_=JINK GAME.=_ When a player has won three tricks, he should immediately abandon his hand and claim the pool, for if he continues playing he must _=jink it=_, and get all five tricks or lose what he has already won, the game being spoiled just as if no one had won three tricks. It is sometimes a matter for nice judgment whether or not to go on, and, for the sake of an extra counter from each player, to risk a pool already won. The best trump is often held up for three rounds to coax a player to go on in this manner. _=IRREGULARITIES IN THE HANDS.=_ If, during the play of a hand, it is discovered that any one holds too many or too few cards, that hand is foul, and must be abandoned, the holder forfeiting all right to the pool for that deal. Those who have their right number of cards finish the play without the foul hand, but any tricks already won by the holder of the foul hand remain his property. _=IRREGULARITIES IN PLAY.=_ If any player robs when he does not hold the ace; leads or plays out of turn; reneges to the lead of a higher trump; renounces in the trump suit; revokes in a plain suit; or exposes a card after any player has won two tricks, he loses all his right and interest in the current pool, which he cannot win, either on that or any subsequent deal, but to which he must continue to contribute when it comes to his turn to deal. After the pool has been won, and a fresh one formed, the penalty is removed.
It is 3 to 1 against improving a four-card straight flush which is open at both ends. The chances against getting the straight or the flush have been given; the odds against getting the straight flush are 24 to 1. 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.
_=SETTLING.=_ After the last card has been played, each player turns over his tricks, counts the number of hearts he has taken in, and announces it. Players should be careful not to gather or mix the cards until all thirteen hearts have been accounted for. Each player then pays into the pool for the number of hearts he has taken in, according to the system of settlement agreed upon before play began. The pool is then taken down by the player or players winning it, and the deal passes to the left. The game is at an end any time the players wish to stop, after a hand has been settled for; but it is usual to agree upon some definite hour. There are two ways of settling at the end of the hand, each of which has its good points. _=SWEEPSTAKE HEARTS.=_ After the hand has been played, each player announces the number of hearts he has taken in, and pays into the pool one counter for each. All thirteen hearts having been paid for, any player having taken no hearts wins the entire pool; two having taken none, divide it.
This pastime is said to have been instituted by the Mowbrays, and that the person who furnished the Hood did so as a tenure by which he held some land under the lord. How far this tradition may be founded on fact I do not know, but no person now acknowledges to hold any land by that tenure.--Stonehouse s _Isle of Axholme_, p. 291. W. J. Woolhouse (_Notes and Queries_, 2nd series, v. 95) says when the Hood is thrown up by the Chief of the Boggons or by the officials, it becomes the object of the villagers to get the Hood to their own village, the other eleven men, called Boggons, being stationed at the corners and sides of the field, to prevent, if possible, its being thrown out of the field; and should it chance to fall into any of their hands, it is boggoned, and forthwith returned to the chief, who again throws it up, as at the commencement of the game. The next day is occupied by the Boggons going round the villages singing as waits, and they are regaled with hot furmenty; from some they get coppers given them, and from others a small measure of wheat. The day after that they assume the character of Plough-bullocks, and at a certain part of Westwood-side they smoke the Fool --that is, straw is brought by those who like, and piled in a heap, a rope being tied or slung over the branches of the tree next to the pile of straw; the other end of the rope is fastened round the waist of the Fool, and he is drawn up and fire is put to the straw, the Fool being swung to and fro through the smoke until he is well-nigh choked, after which he goes round and collects whatever the spectators choose to give him.
| -- | -- | -- | |11.| -- | -- | -- | |12.|One of my rush, two of|One may rush, two may |One in a bush, two in | | |my rush. |rush. |a bush, three in a | | | | |bush, four in a bush. | |13.| -- | -- | -- | |14.|Please, young lady, |Come, my girls, walk | -- | | |come under my bush. |under the bush. | | |15.
In fact the game might well be called Railroad Bézique, for its chief peculiarity is the rapid accumulation of large scores. The game seems to have originated in France, but is now very popular wherever Bézique is played. _=CARDS.=_ Rubicon Bézique is played with four piquet packs of thirty-two cards each; all below the Sevens being deleted from an ordinary pack. The four packs, which should be of the same pattern and colour, are shuffled together and used as one. The cards rank: A 10 K Q J 9 8 7, the ace being the highest, both in cutting and in play. _=MARKERS.=_ The game may be kept on a bézique marker, a pull-up cribbage board, or with counters. Markers must be made to score at least 5000 points. When a cribbage board is used, it is usual to count the outside row of pegs as 10 each, the inner row as 100 each, and the game pegs in the centre as 1000 each.
For this reason Baccara is a very slow game when there is not much money in the bank. After all the players have made what bets they wish, outsiders may place bets on the result if they choose to do so. Either the players or the gallery may bet on either side of the table, which is divided down the middle by a line dividing it into two parts, right and left; hence the name, Baccara a deux tableaux. A person wishing to bet on both sides at once places his money _=à cheval=_; that is, across the line. If one side wins and the other loses, a bet placed in this manner is a stand-off; if both sides lose, the bet is lost, and if both win the bet is won. A common form of dishonesty at Baccara, and one for which a distinguished Englishman was recently tried, is to place a stake very close to the line, and if it is seen that the side on which it is placed has probably lost, to push the stake onto the line, so that it may be saved if the other side wins. The Englishman in question worked this little game on the Prince of Wales for some time before he was detected. When the banker loses, he pays the players in their order, right and left alternately, beginning with those who hold cards, until his capital is exhausted. Any further bets are disregarded. If any player bets on the opposite side of the table to that on which he is seated, his bet is not paid until all five of the players on that side have been settled with, because such a bet is regarded as that of an outsider, not belonging to that side of the table.
It is useless to say it would not go against you so often, for probabilities teach us that it would be more wonderful if it did not than if it did. It must never be forgotten that the most wonderful things that happen are not more wonderful than those that don’t happen. If you tossed a coin a thousand times, and did not once toss heads eight times in succession, it would be four times more surprising than if you tossed heads ten times in succession. Bets Won. Lost. 10 - 9 - 8 - - 7 - 8 9 - - 8 - 9 10 - - 9 ---------- 46 41 _=Progression.=_ This is a favourite martingale with those who have not the courage or the money to double up. It consists in starting with a certain amount for the first bet, say ten dollars, and adding a dollar every time the bet is lost, or taking off a dollar every time a bet is won. If the player wins as many bets as he loses, and there is no percentage against him, he gets a dollar for every bet he wins, no matter how many bets he makes, or in what order the bets are won and lost, so that the number won equals the number lost. That this is so may be easily demonstrated by setting down on a sheet of paper any imaginary order of bets, such as the ten shown in the margin, five of which are won, and five lost; the net profit on the five bets won being five dollars.
=_ A will not give up the heart until he is sure that B has not the ♣7. * * * * * _=Text Books.=_ There are at present only two text-books on the game; _Foster on Hearts_, and _Hearts and Heartsette_. SLOBBERHANNES. _=Cards.=_ Slobberhannes is played with a Euchre pack, thirty-two cards, all below the Seven being deleted. The cards rank: A K Q J 10 9 8 7, the ace being the highest both in cutting and in play. There is no trump suit. _=Counters.=_ Each player is provided with ten counters, and points are marked by placing these counters in the pool.