For instance: Fourth player, holding K Q J x, wins with King and returns the Jack. Or with A K Q, wins with Ace and returns the Queen. The reason for this is that the declarer gains nothing by the information, for he knows from the first what cards are out against him; but the information may be valuable to your partner, the second hand. If it is not the intention to return the suit at once, the lowest of the sequence should be played. _=PLAYING TO THE SCORE.=_ This is a most important element, and there is no surer indication of a careless or weak player than his inattention to the score. One cannot be too early impressed with the importance of saving the game before trying to win it; although great risks may be taken to win a game that cannot be lost that hand. Never risk a sure contract in the hope of making more; unless the two will win the game, and the odd trick will not win it. Never risk a trick that will save the game in the hope of winning more, and always set a contract while you can. _=DISCARDING.
It is a common practice to note the trump card on the score sheets. _=POSITION OF THE PLAYERS.=_ The four players at each table are distinguished by the letters N S E W; North and South being partners against East and West. West should always be the dealer in the first hand, North having the original lead. In all published illustrative hands, North is the leader, unless otherwise specified. The deal passes in rotation to the left, and the number of hands played should always be some multiple of four, so that each player may have the original lead an equal number of times. 24 hands at each table is the usual number, and is the rule at all League tournaments. The partners and adversaries should be changed after each eight hands. Three changes in 24 hands will bring each member of a set of four into partnership with every other member for an equal number of hands. [Illustration: N leads +---------+ | | Dealer, W | | E | | +---------+ S ] If two teams of four on a side, A B C D, and W X Y Z, play against each other, the arrangement in a League tournament would be as follows:--that A B C D should represent the players of the visiting club, or challengers, and W X Y Z the home club, or holders; and that the positions of the players should be changed after every four hands.
Keary). (_b_) In Dorsetshire a ring is formed by all the players joining hands except one. The odd player, carrying a handkerchief, commences to walk slowly round the outside of the ring, repeating the words; then, touching each one with her handkerchief as she passes, she says, Not you, not you, not you, &c., &c., till the favoured individual is reached, when it is changed to But you! and his or her shoulder lightly touched at the same time. The first player then runs round the ring as fast as he can, pursued by the other, who, if a capture is effected (as is nearly always the case), is entitled to lead the first player back into the centre of the ring and claim a kiss. The first player then takes the other s place in the ring, and in turn walks round the outside repeating the same formula.--_Folk-lore Journal_, vii. 212; Penzance (Mrs. Mabbott).
If the exposed card is a trump, the adversaries may prevent its being played, but the holder of it is not liable for a revoke in such cases. _=SCORING.=_ When the last card has been played, each side turns over all the tricks won, and counts the points they contain; High, Low, Jack, Game, Right and Left Pedro. Everything, including Low, counts to the side winning it. The number of points won or lost is determined by deducting the lower score from the higher, the difference being the number of points won on that deal. If it is a tie, neither side scores. If either side has incurred a penalty which prevents them from scoring any points they may have won, the adversaries have nothing to deduct, and score all they make. If the side that named the trump fails to make as many points as it bid, it scores nothing, and the number of points bid are scored by the adversaries, in addition to any points that the adversaries may have made in play. For instance: A-B are partners against Y-Z. B has bid to make 8, and named hearts for trumps.
_=POSITION OF THE PLAYERS.=_ It is not usually considered necessary to distinguish the players further than to indicate which hand had the original lead. For this purpose the whist notation is used, A being the leader, and Z the dealer. [Illustration: Y +---+ ORIGINAL LEADER, A| |B +---+ Z ] _=DEALING.=_ When two packs are used, the still pack should be shuffled by the non-dealer, and placed on the left of the player or dummy whose turn it will be to deal next. The general rules with regard to irregularities in the deal are the same as in whist. The cards being dealt, it is usual to sort the dummy hands first, running the suits down in rows, with the turn-up trump across, and to the right of the others. _=STAKES.=_ The remarks already made on this subject in connection with whist and dummy, apply equally to double dummy, except that there is no double payment; but each player wins from or loses to his living adversary the unit agreed upon. _=METHOD OF PLAYING.
My last glimpse had been of a skinny arm reaching up to pluck some more free _hors d oeuvres_ from a tray as she fled. I should have saved myself the trouble. They had a bouncer on each of my elbows before I had moved five feet. They carried more than dragged me into a private dining room behind the bar. It went along with the ersatz rustic _decor_ of the rest of the Sky Hi Club. There was sawdust on the genuine wood floor, big brass spittoons and a life-sized oil-color of a reclining nude, done with meaty attention to detail, behind a small mahogany topped bar. Stacks of clean glasses vied for space with labeled bottles on the back-bar. One of the stick-men followed us into the room, taking his apron off as he closed the door behind him, shutting out the roaring clatter of the casino. Cross-roader! he hissed at me. I should have known what was coming, but I missed it.
