The Partners seemed to take the attitude that human minds were complex and fouled up beyond belief, anyhow. No Partner ever questioned the superiority of the human mind, though very few of the Partners were much impressed by that superiority. The Partners liked people. They were willing to fight with them. They were even willing to die for them. But when a Partner liked an individual the way, for example, that Captain Wow or the Lady May liked Underhill, the liking had nothing to do with intellect. It was a matter of temperament, of feel. Underhill knew perfectly well that Captain Wow regarded his, Underhill s, brains as silly. What Captain Wow liked was Underhill s friendly emotional structure, the cheerfulness and glint of wicked amusement that shot through Underhill s unconscious thought patterns, and the gaiety with which Underhill faced danger. The words, the history books, the ideas, the science--Underhill could sense all that in his own mind, reflected back from Captain Wow s mind, as so much rubbish.
If the fourth has cut the highest card, the two lowest of the new cut are partners, and the lowest deals. If the fourth has cut the lowest card, he deals, and the two highest of the new cut are partners. 5. At the end of a game, if there are more than four belonging to the table, a sufficient number of the players retire to admit those awaiting their turn to play. In determining which players remain in, those who have played a less number of consecutive games have the preference over all who have played a greater number; between two or more who have played an equal number, the preference is determined by cutting, a lower cut giving the preference over all cutting higher. In _=Boston=_, _=Cayenne=_, and _=Solo Whist=_, at the end of a game a new table must be formed, those already in having no preference over fresh candidates. 6. To entitle one to enter a table, he must declare his intention to do so before any one of the players has cut for the purpose of commencing a new game or of cutting out. In _=Boston=_, _=Cayenne=_, and _=Solo Whist=_, this rule does not apply. CUTTING.
[Illustration: +-----+ | Y | |A B| | Z | +-----+ ] _=DEALING.=_ The cards having been properly shuffled the dealer, Z, presents them to the pone, B, to be cut. At least four cards must be left in each packet. Beginning at his left, the dealer distributes the cards one at a time in rotation until the pack is exhausted. When two packs are used, the dealer’s partner shuffles one while the other is dealt, and the deal passes in regular rotation to the left until the rubber is finished. _=IRREGULARITIES IN THE DEAL.=_ If any card is found faced in the pack, or if the pack is incorrect or imperfect, the dealer must deal again. If any card is found faced in the pack, or is exposed in any manner; or if more than thirteen cards are dealt to any player, or if the last card does not come in its regular order to the dealer, or if the pack has not been cut, there must be a new deal. Attention must be called to a deal out of turn, or with the wrong cards, before the last card is dealt, or the deal stands. There are no misdeals in auction.
If he fails, he must double the amount in the pool, and pay to each of the other players a certain number of counters. _=ANNOUNCEMENTS.=_ The bids rank in the following order, beginning with the lowest. The full-faced type shows the words used by the players in calling their bids:-- To win five tricks; _=Boston=_. To win _=Six Tricks=_. To win _=Seven Tricks=_. To lose twelve tricks, after having discarded a card which is not to be shown; _=Little Misère=_. To win _=Eight Tricks=_. To win _=Nine Tricks=_. To lose every trick; _=Grand Misère=_.
13, may be found the various ideas of sixteen of the best players in the American Whist League with regard to the proper management of this hand. They played it in four different ways, and with very different results in the score. This must show that the accidental distribution of the Aces, Kings, and trumps is not everything in whist, and that there must be ways and means of securing tricks which do not appear on the surface. There are four ways of taking tricks at whist: 1st. By playing high cards, the suit of which the others must follow. This A does, in the example, on the first round of the Club suit. 2nd. By playing low cards, after the higher ones have been exhausted, and the adverse trumps are out of the way. This Y will do with his Diamonds, or A with his Clubs, according to circumstances. 3rd.
Players seldom echo on adverse trump leads, even with five trumps. _=The Four-Signal.=_ There are several ways of showing four or more trumps without asking partner to lead them. Among some players the original lead of a strengthening card is an evidence of four trumps, and is called an _=Albany Lead=_. A player holding three cards of any plain suit, such as the 3, 4, 5, may show the number of his trumps by playing these small cards as follows:-- No of trumps. 1st trick. 2nd trick. 3rd trick. 3 or less 3 4 5 4 exactly 4 5 3 5 ” 4 3 5 6 ” 5 3 4 7 or more 5 4 3 The second of these is the four-signal; the last three are trump signals. They are used only in following suit.
