This shows the banker that the player has baccara, and is pretending that he thought he had 9. In addition to this system of communication, which Parisians call tiquer, marked cards, second dealing, and prepared stocks which can be palmed on the true cards, or substituted therefor, are all in common use. If Baccara is honestly played it is one of the fairest of all banking games, but the opportunities for cheating are so many and so easily availed of, and the money to be won and lost is so great, especially at Chemin de Fer, that few who know anything of cheating at cards can resist the temptation to practice it at Baccara. _=The Laws=_ of Baccara are very long and complicated. As no official code exists, and as each gambling club makes its own house rules, it is not necessary to give them here, the directions contained in the foregoing description being sufficient for any honest game. _=Text Books.=_ The following will be found useful:-- Théorie Mathematique du Baccara, by Dormoy. Baccara Experimental, by Billard. Traité Théorique et Pratique Baccara, by Laun. _Westminster Papers_, Vols.
The ring then sing the ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth verses. When all have chosen, if any lad is left without a partner, the last verse is sung. The version recorded by Chambers is similar in action, but there are some important differences in detail. The centre child acts as mistress of the ceremonies. The ring of children dance round her, singing the verses. At the end of the first line of the second verse they all courtesy to her, and she returns the compliment. At the conclusion of this verse she selects a girl from the ring and asks her her sweetheart s name, which is imparted in a whisper. Upon this the child in the centre sings the third verse, the ring dancing round as before. If the ring approves her choice, they sing the fourth verse as in the Biggar version, and if they disapprove, the fifth. Chambers does not say whether another child is selected, if this is the case; but it is probable, as he says, the marriage is finally concluded upon and effected by the ring singing the verses which follow.
To the partner this is a great point, for it enables him to judge when to give up points himself, and when to play for his partner to throw them to him. The number of cards asked for by each player should be very carefully noted; for it will frequently happen that the entire trump suit can be located by this means. It is useless to keep anything but trumps, for tricks, as such, have no value, and every card you draw increases your chances of getting another trump. The most important point in the game is to _=cinch=_ every trick in which an adversary plays after you; that is, to play some trump higher than a Pedro, if the Pedroes have not been played, and you do not hold them yourself. Examples of cinching will be found in the Illustrative Hands. If your partner leads a certain winning trump, such as the ace, or the King if the ace is gone, give him the best counting card you have; but if you have two, one of them being Low, give up the lower card first; you may catch something with the Jack or Ten. If your partner leads any trump higher than the Five, play your smallest trump unless second hand covers, in which case you must cinch the trick, to prevent the fourth hand from giving up a Pedro on his partner’s trick. If you are forced to win your partner’s first lead of trumps, return the best trump you have, unless it is the Jack or Ten, in which case you must be guided by the number of points you are playing for, and your chances of making them if you lose the card you lead. If your partner begins by leading a plain suit, you must cinch the trick if you can; if second hand follows suit, any trump better than the Five will do. If second hand puts on a trump, you must cinch higher.
If the cards have been mixed, the claim may be urged and proved, if possible; but no proof is necessary and the revoke is established, if, after it has been claimed, the accused player or his partner mixes the cards before they have been examined to the satisfaction of the adversaries. 33. The revoke can be claimed at any time before the cards have been presented and cut for the following deal, but not thereafter. MISCELLANEOUS. 34. Any one, during the play of a trick and before the cards have been touched for the purpose of gathering them together, may demand that the players draw their cards. 35. If any one, prior to his partner playing, calls attention in any manner to the trick or to the score, the adversary last to play to the trick may require the offender’s partner to play his highest or lowest of the suit led or, if he has none, to trump or not to trump the trick. 36. If any player says “I can win the rest,” “The rest are ours,” “We have the game,” or words to that effect, his partner’s cards must be laid upon the table and are liable to be called.
_Westminster Papers_, Vols. X. and XI. BLIND HOOKEY. This game is sometimes called Dutch Bank. Any number of persons may play, and a full pack of fifty-two cards is used. The cards rank from the A K Q down to the deuce. Any player may shuffle, the dealer last. The pack is then cut, and the reunited parts are placed in the centre of the table. The players then cut it into several packets, none less than four cards, all of which remain on the table face down.
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. Round Games, those which do not admit of partnerships. Rubber, winning two out of three games. F., Robre. Rubiconed, lurched, defeated before getting half way. Ruffing, trumping a suit.
