This is imperative before opening any other suit but trumps. 3rd. To lead his own suit, if he can do anything with it. It is considered better play for the Third Hand to return the original leader’s suit than to open a long weak suit of his own such as one headed by a single honour. 4th. To return his partner’s suit even with a losing card, in preference to changing. When the original lead is a trump, it should be returned in every case, either immediately, or as soon as the player can obtain the lead. The same reasons for changing suits as those given for the original leader will apply to the Third Hand. _=RULES FOR RETURNING PARTNER’S SUITS.=_ When the original leader’s suit is returned by his partner, either immediately or upon his regaining the lead, it is usual to show, if possible, how many cards remain in the Third Hand, so that by adding them to his own, the leader may estimate the number held by his adversaries.
Whatever the others do, E stands pat, and looks cheerful. The author has never known this bluff to be called. Holding a strong hand, a player may often coax another to raise him, by offering to divide the pool. The successful bluffer should never show his hand. Even if he starts the game by bluffing for advertising purposes, hoping to get called on good hands later, he should not show anything or tell anything that the others do not pay to see or know. Bluffing is usually more successful when a player is in a lucky vein than when he has been unfortunate. POKER LAWS. _=1. Formation of Table.=_ A poker table is complete with seven players.
What do you know, as he came out for the fifth time, Sniffles pulled my stack of chips to the Don t Pass side of the line, while scraping at the chapped end of her skinny nose with the back of her free hand. Like every compulsive gambler I ve ever seen, the roller next to me was sure he was on a rampage. Four passes and he thought he had the dice licked. Ride with me! he yelled at Sniffles, who plainly had the management of my chips. No moah, she said. You ll lose. Of course he did. I TK d the one-two up. Little Joe from Kokomo, one of the stick-men called. They raked losing bets and paid winners with the speed of prestidigitators.
Drawing to an ace and a King, it is 3 to 1 against making a pair of either. It is 4 to 1 against making a pair of aces by drawing four cards to an ace; and 12 to 1 against making aces up, or better. It is 24 to 1 against making a straight by drawing to three cards of it, open at both ends. It is 12 to 1 against making either a straight or a flush by drawing to three cards of a straight flush, open at both ends. _=HOW TO WIN AT POKER.=_ There have been many alleged infallible receipts for winning at Poker. Proctor thought that refusing to go in on less than triplets would prove a certainty; but in the same paragraph he acknowledges that the adversaries would soon learn the peculiarity, and avoid betting against the player. Triplets before the draw occur about once in every 45 hands. If five were playing, a person following Proctor’s advice would have to blind 9 times, and ante in at least 12 jack pots in every 45 hands, to say nothing of fattening. This means an outlay of at least 75 counters.
_=LEADING PLAIN SUITS ORIGINALLY.=_ It will often happen that you will have to decide between the lead of a comparatively dangerous heart and a risky plain suit. Your knowledge of probabilities should enable you to select the safer course. The odds against getting a heart on the first round of a plain suit depend upon how many cards of the suit you hold. If you lead an Ace, or any card which is sure to win the trick, the odds against your getting a heart on it are as the following:-- If you have 4 cards of the suit, 22 to 1. ” 5 ” 15 to 1. ” 6 ” 7 to 1. ” 7 ” 4 to 1. ” 8 ” 2 to 1. These odds may be slightly increased by taking into account the fact that players who cannot follow suit do not always discard hearts, having perhaps more dangerous cards to get rid of.
DOMINOES. Although properly a game for two persons, Dominoes is sometimes played by four, two being partners against the other two. There are also some round games in which any number from three to six may play, each for himself. _=The Sets.=_ A set of dominoes is a number of pieces of bone, usually about 1½ inches by ¾, and ⅜ thick. These bones have upon their faces the permutations of the numbers from six to blank, taken two at a time. Some sets begin at double nine, and others at double twelve; but the standard set is double six, and is composed of twenty-eight pieces. _=The Suits.=_ All the dominoes with the same number upon either end belong to the same suit; the seven bones with a 4 forming the 4 suit; those with a 6 the 6 suit, and so on. The number of pips in each suit may be easily remembered by observing that the ace suit has the same number of pips as the pieces in the set, 28; and that each suit above the ace has seven pips more than the number of pieces in the set, while the blank suit has seven pips less, so that each suit progresses in regular order, seven pips at a time, as shown in the margin.
