We have already seen that the four Fives by themselves are worth 20, to which we must add the four extra fifteens made by combining the Jack with each Five separately, and one more point for his nobs, 29 altogether. If the Jack was the starter, the combination would be worth 30 to the dealer, but his heels would have to be counted before a card was played. _=Flushes.=_ In addition to the foregoing combinations, if all four cards in the hand are of the same suit the player can peg four points for the flush; if the starter is also the same suit, five points. A flush does not count in the crib unless the starter is the same suit, and then it counts five points. Flushes are never made in play. _=Laying Out for the Crib.=_ With this knowledge of the objects of game, and the various counting combinations, it will be seen that each player should keep the cards which count the most for him, or which are most likely to form good combinations with different starters. Suppose the non-dealer holds these cards:-- [Illustration: 🃖 🂧 🂨 🂸 🂩 🃚 ] If he puts the two Eights in his adversary’s crib, he not only gives him two very good cards, which go to form a great many valuable combinations, but he leaves himself absolutely nothing but 2 points for a single fifteen, formed by the 9 and 6. It would be a little better, but still very bad play, for him to discard the 8 and 6, leaving himself a sequence of four cards and a fifteen, 6 points altogether.
| | 12.|You shall have a duck.|You shall have a duck.|She shall have a duck,| | | |(after No. 19) |my dear. | | 13.| -- |I will give pots and | -- | | | |pans. | | | 14.| -- |..
_=10th Trick.=_ If Z now leads ♠ 7, he loads A; but if his ♡ 5 should win the next trick he will take all the rest of the hearts, Y and B dividing the pool. If he leads the ♡ 5 first he cannot get more than four hearts, and the other players will inevitably make a Jack of it. _=11th Trick.=_ Y sees that if he underplays the 7 led, B will win the pool, as he has nothing but hearts, A having only one more. He keeps A out of the lead by winning two rounds, so as to be sure of loading B, making it a Jack. The ending is very well played. _=No. 2.=_ A has an even chance to escape, and it is better for him to be third or fourth player in hearts than to lead them.
There is a tradition that this game was originally played by the milkmaids with their milking-stools, which they used for bats; but this word makes it more probable that the stool was the wicket, and that it was defended with the bittle, which would be called the bittle-bat.--Parish s _Sussex Dialect_. See Stoolball. Bitty-base Bishop Kennet (in _MS. Lansd._ 1033) gives this name as a term for Prisoner s Base. --Halliwell s _Dictionary_. Black Man s Tig A long rope is tied to a gate or pole, and one of the players holds the end of the rope, and tries to catch another player. When he succeeds in doing so the one captured joins him (by holding hands) and helps to catch the other players. The game is finished when all are caught.
=_ A player calling attention in any manner to the trick or to the score, may be called upon to play his highest or lowest of the suit led; or to trump or not to trump the trick during the play of which the remark was made. ÉCARTÉ. Écarté is usually described as a very simple game, but unfortunately the rules governing it are very complicated, and as no authoritative code of law exists, disputes about trifling irregularities are very common. In the following directions the author has selected what appears to be the best French usage. The code of laws adopted by some of the English clubs is unfortunately very defective, and in many respects quite out of touch with the true spirit of the French game. The English are very fond of penalties; the French try to establish the status quo. _=CARDS.=_ Écarté is played with a pack of thirty-two cards, which rank, K Q J A 10 9 8 7. When two packs are used, the adversary shuffles one while the other is dealt. _=MARKERS.
