimate, the lowest but two of a suit. Après, the announcement of a refait at Rouge et Noir. Arroser, F.
It couldn t have been in greater contrast to the contrived hominess of the casino if they d thought about it for a year. Then, for the last twist, the furnishings were straight out of the old Southwest--Navajo rugs, heavy, Spanish oak desks, and a pair of matching couches or divans of whole steer leather stretched over oak frames. * * * * * Peno Rose came quickly toward me the moment Fowler Smythe showed me into the office, spurs jingling. Hey! There he is! The boy they had to rule off the track! How s a boy, Lefty? Long time no see. He had his hand stuck way out ahead of him. His sharp, dried-out features repelled me twice as much as they had ten years before. That hatchet face of his was gashed with what he thought was a smile. I ve seen sharks with a pleasanter gape. Naturally, I didn t take his hand. Hi, Peno, I said.
Then all those that have won tricks put back into the pool a counter for each trick they have taken. The first player to get rid of his twelve counters wins the game. AUCTION EUCHRE. This form of the game is sometimes erroneously called _=French Euchre=_. The French know nothing about Euchre in any form. Auction Euchre is exactly the same as the ordinary four or six-handed game, except that the trump is not turned up, the players bidding in turn for the privilege of naming the trump suit. The bidder names the number of tricks he proposes to take. There is no second bid, and the player who has made the highest bid names the trump suit. No matter who is the successful bidder, the eldest hand leads for the first trick. The number of points won or lost on the deal are the number of points bid, even if the bidder accomplishes more.
Cots and Twisses. Course o Park. Crab-sowl. Crates. Cricket. Crooky. Cross and Pile. Cross-bars. Cross-questions. Cross Tig.
When the partners will sit next each other, proposals may be accepted on slightly weaker hands than would be considered safe otherwise. _=Playing Proposals and Acceptances.=_ If the eldest hand has proposed, and his partner sits next him on the left, the commanding trumps should be first led, in order to secure as many rounds as possible. If the eldest hand has no high-card combination in trumps, it is sometimes better to lead a small card from a weak suit, hoping to put the partner in. If successful, the partner will first show his suit, and then lead trumps through the adversaries. If the acceptor sits on the right of the proposing eldest hand, trumps should be led immediately, and the highest of them first, no matter what they are. The Q or J at the head of five trumps may be of great use to a partner with an honour. When the eldest hand has proposed, and his partner sits opposite him, trumps should be led at once, and all combinations played as at Whist. The foregoing principles equally apply when the eldest hand has accepted a proposal, if the player can be depended on to have proposed on general strength. When partners sit opposite each other, the general principles of leading, establishing, defending, and bringing in suits, are the same as at Whist, and the usual trump signals and echoes are made use of.
It is therefore evident that in backing tens against openers, it is four to one against your beating the openers to begin with, and if you do beat them the odds are still against your winning the pot. If there were five players, and the jack pots were all equal in amount, you would have to win one pot out of five to make your investment pay. Can you make this average when your original pair will not beat openers? There are three principles with regard to the draw that should never be lost sight of: (1) An average go-in hand is a hand which will win its proportion of the pools, according to the number playing, taking all improvements and opposition into account. This can be demonstrated to be a pair of tens. (2) The draw is much more valuable to a weak hand than to a strong one, and weak hands will improve in much greater proportion than strong ones will. For instance: The chances for a player to improve by drawing to a pair of Queens are one in three and a half. He may make two pairs, or triplets, or a full hand, or four of a kind. The chances of improvement for a player drawing to two pairs, say Eights up, are only one in thirteen. This consideration leads players to adopt two lines of play: To bet all they intend to on two pairs before the draw, in order to prevent weaker hands drawing cards and improving; or, to discard the smaller pair in order to increase their chances of improvement. (3) The smaller the number of players, the greater the value of the hands; and the larger the number of players, the greater the chance that any given hand will be beaten.