518-19). VI. London Bridge is broken down, Broken down, broken down, London Bridge is broken down, My fair lady. Build it up with iron bars, Iron bars, iron bars, Build it up with iron bars, My fair lady. [Then follow verses with the same refrain, beginning with--] Build it up with pins and needles. Pins and needles rust and bend. Build it up with penny loaves. Penny loaves will tumble down. Here s a prisoner I have got. What s the prisoner done to you? Stole my watch and broke my chain.
The player who pockets the red ball gains _three_ points and two for each pin knocked down by the same stroke. The player who pockets the white ball gains two points, and two for each pin knocked over with the same stroke. Each carrom counts two. The player who knocks down a pin or pins with his own ball before striking another ball loses two for every pin so knocked down. The player who pockets his own ball without hitting another ball forfeits three points; for missing altogether he forfeits one point. The striker who forces his own ball off the table without hitting another ball forfeits _three_ points, and if he does so after making a carrom or pocket he loses as many points as he would otherwise have gained. The rules of the American Carrom Game, except where they conflict with the foregoing rules, govern this game also. BOTTLE POOL. The game of Bottle Pool is played on a pool table with one white ball, the 1 and 2 ball, and pool-bottle. The 1 and 2 balls must be spotted, respectively, at the foot of the table, at the left and right diamond nearest each pocket, and the pool-bottle is placed standing on its neck on the spot in the centre of the table, and when it falls it must be set up, if possible, where it rests.
If the banker is not changed occasionally, he retains his position on account of the expense he has been put to to provide the apparatus for the play, as in Faro, Keno, Roulette, and Rouge et Noir. To justify this expenditure he must have some permanent advantage, and if no such advantage or “percentage” is inherent in the principles of the game, any person playing against such a banker is probably being cheated. At Monte Carlo, everything is perfectly fair and straightforward, but no games are played except those in which the percentage in favour of the bank is evident, and is openly acknowledged. In Faro there is no such advantage, and no honest faro bank can live. It is for that reason that the game is not played at Monte Carlo, in spite of the many thousands of Americans who have begged the management to introduce it. The so-called percentage of “splits” at Faro is a mere sham, and any candid dealer will admit that they do not pay for the gas. Roulette, Rouge et Noir, Keno, and Chuck Luck are all percentage games, although the banker in the latter is seldom satisfied with his legitimate gains. The peculiarity about all percentage banking games is that no system, as a system, will beat them. The mathematical expectation of loss is so nicely adjusted to the probabilities of gain that the player must always get just a little the worst of it if he will only play long enough. Take any system of martingales, and suppose for the sake of illustration that in 1000 coups you will win 180 counters.
King. Police or sheriffs. _=R.=_ Loss of a lawsuit. Queen. A gay and deceptive widow. _=R.=_ She’s fooling thee. Jack. Disagreeable young man.
--Deptford, Kent (Miss Chase). II. I ve come for one of your daughters, With a ring a ding a my dolly; I ve come for one of your daughters On this bright shining night. Pray, which have you come for, With a ring a ding a my dolly? Pray which have you come for On this bright shining night? I ve come for your daughter Mary, With a ring a ding a my dolly; I ve come for your daughter Mary On this bright shining night. Then take her, and welcome, With a ring a ding a my dolly; Then take her, and welcome, On this bright shining night [incomplete]. --Sheffield (S. O. Addy). (_b_) A number of children stand against a wall, and a row of other children face them. They walk backwards and forwards, singing the first and third verses.