V. Draw a bucket of water For a lady s daughter; One in a bush, Two in a bush, Three in a bush, Four in a bush, And out you go. --Crockham Hill, Kent (Miss Chase). VI. Drawing a bucket of water For my lady s daughter; Put it in a chestnut tree, And let it stay an hour. One of you rush, two may rush, Please, old woman, creep under the bush; The bush is too high, the bush is too low, Please, old woman, creep under the bush. --Hampshire (Miss Mendham). VII. Draw a pail of water For a lady s daughter; Give a silver pin for a golden ring-- Oh pray, young lady, pop under. --Northants (Rev.
False cards should be avoided by the third hand as much as possible. The declarer will give your partner enough to puzzle over without your adding to the confusion. There are some exceptions in trumps. For instance: You have K Q x; Dummy has A J x x, and your partner leads. Unless Dummy plays Ace, you should put on the King, and change the suit. If you hold Ace and others in a plain suit, partner leading Jack, pass it if Dummy has no honour. Perhaps by winning the second round you can give the invited force. With any other honours than the Ace, pass a partner’s Jack led. If partner leads you a suit of which he knows, or should know, you have not the best, he must have a good finesse in the suit which he does not lead, and you should take the first opportunity to lead that suit to him. In returning partner’s suits, some modification may be suggested by the condition of Dummy’s hand.
They had places chalked on the pavement where they recorded their successful goes, and the game was played in a ring.--A. B. Gomme. An account sent me from Deptford (Miss Chase) is doubtless the same game. It begins with taking two gobs at once, and apparently there are eight stones or gobs to play with. The marble or round stone which is thrown up is called a tally. The directions for playing are-- We take twoses, We take threeses, We take fourses, We take sixes, We take eights. Chain eggs--_i.e.
Properly speaking, Cinch is one of the pedro variations of Auction Pitch, the difference being that no one sells, and that there is added the always popular American feature of a draw to improve the hand. The derivation and meaning of the name, Cinch, seems to be very much misunderstood. Many persons assume it is simply a name for the Left Pedro, but such is not the case. Cinch is a Mexican word for a strong saddle-girth, and when used as a verb it refers to the manner of adjusting the girth on a bucking broncho so that no amount of kicking will get him free. The word is used in this sense to describe one of the principal tactics of the card game, which is to “cinch” certain tricks, so that the adversary cannot possibly get either of the Pedroes free. _=CARDS.=_ Cinch is played with a full pack of fifty-two cards which rank A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2. When the suit is trumps the 5 retains its natural position, and is known as the _=Right Pedro=_; but the 5 of the same colour as the trump suit, which is known as the _=Left Pedro=_, ranks between the 5 and 4 of the trump suit. The ace is highest in cutting and in play. Whist-players, who have taken up Cinch as a side issue, are in the habit of making the ace lowest in cutting; but such a practice is out of harmony with all other members of the Seven-up family of games.
A little while on the visor as the east pinked up got me what I wanted. Because of the three-hour time difference, the Washington brass got me _carte blanche_ before banking hours at the Tahoe bank that supplied the Sky Hi Club with its cash. Working with the cashier, who hadn t even taken time to shave after getting his orders from the Federal Reserve Bank, I went over their stock of thousand dollar bills, as Pheola had PC d I would, and marked down the edges of the stacks with grease pencil. Mostly I did it to make my grip firmer. When the time came, I could make that money jump. Pheola let me get her a cocktail dress in one of the women s shops. The right dress helped, but more steaks would have helped even more. I ll bet I put five pounds on her that day. She was one hungry cropper. Hungry and sniffly.
The theory of this is that while the march might possibly be made with partner’s assistance, if partner has the cards necessary to make a march, the adversaries have little or nothing, and there is a very good chance to make a lone hand if three tricks of it are certain. Both bowers and the ace, with only the seven and eight of a plain suit have made many a lone hand. If the lone player is not caught on the plain suit at the first trick, the adversaries may discard it to keep higher cards in the other suit; or they may have none of it from the first. There is always a chance, and it should be taken. The dealer’s partner, and the pone, should be very careful in playing lone hands, and should never risk them except with three certain tricks, no matter what suit is led first. With three sure tricks, some players make it a rule to play alone, provided the two other cards are both of the same suit. _=MAKING THE TRUMP.=_ When the trump is turned down, the general rule is for the eldest hand to make it next. The exceptions are when he has nothing in the next suit, but has at least two certain tricks in the cross suit, and a probable trick in a plain suit. It is safer to make it next with a weak hand than to cross it on moderate strength, for the presumption is that neither the dealer nor his partner had a bower in the turn-down suit, and therefore have none in the next suit.