_=Dice.=_ In calculating the probabilities of throws with two or more dice, we must multiply together the total number of throws possible with each die separately, and then find the number of throws that will give the result required. Suppose two dice are used. Six different throws may be made with each, therefore 6 × 6 = 36 different throws are possible with the two dice together. What are the odds against one of these dice being an ace? A person unfamiliar with the science of probabilities would say that as two numbers must come up, and there are only six numbers altogether, the probability is 2/6, or exactly 2 to 1 against an ace being thrown. But this is not correct, as will be immediately apparent if we write out all the 36 possible throws with two dice; for we shall find that only 11 of the 36 contain an ace, and 25 do not. The proper way to calculate this is to take the chances against the ace on each die separately, and then to multiply them together. There are five other numbers that might come up, and the fraction of their probability is ⅚ × ⅚ = 25/36, or 25 to 11 in their favour. Take the case of three dice: As three numbers out of six must come up, it might be supposed that it was an even thing that one would be an ace. But the possible throws with three dice are 6 × 6 × 6 = 216; and those that do not contain an ace are 5 × 5 × 5 = 125; so that the odds against getting an ace in one throw with three dice, or three throws with one die, are 125/216, or 125 to 91 against it.
_We jump again!_ And so they had. The ship had moved to a second planoform. The stars were different. The Sun was immeasurably far behind. Even the nearest stars were barely in contact. This was good Dragon country, this open, nasty, hollow kind of space. He reached farther, faster, sensing and looking for danger, ready to fling the Lady May at danger wherever he found it. Terror blazed up in his mind, so sharp, so clear, that it came through as a physical wrench. The little girl named West had found something--something immense, long, black, sharp, greedy, horrific. She flung Captain Wow at it.
Renvier, F., 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.
There is no mark to distinguish the dummy hand; a defect which is remedied in the French system. _=Dealing.=_ At the beginning of a rubber, dummy’s partner presents the pack to his _=left-hand=_ adversary to be cut, and deals from right to left, beginning with the player on his right, and turning up the last card for dummy’s trump. When two packs are used, there is no rule as to which player shall collect and shuffle the still pack. On this point the French rules are very explicit. The general rules with regard to irregularities in the deal are the same as at whist. The cards having been dealt, it is usual for dummy’s partner to take up and sort the dummy first. There are several ways of laying out dummy’s hand; the most common being to run the suits down in rows, with the turn-up across and to the right of the other trumps, if any. [Illustration: 🂡 🃊 🃞 🂽 🂪 🃉 🃝 🂺 🂥 🃄 🃖 🂸 🃃 Trump. METHOD OF SPREADING DUMMY’S CARDS.
It is not necessary to lead a trump. There are two ways to bid. In some places there are seventeen points to be played for in each deal; one for each trick of the thirteen and one for each of the four honours, ace king queen and jack, in the trump suit. Honours count to the side winning them, and not to the original holders, so that a player holding the four top honours in any suit could safely bid eight; four tricks and four honors being a certainty, but if that was all he made he would lose on the deal, as the other side would score nine points out of the seventeen. In other places, it is the rule that the bidder must make the odd trick or he cannot count honours or anything else. There are then only eleven points to be played for in each deal; seven odd tricks and four honours. Any player bidding four would have to win the odd and three honors, or two odd and two honours, or something to make up his bid. _=SCORING.=_ No matter how many more than his bid he makes, he can score it all. If he fails, he is set back the amount of his bid.
He didn t have too long. Thank God for a dry field, the scalpel surgeon said, politely holding out his left hand to me. I shook it with my left. That s why I hadn t done the cutting, too. There aren t any one-handed surgeons. My right arm looks fine. It just hasn t any strength. Old Maragon had told me once that my TK powers were a pure case of compensation for a useless arm. The surgeon dropped my hand. You re the best, Wally Bupp, he said.
|young man. | | 25.| -- | -- | -- | | 26.| -- | -- | -- | | 27.|To love you for your | -- |A fighting for her | | |sake. | |sake. | | 28.| -- |Apprentice for your | -- | | | |sake. | | | 29.| -- | -- | -- | | 30.
When whist is played with only one pack, a very skillful shuffler may gather the cards without disturbing the tricks, and, by giving them a single _=intricate=_ shuffle, then drawing the middle of the pack from between the ends and giving another single intricate shuffle, he may occasionally succeed in dealing himself and his partner a very strong hand in trumps, no matter how the cards are cut, so that they are not shuffled again. A hand dealt in this manner is framed on the walls of the Columbus, Ohio, Whist Club; eleven trumps having been dealt to the partner, and the twelfth turned up. In this case the shuffling dexterity was the result of fifteen years’ practice, and was employed simply for amusement, the dealer never betting on any game, and making no concealment of his methods. _=SUGGESTIONS FOR GOOD PLAY.=_ Although whist is a game of very simple construction, the immense variety of combinations which it affords renders it very complicated in actual practice; there being probably no game in which there is so much diversity of opinion as to the best play, even with the same cards, and under similar conditions. It has been repeatedly remarked that in all the published hands at whist which have been played in duplicate, or even four times over, with the same cards, no two have been alike. It would be useless to formulate rules intended to cover every case that might arise, because the conditions are frequently too complicated to allow the average human intellect to select the exact rule which would apply. All that can be done to assist the beginner is to state certain general principles which are well recognised as fundamental, and to leave the rest to experience and practice at the whist table. _=GENERAL PRINCIPLES.=_ Nothing obstructs the progress of the beginner so much as his attempts to cover all the ground at once.