It is in the interest of the proprietors of all gambling houses to pretend to be afraid of systems. The word is passed round, and the deluded gamesters think they have found the thread which has held the sword of Damocles above the banker’s head so long. As a matter of fact, there is no one so welcome at a gambling house as a player with a system. A man may be fortunate enough for a long time to guess right oftener than he will guess wrong, and a lucky man in good guessing form is a very dangerous customer, that no cold deck will beat; but a man with a system surrenders to a double foe; the inevitable percentage of the game, and the skill of the banker, who can beat any system if the player will only promise to stick to it. KENO, OR LOTTO. This game is played with a large number of cards, on which are printed various permutations of the numbers 1 to 90, taken five at a time; but each of the five numbers selected for one combination must be in a separate division of tens, such combinations as 2 4 8 16 18 not being allowed on any card, because the 2 4 and 8, for instance, are all in the first ten numbers of the 90. These cards have each a number, printed in large red type across the face of the other figures. The following might be a keno card, No. 325:-- [Illustration: +----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+ | 1 | | 26 | | 45 | 53 | | 77 | | +----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+ | | 10 | 28 | =3=| =2=| =5=| 62 | 79 | 83 | +----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+ | 4 | 12 | | 37 | | 67 | | 90 | +----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+ ] Some cards have more than three rows of figures on them, but none have more than five in one row. The cards are left on the tables in large numbers, and any number of persons may play.
=_ When your hearts are so small as to be absolutely safe, such as the 7 5 3 2, it might be supposed that the best play would be to lead them at once, in order to get a large number of hearts out of your way. But with such cards it is usually much better play, unless you have a very dangerous hand in plain suits, to reserve these small hearts until you have a more definite idea, from the fall of the cards, to whom you are giving them. Such cards are particularly useful for getting rid of the lead at dangerous stages in the end-game. When the plain-suit cards are high or dangerous, but the hearts are reasonably safe, it is usually better to lead the hearts, and to continue leading them every time you get in. By following these tactics it is quite possible for you to take almost every trick in the plain suits, and yet to win the pool by rapidly exhausting the hearts. If you lead the ♡ 4, the only chance for it to win is that one player has no hearts, and that the 2 and 3 are divided. The odds against this combination of circumstances will vary with the number of hearts you hold with the 4, but may be generally stated on the average as about 50 to 1. It is usually considered a safer lead than a high card of a plain suit, even if you have only three of the suit. If your only heart is the 5, and you propose to lead it, the chances that the 2, 3, and 4 are not each in separate hands are about 19 in 25, or 19 to 6 against it, which is about 3 to 1. If you lead the 5, the odds against your winning the trick decrease as the number of hearts you hold with the 5 increases.
Should he expose any of his cards, the adversaries may prevent the lone hand, and compel him to play with his partner, the exposed card being left on the table and liable to be called. _=36.=_ The lone player is not liable to any penalty for exposed cards, nor for a lead out of turn. _=37.=_ Should either adversary lead or play out of turn, the lone player may abandon the hand, and score the points. _=38.=_ _=MISCELLANEOUS.=_ No player is allowed to see any trick that has once been turned and quitted, under penalty of having a suit called from him or his partner. _=39.=_ Any player may ask the others to indicate the cards played by them to the current trick.
=_ _=Z=_ plays to win what cards he can. _=Trick 5.=_ _=B=_ throws ♢A to avoid the lead, knowing _=Y=_ has the trump Ten; for _=A=_ would have made it on the second round of Spades. _=A=_ also marks it with _=Y=_, as _=B=_ does not save it. _=Trick 6.=_ _=B=_ is not sure whether _=Y=_ has a Diamond or a Club left, and discards the winning card. _=Trick 7.=_ _=Z=_ plays Queen to shut out the Ten, if with _=A=_. _=A=_ knows each player has two trumps left, and that as the turn-up is still with _=Z=_, _=B=_ must have J or K; for if he held only 7 and 6 he would have trumped in to make cards. _=Trick 8.
F., Robre. Rubiconed, lurched, defeated before getting half way. Ruffing, trumping a suit. Run, a succession of counting shots at Billiards. Schnitt, G., a finesse. Schneiden, G., to finesse. Schinden is sometimes used.
