When twenty is bid the cards in the widow must remain untouched. _=Playing.=_ The successful bidder has the lead for the first trick. The general rules for following suit, etc., are the same as in ordinary Euchre. The bidder takes in all the tricks won by himself and his partners, and one of the adversaries should gather for that side. If a player on either side _=revokes=_, the adversaries score the number bid, and the hand is abandoned. _=Scoring.=_ If the bidder is successful in his undertaking, he and his partners, if any, are credited by the scorer with the number of points bid, but no more. Should a player bid five, and his side take seven, it would count them only five points.
The best combination that can be held in hand or crib is three Fives and a Jack, with the Five of the same suit as the Jack for a starter. We have already seen that the four Fives by themselves are worth 20, to which we must add the four extra fifteens made by combining the Jack with each Five separately, and one more point for his nobs, 29 altogether. If the Jack was the starter, the combination would be worth 30 to the dealer, but his heels would have to be counted before a card was played. _=Flushes.=_ In addition to the foregoing combinations, if all four cards in the hand are of the same suit the player can peg four points for the flush; if the starter is also the same suit, five points. A flush does not count in the crib unless the starter is the same suit, and then it counts five points. Flushes are never made in play. _=Laying Out for the Crib.=_ With this knowledge of the objects of game, and the various counting combinations, it will be seen that each player should keep the cards which count the most for him, or which are most likely to form good combinations with different starters. Suppose the non-dealer holds these cards:-- [Illustration: 🃖 🂧 🂨 🂸 🂩 🃚 ] If he puts the two Eights in his adversary’s crib, he not only gives him two very good cards, which go to form a great many valuable combinations, but he leaves himself absolutely nothing but 2 points for a single fifteen, formed by the 9 and 6.
I shrugged. I had my way with the dice, Peno. I dropped nine yards as fast as I could, then won it back. The spots came up for me every single roll but two, when I had my eye on something else. He snickered. We saw her, he said. How about it, Fowler? I asked my Lodge Brother. Was a worker tipping the dice tonight? I never felt it, he said. But the table had dropped nearly forty grand during the shift, which was about over when you started to play. He s too good for me, Wally.
When a player wins a trick, either he or his partner may declare everything in the hand, but only one combination can be scored at a time. The advantage of showing all the combinations in the hand is that they may be built up by either partner. For instance: One partner has declared bézique and royal marriage, scoring the marriage only. His partner wins the next trick and adds A 10 J to the marriage, scoring the sequence; or perhaps shows three Kings or Queens, making fours. The players usually divide after the stock is exhausted, and for the last eight tricks each takes one of his former adversaries for a partner, but without changing seats. The game is usually 2000 points up. THREE-HANDED BÉZIQUE. Three persons play, each for himself. Two packs of thirty-two cards each and one of thirty-one cards are shuffled together. Triple bézique counts 1500, and the game is usually 2000 points.
This is shown by the fact that there are few counties where it is not known, and also that important variants, either in the words or in the method of playing, are rarely met with. In all the versions which have been sent there are only the following variations in the words, and these are principally in the refrain, or last line of each verse: On a cold and frosty morning ends by far the greater number of versions; On a fine summer s morning, So early in the morning, All on a summer s morning, Five o clock in the morning, On a cold and sunny morning, coming next in number. The Belfast version ends, May! May! May! and a Newbury and Marlborough fourth line is simply a repetition of the second, Nuts in May, nuts in May. In the first line of the verse the only important variant seems to be the Symondsbury Gathering nuts away and Gathering nuts to-day. Gathering nuts away also occurs in one version from Newbury (Berks), Nuts and May appearing in the larger number after the more usual Nuts in May. In only one version is a specific place mentioned for the gathering. This is in the Bocking version, where Galloway Hill is named, in reply to the unusual question, Where do you gather your nuts in May? A player is usually gathered for Nuts in May. In three or four cases only is this altered to gathering a player s nuts away, which is obviously an alteration to try and make the action coincide exactly with the words. The game is always played in lines, and the principal incidents running throughout all the versions are the same, _i.e.
169). III. Mother, please buy me a milking-can, A milking-can, a milking-can! Mother, please buy me a milking-can, With a humpty-dumpty-daisy! [Then follow verses sung in the same manner, beginning--] Where s the money to come from, to come from? Sell my father s feather bed. Where s your father going to lie? Lie on the footman s bed. Where s the footman going to lie? Lie in the cowshed. Where s the cows going to lie? Lie in the pig-sty. Where s the pig going to lie? Lie in the dolly-tub. And what am I to wash in? Wash in a thimble. A thimble wunna hold a cap. Wash in an egg-shell.
