=_ Both players having discarded for the crib, the non-dealer cuts the remainder of the pack, and the dealer lifts the top card from the portion left on the table, turning it face up. The two portions being again united, the turned card is placed face up on the pack, and is known as the starter, because it forms the starting-point in the count for every hand and crib. At least four cards must be left in each packet in cutting for the starter. If the starter is found face up, there must be a new deal. If the starter is a Jack, the dealer immediately pegs two points _=for his heels=_. If he does not peg these two holes before he plays a card the score is lost. If the Jack of the same suit as the starter is found in the hand or crib of any player, it is called _=his nobs=_, and when the hand is reckoned up after the play is over, one point may be scored for it. If the dealer exposes more than one card after the pack has been properly cut, his adversary may choose which of the exposed cards shall be the starter. In order to understand the motives which govern the players in discarding, and the influences which the starter has upon the value of the hands and crib, it will be necessary to describe the objects of the game, before giving the method of play. _=OBJECTS OF THE GAME.
If any of the players are caught they must go to the opposite side. In turn the opposite side chooses a trade, and imitates the actions practised.--Cork, Ireland (Miss Keane). This is called An Old Woman from the Wood in Dorsetshire. The children form themselves into two ranks. The first rank says: Here comes an old oman from the wood. The second party answers: What cans t thee do? First Party: Do anythin . Second Party: Work away. This the children proceed to do, some by pretending to sew, some to wash, some to dig, some to knit, without any instruments to do it with. If the opposite side guess what they are doing, they change sides.
The tricks which are neither the first nor the last have no value, unless they contain the club Queen, which must be paid for as soon as it is taken in. There is a good deal of play in manœuvring to get rid of cards which might win the last trick, or which would take in the club Queen. The Ace and King of clubs are of course dangerous cards, and unless the player holding them has small cards enough to make him safe in that suit, he should be on the alert for opportunities to discard. POLIGNAC. QUATRE-VALETS, OR FOUR JACKS. _=Cards and Players.=_ When Polignac is played by four persons, a Piquet pack is used, and eight cards are dealt to each player, 3-2-3 at a time. When five play, the two black Sevens are deleted, and six cards are given to each player. When six play, each receives five cards. When seven play, the dealer takes no cards.
In Rubicon many players will give up the trump marriage if they have the sequence, especially with a good chance of re-forming it several times with duplicate cards. The number of cards in hand will often be the best guide. In Rubicon, if you held trump sequence and double bézique, it would be better to declare the sequence first, and to lead the card you drew. One of the trump sequence on the table would then be free to regain the lead and declare the double bézique; but if the bézique was declared first, the sequence might have to be broken into to regain the lead. With a plain-suit sequence and four Aces, declare the Aces first. They will then be free to win tricks for the purpose of making other declarations. It is seldom right to show the bézique cards in other combinations, and four Jacks is a very bad meld, because it shows your adversary that he cannot hope for double bézique. By holding up bézique cards, even if you know they are of no use to you, you may lead your adversary to break up his hand, hoping to draw the card or cards you hold. _=Trumps.=_ Small trumps may be used to advantage in winning brisques, but you should keep at least one small trump to get the lead at critical periods of the hand, or to make an important declaration.
=_ The stakes in Boston depend upon the value of the counters. One cent for a white counter is considered a pretty stiff game; because it is quite possible for a single player to win or lose a thousand white counters on one hand, and the payments very seldom fall short of fifty. _=THE POOL.=_ In addition to the counters won and lost on each hand, it is usual for the players to make up a pool at the beginning of the game by each of them depositing one red counter in a small tray provided for the purpose. This pool may be increased from time to time by penalties; such as one red counter for a misdeal; four for a revoke, or for not having the proper number of cards, etc. The whole amount in the pool may be won or lost by the players, according to their success or failure in certain undertakings, which will presently be described. When empty, the pool is replenished by contributions from each player, as at first. The pool proper is usually limited to 25 red counters. When it exceeds that amount, the 25 are set aside, and the surplus used to start a fresh pool. Any player winning a pool is entitled to 25 red counters at the most.
Beginning on his left, the dealer must give to each player in rotation three cards at a time for three rounds. No trump is turned. The deal passes to the left. There must be a new deal by the same dealer if any card is found faced in the pack; or if the pack is proved incorrect or imperfect; but any previous cutting or scores made with the imperfect pack stand good. The adversaries may demand a new deal if any card is exposed during the deal, provided they have not touched a card. If an adversary exposes a card, the dealer may elect to deal again. If a new deal is not demanded, cards exposed in dealing cannot be called. The adversaries may stop a player dealing out of turn, or with the wrong pack, provided they do so before the last three cards are dealt, alter which the deal stands good. _=Misdealing.=_ A misdeal loses the deal.