When they say A feet in, and nae feet out, they all sit down with their feet stretched into the centre of the ring. (_c_) The other variants which follow the Halliwell version are limited to the first verse only, as the remainder of the lines are practically the same as those given in Miss Fowler s version which is written at length, and three or four of these apparently retain only the verse given. A London version, collected by myself, is nearly identical with that of Miss Fowler, except that the third line is Shake your ---- a little, a little, instead of as printed. This is sung to the tune given. The incidents in this game are the same throughout. The only difference in all the versions I have collected being in the number of the different positions to be performed, most of them being for right hands, left hands, right feet, left feet, and heads; others, probably older forms, having ears, yourselves, &c. One version, from Eckington, Derbyshire, curiously begins with washing hands and face, combing hair, &c., and then continuing with the Looby game, an apparent mix-up of Mulberry Bush and Looby. Three more versions, Sporle, Cornwall, and Dorsetshire, also have different beginnings, one (Dorsetshire) having the apparently unmeaning I love Antimacassar. (_d_) The origin and meaning of this game appears somewhat doubtful.
The revoking player and his partner may require the hand in which the revoke has been made, to be played out, and score all points made by them up to the score of six. In _=Boston=_, the hands are abandoned after the revoke is claimed and proved. In _=Cayenne=_, the revoking players must stop at nine. In _=Solo Whist=_, the revoking players must pay all the red counters involved in the call, whether they win or lose, but they may play the hand out to save over-tricks. If the caller or his partner revokes they must jointly pay the losses involved; but if an adversary of the caller revokes, he must individually pay the entire loss unless he can show that the callers would have won in spite of the revoke. Should he be able to do this, his partners must stand their share of the losses, but the revoking player must individually pay for the three tricks taken as the revoke penalty. If the single player revokes, either on solo or abundance, he loses the red counters involved in any case, but may play the hand out to save over-tricks. If the single player in a misère or a slam revokes, the hand is abandoned and he must pay the stakes. If an adversary of a misère or a slam revokes, he must individually pay the whole stakes. 32.
_=False Angles.=_ In playing bank shots it is sometimes necessary to make the object ball come back from the cushion at a smaller angle than the natural one. Some players imagine this can be done by putting side on the cue ball, but such is not the case. It is accomplished by striking so hard that the ball buries itself in the cushion, the result of which is that the angle of reflection is less than that of incidence. It is possible to drive an object ball to the rail at an angle of 60 degrees with such force that after crossing the table twice it will come off at a perfect right angle from the cushion. This is a very useful shot in banking for the side pockets, and also in playing for the 1 or 4 pin at Pin Pool. The following _=LAWS=_ for Fifteen-Ball Pool are copied, by permission, from the 1908 edition of the rules published by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Co. _=1.=_ The game of Fifteen-Ball Pool is played with fifteen balls numbered from one to fifteen, respectively, and one white ball not numbered. The latter is the cue-ball, and at the opening of the game, the player plays with it from within the string at the head of the table, at any of the numbered balls, and afterward as he finds it on the table, his object being to pocket as many of the numbered balls as he can, the number on each ball he pockets being scored to his credit; so that not he who pockets the largest number of balls, but he whose score, when added up, yields the largest total, wins the game.
Hit s ahurtin me! Hurtin , hurtin , and I m a draggin it off n yuh! Her backwoods twang sharpened as she aped some contemporary witch. Hurt? She didn t know what it meant. She fired a charge of thermite in my head, and it seared its way down my arm to my fingers. My right arm came off the bed and thrashed like a wounded snake. She wrestled it, climbed onto the bed, and held it down with her boney knees. Her fingers kneaded it, working some imaginary devil out through the fingertips, till the hurt was gone. * * * * * We sat close together on the edge of the bed at last, as I worked and moved my arm, one of us more in awe of what had happened than the other. It was weak--with those flabby, unused muscles, it had to be. But I could move it, to any normal position. I never done like that before, she breathed.
