=_ Any player coming into the pool has the privilege of raising the original opener any amount within the betting limit, and he may in turn be raised again, just as in the ordinary pools. Should the opener decline to meet such a raise, he must show his entire hand before abandoning it. If he declines to do so, he must pay the antes for all the other players for another jack. It is not enough to show openers before the draw, the whole hand must be shown. _=43. Drawing Cards.=_ Each player in turn who has come in, beginning on the left of the dealer, may discard and draw, to improve his hand. The opener is allowed to split his openers, provided it is the rule of the game that the opener shall _always_ put his discard under the chips in the pool, whether he is going to split or not. The opener’s discard must never be gathered in with other discards when the pack runs short for the draw. _=44.
The others are redistributed at the end of each game. _=Players.=_ Any number from four to seven may play; but the two black Sevens must be deleted if there are more than four players. When seven play, the dealer takes no cards. All the preliminaries of seats, cards and deal are settled as at Hearts. _=Dealing.=_ The entire pack is distributed, the dealer giving each player in rotation two or three cards in each round. No trump is turned. All irregularities in the deal are governed by the same laws as at Hearts; but a misdeal does not lose the deal under any circumstances. The same dealer must deal again.
But if you have three honours in the suit, two of them in sequence, always lead an honour against a no-trumper. The exception to this rule is, that when you are so long in the suit that you may catch some high cards with your high cards, you lead them first. With six or seven in suit to the A K, for instance, lead the King, on the chance of dropping the Queen. With seven in suit headed by the Ace, lead the Ace, but never with less than seven without the King. With six in suit, you may lead the King from K Q, without either Jack or 10; but with less than six in suit never lead the King from K Q unless you have the 10 or the J also. _=THIRD HAND PLAY.=_ The leader’s partner must do his best to inform his partner as to the distribution of his suit. The method of doing this is entirely different when there is a trump from that which is adopted when there is no trump. In the first case, all your partner wants to know is, who is going to trump his suit if he goes on with it. In the second case, what he wants to know is his chance for getting his suit cleared or established.
_, a declaration of “three clubs” is higher than “two royal spades” doubled or redoubled. 54. Any declaration may be doubled and redoubled once, but not more; a player may not double his partner’s declaration nor redouble his partner’s double, but he may redouble a declaration of his partner which has been doubled by an adversary. The penalty for redoubling more than once is 100 points in the adverse honour score or a new deal; for doubling a partner’s declaration, or redoubling a partner’s double it is 50 points in the adverse honour score. Either adversary may demand any penalty enforceable under this law. 55. Doubling or redoubling reopens the bidding. When a declaration has been doubled or redoubled, any one of the three succeeding players, including the player whose declaration has been doubled, may, in his proper turn, make a further declaration of higher value. 56. When a player whose declaration has been doubled wins the declared number of tricks, he scores a bonus of 50 points in his honour score, and a further 50 points for each additional trick.
Threes beat pairs, and four of a kind is the best hand possible. This pool settled, the play of the cards follows. Eldest hand leads any card he pleases and each in turn to the left must follow in sequence and suit, playing the 10 on the 9, the J on the 10, etc., until the K is reached. The player who has the King, or the highest card, if the King is in the stock, starts again with any card he pleases. Any player who cannot continue the sequence in his turn must pass that round. As soon as one player gets rid of his last card the game is at an end and every player at the table must pay him a counter for each card held. The deal then passes to the left and the layout is dressed for the next hand. RANTER GO ROUND. This is a round game for any number of players who make up a pool or stake to be played for.
If all pass, the deal goes to the left. BRIDGE. There are two principal varieties of this game; straight bridge, in which the dealer or his partner must make the trump, their opponents having nothing to say about it except to double the value of the tricks. The dealer’s partner is always the dummy, and either side may score toward game by making the odd trick or more. Auction bridge, in which the privilege of making the trump is bid for, the highest bidder playing the hand with his partner as dummy, regardless of the position of the deal, and his side being the only one that can score toward game, the adversaries scoring nothing but penalties in the honour column if they defeat the contract. As this is the more popular form of bridge at the present time, it will be given first. Since the adoption of the higher value for the spade suit under the name of royal spades, and the change in the value of the suits, the game gradually came to be known as royal auction, but as that change is now universal, the name has slipped back to its original title. AUCTION BRIDGE, OR AUCTION. _=CARDS.=_ Auction is played with a full pack of fifty-two cards, ranking A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2, the Ace being the highest in play, but ranking below the deuce in cutting.