These four cards, higher than the one lead, are all in sight, Q 9 in Dummy; A J in your own hand, therefore the declarer cannot have any card higher than the seven. If he has, your partner’s lead is not his fourth-best, as you will see if you lay out the cards. _=RETURNING SUITS.=_ When the third hand returns his partner’s suit, he should lead the higher of two cards, and the lowest of three, unless he has a card which will beat anything Dummy may hold in the suit, in which case he should _=always beat Dummy=_. _=PLAYING AGAINST DUMMY.=_ Some of the fine points in bridge arise in situations which require a careful consideration of the Dummy’s cards. There are three great principles in playing against Dummy:-- 1st. Lead through the strong suits, and up to the weak. 2nd. Do not lead through a fourchette.
As soon as either side reaches 500, they win the game, even if it is in the middle of a hand; but the hand must be played out in order to see how many points are won by each side. It should be observed that although the bidder’s side may make nine or ten tricks the adversaries can win the game if they get enough to count out before the bidder, by reaching 500 first. _=Tricks and Honours.=_ The score for tricks and for honours must be kept separate, usually above and below the line, as at bridge. All trick points, which are the only ones that count toward game, are placed below the line; the honour points above. For winning a game, 1,000 points are added in the honour column. The side that first wins two games of 500 points each adds 2,000 rubber points in the honour column. _=Slams.=_ If a little slam, 12 tricks, is made, but has not been bid, it is worth 1,000 points in honours. If a little slam, “six tricks,” has been bid and is made, it is worth 5,000 more for bidding it, or 6,000 altogether.
| -- | -- | -- | |20.| -- | -- | -- | |21.| -- | -- | -- | |22.| -- | -- | -- | |23.|He sent letter to turn|He sent letter to turn|He sent letter to turn| | |your head. |your head. |your head. | |24.| -- | -- | -- | |25.| -- | -- | -- | |26.
-+---+-.-+---+-.-+---+-.-+---+ | . | | . | | . | | . | | +-.-+---+-.-+---+-.
_=R.=_ You will have to wait awhile for the realization of your hopes. Jack. A person who may be useful to you. _=R.=_ He will not prove of much account. Ten. A pleasant surprise. Nine. Reconciliation.
24, 49, 64, 112, _for_ _Folk-lore Journal_, vol. vi. _read_ vol. vii. On page 62, last line, _insert_ vol. xix. _after_ _Journ. Anthrop. Inst._ On page 66, line 4, _delete_ Move All.
None of the latter would be of any value, as the lowest quatorze is better than the highest trio, and the player with the four Tens could count his three Jacks also. Pairs have no value. The value of any quatorze is 14, as its name implies. Trios are worth 3 only. In discarding, the object is to secure the best counting combinations, and also to retain cards which will win tricks in play. The combinations take precedence of one another in scoring, the first being always Carte Blanche, then the Point, then Sequence, and lastly the Quatorze or Trio. _=DECLARING.=_ Carte blanche must be announced and shown before a discard is made. Each player having discarded and drawn, the elder hand proceeds to announce any counting combinations he holds, which he must declare in regular order, beginning with the point. In announcing the point, the suit is not mentioned, only its value.
A solo player should be very sure of his call before finessing for over-tricks. _=Adversaries’ Play.=_ The player to the left of the caller should not lead trumps; but if the solo player has had a lead, and has not led trumps himself, the player on his right should take the first opportunity to lead them through him. The player to the left of the caller should not lead from suits headed only by the King; nor from those containing major or minor tenaces. The best leads are from suits headed by Q J or 10, even if short. With such high-card combinations as can be used to force the command in one round, such as K Q, or K Q J, the regular whist leads should be used. With suits headed by winning sequences, held by the player on the left, it is often right to lead them once, in order to show them, and then to lead a weaker suit to get rid of the lead. It is sometimes better to play winning sequences as long as it seems probable that the caller can follow suit. Many persons use the Albany lead to indicate a wish for trumps to be led through the caller. In response to such a signal the best trump should be led, whatever it is.
Milking, taking a card from the bottom and the top of the pack at the same time with the forefinger and thumb. Mischen, G., to shuffle. Misdeal, any failure to distribute the cards properly. Mise, F., the layout, or the original pool. Misère Ouverte. There is no such expression as this in French; the proper term is Misère sur table. See Boston. Mittelhand, G.
The bigger the one is who carries, the more is in the enjoyment to the one carried.--Keith (Rev. W. Gregor). See Cock s-headling. Cockle-bread Young wenches have a wanton sport, which they call moulding of Cocklebread; viz. they gett upon a Table-board, and then gather-up their knees and their coates with their hands as high as they can, and then they wabble to and fro with their Buttocks as if the[y] were kneading of Dowgh, and say these words, viz.:-- My Dame is sick and gonne to bed, And I le go mowld my cockle-bread. In Oxfordshire the maids, when they have put themselves into the fit posture, say thus:-- My granny is sick, and now is dead, And wee l goe mould some cockle-bread. Up with my heels, and down with my head, And this is the way to mould cocklebread.
