TABLE OF HONOUR VALUES. Royal spades are indicated by “R.” -------------------------------+---+---+---+---+---+------- Declaration | ♠ | ♣ | ♢ | ♡ | R | No | | | | | | trump -------------------------------+---+---+---+---+---+------- Each Trick Above 6 | 2 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 -------------------------------+---+---+---+---+---+------- H { 3 Honours | 4 |12 |14 |16 |18 | 30 O { 4 Honours | 8 |24 |28 |32 |36 | 40 N { 4 Honours (All in 1 hand) |16 |48 |56 |64 |72 |100 O { 5 Honours |10 |30 |35 |40 |45 | U { 5 Honours (4 in 1 hand) |18 |54 |63 |72 |81 | R { 5 Honours (All in 1 hand) |20 |60 |70 |80 |90 | S { Rubber 250, Grand Slam 40, Little Slam 20. When one side has nothing but the odd honour, three out of the five, it is called _=simple honours=_. The value of simple honours is always the same as two tricks. _=Slams.=_ Little Slam is made by taking twelve of the thirteen tricks; it counts 20 points. Grand Slam is made by taking the thirteen tricks, and it counts 40. Either score must be exclusive of revoke penalties. _=PENALTIES.
If you are going back to take into account the previous throws of the dice, you should know the 100 throws that were made with those dice before the raffle began. CRAP SHOOTING. This game is a simple form of Hazard, and when played “on the square,” is one of the fairest of all games, the percentage in favour of either side being very small. It is rapidly replacing Faro as the gambling game of America. Any number of persons may play, and any one may be the caster for the first throw. Two dice are used. The players bet a certain amount of money, and the caster covers it, or as much of it as he can. If the caster does not take all the bets offered, players may back him against the other players. The bets made, the caster shoots. If the total of the two dice on the first throw is seven or eleven, it is called a _=nick=_, or _=natural=_, and the caster immediately wins the stakes.
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. No matter how correctly the player may be guessing, and how much the luck runs his way, he wins smaller and smaller amounts, until at last he is “pinched off.” But if a long series of events goes against him his bets become larger and larger, but he must keep up the progression until he gets even. If ten bets go his way he wins $55; if ten go against him he loses $145. It is said that Pettibone made a fortune playing progression at Faro, which is very likely, for among the thousands of men who play it the probabilities are that one will win all the time, just as the probabilities are that if a thousand men play ten games of Seven Up, some man will win all ten games. At the same time it is equally probable that some man will lose all ten. Some players progress, but never pinch, keeping account on a piece of paper how many bets they are behind, and playing the maximum until they have won as many bets as they have lost. Against a perfectly fair game, with no percentage and no limit, and with capital enough to follow the system to the end, playing progression would pay a man about as much as he could make in any good business with the same capital and with half the worry; but as things really are in gambling houses and casinos, all martingales are a delusion and a snare. It is much better, if one must gamble, to trust to luck alone, and it is an old saying that the player without a system is seldom without a dollar. It is the men with systems who have to borrow a stake before they can begin to play.
The great mistake made by beginners is that they rush off to the attack and try to capture some of the adverse pieces before they have properly prepared themselves for re-inforcement or retreat. It should never be forgotten that the game is not won by capturing the adversary’s pieces, but by check-mating his King. Take the board and pieces, arrange them with the white men next you, and play over the following simple little game. Remember that the figures above the line are for the white men; those below for the black. P-K4 Kt-KB3 Kt-QB3 B-B4 1 ---- 2 ------ 3 ------ 4 ----- P-K4 P-Q3 P-KR3 B-Kt5 The third move made by Black accomplishes nothing, and is simply a waste of time. He should have continued by bringing his Knights into play. His fourth move is also a mistake; he should develop the Knights before the Bishops. KtxP BxKBP ch Kt-Q5 mate 5 ---- 6 -------- 7 ---------- BxQ K-K2 On his fifth move, Black jumps at the chance to win White’s Queen, but this is not of the slightest benefit to him, because the object of the game is not to win the Queen, but to mate the King. At the seventh move the beginner will see that the black King cannot move out of check, neither can he move into check by taking the Bishop. He has no piece that can capture the Knight that gives the check, and nothing can be interposed, so he is mated, and White wins.
The English do not understand gathering shots, nursing, and cushion carroms so well as the Americans, and play chiefly for the winning and losing hazards. The objective point of the expert is the _=spot stroke=_, which consists in getting exactly behind the red ball when it is on its spot, and then driving it into the corner pocket, returning the cue ball to its position with a light draw shot. If the cue ball fails to come back exactly behind the red the position may be recovered in several ways, some of which are shown in the diagrams. [Illustration] No. 1 is the perfect position for the spot stroke; the dotted lines in the others show the course that must be followed by the cue ball to recover the initial position. _=Man-of-war Game=_ is a variety of English billiards in which there are three white balls, each belonging to different players. The following _=LAWS=_ are taken, by permission, from the rules published by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Co. ENGLISH BILLIARD LAWS. _=1.=_ The choice of balls and order of play shall, unless mutually agreed upon by the two players, be determined by stringing; and the striker whose ball stops nearest the lower [or bottom] cushion, after being forced from baulk up the table, may take which ball he likes, and play, or direct his opponent to play first, as he may deem expedient.
If the player is void of a suit, continue leading it, no matter what you hold in it. This will either weaken his trumps, or, if he is between you, will give your partner discards. If the player leads a Wenzel, it is usually best to cover it if you can; but do not play the club Jack on the diamond Jack unless you want the lead very badly. When the single player does not lead trumps, but plays his Aces and Tens, the Germans call it “auf die Dörfer gehen;” that is, getting to the villages, or getting home; equivalent to our expression, “getting out of the woods,” or “getting in out of the rain.” When the single player runs for home in this way, it is usually best to lead trumps through him at the first opportunity. In playing against a Nullo, the great point is to give your partner discards. If you find that the player’s long suit is yours also, continue it until your partner has discarded an entire suit if possible. If you then have the small card of the discarded suit, you may defeat the Nullo at once. _=Fattening.=_ The Germans call this Wimmeln, or “swarming” the points together in one trick.
Any player bidding four would have to win the odd and three honors, or two odd and two honours, or something to make up his bid. _=SCORING.=_ No matter how many more than his bid he makes, he can score it all. If he fails, he is set back the amount of his bid. If his adversaries win the odd trick or more, they count one point for each trick over the book in addition to the amount by which they set the bidder back. When there are seventeen points in play each deal, it is usual to take the lower score from the higher and score the difference only, but when the bidder fails, he is not set back, but simply gets nothing at all, while his opponents score all they make, without any deductions. NORWEGIAN WHIST. _=CARDS.=_ This variety of whist is played with a full pack of fifty-two cards, which rank from the A K Q down to the deuce. In cutting, the ace is low.
, a trick. (Tric, is the odd trick.) Liées, F., to play rubbers. Limit, the amount by which one player may increase his bet over that of another. Long Cards, the dregs of a suit which has been led several times, and exhausted in the hands of the other players. Long Suits, those containing four or more cards, at Whist. Lose Out, a card that loses four times in one deal, at Faro. Losing Cards, those that would lose tricks if they were led. Losing _Hazard_, pocketing the cue ball.