The different combinations of four cards, arranged in pairs, is as follows:-- [Illustration: 🂴 🃔 🂴 🂤 🂴 🃄 🃔 🂤 🃔 🃄 🂤 🃄 ] Whether the foregoing combinations are formed during the play of the hand, or found in the hand or crib after the play is over, their counting value is exactly the same. _=Sequences.=_ Any three or more cards, following one another in numerical order, will form a sequence. A sequence may also run into the court cards, such as 9 10 J, 10 J Q, or J Q K; but Q K A is not a sequence in Cribbage. The counting value of a sequence is one point for each card in it. Sequences formed in the course of play must always be single, although the cards forming them need not fall in regular order. Those found in the hand or crib may be double, and those formed with the aid of the starter may be treble or quadruple. The method of computing the value of double and treble sequences should be thoroughly understood, in order that such combinations may be counted at sight. A few examples will show that each combination belongs to a certain class, to which the same counting value is always attached. These classes are distinguished by the number of duplicates of the sequence cards.
A deal if started must be finished. 12. A proved error in the honour score may be corrected at any time before the score of the rubber has been made up and agreed upon. 13. A proved error in the trick score may be corrected at any time before a declaration has been made in the following game, or, if it occur in the final game of the rubber, before the score has been made up and agreed upon. CUTTING. 14. In cutting the ace is the lowest card; between cards of otherwise equal value the heart is the lowest, the diamond next, the club next, and spade the highest. 15. Every player must cut from the same pack.
In the first case Black will run to 15 and 11, and either get round or double back to 18. In the second case Black will get round by way of 7, or get through. CHECKER LAWS. _=1.=_ The Standard board must be of light and dark squares, not less than fourteen inches nor more than fifteen inches across said squares. _=2.=_ The board shall be so placed that the bottom corner square, on the left hand, shall be black. _=3.=_ The Standard men, technically described as White and Black, must be light and dark (say white and red, or yellow and black), turned, and round, not less than one inch, nor more than 1⅛ inches in diameter. _=4.
In laying out for your own crib, Fives, Sevens and Eights are the best. Any pair, any two cards that make five or fifteen, and any close cards are also good. Keep pairs royal and runs in your hand, and do not forget that a flush of three counts in the hand; but the starter must agree to make a flush in the crib. _=Playing Off and On.=_ The pegging in play is usually small; 2 for the dealer, and an average of 1½ for the non-dealer, hence the importance of the go. The average hand is a little less than 5, and the crib about 5. The player is at home if he has pegged 17 in two deals, his own and his adversary’s. He is safe at home if he is 7 ahead, or his adversary is 7 behind. In Five-card Cribbage, more than any other game, it is true that a game is never won until it is lost. Take the following example, in which the pone is 56 up, and the dealer has pegged only 5 holes altogether.
The amount bid for the bank is placed on the table, and none of it can be withdrawn, all winnings being added to it. If no bid is made, the banker may place on the table any amount he thinks proper, and that amount, or what remains of it after each coup, is the betting limit. When the banker loses all he has, the bank is sold to the next highest bidder, or offered to the next player on the list. If the banker wishes at any time to retire, the person taking his place should begin with an amount equal to that then in the bank. _=Counters.=_ Each of the players should be provided with a certain number of counters, all of which must be sold and redeemed by the banker or his assistant. _=Cards.=_ Three packs of fifty-two cards each are shuffled together and used as one. The players shuffle as much as they please, the banker last, and the banker then presents them to any player he pleases to have them cut. The banker may burn one or two cards if he pleases; that is, turn them face upward on the bottom of the pack.
3 N & S, the other moving away, being No. 3 E & W. Each pair adds up its score card at the end, and puts down the total number of tricks they have won. The names of the players having been previously written on the blackboard, their scores are put down opposite their names, each side, N & S and E & W, is then added up in order to find the average, and all scores above average are plus, while all below average are minus. The following is an example of the averaging of a game in which five tables took part, playing 30 deals:-- N & S E & W a 201 -6 f 189 +6 b 204 -3 g 186 +3 c 211 +4 h 179 -4 d 207 = j 183 = e 212 +5 k 178 -5 --------------- --------------- 5 |1035 5 |915 +---- +--- Aver. 207, N & S. Aver. 183, E & W. The _=e=_ and _=f=_ pairs make the best scores N & S and E & W respectively; the _=f=_ pair, having won the greatest number of tricks above the average of the hands, would be the winners. _=Howell Pair System.