1814, p. 227: That na induellare within burgh . . . play at bar, playing at Bars. See Prisoner s Base. Barbarie, King of the I. O will you surrender, O will you surrender To the King of the Barbarie? We won t surrender, we won t surrender To the King of the Barbarie. I ll go and complaint, I ll go and complaint To the King of the Barbarie. You can go and complaint, you can go and complaint To the King of the Barbarie.
This forms a double ring or wheel (fig. 1). The odd child stands in the centre. The children forming the wheel walk round in a circle and sing the verse. When they come to the word grab, those children standing on the _inside_ of the wheel leave hold of their partners arms, and try to catch hold of the one standing immediately in front of their previous partners. The child in the centre (or Miller) tries (while they are changing places) to secure a partner and place (fig. 2). If he succeeds in doing this, the one then left out becomes the Miller. At Leicester the odd child, or miller, stands _outside_ the wheel or ring, instead of being in the centre, and it is the outside children who change places. Mr.
_=Probabilities.=_ It has been found that of the ten numbers that can be dealt, 31 to 40, the number 31 will come oftener than any other. The proportions are as follow:-- 31--13 times, 32--12 times, 33--11 times, 34--10 times, 35--9 times, 36--8 times, 37--7 times, 38--6 times, 39--5 times, 40--4 times. The 31 refait also comes oftener than any other. Although the odds against it are supposed to be 63 to 1, the bankers expect it about twice in three deals, and each deal will produce from 28 to 33 coups. ROULETTE. It is probable that more money has been lost at the wheel than at any other gambling game in the world. In conjunction with Rouge et Noir, it forms the chief attraction at Monte Carlo, and other public gambling casinos. The rage for these games was so great, and the trickery connected with them so common, that they were banished from France by the law of 18 juillet, 1836, and had to take refuge in Baden and Homburg. Before that time the public revenue from the gaming houses amounted to five or six millions a year, all of which was lost by closing them up.
254). IX. There was an old woman from Sandyland With all her children in her hand. One can knit and one can sow [sew], One can make a lily-white bow. Please take one in. When all the children have been taken in, the Old Woman says-- There was an old woman from Sandiland With no children by the hand. Will you give me one? --Ballynascaw School, co. Down (Miss C. N. Patterson).
=_ In laying out for his own crib, the dealer should preserve his own hand as much as possible; but other things being equal, the best cards to lay out are pairs, close cards, and cards that form fives, such as Fours and Aces. If these elements can be combined, so much the better. An Eight and a Seven, for instance, are not only close cards, being only one pip apart, but form a fifteen. The same is true of a trey and deuce. _=Keeping.=_ In selecting the hand to keep, much depends on the score. Early in the game you want a counting hand; near the end, especially if you have only four or five points to go, you want a pegging hand; that is, one with every card different, so that you can pair several cards, or make fifteens with almost anything that the pone may lead. In keeping a counting hand, much depends on whether it is good in itself, or needs a starter. In reckoning on the possibilities of the starter, it must never be forgotten that there are sixteen tenth cards in the pack, and that they are therefore the most probable starters of all. It is better to keep sequences open at both ends than those open in the middle.
:-- My Dame is sick and gonne to bed, And I le go mowld my cockle-bread. In Oxfordshire the maids, when they have put themselves into the fit posture, say thus:-- My granny is sick, and now is dead, And wee l goe mould some cockle-bread. Up with my heels, and down with my head, And this is the way to mould cocklebread. --Aubrey s _Remains_, pp. 43, 44. To make Barley bread (in other districts, Cockley bread ) this rhyme is used in West Cornwall:-- Mother has called, mother has said, Make haste home, and make barley bread. Up with your heels, down with your head, That is the way to make barley bread. --_Folk-lore Journal_, v. 58. The Westmoreland version is given by Ellis in his edition of Brand as follows:-- My grandy s seeke, And like to dee, And I ll make her Some cockelty bread, cockelty bread, And I ll make her Some cockelty bread.
| | 5.| -- | -- | -- | | 6.|Put it in a chest of |Put it in a chestnut. | -- | | |drawers. | | | | 7.|Let it lie an hour. |Let it stand an hour. | -- | | 8.| -- | | -- | | 9.| -- | -- | -- | |10.