If this is accomplished, the Leader hops twice and then leaps; the same process going on until one of the boys fails, who then takes the place of the stooping boy, and the game begins again. If the Foot covers any longer distance than the Leader, the Leader stoops down.--Earls Heaton, Yorks. (H. Hardy). This game is general. Mr. Emslie describes the London version somewhat differently. After all the boys had jumped over the first boy s back, a cry of Foot it was raised, and the boy who had given the back placed one of his feet at a right angle to the other, and in this way measured a foot s length from the starting-place. All the boys then overed his back from the original line, the last one crying Foot it, and then the measuring ceremony was again gone through, and the game commenced again, and continued in the same manner until one of the boys failed to over the back, when he became Back.
_ DEFINITIONS. The words and phrases used in these laws shall be construed in accordance with the following definitions unless such construction is inconsistent with the context: (a) The thirteen cards received by any one player are termed a “hand.” (b) The four hands into which a pack is distributed for play are termed a “deal;” the same term is also used to designate the act of distributing the cards to the players. (c) A “tray” is a device for retaining the hands of a deal and indicating the order of playing them. (d) The player who is entitled to the trump card is termed the “dealer,” whether the cards have or have not been dealt by him. (e) The first play of a deal is termed “the original play;” the second or any subsequent play of such deal, the “overplay.” (f) “Duplicate Whist” is that form of the game of whist in which each deal is played only once by each player, and in which each deal is so overplayed as to bring the play of teams, pairs of individuals into comparison. (g) A player “renounces” when he does not follow suit to the card led; he “renounces in error” when, although holding one or more cards of the suit led, he plays a card of a different suit; if such renounce in error is not lawfully corrected it constitutes a “revoke.” (h) A card is “played” whenever, in the course of play, it is placed or dropped face upwards on the table. (i) A trick is “turned and quitted” when all four players have turned and quitted their respective cards.
Drip it, drop it, drip it, drop it. --Settle, Yorkshire (Rev W. S. Sykes). XI. I sent a letter to my love, I thought I put it in my glove, But by the way I dropped it. I had a little dog said Bow, wow, wow! I had a little cat said Mew, mew, mew! It shan t bite you, It _shall_ bite _you_. --Bexley Heath (Miss Morris). XII. I sent a letter to my love, And by the way I droppt it; I dee, I dee, I dee, I droppt it, And by the way I droppt it.
--London (A. B. Gomme). It seems probable that a survival of fire-worship is shown by this game. Fivestones This game was played by a newspaper boy at Richmond Station for me as follows:--He had five square pieces of tile or stone about the size of dice. He took all five pieces in the palm of the hand first, then threw them up and caught them on the back of the hand, and then from the back of the hand into the palm. Four of the stones were then thrown on the ground; the fifth was thrown up, one stone being picked up from the ground, and the descending fifth stone caught in the same hand; the other three pieces were next picked up in turn. Then two were picked up together in the same manner twice, then one, then three, then all four at once, the fifth stone being thrown up and caught with each movement. All five were then thrown up and caught on the back of the hand, and then thrown from the back and caught in the palm. When he dropped one, he picked it up between his outstretched fingers while the other stones remained on the back of the hand; then he tossed and caught it likewise.
All the others stand in two rows, one row at each end of the ground. A line is drawn on the ground in front of them to mark dens. All the players must keep within this line. King Cæsar stands in the middle of the ground. Any number of the players can then rush across the ground from one den to another. King Cæsar tries to catch one as they run. When he catches a boy he must count from one to ten in succession before he leaves hold of the boy, that boy in the meantime trying to get away. If King Cæsar succeeds in holding a boy, this boy stays in the centre with him and assists in catching the other players (always counting ten before a captive is secured). The dens must always be occupied by some players. If all the players get into one den, King Cæsar can go into the empty den and say, Crown the base, one, two, three, three times before any of the other players get across to that den.
pgdp.net *** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VIGORISH *** Produced by Greg Weeks, Bruce Albrecht, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net VIGORISH By WALTER BUPP Illustrated by Petrizzo [Transcriber s Note: This etext was produced from Astounding Science Fiction June 1960. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] _If it takes a thief to catch a thief ...
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.
E. S. W., letters used to distinguish the players at Duplicate Whist. N always leads, unless otherwise specified. Nursing, keeping the balls together at Billiards, as distinguished from gathering, which brings them together. Odd Trick, the seventh won by the same partners at Whist. Open Bets, bets at Faro which play cards to win. Openers, cards which entitle a player to open a jack-pot. Original Lead, the opening lead of a hand at Whist.