Second color is | ♢ | ♡ | ♠ | ♣ | If trumps, multiply by 3. Third color is | ♣ | ♣ | ♡ | ♡ | If trumps, multiply by 2. Fourth color is | ♠ | ♠ | ♢ | ♢ | If trumps, multiply by 1. Better to understand the importance of considering this variation in value when making the trump, it should be noticed that although the game is 10 points, several games may be won in a single hand, as everything made is counted, and any points over 10 go to the credit of the second game. If more than 20 points are made, the excess goes on the third game, and so on. Another important point is the great value attached to honours, and the maker of the trump should never forget that he can better afford to risk his adversaries winning 2 by cards with a trump in which he has three honours, than he can to risk a trump in which they may have three honours, and he can probably win only the odd trick. A further element may enter into his calculations, the state of the score. Tricks count before honours, and if he feels certain of making, by cards, the few points necessary to win the rubber, he may entirely disregard the honours. With such a hand it would be better to play without a trump, and to announce a _=grand=_, in which there are neither trumps nor honours, and every trick over the book is multiplied by 8. Two by cards at grand is worth more than two by cards and two by honours with any trump but cayenne.
| | . | | . | | +-.-+---+-.-+---+-.-+---+-.-+---+ | . | | . | | . | | .
III. Have you seen the muffin girl, The muffin girl, the muffin girl? O have you seen the muffin girl Down in yonder lane? --Congleton Workhouse School (Miss A. E. Twemlow). IV. Don t you know the muffin man? Don t you know his name? Don t you know the muffin man That lives in our lane? All around the Butter Cross, Up by St. Giles s, Up and down the Gullet Street, And call at Molly Miles s! --Burne s _Shropshire Folk-lore_, p. 571. V. Have you seen the nutting girl, The nutting girl, the nutting girl? Have you seen the nutting girl, Down in yonder lane O? --Holmfirth (H.
Even the name may be a corruption of the simple game in Skat, which is called “frage.” The chief differences are that there are four cards added to the pack for frog, and that the players win or lose according to the number of points they get above or below 61, instead of computing the value of the game by matadores. _=Players.=_ Three, four, or five can play; but only three are active in each deal. If four play, the dealer takes no cards. If five play, he gives cards to the two on his left and one on his right. _=Cards.=_ There are thirty-six cards in the pack, which rank: A 10 K Q J 9 8 7 6. Each Ace is worth 11, Tens are worth 10, Kings 4, Queens 3, and Jacks 2. This gives us 120 points in the pack, and the object is to get 61 or more.
--Anderby, Lincolnshire, and Nottinghamshire near the Trent (Miss Peacock). XIII. One we go rush, Two we go push; Lady come under the corner bush. --Shepscombe, Gloucestershire (Miss Mendham). XIV. Sift the lady s oaten meal, sift it into flour, Put it in a chest of drawers and let it lie an hour. One of my rush, Two of my rush, Please, young lady, come under my bush. My bush is too high, my bush is too low, Please, young lady, come under my bow. Stir up the dumpling, stir up the dumpling. --Belfast (W.
=_ Both players having discarded for the crib, the non-dealer cuts the remainder of the pack, and the dealer lifts the top card from the portion left on the table, turning it face up. The two portions being again united, the turned card is placed face up on the pack, and is known as the starter, because it forms the starting-point in the count for every hand and crib. At least four cards must be left in each packet in cutting for the starter. If the starter is found face up, there must be a new deal. If the starter is a Jack, the dealer immediately pegs two points _=for his heels=_. If he does not peg these two holes before he plays a card the score is lost. If the Jack of the same suit as the starter is found in the hand or crib of any player, it is called _=his nobs=_, and when the hand is reckoned up after the play is over, one point may be scored for it. If the dealer exposes more than one card after the pack has been properly cut, his adversary may choose which of the exposed cards shall be the starter. In order to understand the motives which govern the players in discarding, and the influences which the starter has upon the value of the hands and crib, it will be necessary to describe the objects of the game, before giving the method of play. _=OBJECTS OF THE GAME.