=_ When a gammon or backgammon counts you nothing more if you win it, and costs you nothing more if you lose it, the tactics of the game are entirely changed. It is folly to take any risks for the sake of a gammon, and any plays which leave unnecessary blots are very bad; for which reason the three throws shown in the foregoing diagram would be absurd in the American game. On the other hand, you may risk being gammoned, or even backgammoned, if it is the only way to save the game. An Englishman cannot take this risk, for he might lose a triple game in attempting to save a single. Secure the five point in your own and your adversary’s home table as soon as possible, and then the bar and four points. After the first few throws the player should take a general survey of the board, in order to see whether he is ahead or behind, or if he has any advantage of position. He must then decide whether he will play a _=backward=_ or a _=forward=_ game. A glance at the relative positions of the men will usually show if one side is much more advanced than the other, without going into any minute calculations as to how many points nearer home one side _may_ be. If, at the beginning of the game, one player makes two or three large throws in succession, while his adversary gets small throws only, the latter will have little chance of winning the game simply by running for home, whereas the former’s best chance will be to follow up his early advantage and get home as fast as possible. The only hope for the man who is behind is that he can pick up some of his opponent’s men, setting them back, and in order to do this he must keep behind his adversary, so as to meet as many of his men as possible.
” There is no authoritative code of laws for the game of Poker, simply because the best clubs do not admit the game to their card rooms, and consequently decry the necessity for adopting any laws for its government. In the absence of any official code, the daily press is called upon for hundreds of decisions every week. The author has gathered and compared a great number of these newspaper rulings, and has drawn from them and other sources to form a brief code of poker laws, which will be found amply sufficient to cover all irregularities for which any penalty can be enforced, or which interfere with the rights of any individual player. DRAW POKER. _=CARDS.=_ Poker 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 or lowest in play, according to the wish of the holder, but ranking below the deuce in cutting. In some localities a special pack of sixty cards is used, the eight extra cards being elevens and twelves in each suit, which rank above the ten, and below the Jack. It is very unusual to play Poker with two packs. [Illustration: 11♣ 12♣] _=COUNTERS, or CHIPS.=_ Although not absolutely necessary, counters are much more convenient than money.
Some boy chosen by lot, or one who volunteered in order to start the game, laid his top on the ground at some distance from the Gully. The first player then spun his top, pegging at the recumbent top, so as to draw it towards the Gully. If he missed the top, he stooped down and took up his own top by pushing his hand against it in such a manner that the space between his first and second finger caught against the peg and forced the top into the palm of his hand. He then had a go at the recumbent top (I forget what this was called), and sent his own top against it so as to push it towards the Gully. If he missed, he tried again and again, until his own top could spin no longer. If he did not hit the top with his own while it was spinning, his top had to be laid down and the other one taken up, and its owner took his turn at pegging. When a spinning-top showed signs of exhaustion, and the taking it up might kill it, and it was not very far from the down-lying top, its owner would gently push it with his finger, so as to make it touch the other top, and so avoid putting it into the other s place. This was called kissing, and was not allowed by some players. When one player succeeded in sending the top into the Gully, he took it up and fixed it by its peg into a post, mortar of a wall, or the best place where it could be tolerably steady. Holding it by one hand, he drove the peg of his own top as far as he could into the crown of the victim top.
A penalty for a declaration out of turn (see Law 49), an insufficient or impossible declaration (see Law 50), or a bid when prohibited (see Law 50_a_) may not be enforced if either adversary pass, double, or declare before the penalty be demanded.[11] 50_c_. Laws which give to either adversary the right to enforce a penalty, do not permit unlimited consultation. Either adversary may call attention to the offence and select the penalty, or may say, “Partner, you determine the penalty,” or words to that effect. Any other consultation is prohibited,[12] and if it take place, the right to demand any penalty is lost. The first decision made by either adversary is final and cannot be altered. 51. At any time during the declaration, a question asked by a player concerning any previous bid must be answered, but, after the final declaration has been accepted, if an adversary of the declarer inform his partner regarding any previous declaration, the declarer may call a lead from the adversary whose next turn it is to lead. If the dummy give such information to the declarer, either adversary of the declarer may call a lead. A player, however, at any time may ask what declaration is being played and the question must be answered.