If Dummy has A J, and leads J, put on the Queen; it may make the 9 or 10 good in your partner’s hand. With A x x, Dummy leading Jack, play the Ace. With any fourchette, cover the card led. If Dummy remains with one or two small cards of a suit that has been led, and you have the best, play it on the second round. Dummy’s play is evidently for the ruff, and if the declarer has not the second best, your partner has. If you have King, and only one or two small cards, Dummy leading Queen from Q 10 x x, play your King. You cannot save yourself; but you may make the 9 good in partner’s hand. If you have three or more small cards, do not play the King, for either partner or the declarer must be short in the suit. So if Dummy leads Jack from J 10 and others, play the King with a short suit. If partner has Queen you establish it; if not, you cannot make a trick in the suit.
B. Gomme). XIV. I have a little dog and it lives in my pocket. It shan t bite you, &c. Now you re married I hope you ll enjoy First a girl and then a boy; Seven years gone, and two to come, So take her and kiss her and Send her off home. --Wolstanton, North Staffs. Potteries (Miss A. A. Keary).
There aren t so many Thirty-thirds hanging around. And you are young, smug and snotty enough to play the part, he concluded without heat. Still, that s all it might be, just play-acting, with Barney going through the motions of being blind. You could be outside the Lodge, sonny. Any cross-roader who can tip dice the way you were working them can twitch an ear. Let s see some credentials. He scuffed through the sawdust to the bar and took a stack of silver dollars from his apron. He held them, dealerwise, in the palm of his hand, with his fingertips down, so that they were a column surrounded by a fence of fingers. How many? he asked. I shrugged.
In Draw, Straight, or Stud Poker, each player may purchase as many counters as he pleases. In Freeze-out, Table Stakes, Whiskey Poker, and Progressive Poker, each player must begin with an equal amount. _=6. Betting Limits.=_ Before play begins limits must be agreed upon for the amount of the blind, the straddle, the ante in jack pots, and for betting or raising. _=7. Shuffling.=_ Before the first deal the pack must be counted to see that it contains the proper number of cards. Should the first dealer neglect this he forfeits five counters to the pool. Before each deal the cards must be shuffled.
--Congleton Workhouse School (Miss A. E. Tremlow). (_c_) The popular version of this game is played by the greater number of the children forming a line on one side with joined hands, and one child (sometimes two or more) facing them, advancing and retiring while singing the verses. When he asks the question, Will you come? one girl on the opposite side answers No! and afterwards Yes! When this is said, she goes to the opposite side, and the two dance round together while singing the next verse. The game begins again by the two singing the verses, and thus getting a third child to join them, when the game proceeds for a fourth, and so on. The Congleton and London versions are played by two lines of children of about equal numbers. In the Lincolnshire version the above description answers, except that when the last line is sung every one claps hands. In the Sussex version the child at the end of the line is taken over by the child who sings the verses, and they lock their little fingers together while singing the remainder. Addy (_Sheffield Glossary_) says:-- Two children advance and retire on one side.
A, who passed the first time, now has an opportunity to draw or exchange. So have each of the others in turn, up to D; but after D draws or exchanges, the hands must be shown, because the next player, E, has knocked. When the hands are shown, there are two ways to settle: If the counters have a money value, the best poker hand wins the pool, and the deal passes to the left. If the counters have no money value, there is no pool; but the player who has the worst hand shown puts one of his counters in the middle of the table. This continues until some player has lost all five of his counters, and he is then called upon to pay for the whiskey, or whatever refreshments may be at stake upon the game. Hence the name: Whiskey Poker. THIRTY-ONE. This game is sometimes called _=Schnautz=_. A pool is made up by any number of players. The dealer takes a pack of fifty-two cards and gives three to each, face down, and three extra cards to the table, dealt face up.
Shortly after this, later in 1910, there developed a decided rebellion against the dealer’s monopoly of the make, and in order to allow any player at the table who held good cards to get the benefit of them, whether he was the dealer or not, bidding for the privilege of making the trump came into vogue. This was the starting point of auction, its chief difference from the older game being that only the side that made the highest bid for the declaration could score toward game. The full number of tricks bid had to be made, and if they were not made, the adversaries scored in the honour column for penalties, the penalty being always the same, regardless of the trump suit. The great disparity in the values of the suits as then played practically confined the bidding to the hearts and royal spades. This soon brought about another change, which was to raise the values of all the suits except spades and to cut down the no-trumper. This was done in 1912, and made it possible for any suit to go game on the hand. All the well known writers on whist and bridge came out with text-books on auction, and the newspapers took up the subject in weekly articles. Although to many the game now seemed perfect, there were those that felt the helplessness of weak hands to offer any defence in the bidding against a run of no-trumpers or hearts and royals. To remedy this, F.C.