| -- | -- | -- | |23.| -- |Build it up with wood | -- | | | |and clay. | | |24.| -- |Wood and clay will | -- | | | |wash away. | | |25.| -- |Build it up with stone| -- | | | |so strong. | | |26.|Get a man to watch all| -- | -- | | |night. | | | |27.|Perhaps that man might| -- | -- | | |fall asleep.
The four cards are then turned face down, and the dealer takes up the trump. The partners winning the trick place their cards lengthwise, pointing towards each other; the adversaries place theirs across. At the end of the hand, the number of tricks taken by each side can be seen by glancing at any player’s cards. If there is any discrepancy, a comparison of the turned cards will show in which trick it occurs, and the cards can be readily faced and examined. [Illustration: +--------+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | +-------++-+-+-+ +-+ | | +-+-+ | | | | | | | | | +--------+---+-+ +-----+-+ N +-------+ +----------+ | | | | +-------+ | | | | | | +-------+--+ +----------+ | | | | +----------+ +----------+ | | | | +-------+ | +----------+ | | | | | +-------+ | +--+-------+ | | | | | | +-------+ | | +-------+ | | | | | +-------+--+ W E +--+-------+ | | | | | +-------+ | | +-------+ | | | | | | +-------+--+ | +-------+ | | |X | +----------+ +----------+ | | | | +----------+ +----------+ | | | | +----------+ +--+-------+ | | | | | | +-------+ | | | | +----------+ +-------+ S +-+-----+-+-+---+--------+ | | | | | | | | | +-+-+ | | +-+ +-+-+-++-------+ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+--------+ ] N & S 6; E & W 7. East has made a mistake in turning the fifth trick. _=COUNTERS.=_ In some places 13 counters are placed on the table, the winner of each trick taking down one. This system often leads to disputes, as there can be no check upon it, and there is nothing to show in which trick the error occurred. _=COUNTING TRICKS.
If the declarer say, “I have the rest,” or any words indicating the remaining tricks or any number thereof are his, he may be required to place his cards face upward on the table. He is not then allowed to call any cards his adversaries may have exposed, nor to take any finesse not previously proved a winner unless he announce it when making his claim. 73. If a player who has rendered himself liable to have the highest or lowest of a suit called (Laws 80, 86, and 92) fail to play as directed, or if, when called on to lead one suit, he lead another, having in his hand one or more cards of the suit demanded (Laws 66, 76, and 93), or if, when called upon to win or lose a trick, he fail to do so when he can (Laws 71, 80, and 92), or if, when called upon not to play a suit, he fail to play as directed (Laws 65 and 66), he is liable to the penalty for revoke (Law 84) unless such play be corrected before the trick be turned and quitted. 74. A player cannot be compelled to play a card which would oblige him to revoke. 75. The call of an exposed card may be repeated until it be played. LEADS OUT OF TURN. 76.
The marble is then thrown up again, and one of the four stones picked up, and the marble caught again after it has rebounded. This is done separately to the other three, bringing all four stones into the hand. The marble is again bounced, and all four stones thrown down and the marble caught. Two stones are then picked up together, then the other two, then one, then three together, then all four together, the marble being tossed and caught with each throw. An arch is then formed by placing the left hand on the ground, and the four stones are again thrown down, the marble tossed, and the four stones put separately into the arch, the marble being caught after it has rebounded each time; or the four stones are separately put between the fingers of the left hand in as straight a row as possible. Then the left hand is taken away, and the four stones caught up in one sweep of the hand. Then all four stones are thrown down, and one is picked up before the marble is caught. This is retained in the hand, and when the second stone is picked up the first one is laid down before the marble is caught; the third is picked up and the second laid down, the fourth picked up and the third laid down, then the fourth laid down, the marble being tossed and caught again each time. The stones have different names or marks (which follow in rotation), and in picking them up they must be taken in their proper order, or it is counted as a mistake. The game is played throughout by the right hand, the left hand only being used when arches is made.