Never play with a man who cuts the pack with both hands, watches the cards closely as he deals, or looks intently at the top of the stock before he plays to the current trick. Players who have a nervous affection which makes them pass over too many counters at once will also bear watching. Colour blindness may lead them to take over a blue instead of a white in a close game. _=SUGGESTIONS FOR GOOD PLAY.=_ The general principles of play are much the same in all the Bézique family of games. It is usually best to give your adversary the deal, because the first lead is often an advantage, especially if the turn-up is valuable, and you have a dix, or if you want to make the trump in Rubicon Bézique. It is seldom right to make the trump unless you have one or two of the sequence cards with the marriage. _=The Lead=_ is a disadvantage unless you have something to declare, or there is a brisque in the trick, or you can get home the Ten of a plain suit. The Tens are of no value in plain suits except as brisques, for they enter into no combination with other cards except in Penchant, Cinq-cents, and Rubicon. If the trick is of no value, or you have nothing important to declare, get rid of your small cards, and lead them when you do not want to retain the lead.
An extra hand, called _=the widow=_, is dealt face down at Whiskey Poker. The dealer gives each player and the widow five cards, one at a time, beginning on his left, and dealing to the widow just before he deals to himself. Each player in turn, beginning with the age, then examines his hand, and has the option of exchanging it for the widow; keeping it for the purpose of drawing to it; or risking his chances of winning the pool with it as it is. If he wishes to exchange, he must place his five cards face upward on the table, and take up the widow, but without showing it to any other player. The hand he abandons then becomes the widow. If he prefers to draw to his hand, he says: “_=I pass=_,” which transfers to the next player the option of taking the widow. If he wishes to stand on the merits of the hand dealt to him, without drawing to it, he _=knocks=_ on the table, which also passes the option of taking the widow to the next player on his left. If any player takes the widow, the next player on his left can do any one of three things: He may discard from his own hand any card he pleases, taking one from the widow in its stead; the card which he discards being placed on the table face upward, and becoming part of the widow; or he may exchange his entire hand for the widow; or he may stand on the hand dealt him, and knock. Whether he draws one card, exchanges his entire hand, or knocks, the next player on his left has the option of drawing, exchanging, or knocking; and so on, until some player does knock. Should no player take the widow until it comes to the dealer’s turn, he must either take it, or turn it face upward on the table.
I ve seen sharks with a pleasanter gape. Naturally, I didn t take his hand. Hi, Peno, I said. He jerked his hand back and straightened up. He snapped the hole in his face shut. My partner, he said, waving his hand at the dark-skinned gent standing over against one of the fumed oak desks. Sime, meet Lefty Bupp, the hottest TK artist with dice in the whole damned country! Simonetti leaned against the desk. He drew a zipper open in his fancy blouse, dragged out the Bull Durham and started to roll his own. They watch too much TV. It makes terrible hams of them all.
| Intrigue. | Confederacy. | Pair. | Best. | +------------+-----------+--------------+-------+-------+ Any King and Queen is _=Matrimony=_; any Queen and Jack is _=Intrigue=_; any King and Jack is _=Confederacy=_; any two cards of the same denomination form a _=Pair=_, and the diamond ace is always _=Best=_. The players draw, and the lowest card deals: ace is low. The dealer then takes any number of counters he chooses, and distributes them as he pleases on the various divisions of the layout. Each player then takes a number of counters one less than the dealer’s, and distributes them according to his fancy. The cards are then cut, and the dealer gives one to each player, face down; and then another, face up. If any of the latter should be the diamond ace, the player to whom it is dealt takes everything on the layout, and the cards are gathered and shuffled again, the deal passing to the left, the new dealer beginning a fresh pool.
If it has been agreed that the lowest score pays when the first player goes out, the game is ended as soon as one retires. If two players reach 1000 points without either having claimed the game, they must both go on to 1250; but if the third player reaches and announces 1000 before either of the others reaches 1250, he wins the game. _=The Revoke.=_ The individual player in error loses his entire score for “cards.” The bidder cannot be set back if either adversary revokes. He may demand that the hand be played out if he thinks he can get a good score. GAIGEL. This is sometimes called _=Short Binocle=_. It is played by two persons with the forty-eight card pack, and the melds are reduced to the following values:-- King and Queen of a plain suit 20 Double marriage in the same suit 40 King and Queen of trumps 40 Double marriage in trumps 80 Any five Nines 101 Two single marriages in the same suit cannot be melded at different times. Game is 101 points.