Unfortunately, no one has yet been able to advance any argument sufficiently convincing for either system to demonstrate that it is better than the other. Some of the best teachers of the game advocate the discard from strength against no-trumps; others teach the weak discard. _=ENCOURAGING DISCARDS.=_ In order to distinguish between discards from weakness and those from strength, many players use what is called an encouraging card. This is anything higher than a six, if they have protection in the suit, or want it led. A player with an established suit, and A 8 2 of another suit, for instance, would discard the 8, to encourage his partner to lead that suit and put him in. In case there is no card higher than the six, the _=reverse discard=_ is used. With A 4 2, the play would be the 4 and then the 2. Some use this reverse or encouraging card to induce the partner to continue the suit he is leading, but the practice is confusing. _=THE DECLARER’S PLAY.
The boys at home then give chase, and when they succeed in catching an adversary, they bring him home, and there he stays until all on his side are caught, when they in turn become the chasers.--Cornwall (_Folk-lore Journal_, v. 60). Buff 1st player, thumping the floor with a stick: Knock, knock! 2nd ditto: Who s there? 1st: Buff. 2nd: What says Buff? 1st: Buff says Buff to all his men, And I say Buff to you again! 2nd: Methinks Buff smiles? 1st: Buff neither laughs nor smiles, But looks in your face With a comical grace, And delivers the staff to you again (handing it over). --Shropshire (Burne s _Shropshire Folk-lore_, p. 526). Same verses as in Shropshire, except the last, which runs as follows:-- Buff neither laughs nor smiles, But strokes his face With a very good grace, And delivers his staff to you. --Cheltenham (Miss E. Mendham).
The English laws allow a player to count the stock, the French do not. A trick once turned and quitted cannot again be seen, and the players are not allowed to count the number of tricks they have won. The last card of the stock is taken by the player winning the trick, and the turn-up trump goes to his adversary. _=The Last Eight Tricks.=_ When the stock is exhausted, the players take back into their hands all the cards remaining of the combinations which have been laid on the table. The winner of the previous trick then leads any card he pleases, but his adversary must now not only follow suit, but must win the trick if he can, either with a superior card of the same suit, or with a trump. The same rule applies to all the remaining tricks. Brisques still count for the winner of the trick containing them, and should be scored as soon as made. The winner of the last trick of all scores ten points for it immediately, in addition to any brisques that it may contain. _=Irregularities in Play.
The great element of success is bluff. STUD POKER. The arrangements for the cards, seats, antes, buck, etc., are precisely as at Straight Poker; but in dealing, only the first card is dealt face down, the remaining four being turned up by the dealer as he gives them out. Each player in turn then looks at his _=down card=_, and the betting proceeds as in Straight Poker, each player having the privilege of passing once before a bet is made. A much more popular method is to stop the deal at two cards, each player having received one face down, and another face up. The best card showing then makes the first bet, and each player in turn must meet it, raise it, or pass out of that pool. If no one will call, the player making the bet takes the pool, and the next deal. If a bet is made and called, those in the call do not show their down cards, but are each given another card, face up, and the same betting process is gone through, the best hand showing face up making the first bet in each round. As long as two or more players remain in the pool they are given more cards until they have five.
Any one, having the lead and several winning cards to play, should not draw a second card out of his hand until his partner has played to the first trick, such act being a distinct intimation that the former has played a winning card. No intimation whatever, by word or gesture, should be given by a player as to the state of his hand, or of the game. A player who desires the cards to be placed, or who demands to see the last trick, should do it for his own information only, and not in order to invite the attention of his partner. No player should object to refer to a bystander who professes himself uninterested in the game, and able to decide any disputed question of facts; as to who played any particular card--whether honours were claimed though not scored, or _vice versa_--etc., etc. It is unfair to revoke purposely; having made a revoke, a player is not justified in making a second in order to conceal the first. Until the players have made such bets as they wish, bets should not be made with bystanders. Bystanders should make no remark, neither should they by word or gesture give any intimation of the state of the game until concluded and scored, nor should they walk round the table to look at the different hands. No one should look over the hand of a player against whom he is betting. DUMMY.
As already explained, brisques won in the last six tricks are scored as they are taken in, and after the last card is played all the brisques are re-counted, the player holding more than six scoring ten points for each above that number. There is no score for winning the last trick. Four deals is a game. At the end of the fourth deal the lower score is deducted from the higher, and the difference is the value of the game in points. If the lesser score is not at least 400 points, the winner doubles the difference in his favour. The only text-book on this game introduces a great many technical terms which have no meaning to the ordinary card-player, and which have therefore been omitted from this description. _=Suggestions for Good Play=_ will be found in Binocle. RUBICON BÉZIQUE. Rubicon Bézique bears the same relation to the ordinary game that Railroad Euchre does to Euchre proper. In fact the game might well be called Railroad Bézique, for its chief peculiarity is the rapid accumulation of large scores.