Take the stool. The leg s broke. Take the chair. Chair s gone to be mended. I suppose I must come myself? The Mother here wrings her hands out of the water in the washing-tub and comes in. She looks about and misses Monday. Where s Monday? Oh, please, Mother, please, I couldn t help it; but some one came to beg a light for her pipe, and when I went for it she took Monday off. Why, that s the witch! The Mother pretends to beat the eldest daughter, tells her to be more careful another time, and to be sure and not let the pot boil over. The eldest daughter cries, and promises to be more careful, and the Mother goes again to the wash-tub. The same thing occurs again.
Newell (_Games_, pp. 56-58) gives some versions of this game. He considers the original to have been a European game (he had not found an English example) in which there were two mothers, a rich and a poor one; one mother begging away, one by one, all the daughters of the other. (_d_) This game no doubt originates from the country practice of hiring servants at fairs, or from a dramatic Hirings being acted at Harvest Homes. The Good-bye of mother and daughters belongs, no doubt, to the original game and early versions, and is consistent with the departure of a servant to her new home. The lover incident is an interpolation, but there may have been a request on the part of the mother to the lady not to allow the girl followers or sweethearts too soon. As to the old practice of hiring servants, Miss Burne has noted how distinctly it stamps itself upon local custom (_Shropshire Folklore_, pp. 461, 464). That the practice forms the groundwork of this game is well illustrated by the following descriptive passage. They stay usually two or three dayes with theire friends, and then aboute the fifth or sixth day after Martynmasse will they come to theire newe masters; they will depart from theire olde services any day in the weeke, but theire desire (hereaboutes) is to goe to theire newe masters eyther on a Tewsday or on a Thursday; for on a Sunday they will seldome remoove, and as for Monday, they account it ominous, for they say-- Monday flitte, Neaver sitte; but as for the other dayes in the weeke they make no greate matter.
They then cut to decide which shall play the first game, the lowest écarté card going out. The players then cut for the first deal, choice of seats and cards, etc., exactly as in the ordinary game. The winner of the first game retains his seat; the loser pays into the pool another stake, equal to the first, and retires in favour of the third player, who is called the _=rentrant=_. 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.
=_ In estimating the value of his hand as compared to that of any other player, before the draw, the theory of probabilities is of little or no use, and the calculations will vary with the number of players engaged. For instance: If five are playing, some one should have two pairs every fourth deal, because in four deals twenty hands will be given out. If seven are playing, it is probable that five of them will hold a pair of some kind before the draw. Unfortunately, these calculations are not of the slightest practical use to a poker player, because although three of a kind may not be dealt to a player more than once in forty-five times on the average, it is quite a common occurrence for two players to have threes dealt to each of them at the same time. The considerations which must guide the player in judging the comparative value of his hand, both before and after the draw, must be left until we come to the suggestions for good play. _=THE ANTE.=_ The player to the left of the age is the one who must make the first announcement of his opinion of his hand, unless he has straddled, in which case the player on the left of the last straddler has the first “_=say=_.” If he considers his hand good enough to draw to, let us say a pair of Kings, he must place in the pool, or toward the centre of the table, double the amount of the blind, or of the last straddle, if any. This is called the ante, because it is made before playing the hand, whereas the blind is made before seeing it. The player is not restricted to double the amount of the blind or straddle; he may bet as much more as he pleases within the limit fixed at the beginning of the game.
Hen-pen, Duck and mallard, Amen. --Somersetshire (Holloway s _Dict. of Provincialisms_). A duck and a drake And a white penny cake. --Hampshire (Holloway s _Dict. of Provincialisms_). A duck and a drake And a penny white cake, And a skew ball. --Peacock s _Manley and Corringham Glossary_. Moor (_Suffolk Words and Phrases_) gives the names for the number of times the stone emerges, as (1) a duck; (2) a duck an a drake; if thrice, a duck an a drake an a fi epenny cake; four times is a duck an a drake an a fi epenny cake, an a penny to pah the baker. If more than four, a duck, a duck an a drake, &c.
