If a liberal player sits on your right you will often be able to make large winnings on moderate hands. In a close game, when the players bet in a niggardly manner, the liberal player is at a great disadvantage; for he can win little or nothing on his good hands, but will lose large amounts when he runs up the betting on a good hand which is opposed to one that is better. When a liberal player finds a close player following him freely, he may be sure there is a very strong hand against him. _=VARIETY.=_ Above all things a player should avoid regularity in his play, because observant adversaries will soon learn his methods. The best players usually play two pairs pat, without drawing, about half the time. This gives them the reputation of betting on pat hands which are not genuine, and when they get one that is real, they will often succeed in getting a good bet, or even a raise, from those holding triplets or two large pairs, who have noticed them play two pairs pat. In the same way it is advisable to hold up an odd card occasionally, without raising the ante; so that when you do hold triplets, and draw two cards, you will not frighten every one at the table. The chances of improving a pair by drawing three cards, are one in three; and by drawing two cards only, one in four. The difference is worth the moral effect of the variation in the play.
_ Hide Fox, and all after, _i.e._, let the fox hide and the others go to seek him; Hamlet, iv. 2, 32. In Stead s _Holderness Glossary_, Hed-o. In the North Riding it is Lam-pie-sote-it, also called Felto in Robinson s _Whitby Glossary_. He also mentions that the hidden child cries How-ly to the finder. Apparently the same as the south country Whoop, a signal to the finder to begin the search. Addy (_Sheffield Glossary_) says this game is called Felt and Laite. Holland (_Cheshire Glossary_) speaks of it as I Spy.
=_ If two players have an equal number of trumps, each of them having an established suit, it will be the object of both to remain with the last trump, which must bring in the suit. The tactics of each will be to win the third round of trumps; and then, if the best trump is against him, to force it out with the established suit, coming into the lead again with the last trump. So often is it important to win the third round of trumps that few good players will win the second round, unless they can win the third also. With an established suit, a card of re-entry, and four trumps King high, a player should lead trumps; but if his partner wins the first round and returns a small trump, the King should not be put on, no matter what Second Hand plays, unless the card next below the King is fourchette. Some of the most brilliant endings in whist are skirmishes for the possession of the last trump; the player who is at a disadvantage often persistently refuses the fatal force, hoping the leader will be compelled to change his suit, or will lose the lead. _=Drawing the Losing Trump.=_ It is usually best to draw losing trumps from the adversaries, unless a player can foresee that he may want the best to stop a strong adverse suit. _=A Thirteenth Card=_, played by the partner, is usually considered an invitation to put on the best trump. The Second Hand should not trump a thirteenth card unless he is weak in trumps. _=AMERICAN LEADS.
London Bridge is broken down, Broken down, broken down, London Bridge is broken down, My fair lady. [Other verses commence with one of the following lines, and are sung in the same manner--] Build it up with penny loaves. Penny loaves will melt away. Build it up with iron and steel. Iron and steel will bend and bow. Build it up with silver and gold. Silver and gold I have not got. What has this poor prisoner done? Stole my watch and broke my chain. How many pounds will set him free? Three hundred pounds will set him free. The half of that I have not got.
_=CUTTING.=_ If there are three players, the one cutting the lowest card takes dummy for the first game; he also has the choice of seats and cards, and may deal the first hand for himself or for Mort, as he pleases; but having once made his choice, he must abide by it. The player cutting the intermediate card takes dummy for the second game; and the player cutting the highest card takes it for the third game; each in turn having the choice of seats and cards. These three games finish the rubber or tournée, each having once had the advantage or disadvantage of playing with Mort. It is obligatory to finish the tournée, no player being allowed to withdraw and substitute another without the consent of the other players. In Mort it is very unusual for one person to take dummy continuously. If there are four players, the one cutting the highest card of the four sits out, and takes no part in the first game. It is customary for him to take Mort’s seat, and to make himself useful in sorting dummy’s cards for him. He plays in the three following games, taking Mort in the fourth, or last. Four games complete the tournée for four players.
I couldn t get very upset over his curses. So far he had lost one buck, net. And he d had some action. So much for gamblers. I kept control of the dice while each new gambler handled them. I was having a good night. Of course, by that time I had handled the dice, which always improves my TK grip. Every point I had TK d came up. For all the perception I kept on the ivories, I could sense no other TK force at work, which after all was the whole reason for my gambling. The interesting note was the way Sniffles handled my chips.
All combinations announced and scored must be laid face upward on the table; but the cards still form part of the player’s hand, and may be led or played at any time, although they must not again be taken in hand until the stock is exhausted. _=OBJECTS OF THE GAME.=_ The reasons for winning or not winning certain tricks will be better understood in connection with the description of the various combinations that count toward game, and the manner of scoring them. _=Brisques.=_ The aces and Tens of each suit are called brisques, and count ten points each towards game. Except for the purpose of getting or keeping the lead, there is no object in winning any trick which does not contain a brisque. Every brisque taken in should be scored at once by the player winning the trick; 10 points for an ace or Ten; 20 points if there are two such cards in the same trick. A player holding or drawing the _=Seven of trumps=_ has the privilege of exchanging it for the turn-up trump, and scoring 10 points at the same time; but he must make the exchange immediately after winning a trick, and before drawing his card from the stock. Should the turn-up card be a Seven, or one exchange have already been made, the exchange can still be made and scored. He cannot score the Seven and make a declaration at the same time.
