If, after playing to the first trick, one player is found to have more than his right number of cards, the English rules say that the game is to be immediately abandoned, and the adversary of the player in error is to add 1300 points to his score at the time the error is discovered, together with all the points already scored by the player in error; but the latter amount must not exceed 900. The same penalties are enforced if one player has too many cards and the other too few; but in the latter case the hand is played out, the player not in fault scoring all he can. If both players have more than their right number of cards, the deal is void. If either has less than his proper number, his adversary having the right number, the deal stands good, and there is no penalty except that the player with the right number of cards wins and scores for the last trick. If both have less than the right number, the deal stands good, and the actual winner of the last trick scores it. It will be observed that these rules are quite different from the French rules, which have been given in connection with the ordinary game of Bézique. In France, it is always the custom to establish the _status quo_, if possible, and to assume that the error was quite unintentional. In England, all laws are based on the assumption that your adversary is a rogue, and the penalties are absurdly severe, but we have no authority to change them. _=Irregularities in Drawing.=_ If a player has forgotten to take his card from the talon, and has played to the next trick, the English laws compel him to play the remainder of the hand with eight cards; the French laws give his adversary the option of calling the deal void, or allowing the player in error to draw two cards from the stock next time.
There should be no penalty for a player’s having exposed a card unless he can derive some benefit from the exposure, such as from his partner’s having seen it. If there is no partner, there should be no penalty, because the player injures himself only. All exposed cards must be left on the table, and may be called upon by the adversaries to be led or played. The same principles apply to _=Leading out of Turn=_. If the player in error has no partner, or his partner is a dummy, and the lead is taken back, no harm is done except to the player himself, and there should be no penalty. If the adversaries fail to observe that the lead was irregular, they are equally at fault with the player, who must be assumed to have erred unintentionally. In games in which a lead out of turn conveys information to a partner, the usual penalty is to call a suit. If a player is led into error through a previous error on the part of an adversary, he should not suffer any penalty for it, but may take back his card. This is particularly true of following suit to erroneous leads, or playing after a revoke which is afterward amended. _=Irregularities in the Hands.
A player must follow suit in trumps if he is able to do so; but in a plain suit he may trump if he chooses, although holding a card of the suit led. If he does not trump, he must follow suit if he can. If he has none of the suit led, he may trump or discard as he pleases. The highest card played of the suit led wins the trick, and trumps win all other suits. _=Scoring.=_ At the end of the hand the various players claim the points made, and score them by placing white counters in the pool. If the bidder makes any points in excess of the number bid, he scores them. The first player to get rid of his seven white counters wins the pool, and takes down all the red counters it contains. The white counters are then redistributed, and the players cut for the first deal of the new game. If two players can count out on the same deal, and one of them is the bidder, he wins the pool if he has made good his bid.
If a player looks at any of the cards in the stock except the one he draws, his adversary may look at all of them. If a player draws out of turn, his adversary simply claims the card. _=Showing.=_ After the last card is drawn from the stock and passed, each player shows the remainder of his hand, and as neither can combine his cards so as to get eleven down, it is a tableau, and each puts a counter in the pool for the next hand. The deal passes from one player to the other in rotation as long as they continue to play. _=Suggestions for Good Play.=_ Observation of the cards passed will usually show what the adversary is keeping, and what he has no chance for. Toward the end of the stock each player should know what the other holds in his hand by the cards which have not appeared in the drawing. If a player has not a good chance to get eleven down himself, he should play for a tableau, by using nothing that will compel him to discard cards which may put his adversary out. It should be remembered that a player cannot get eleven down in one suit, and careful observation of the cards passed will often show that his runs are blocked, the cards necessary to continue them having been turned down.