This process of drawing, forming pairs, and discarding is continued until it is found that one player remains with one card. This card is of course the odd Queen, and the unfortunate holder of it is the Old Maid; but only for that deal. LIFT SMOKE. The number of players must be limited to six, each of whom deposits a counter in the pool. A full pack of fifty-two cards is used. The cards rank from the ace down to the deuce, as at Whist. If there are four players, six cards are dealt to each, one at a time; if five play, five cards to each, and if six play, four cards to each. The last card that falls to the dealer is turned up for the trump, and the remainder of the pack is placed in the centre of the table as a stock to draw from. The eldest hand leads for the first trick, and the others must follow suit if they can. The highest card played, if of the suit led, wins the trick, and trumps win all other suits.
The following are exposed cards: (1) Two or more cards played simultaneously; (2) a card dropped face upward on the table, even though snatched up so quickly that it cannot be named; (3) a card so held by a player that his partner sees any portion of its face; (4) a card mentioned by either adversary as being held in his or his partner’s hand. 69. A card dropped on the floor or elsewhere below the table, or so held that it is seen by an adversary but not by the partner, is not an exposed card. 70. Two or more cards played simultaneously by either of the declarer’s adversaries give the declarer the right to call any one of such cards to the current trick and to treat the other card or cards as exposed. 70_a_. Should an adversary of the declarer expose his last card before his partner play to the twelfth trick, the two cards in his partner’s hand become exposed, must be laid face upward on the table, and are subject to call. 71. If, without waiting for his partner to play, either of the declarer’s adversaries play or lead a winning card, as against the declarer and dummy and continue (without waiting for his partner to play) to lead several such cards, the declarer may demand that the partner of the player in fault win, if he can, the first or any other of these tricks. The other cards thus improperly played are exposed.
When the hands are called, there is no penalty for mis-calling a hand; the cards, like the counters, speak for themselves. _=35. Rank of the Hands.=_ The best poker hand is a _=Royal Flush=_; A K Q J 10 of the same suit, which beats a _=Straight Flush=_; any sequence of five cards of the same suit. _=Four of a Kind=_; such as four 10’s and an odd card. _=Full Hand=_; three of a kind and a pair, such as three 8’s and a pair of Q’s, which beats a _=Flush=_; five cards of the same suit, but not in sequence. _=Straight=_; five cards in sequence, but of various suits. In straights, the Ace cannot be used to form such combinations as Q K A 2 3; but it may be used as the bottom of 5 4 3 2, or the top of 10 J Q K. Straights beat _=Three of a Kind=_; such as three K’s and two odd cards. _=Two Pairs=_; such as two 9’s and two 7’s, with an odd card.
By leading Q or J, Dummy is enabled to finesse, as if he held A Q J. The declarer holds K J x x x; Dummy having Q x x. The play is to force the Ace, as if the combination of K Q J x x were in one hand. Many opportunities arise for leading the Ace first from a short suit, in order to secure a ruff on the second or third round. _=Second Hand Play.=_ If any card is led by the adversaries which the fourth hand cannot win, the second hand should cover it if possible; for unless he does so, his weakness will be exposed, and the suit will be continued. This is especially true of cases in which the second hand holds single honours, such as Jack and others, or Queen and others. Even the King should be played second hand in such cases, unless it is so well guarded that the Ace must fall before the King can be forced out. If the fourth hand can win the card led, it is seldom necessary to cover second hand. For instance: If the Jack of trumps is led, the dealer holding Q 9 7 4, and Dummy having A 6 3 2; there is no need to play the Queen.
The field of combat is usually the crown of a hat. The object of each party is to crush the nuts of his opponent. A nut which has broken many of those of the adversary is a Cob-nut.--Brand, ii. 411; Hunter s _Hallamshire Glossary_. (_b_) This game is played in London with chestnuts, and is called Conquers. In Cornwall it is known as Cock-haw. The boys give the name of Victor-nut to the fruit of the common hazel, and play it to the words: Cockhaw! First blaw! Up hat! Down cap! Victor! The nut that cracks another is called a Cock-battler (_Folk-lore Journal_, v. 61). Halliwell describes this game differently.
Snakes are ghastly things. But there was no future in letting them shake me up. I bent over in my swivel chair and swung my left arm like a flail just below this rattler s raised head. He struck at me, but late, and missed. The swipe I took at him should have swept him over, but he got his coils around me. When I heaved back up straight before my desk, he was as neatly wrapped around my forearm as a Western Union splice. Enough of his tail was free to make that buzz that means Look out! About a foot of his business end stood up off my arm. His forked tongue flicked out over his horny lip, pink and dainty. Now, vanish! I said to the snake. It didn t.