[7] A correct pack contains exactly fifty-two cards, one of each denomination. [8] One trick more than six. [9] A declaration becomes final when it has been passed by three players. [10] For amount scored by declarer, if doubled, see Laws 53 and 56. [11] When the penalty for an insufficient declaration is not demanded, the bid over which it was made may be repeated unless some higher bid have intervened. [12] The question, “Partner, will you select the penalty, or shall I?” is a form of consultation which is not permitted. [13] The penalty is determined by the declarer (see Law 66). [14] See Law 50_a_. [15] If more than one card be exposed, all may be called. [16] The rule in Law 50_c_ as to consultations governs the right of adversaries to consult as to whether such direction be given.
Mr. Newell (_Games_, pp. 190-93) describes a similar game to Fivestones played in Boston under the name of Otadama, or Japanese Jacks. This game is of Japanese origin, Tedama (that is, Handballs ) being its proper name. He says there can be no doubt that the two forms of this amusement are branches of the same root; and we thus have an example of a game which, having preserved its essential characteristics for thousands of years, has fairly circumnavigated the globe, so that the two currents of tradition, westward and eastward, from Europe and Asia, have met in America. See Checkstones, Dibs, Hucklebones, Jackstones. Flowers Sides are chosen; each side must have a home at the top and bottom of the ground where the children are playing. One side chooses a flower and goes over to the other side, the members of which stand in a row facing the first side. The first side states the initial letters of the flower it has chosen, and when the second side guesses the right flower they run and try to catch as many of the opposite side as they can before they reach their home. The captives then become members of the side which captured them.
_Irregularities in the Hands._ If a player have either more or less than his correct number of cards, the course to be pursued is determined by the time of the discovery of the irregularity. (1) When the irregularity is discovered before or during the original play: There must be a new deal. (2) When the irregularity is discovered at the time the cards are taken up for overplay and before such overplay has begun: It must be sent back to the table from which it came, and the error be there rectified. (3) When the irregularity is not discovered until after the overplay has begun: In two-table duplicate there must be a new deal; but in a game in which the same deals are played at more than two tables, the hands must be rectified as is provided above and then passed to the next table without overplay at the table at which the error was discovered; in which case, if a player have less than thirteen cards and his adversary the corresponding surplus, each pair takes the average score for that deal; if, however, his partner have the corresponding surplus, his pair is given the lowest score and his opponents the highest score made at any table for that deal. C. _Playing the cards._ Each player, when it is his turn to play, must place his card, face upward, before him and toward the centre of the table. He must allow it to remain upon the table in this position until all have played to the trick, when he must turn it over and place it face downward, nearer to himself; if he or his partner have won the trick, the card should point toward his partner and himself; otherwise it should point toward the adversaries. The declarer may either play dummy’s cards or may call them by name whenever it is dummy’s turn to play and have dummy play them for him.
The odds against such a thing are 1023 to 1, and the more he wins the more probable it is that he will lose the next game. This is what gamblers call the _=maturity of the chances=_, and it is one of the greatest fallacies ever entertained by intelligent men. Curiously enough, the men who believe that luck must change in some circumstances, also believe in betting on it to continue in others. When they are _=in the vein=_ they will “follow their luck” in perfect confidence that it will continue. The same men will not bet on another man’s luck, even if he is “in the vein,” because “the maturity of the chances” tells them that it cannot last! GAMES. ODDS. One 1 to 1 Two 3 to 1 Three 7 to 1 Four 15 to 1 Five 31 to 1 Six 63 to 1 Seven 127 to 1 Eight 255 to 1 Nine 511 to 1 Ten 1023 to 1 If Smith and his adversary had started with an agreement to play ten games, the odds against either of them winning any number in succession would be found by taking the first game as an even chance, expressed by unity, or 1. The odds against the same player winning the second game also would be twice 1 plus 1, or 3 to 1; and the odds against his winning three games in succession would be twice 3 plus 1, or 7 to 1, and so on, according to the figures shown in the margin. GAMES. 1st 2nd 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 That this is so may easily be demonstrated by putting down on a sheet of paper the total number of events that may happen if any agreed number of games are played, expressing wins by a stroke, and losses by a cipher.