This widow is taken in hand by the successful bidder, who discards three cards in its place. The players bid for the privilege of naming the trump suit, or of playing without any trump but the joker. The number of tricks bid must not be less than six, and the suit must be named at the same time. The player having the most valuable game, regardless of the number of tricks or the suit, is the successful bidder, because a bid of seven in hearts, for instance, is worth more in points than a bid of eight in clubs, as will be seen from the following table. ---------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------- If trumps are: |6 tricks.|7 tricks.|8 tricks.|9 tricks.|10 tricks. ---------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------- Spades | 40 | 80 | 120 | 160 | 200 Clubs | 60 | 120 | 180 | 240 | 300 Diamonds | 80 | 160 | 240 | 320 | 400 Hearts | 100 | 200 | 300 | 400 | 500 No-trumps | 120 | 240 | 360 | 480 | 600 ---------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------- The successful bidder always leads for the first trick, after he has taken the widow and discarded, and after the hand is played, he has the first count.
Rise up, rise up, Betsy Brown, To see your father go through the town. I won t rise up upon my feet, To see my father go through the street. Rise up, rise up, Betsy Brown, To see your mother go through the town. I won t rise up upon my feet, To see my mother go through the street. [Then follow verses for sister, brother, and lover. When this last is sung, she says--] I will rise up upon my feet, To see my lover go through the street. --Ninfield, Sussex, about sixty years ago (Charles Wise). III. Rise daughter, rise daughter, off of your poor feet, To see your dear mother lie dead at your feet. I won t rise, I won t rise off of my poor feet, To see my dear mother lie dead at my feet.
55, 56). VII. Grandmother, grandmother grey, May I go out to play? No, no, no, it is a very wet day. Grandmother, grandmother grey, May I go out to play? Yes, yes, yes, if you don t frighten the geese away. Children, I call you. I can t hear you. Where are your manners? In my shoe. Who do you care for? Not for you. --Earls Heaton, Yorks. (H.
--SHUFFLING. SEC. 1. Before the cards are dealt they must be shuffled in the presence of an adversary or the umpire. SEC. 2. The pack must not be so shuffled as to expose the face of any card; if a card is so exposed the pack must be reshuffled. LAW II.--CUTTING FOR THE TRUMP. SEC.
If the partnership loses, the one who has not his complement of tricks must pay the adversaries and double the pool. If the demander has not five, and the acceptor has three, the demander pays. If the proposer has five, and the acceptor has not three, the acceptor pays; but they both win if they have eight tricks between them, no matter in what proportion. If neither has taken his proper share, they must both pay. When they are successful, they divide the pool. _=SLAMS.=_ If a player has demanded, and not been accepted, and has been forced to play alone for five tricks, but wins eight, it is called a slam. But as he did not wish to play alone, his only payment, besides the pool, is 24 counters from each player if he played in petite; 48 if in belle; double those amounts if the deal was one of the last eight in the game. If two partners make a slam, thirteen tricks, they take the pool, and receive from each adversary 24 counters if they played in petite; 48 if in belle; double if in one of the last eight hands in the game. _=EXPOSED CARDS.
_=Irregular Declarations.=_ If either player claims a combination which he does not hold, and does not remedy the error before he plays a card, he cannot count anything that deal, losing any other declarations he may have made which are correct. His adversary then counts everything in his hand, whether his combinations were inferior or not. He also counts for what he wins in the tricks. If the elder hand’s declaration is admitted by the dealer to be good, it is good, even if the dealer afterward proves to have a better point, sequence, quatorze or trio. If any combination named by the elder hand is not actually his best, he cannot amend his declaration after the dealer has replied to it. This is in order to prevent a player from getting information to which he is not entitled. If he holds three Kings and three Tens, for instance, and announces the Tens in order to find out whether or not his adversary has three Queens or Jacks, and the dealer says: “Not good,” the three Kings are lost, and the dealer scores his own trios. It sometimes happens that in order to keep a good point or sequence, a player will discard one card of a quatorze originally dealt him; or one of a trio, of which he afterward draws the fourth. He can score only the trio, of course; but his adversary, having none of that denomination either in his hand or discards, knows that four were possible, and after playing a card he has a right to ask the suit of the card which was discarded.