Grand misère. _=Grand misère=_, or _=misère sans ecart=_. Misère with four aces. _=Misère des quatre as=_. Nine tricks in any suit. _=Neuf=_. Nine tricks in petite. _=Neuf en petite=_. Nine tricks in belle. _=Neuf en belle=_.
1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg™ electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager of the Project Gutenberg™ trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. 1.F. 1.F.1.
When you have a dangerous hand in hearts, but one absolutely safe long suit, it is often good play to begin with your safe suit, retaining any high cards you may have in other suits in order to get the lead as often as possible for the purpose of continuing your safe suit, which will usually result in one or more of the other players getting loaded. When you have at least three of each plain suit it is obvious that you cannot hope for any discards, and that you must take into account the probability of having to win the third round of one or more suits, with the accompanying possibility of getting hearts at the same time. If you have the lead, this probability must be taken into account before any of the other players show their hands, and as it may be set down as about 5⅛ to 1 that you will get a heart, any better chance that the hand affords should be taken advantage of. It will often occur that a player’s attention must be so concentrated on getting clear himself that he has no opportunity to scheme for “loading” the others. But if it unfortunately happens that he is compelled to take in one or more hearts, he should at once turn his attention to taking them all, or to loading the other players, with a view to making a Jack of the pool. Should he succeed in either object, he has another chance for his money. It is usually bad policy to return the suit opened by the original leader. He has picked that out as his safest suit, and although he may be the only one safe in it, by continuing it you are reducing your chances to two players, when you might share them with all three. _=FOLLOWING SUIT.=_ When a player is not the original leader, his policy becomes defensive; for, as the first player is plotting to give hearts to every one but himself, each of the others must be a prospective victim, and should do his best to avoid the traps prepared by the one who plans the opening of the hand.
The player holding the best sequence is entitled to score it, together with any inferior sequences he may hold in other suits. Should his adversary hold intermediate sequences, they are of no value. For instance: One player holds a quinte to the Jack in spades, a tierce to the Ten in hearts, and a tierce to the Nine in clubs; while the other holds a quatrième majeure (A K Q J) in hearts, diamonds, and clubs. None of the latter are of any value; but all those in the other hand are good. If the best sequence is a tie, no sequences can be scored by either player. The value of a sequence is ten more than the number of cards that go to form it, provided that number exceeds four. A tierce counts 3 only, and a quatrième 4 only; but a quinte is worth 15, a sixième 16, and so on. _=Fours, and Triplets.=_ Any four cards of the same denomination, higher than a Nine, is called a Quatorze; three of any kind higher than the Nine is called a Trio, or sometimes a Brelan. As a trio is seldom mentioned without naming the denomination, it is usual to say; “Three Kings,” or “Three Jacks,” as the case may be.
Trays 7, 8, 9, are to be played and overplayed by tables 2 and 7; while 10, 11, 12, are laid aside, and so on until we get to tables 5 and 10, which play and overplay trays 25, 26, 27. The easiest way to manage this is to give tray No. 2 to table 6, while tray 1 is at table 1, and then to let table 1 take tray 2, while table 6 plays tray 3. Then table 1 will get tray 3, while table 6 overplays tray 1. This will make all the trays come in numerical order to table 1, and will act as a check. The play of the first round, three deals, finished, the E & W players all move one table, 2 going to 1, 3 to 2, etc. The umpire now brings into play the trays that were idle, giving trays 4, 5, 6, to tables 1 and 6; trays 10, 11, 12, to tables 2 and 7, and so on down the line, all the trays that were used in the first round lying idle. Again the players move, and now table 1 gets the 7, 8, 9, set of trays to overplay with table 6, and so on; so that all the sets move up a table after each intervening round, and table 1 will get all the trays from 1 to 30 in order. _=SCORING.=_ In both the foregoing systems, each pair should have its own score-card, and should mark the name of the team it plays against for each series of four hands.