of the games she had collected says, In Bucks the children speak of knots of May, meaning each little bunch of hawthorn blossom. The gathering of bunches of May by parties of young men and maidens to make the May-bush round which the May Day games were held, and dancing and courting, is mentioned by Wilde (_Irish Popular Superstitions_, p. 52), the game being Dance in the Ring. Holland (_Cheshire Glossary_) says, May birches were branches of different kinds of trees fastened over doors of houses and on the chimney on the eve of May Day. They were fastened up by parties of young men who went round for the purpose, and were intended to be symbolical of the character of the inmates. I remember one May Day in London, when the May girls came with a garland and short sticks decorated with green and bunches of flowers, they sang-- Knots of May we ve brought you, Before your door it stands; It is but a sprout, but it s well budded out By the work of the Lord s hands, and a Miss Spencer, who lived near Hampton (Middlesex), told me that she well remembered the May girls singing the first verse of this carol, using knots instead of the more usual word branch or bunch, and that she knew the small bunch of May blossom by the name of knots of May, bringing in knots of May being a usual expression of children. The association of May--whether the month, or the flower, or both--with the game is very strong, the refrain cold and frosty morning, all on a summer s morning, bright summer s morning, so early in the morning, also being characteristic of the early days of May and spring, and suggests that the whole day from early hours is given up to holiday. The familiar nursery rhyme given by Halliwell-- Here we come a-piping, First in spring and then in May, no doubt also refers to house-to-house visiting of May. The connection between the May festival and survival in custom of marriage by capture is well illustrated by a passage from Stubbe s _Anatomie of Abuses_, p. 148.
The code succinctly states laws which fix penalties for an offence. To offend against etiquette is far more serious than to offend against a law; for in the latter case the offender is subject to the prescribed penalties; in the former his adversaries are without redress. 1. Declarations should be made in a simple manner, thus: “one heart,” “one no trump,” “pass,” “double”; they should be made orally and not by gesture. 2. Aside from his legitimate declaration, a player should not show by word or gesture the nature of his hand, or his pleasure or displeasure at a play, bid, or double. 3. If a player demand that the cards be placed, he should do so for his own information and not to call his partner’s attention to any card or play. 4. An opponent of the declarer should not lead until the preceding trick has been turned and quitted; nor, after having led a winning card, should he draw another from his hand before his partner has played to the current trick.
_=Calling and Showing.=_ If only two players bet against each other, either may call the other, and demand a show of hands at any time; but if three or four are betting, the privilege of calling falls upon each in turn from right to left. For instance: A, B, C, and D play. D blinds five counters, and deals. A passes, and B opens for five reds. C passes out, while D and A both meet the bet of five reds, but neither will raise it. This does not call B, who has the privilege of raising the bet if he pleases. Suppose he raises, and D and A both meet it. On this second round, C having passed out, it is D’s turn to say whether or not he will raise. On the next round it will be A’s turn, and after that it will be B’s second turn, and so on.
4. After the trump card has been lawfully taken into the hand and the trump slip turned face down, the trump card must not be named nor the trump slip examined during the play of the deal; a player may, however, ask what the trump suit is. SEC. 5. If a player unlawfully looks at the trump slip, his highest or lowest trump may be called; if a player unlawfully names the trump card, or unlawfully shows the trump slip to his partner, his partner’s highest or lowest trump may be called. SEC. 6. These penalties can be inflicted by either adversary at any time during the play of the deal in which they are incurred before the player from whom the call can be made has played to the current trick; the call may be repeated at each or any trick until the card is played, but cannot be changed. SEC. 7.