-+---+-.-+---+-.-+---+-.-+---+ | . | | . | | . | | . | | +-.-+---+-.-+---+-.
Ye sall get a duke, my dear, An ye sall get a drake, An ye sall get a bonny prince For your ain dear sake. And if they all should die, Ye sall get anither; The bells will ring, the birds will sing, And we ll clap our hands together. --Biggar (W. Ballantyne). IV. Dissy, dissy, green grass, Dissy, dissy, duss, Come all ye pretty fair maids And dance along with us. You shall have a duck, my dear, And you shall have a drake, And you shall have a nice young man To love you for your sake. If this young man should chance to die And leave the girl a widow, The birds shall sing, the bells shall ring, Clap all your hands together. --Yorkshire (Henderson s _Folk-lore, Northern Counties_, p. 27).
Those first in the room have the preference, and should immediately inscribe their names. The first eleven form the table, and the privilege of being the banker is sold to the highest bidder; that is, to the one that will put up the most money to be played for. The remaining ten persons draw for choice of seats at the table, the first choice being for the seat immediately on the right of the banker, then for the first seat on his left. Five players are arranged on each side of the banker in this manner, right and left alternately, according to the order of their choice. Sometimes an assistant or croupier is seated opposite the banker, to watch the bets, gather and shuffle the cards, etc. A waste basket is placed in the centre of the table for the reception of cards that have been used in play. If no one bids for the bank, it must be offered to the first on the list of players; if he declines, the next, and so on. The amount bid for the bank is placed on the table, and none of it can be withdrawn, all winnings being added to it. If no bid is made, the banker may place on the table any amount he thinks proper, and that amount, or what remains of it after each coup, is the betting limit. When the banker loses all he has, the bank is sold to the next highest bidder, or offered to the next player on the list.
On page 15, line 12, _for_ Eggatt _read_ Hats in Holes. On pp. 24, 49, 64, 112, _for_ _Folk-lore Journal_, vol. vi. _read_ vol. vii. On page 62, last line, _insert_ vol. xix. _after_ _Journ. Anthrop.
1, and then--] Rise up, rise up, poor Mary Brown, To see the poor beggars go through the town. I will not stand up upon my feet To see the poor beggars go through the street. [Two other verses are sometimes added, introducing gentleman and ladies. All versions, however, conclude with the girl saying--] Rise up, rise up, poor Mary Brown, And see your poor sweetheart go through the town. I will get up upon my feet, To see my sweetheart go through the street. --Halliwell s _Nursery Rhymes_, p. 218. (_b_) The children form a ring, one child laying or kneeling down in the centre. The ring sing the first, third, fifth, and alternate verses; the girl in the middle answers with the second, fourth, and so on alternately. At the last verse the girl jumps up and breaks through the ring by force; another girl takes her place in the ring, and the game begins again.
This is called keppan the ba . If they succeed in this attempt, the player who does so is entitled to throw the ball with all his might towards his antagonists. If he kep it in the first bound which it makes off the ground, called a stot, he is allowed to haunch, that is, to throw the ball by bringing his hand with a sweep past his thigh, to which he gives a stroke as his hand passes, and discharging the ball at the moment when the stroke is given. If the ball be caught in the second bounce, the catcher may hoch the ball, that is, throw it through below one of his houghs. If none of the party catch the ball, it must be gowf t in the manner before described. As soon as either of the parties succeed in driving the ball, or, as it is called, hailin the dules, the game then begins by one of the party which was successful throwing the ball towards the opposing goal and the other party striving to drive it back. Hand in and Hand out A game played by a company of young people who are drawn up in a circle, when one of them, pitched upon by lot, walks round the band, and, if a boy, hits a girl, or, if a girl, she strikes a boy whom she chooses, on which the party striking and the party struck run in pursuit of each other till the latter is caught, whose lot it then becomes to perform the same part. A game so called was forbidden by statute of Edward IV.--Halliwell s _Dictionary_. See Drop Handkerchief.