WHITE. +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | ⛃ | | ⛁ | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | ⛁ | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | ⛁ | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | ⛃ | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ BLACK. ] [Illustration: _=Fourth Position.=_ Black to play and win. White to play and draw. WHITE. +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | ⛁ | | ⛁ | | ⛀ | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | ⛃ | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | ⛃ | | ⛃ | | ⛂ | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ BLACK. ] The first position is one of the most common endings on the checker board, and should be very thoroughly understood. The letters in the margin refer to the variations. There are a great many minor variations, for which the student must be referred to Janvier’s Anderson, page 265.
e._, to pick up one and drop it again until this has been done to each stone. Arches--_i.e._, gobs in a row. This was described by the player as while the tally is up to sweep the whole row or line off the ground into the arch of the finger and thumb before catching the tally. (_b_) These games are variants of one common original. It is the same game as that described by F. H. Low in the _Strand Magazine_, ii.
Build it up with mortar and bricks, Mortar and bricks, mortar and bricks, Build it up with mortar and bricks, My fair lady. [Then follow verses in the same style and with the same refrain, beginning with--] Bring some water, we ll wash it away. Build it up with silver and gold. Silver and gold will be stolen away. We ll set a man to watch at night. Suppose the man should fall asleep? Give him a pipe of tobacco to smoke. Suppose the pipe should fall and break? We ll give him a bag of nuts to crack. Suppose the nuts were rotten and bad? We ll give him a horse to gallop around, &c. --Enborne School, Berks (M. Kimber).
Four simple rules cover this choice:-- 1. Always lead from the weak hand to the strong if the suit is not already established. 2. Play for the suit in which you have the greatest number of cards between the two hands, because it will probably yield the greatest number of tricks. 3. If two suits are equal in number, play for the one in which you have the greatest number of cards massed in one hand. That is, if you have two suits of eight cards each, select the one that has six of those cards in one hand, in preference to the suit with four in each hand. 4. Everything else being equal, play for the suit which is shown in the Dummy, so as to conceal from the adversaries as long as possible the strength in your own hand. A suit is said to be _=established=_ when you can win every remaining trick in it, no matter who leads it.
=_ If the balls are disturbed accidentally through the medium of any agency other than the player himself, they must be replaced and the player allowed to proceed. _=6.=_ If in the act of playing the player disturbs any ball other than his own, he cannot make a counting stroke, but he may play for safety. Should he disturb a ball after having played successfully, he loses his count on that shot; his hand is out, and the ball so disturbed is placed back as nearly as possible in the position which it formerly occupied on the table, the other balls remaining where they stop. _=7.=_ Should a player touch his own ball with the cue or otherwise previous to playing, it is foul, the player loses one, and cannot play for safety. It sometimes happens that the player after having touched his ball gives a second stroke, then the balls remain where they stop, or are replaced as nearly as possible in their former position at the option of his opponent. _=8.=_ When the cue-ball is very near another, the player shall not play without warning his adversary that they do not touch, and giving him sufficient time to satisfy himself on that point. _=9.
As no official code exists, and as each gambling club makes its own house rules, it is not necessary to give them here, the directions contained in the foregoing description being sufficient for any honest game. _=Text Books.=_ The following will be found useful:-- Théorie Mathematique du Baccara, by Dormoy. Baccara Experimental, by Billard. Traité Théorique et Pratique Baccara, by Laun. _Westminster Papers_, Vols. X. and XI. BLIND HOOKEY. This game is sometimes called Dutch Bank.
Micklethwaite (_Archæological { Journal_, vol. xlix.), _Strand { Magazine_, vol. ii. NORFOLK { Forby s _Vocabulary_, Spurden s { _Vocabulary_, Mr. J. Doe. Sporle, Swaffham Miss Matthews. { Baker s _Glossary_, _Northants Notes NORTHAMPTONSHIRE { and Queries_, _Revue Celtique_, vol. { iv.
VII. There stands a lady on the mountain, Who she is I do not know: Oh! she wants such gold and silver! Oh! she wants such a nice young man! Now you re married I wish you joy, First a girl and then a boy; Seven years after a son and a daughter, Kiss your bride and come out of the ring. --Berkshire (Miss Thoyts, _Antiquary_; xxvii. 254). (_b_) A ring is formed, one child in the centre. The ring sing the first verse, and then the centre child chooses one from the ring. The chosen pair kiss when the ring has sung the second. The first child then joins the ring, and the game begins again. In the Barnes version the centre child calls one to her from the ring by singing the second verse and naming the child she chooses. (_c_) A version from Lady C.
Foster. Foster’s American Leads, by R.F. Foster. * Foster’s Whist at a Glance, by R.F. Foster. * Gist of Whist, by C.E. Coffin.