The last one at the end of the tail may, if she has no other chance of escape, try and place herself before the Deer or Hen. She is then no longer to be hunted; all the others must then follow her example until the deer becomes the last of the line. The game then terminates by exacting a forfeit for each lady whom the Wolf has suffered to escape his clutches (pp. 64, 65). See Gled Wylie, Hen and Chickens, Old Dame. Fox and Geese (2) A game known by this name is played with marbles or pegs on a board on which are thirty-three holes, or on the pavement, with holes scraped out of the stones. To play this game there are seventeen pieces called Geese, and another one either larger or distinguished from the Geese by its colour, which is called the Fox. The Fox occupies the centre hole, and the Geese occupy nine holes in front, and four on each side of him. The vacant holes behind are for the Geese and Fox to move in. The game is for the Geese to shut up the Fox so that he cannot move.
If he has nothing better in other suits than in the turn-up, it will still be slightly in his favour to beg, unless he has trumps enough to give him some hopes of making the point for Game. It is a fatal error to beg on good cards, and gamblers have a saying that he who begs a point to-day, will beg a stake to-morrow. _=High=_ and _=Low=_ count to the player to whom those cards are dealt, and there is no chance to alter the fortunes of the deal except by begging and running the cards. These two points may both be made by the same card, if it is the only trump in play; because High is counted for the best trump out during the deal, and Low for the lowest, no matter what the cards are. _=Catching the Jack=_, or saving it, is one of the principal objects of the game, and as a rule a player holding the Jack should lose no opportunity to save such a valuable counting card. On the other hand, a player holding higher trumps will often have to use good judgment as to whether to lead them to catch the Jack, if it happens to be out; or to keep quiet until the last few tricks, when if the Jack is not out, such trumps may be useful to win cards that count for Game. _=The Game=_ is generally known as _=the gambler’s point=_, because it is the only point that must be played for in every hand, and its management requires more skill than all the others put together. The cards that count for Game are the four honours and the Ten of each suit. Every ace counts 4; every King 3; every Queen 2; every Jack 1; and every Ten 10. After the last card has been played, each player turns over the tricks he has won, and counts up the pip value of the court cards and Tens that he has won.
_=METHODS OF CHEATING.=_ Under the rule for dealing the cards one at a time, the greek must be very skilful to secure any advantage at Hearts. But when it is the practice to deal the cards three at a time, and four on the last round, it is an easy matter to get four small hearts together on the bottom of the pack. Any person who is observed to hold three or four small hearts every time he deals, should be carefully watched, and it will usually be found that he gathers the small hearts from the hands of the other players while the pool is being divided. Marked cards are of little use to the greek at hearts, because so much depends on what a player holds, and so little on his play. VARIETIES OF HEARTS. Before proceeding to suggestions for good play, it will be better to describe some of the variations of the game in common use, because what would be good play in one variation would not be in another. _=TWO-HANDED HEARTS.=_ The two players having cut for the deal, thirteen cards are given to each, one at a time, and the remainder of the pack is left on the table, face down. The dealer’s adversary, usually called the pone, begins by leading any card he pleases, and the dealer must follow suit if he can, as in the ordinary game.
When two packs are used, the adversary shuffles one while the other is dealt. _=MARKERS.=_ In France, the game is always marked with the ordinary round chips or counters, never with a marker. As five points is the game, four of these counters are necessary for each player. _=PLAYERS.=_ Écarté is played by two persons, who sit opposite each other. One is known as the dealer, and the other as the pone, the adversary, the elder hand, the non-dealer, the leader, or the player. _=THE GALLERY.=_ In clubs that make a feature of Écarté, and in which there is a great deal of betting on the outside by the spectators, it is not usual to allow more than one game between the same players, the loser giving place to one of those who have been backing him, and who is called a _=rentrant=_. This is known as playing the _cul-levé_.
NUTS AND MAY: On a bright and sunny morning (Mr. C. C. Bell); On a cold and frosty morning, Forest of Dean (Miss Matthews); Every night and morning, Gainford, Durham (Miss Edleston); We ve picked [Sally Gray] for nuts in May, All on a summer s morning, Sheffield (Mr. S. O. Addy). A version by Miss Kimber (Newbury, Berks, and Marlborough, Wilts) ends each verse, Nuts and May. In other respects these variants are practically the same. Printed versions not given above are Hersham, Surrey (_Folk-lore Record_, v.
_=DEALING.=_ The pack having been properly shuffled and cut, the dealer gives three cards to each player, one at a time in rotation, beginning on his left. The first deal, and every deal in which the pool contains only the three red counters put up by the dealer, is known as a _=simple=_, and no trump card is turned up until one or two tricks have been played to. If there are more than three red counters in the pool, it is known as a _=double=_, and an extra hand must be dealt for the _=widow=_, and after all have been helped, the next card in the pack is turned up for a trump. The dealer gives cards to the widow just before helping himself in each round. _=Irregularities in the Deal.=_ If the pack is found to be imperfect, or any card except the trump is found faced in the pack, the same dealer must deal again without penalty. If the dealer neglects to have the pack cut; reshuffles it after it has been properly cut; deals a card incorrectly and fails to correct the error before dealing another; exposes a card in dealing; gives any player too many or too few cards; or deals a wrong number of hands, it is a misdeal, and he loses his deal, and forfeits three red counters to the current pool. The new dealer adds his three counters as usual, and the pool becomes a double. _=METHOD OF PLAYING.
), p. 147, the following early allusions to the game from old dictionaries:-- Gouldman, London, MDCLXIV.-- _Ascoliasmus_, Empusæ ludus: a kind of play wherein boys lift up one leg and hop with the other, where they beat one another with bladders tied to the end of strings. Fox to thy hole. Holyoke, MDCLXXVII.-- _Empusa_. [Greek: para to heni podizein], quòd uno incedat pede. Hence _empusam agere_ is used for a play, hopping on one leg; with us, Fox to his hole. Id. _Ascoliasmus.