In _=Foster’s Whist Tactics=_, Illustrative Hand No. 13, may be found the various ideas of sixteen of the best players in the American Whist League with regard to the proper management of this hand. They played it in four different ways, and with very different results in the score. This must show that the accidental distribution of the Aces, Kings, and trumps is not everything in whist, and that there must be ways and means of securing tricks which do not appear on the surface. There are four ways of taking tricks at whist: 1st. By playing high cards, the suit of which the others must follow. This A does, in the example, on the first round of the Club suit. 2nd. By playing low cards, after the higher ones have been exhausted, and the adverse trumps are out of the way. This Y will do with his Diamonds, or A with his Clubs, according to circumstances.
Mother, may I go out to play? No, my child, it s such a wet day. Look how the sun shines, mother. Well, make three round curtseys and be off away. [Child goes, returns, knocks at door. Mother says, Come in. ] What have you been doing all this time? Brushing Jenny s hair and combing Jenny s hair. What did her mother give you for your trouble? A silver penny. Where s my share of it? Cat ran away with it. Where s the cat? In the wood. Where s the wood? Fire burnt it.
| -- | -- | -- | |23.| -- |Build it up with wood | -- | | | |and clay. | | |24.| -- |Wood and clay will | -- | | | |wash away. | | |25.| -- |Build it up with stone| -- | | | |so strong. | | |26.|Get a man to watch all| -- | -- | | |night. | | | |27.|Perhaps that man might| -- | -- | | |fall asleep.
It is now Blue s turn to move, and figure 6a shows the result of his move. He fires his rightmost gun (the nose of it is just visible to the right) and kills one infantry-man and one cavalry-man (at the tail of Red s central gun), brings up his surviving eight cavalry into convenient positions for the service of his temporarily silenced guns, and hurries his infantry forward to the farm, recklessly exposing them in the thin wood between the farm and his right gun. The attentive reader will be able to trace all this in figure 6a, and he will also note the three Red cavalry prisoners going to the rear under the escort of one Khaki infantry man. Figure 6b shows exactly the same stage as figure 6a, that is to say, the end of Blue s third move. A cavalry-man lies dead at the tail of Red s middle gun, an infantry-man a little behind it. His rightmost gun is abandoned and partly masked, but not hidden, from the observer, by a tree to the side of the farmhouse. And now, what is Red to do? The reader will probably have his own ideas, as I have mine. What Red did do in the actual game was to lose his head, and then at the end of four minutes deliberation he had to move, he blundered desperately. He opened fire on Blue s exposed centre and killed eight men. (Their bodies litter the ground in figure 7, which gives a complete bird s-eye view of the battle.
=_ The regular game is played by two persons, one of whom is known as the dealer, and the other as the pone. They cut for seats and deal, the highest cut having the choice. _=Stakes.=_ Sixty-six is played for so much a game, or for so much a point, the loser’s score being deducted from the winner’s. If the loser has not scored at all, it is usually counted a double game. _=Dealing.=_ The cards having been shuffled and presented to the pone to be cut, the dealer gives six cards to each player, three at a time, dealing first to his adversary. There are several ways of making the trump, one of which should be agreed upon before play begins. One way is for the pone to draw a card from the top, the middle, or the bottom of the talon, after the dealer has given each player his six cards. Another way is for the dealer to turn up the seventh card, after dealing the first round of three to each player.
A player cutting into one table, whilst belonging to another, loses his right of re-entry into that latter, and takes his chance of cutting in, as if he were a fresh candidate. 25. If any one break up a table, the remaining players have the prior right to him of entry into any other, and should there not be sufficient vacancies at such other table to admit all those candidates, they settle their precedence by cutting. SHUFFLING 26. The pack must neither be shuffled below the table nor so that the face of any card be seen. 27. The pack must not be shuffled during the play of the hand. 28. A pack, having been played with, must neither be shuffled by dealing it into packets, nor across the table. 29.
If there are too few cards, and the pone elects to have the deal stand, the deficiency must be supplied from the top of the pack. _=THE CRIB.=_ The cards dealt, each player takes up his six cards and examines them with a view to laying out two cards, face downward, for the crib; leaving himself four cards with which to play. The four cards which form the crib, two from each hand, always belong to the dealer, and it is usual for each player, in discarding for the crib, to slip his two cards under the end of the cribbage board opposite to that occupied by the remainder of the pack. Cards once laid out for the crib, and the hand removed from them, cannot be taken up again. A penalty of two points may be scored by the adversary for each card so taken up again, whether it is returned to the player’s hand or not. If either player confuses his cards in any manner with those of the crib, his adversary scores two points, and may also claim a fresh deal. If it is not discovered until he comes to lay out for the crib, that a player has too many cards, the same rules apply that are given for misdealing; but if he has too few cards there is no remedy, as he has lifted his hand. He must lay out two cards for the crib and play with what remain, his adversary scoring two points penalty at the same time. _=THE STARTER.