The chance for getting a pair exists; but the pair would probably be worthless. It is 4 to 1 against improving a four-card straight flush open in the middle, or at one end only; the odds against getting the straight flush being 46 to 1. There are several minor or speculative draws which may be of interest. 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.
Five players take part; four chairs are set in the middle, and one of the players, who holds a pair of tongs, desires the others to dance round them till the clock strikes a certain hour, which is done by snapping the tongs together so many times. While they dance, a chair is taken away, and the player who cannot find a seat has to become the snap-tongs next time.--_Shropshire Folk-lore_, p. 525. Nacks A game in which pegs of wood play a similar part to the well-known object Aunt Sally. --Robinson s _Mid Yorkshire Glossary_. Namers and Guessers Any number of players can play this game. Two are chosen, the one to be Namer, and the other Guesser or Witch. The rest of the players range themselves in a row. The Guesser retires out of sight or to a distance.
_=No. 2.=_ This is an excellent example of the _=American Game=_. A has a three-trump hand, but his long suit is not headed by two honors in sequence, and the Queen of clubs cannot be considered as a re-entry, so A makes the gambit opening of the singleton diamond. His partner, having nothing in plain suits, immediately returns the diamond. A now leads an intermediate club, and B forces him again. At trick 6, A avoids changing suits. If the long spade suit is opened, and Z returns the diamond 10, A-B will make four tricks less on this hand. _=No. 3.
The child who holds the stick answers Yes or No in a disguised voice, and the Muffin Man then guesses who it is. He is allowed three tries. If he guesses right he joins the ring, and the child who was touched takes his place in the centre. In the Yorkshire versions no questions are asked; the blindfolded child goes to any one he can touch, and tries to guess his or her name. The other version, sent by Mr. Hardy, is played in the same way, and sung to the same tune. In the Congleton version (Miss Twemlow), the blindfolded child tries to catch one of those in the ring, when the verse is sung. The lines, with an additional four from _Shropshire Folk-lore_, are given by Miss Burne among nursery rhymes and riddles. See Buff with a Stick, Dinah. Mulberry Bush [Music] --Miss Harrison.
Then he walks round the lady and sings the last verse, Rise up, and lifts up the lady. In the Derbyshire game only three children play, the lover, lady, and fairy. The girl stands a little distance off. The lover says the first four lines, then approaches the lady, falls on one knee, and says the next line. The lady replies, and retires further away. The lover then falls on the ground and says the next line. As this is said the good fairy appears, touches the fallen lover with her hand, and he is immediately well again. (_c_) This is a curious game, and is perhaps derived from a ballad which had been popular from some more or less local circumstance, or more probably it may be a portion of an old play acted in booths at fair times by strolling players. It is not, as far as I can find out, played in any other counties. The lines-- Over the water at the hour of ten, I ll meet you with five thousand men; Over the water at the hour of five, I ll meet you there if I m alive, are portions of a dialogue familiar to Mr.
The Guesser retires out of sight or to a distance. The Namer then gives each player a secret name. When names have been given to all the players, the Namer calls on the Guesser to come, by saying-- Witchie, witchie, yer bannocks are burnin , An ready for turnin . Whereupon he approaches, and the Namer says-- Come, chois me out, come, chois me in, to ---- (naming one by the assumed name). The players all shout, Tack me, tack me, repeatedly. The Witch points to one. If the guess is correct the player goes to the Witch s side, but if it is incorrect he goes to the Namer s side. This goes on till all the players are ranged on the one side or the other. The two parties then come to a tug, with the Namer and Guesser as leaders. The gaining party then ranges itself in two lines with a space between the lines, each boy holding in his hand his cap or his handkerchief tightly plaited.
He leaves the five and rolls the other die again, getting another five. That is a _=spare=_, and the total pips on his first throw on the next frame will count on the spare. If he does not get a spare, it is a _=break=_, and the total pips on his two dice at the end of his third throw are scored. It is usual to take up anything but fives on the first throw, on the chance of getting a spare. If a spare is not thrown on the second throw, most players leave anything as good as threes, and always leave fours; but ace and treys are always thrown again. BASE BALL WITH DICE. There are two forms of this game. In the simpler any number of persons may play, and three dice are used. Each player throws in turn, the three dice representing his three strikes. Nothing but aces count, but each of them is a run; and as long as a player makes runs he goes on throwing.
If there were less than six men within six inches of a gun, then we tried letting it fire as many shots as there were men, and we permitted a single man to move a gun, and move with it as far as he could go by the rules--a foot, that is, if he was an infantry-man, and two feet if he was a cavalry-man. We abolished altogether that magical freedom of an unassisted gun to move two feet. And on such rules as these we fought a number of battles. They were interesting, but not entirely satisfactory. We took no prisoners--a feature at once barbaric and unconvincing. The battles lingered on a long time, because we shot with extreme care and deliberation, and they were hard to bring to a decisive finish. The guns were altogether too predominant. They prevented attacks getting home, and they made it possible for a timid player to put all his soldiers out of sight behind hills and houses, and bang away if his opponent showed as much as the tip of a bayonet. Monsieur Bloch seemed vindicated, and Little War had become impossible. And there was something a little absurd, too, in the spectacle of a solitary drummer-boy, for example, marching off with a gun.
Hitchapagy. Hitchy Cock Ho. Hity Tity. Hoatie, Hots. Hob-in-the-Hall. Hockerty Cokerty. Hockey. Hoges. Ho-go. Hoilakes.