_=SPADES.=_ Ace. Love affairs. King. Police or sheriffs. _=R.=_ Loss of a lawsuit. Queen. A gay and deceptive widow. _=R.
e._, a declaration that has been passed by both of the others, plays his own hand and that of the dummy against the two others, who then, and for that particular hand, assume the relationship of partners. (8) It is advisable that the game be played at a round table so that the hand of the dummy can be placed in front of the declarer without obliging any player to move; but, in the event of a square table being used, the two players who become the adversaries of the declarer should sit opposite each other, the dummy being opposite the declarer. At the end of the play the original positions should be resumed. (9) If, after the deal has been completed and before the conclusion of the declaration, any player expose a card, each of his adversaries counts 50 points in his honour score, and the declarer, if he be not the offender, may call upon the player on his left to lead or not to lead the suit of the exposed card. If a card be exposed by the declarer after the final declaration, there is no penalty, but if exposed by an adversary of the declarer, it is subject to the same penalty as in Auction. (10) If a player double out of turn, each of his adversaries counts 100 points in his respective honour score, and the player whose declaration has been doubled may elect whether the double shall stand. The bidding is then resumed, but if the double shall be disallowed, the declaration may not be doubled by the other player. (11) The rubber continues until two games have been won by the same player; it may consist of two, three, or four games. (12) When the declarer fulfils his contract, he scores as in Auction.
If all have not followed the false lead, their cards must be taken back, but only the leader’s card is liable to be called. If it was the turn of the partner of the player in error to lead, the adversary on his right may call upon him to lead or not to lead a trump; but he cannot specify the plain suit. If it was the turn of either adversary of the player in error to lead, the card led in error is simply exposed. If the third hand plays before the second, the fourth may play before the second also. If the fourth hand plays before his partner, third hand not having played, the trick may be claimed by the adversaries, regardless of who wins it; but the player who actually wins it leads for the next trick. If a player has a card of the suit led, and neither follows suit nor plays a trump, it is a _=revoke=_; and, if detected and claimed by the adversaries, neither the player in error nor his partner can score any points that hand; but the hand may be played out to prevent the adversaries from scoring everything. If an adversary of the bidder revokes, the bidder’s side scores all points it makes, regardless of the number bid. For instance: A has bid nine; and Y revokes. A-B make eight only, which they score, Y-Z scoring nothing. When a player renounces, his partner should ask him if he is void of the suit.
If the adversary calls attention to the error, the card led out of turn may be taken back without penalty. 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.
The careful poker player always “spreads” his cards before taking them up, to be sure that he has neither more nor less than five, and he lifts them in such a way that the palm and fingers of his right hand conceal the face of the first card, while the thumb of the left hand separates the others just sufficiently to allow him to read the index or “squeezer” marks on the edges. [Illustration: Spreading. Squeezing.] The object of this examination is to ascertain the value of the hand dealt to him, and to see whether or not it is worth while trying to improve it by discarding certain cards and drawing others in their place. The player should not only be thoroughly familiar with the relative value of the various combinations which may be held at Poker, but should have some idea of the chances for and against better combinations being held by other players, and should also know the odds against improving any given combination by drawing to it. The value of this technical knowledge will be obvious when it is remembered that a player may have a hand dealt to him which he knows is comparatively worthless as it is, and the chances for improving which are only one in twelve, but which he must bet on at odds of one in three, or abandon it. Such a proceeding would evidently be a losing game, for if the experiment were tried twelve times the player would win once only, and would lose eleven times. This would be paying eleven dollars to win three; yet poker players are continually doing this. _=RANK OF THE HANDS.=_ The various combinations at Poker outrank one another in the following order, beginning with the lowest.