The adversaries then have me right to call any card they please, either for the lead, or in following suit; but they cannot make the player revoke, nor can they consult, or in any way expose their hands. If a lead is required, it must be called by the person on the jambone player’s left. If a card is called on a trick, it must be called by the person on the jambone player’s right. If in spite of these difficulties the jambone player succeeds in winning five tricks, he scores _=eight=_ points. If he wins three or four only, he counts _=one=_ point. If he is euchred he loses _=two=_. It is not allowable to play alone against a jambone. _=Jamboree.=_ This is the combination of the five highest trumps in one hand, and need only be announced and shown to entitle the holder to score _=sixteen=_ points. If held by the dealer, it may be made with the assistance of the turn-up trump; and any player may make it with the assistance of his partners best; but it does not count unless the holder of it has made the trump.
While our system, like all others, entails losses at times, it seems to avoid many of the pitfalls that confront the player who always opens his long suit, regardless of the possibilities of ever bringing it in. In many instances we find he places himself in the worst possible position for any chance to make even one trick in the suit he opens. We admit that if a team adopts straight American leads, it is much easier for them to count the partner’s hand accurately; but it seems to me that this advantage is more than overcome by the fact that in our openings we have a clear idea as to the general character of the partner’s hand while there is still time to take advantage of the knowledge. In the long-suit game this element is entirely wanting. _=IN CONCLUSION.=_ The first-class whist-player is usually developed gradually. If he possess the faculty of paying close attention to the game while he is playing, nothing should prevent his rapid progress. At first he may care little or nothing for “book” whist, but after some experience with book players, he is rather in danger of running to the other extreme, and putting more book into his game than it will carry. Having passed that stage, his next step is usually to invent some system of his own, and to experiment with every hand he plays. By degrees he finds that all special systems of play have some serious defects which over-balance their advantages, and this discovery gradually brings him back to first principles.
After the four cards given to each person have all been played, the dealer takes up the remainder of the pack, and without any further shuffling or cutting, deals four more cards to each player, two at a time, but gives none to the table. These four having been played, four more are dealt in the same manner, and so on, until the pack is exhausted, after which the deal passes to the left in regular rotation. _=Irregularities in the Deal.=_ If the pack is proved to be imperfect, or if a card is found faced in the pack there must be a fresh deal by the same dealer. If a player deals out of turn, he must be stopped before the cards on the table are turned face upward. A misdeal loses the deal. It is a misdeal if the pack has not been cut, or if the cards are shuffled after the pack has been properly cut; or if the dealer deals a card incorrectly, and fails to remedy it before dealing to the next player; or if he deals too many or too few cards to any player or to the table. If a card is exposed during the deal, an adversary may claim a fresh deal. If, after the cards on the table have been faced, a card is exposed by the dealer, or is found faced in the pack, the player to whom it would be dealt may reject it, and it must then be placed in the middle of the stock, and he must be given the top card. If a card is exposed in the last round, the dealer must take it, and must allow the player to whom it would have been dealt to draw a card from the dealer’s hand, face downward.
Each dealer in turn adds two more; revokes pay five, and leads out of turn three. The player who first succeeds in winning five tricks on a nap bid takes the pool, and a fresh one is formed. If a player bids nap and fails, he is usually called upon to double the amount then in the pool, besides paying his adversaries. _=Purchase Nap=_; sometimes called _=Écarté Nap=_, is a variation of the pool game. After the cards are dealt, and before any bids are made, each player in turn, beginning on the dealer’s left, may discard as many cards as he pleases, the dealer giving him others in their place. For each card so exchanged, the player pays one counter to the pool. Only one round of exchanges is allowed, and bids are then in order. A player having once refused to buy, or having named the number of cards he wishes to exchange, cannot amend his decision. Any player winning five tricks on a nap bid takes the entire pool. This is a very good game, and increases both the bids and the play against them.