Disjoining hands, they then begin, with skirts held daintily up behind, to walk singly along, singing-- This is the way the ladies walk, The ladies walk, the ladies walk; This is the way the ladies walk, And round the merry-ma-tanzie. At the last line they reunite, and again wheel round in a ring, singing as before-- Here we go round the mulberry bush, &c. After which, they perhaps simulate the walk of gentlemen, the chief feature of which is length of stride, concluding with the ring dance as before. Probably the next movement may be-- This is the way they wash the clothes, Wash the clothes, wash the clothes; This is the way they wash the clothes, And round the merry-ma-tanzie. After which there is, as usual, the ring dance. They then represent washing, ironing clothes, baking bread, washing the house, and a number of other familiar proceedings. Chambers quotes a fragment of this little ballet, as practised at Kilbarchan, in Renfrewshire, which contains the following lines similar to those in this game:-- She synes the dishes three times a day, Three times a day, three times a day; She synes the dishes three times a day, Come alang wi the merry-ma-tanzie. She bakes the scones three times a day, Three times a day, three times a day; She bakes the scones three times a day, Come alang wi the merry-ma-tanzie. She ranges the stules three times a day, Three times a day, three times a day; She ranges the stules three times a day, Come alang wi the merry-ma-tanzie. This game originated, no doubt, as a marriage dance round a sacred tree or bush.
Close attention to the score is an important factor in bridge which does not operate in auction, because in that game any previous score toward game is seldom of any use, eighteen out of every twenty deals being game hands or nothing, and the dealer having no more advantage in the selection of the trump than any other player. In bridge, one always calculates that the dealer will go out if he is 18 or 20 up on the score, as almost any suit will do. This prompts the side that has the deal, or a chance to go game, to lose no opportunity to win at once, before the other side gets a chance at it. ILLUSTRATIVE BRIDGE HANDS. The dealer is Z in both instances. In the first example, he makes it no-trump. In the second, Dummy, Y, makes it no-trump. A leads in both cases:-- ------------------------------+ +------------------------------ A Y B Z | | A Y B Z +------+------+-------+-------+--+-------+-------+------+------+ | 7♢ | 3♢ | J♢ | _K♢_ | 1| ♡6 | _♡A_ | ♡7 | ♡3 | | ♣Q | ♣2 | _♣K_ | ♣J | 2| ♣5 | _♣K_ | ♣3 | ♣2 | | _A♢_ | 8♢ | 6♢ | 2♢ | 3| ♣8 | ♣10 | ♣7 | _♣J_ | | 4♢ | _Q♢_| 2♠ | 5♢ | 4| 5♢ | 3♢ | _♣A_ | ♣4 | | ♣4 | ♣3 | _♣A_ | ♣10 | 5| _♡K_ | ♡2 | ♡9 | ♡J | | ♡3 | ♡5 | ♡J | _♡A_ | 6| ♡5 | ♡4 | 6♢ | _♡Q_ | | 8♠ | _♣9_ | ♡2 | ♣8 | 7| 5♠ | 3♠ | 6♠ | _♣Q_ | | 9♠ | _♣7_ | 3♠ | ♡4 | 8| 7♢ | 4♠ | 8♠ | _♣9_ | | ♡6 | _♣6_ | 4♠ | ♡Q | 9| 9♢ | 4♢ | 10♠ | _♣6_ | | ♡9 | _♣5_ | ♡8 | 7♠ |10| _A♠_ | 9♠ | J♠ | 7♠ | | 9♢ | J♠ | 5♠ | _Q♠_ |11| _♡10_ | Q♠ | 8♢ | 2♠ | | 10♢ | ♡7 | 6♠ | _A♠_ |12| _♡8_ | K♠ | 10♢ | 2♢ | | ♡K | ♡10 | _K♠_ | 10♠ |13| K♢ | _A♢_ | Q♢ | J♢ | +------+------+-------+-------+--+-------+-------+------+------+ The first of these examples shows the importance of playing for the suit which is longest between the two hands. Observe that the dealer plays the high cards from the hand which is shorter in the suit, and on the second round of clubs is careful to give up the higher of two cards, so as to get out of Dummy’s way and clear, or establish, the suit. B, hoping to get his partner into the lead again, leads a heart up to Dummy’s weakness, and leads a heart which will beat Dummy’s best heart.