_=The Second Hand=_ should declare just as if he were the dealer when the dealer starts with one spade. He may even go no trump on a lighter hand. When the dealer bids a suit, second hand should over-call only when he can make his contract or wishes to indicate a lead in case third hand should go to no trumps. Second hand should never take the dealer out of a losing suit with a winning suit unless he has seven tricks in his own hand. If the dealer bids no trump, second hand should pass, unless he is prepared to over-call any further bid for three tricks. _=Third Hand=_ is not obliged to take the dealer out of a spade, and should not do so unless he is a trick or two stronger than he would have to be to declare as dealer. But the dealer must never be left in with a two or three spade bid. If third hand cannot do any better, he should declare a royal. When the dealer bids no trump, third hand should take him out with any weak five card suit and nothing else, simply to warn him that there are no winning cards in the hand. Always take him out with five cards in a winning suit, no matter how strong the rest of the hand.
_=Benefiting by Errors.=_ No player should be allowed to win a game by committing a breach of the laws. If a person revokes, for instance, there is a certain penalty, but in addition to the penalty it is always stipulated that the revoking player cannot win the game that hand. _=Double Penalties.=_ No person can be subjected to two penalties for one offence. If a player leads out of turn, and a suit is called, the card played in error cannot be also claimed as exposed and liable to be called. If a player revokes, and his adversary wins ten tricks, the revoke penalty adds three tricks to the ten already won; but these thirteen tricks will not entitle the player to score any points for a slam, because that would be exacting a double penalty; the tricks for the revoke, and the points for the slam. _=Intentional Error.=_ In all games it must be assumed that the player’s intentions are honest, and that any errors that arise are committed through inadvertence. Some of our law-makers have attempted so to adjust their codes as to provide against the manœuvres of the blackleg.
According to Chatto, it is probable that all games of cards owe their origin to chess, cards themselves having been derived from an old Indian variation of chess, known as the Four Kings. Chess is also the most fascinating of the table games, its charm being probably due to the fact that, like whist, it is a game that no man ever mastered. Whether or not this is in its favour is an open question. The amount of study and practice required to make a person proficient in chess brings a serious drain upon the time, and the fascinations of the game are such that once a person has become thoroughly interested in it, everything else is laid aside, and it is notorious that no man distinguished as a chess-player has ever been good for anything else. Mr. Blackburne, the English chess champion, regards the game as a dangerous intellectual vice which is spreading to rather an alarming extent. Discussing the matter, after his game with Mr. Bardeleben, he said: “I know a lot of people who hold the view that chess is an excellent means of training the mind in logic and shrewd calculation, provision and caution. But I don’t find these qualities reflected in the lives of chess-players. They are just as fallible and foolish as other folks who don’t know a rook from a pawn.
If the following player does not correct the announcement, but plays and adds to it, the error cannot be rectified. If any holes are pegged for an erroneous announcement, the adversary may demand that they be taken down again, and may add the number to his own score. _=Miscounting.=_ If a player over-counts his hand, crib, or play, and pegs the points erroneously claimed, his adversary may call attention to the error, demand that the superfluous points be taken down again, and may add them to his own score as penalty. Should a player neglect to peg the full value of his hand, crib, or play, his adversary may add the neglected points to his own score, after pointing out the omission. Should a player be mistaken in exacting either of these penalties, he must not only take down what he pegged, but allow his adversary to peg the same number as penalty. None of these corrections can be claimed until the player in error has pegged and quitted the score; that is, removed his fingers from the front peg. The claim should always be prefaced by the word _=Muggins=_. If the error is one of omission in play, the adversary must play his own card before claiming muggins. If it is in the hand or crib, the adversary must wait until the points claimed are pegged and quitted.
The moment any player wins a trick containing a Jack, he pays one counter into the pool. If he takes in Polignac, he pays two counters. The eldest hand begins by leading any card he pleases, and the others must follow suit if they can. The highest card played, if of the suit led, wins the trick, and the winner leads for the next trick. If a player has none of the suit led he may discard anything he pleases. The game is sometimes varied by adding a _=general=_, or _=capot=_. Any player who thinks he can win all the tricks announces capot before the first card is led. If he is successful he loses nothing; but each of the others must pay five counters into the pool, one for each Jack, and one extra for Polignac. If the capot player fails to win every trick, each player pays for whatever jacks he has taken in. ENFLÉ, OR SCHWELLEN.
The small figures under these numbers show the odds paid; 14, for instance, pays twelve for one. All raffles pay 180 for one; the same as 18 or 3. Bets on High and Low, Odd or Even, pay even money. High throws are all above 10, and low throws are all below 11. This would be perfectly even betting if the house did not take raffles. Some houses allow a player to bet on raffles generally; that is, to bet that a raffle of some kind will come. Such bets are paid 30 for 1. The percentage of the house, even in a square game, may be seen from the following table, which gives the odds against the event, and the odds which the house pays:-- The odds against 3 or 18 are 215 to 1; the house pays 180 ” 4 ” 17 ” 71 ” 1 ” 60 ” 5 ” 16 ” 35 ” 1 ” 29 ” 6 ” 15 ” 20½ ” 1 ” 18 ” 7 ” 14 ” 13¼ ” 1 ” 12 ” 8 ” 13 ” 9¼ ” 1 ” 8 ” 9 ” 12 ” 7¼ ” 1 ” 6 ” 10 ” 11 ” 7 ” 1 ” 6 _=Cheating.=_ There are endless ways of swindling at Chuck-luck, the most modern being to turn the dice over after they have reached the table through the funnel. This is done by an apparatus under the cloth, the dealer looking down the funnel to see how the dice lie, and then adjusting them to suit himself.
By senior rights, he took first draw. * * * * * He grimaced. He had drawn a greedy old character, a tough old male whose mind was full of slobbering thoughts of food, veritable oceans full of half-spoiled fish. Father Moontree had once said that he burped cod liver oil for weeks after drawing that particular glutton, so strongly had the telepathic image of fish impressed itself upon his mind. Yet the glutton was a glutton for danger as well as for fish. He had killed sixty-three Dragons, more than any other Partner in the service, and was quite literally worth his weight in gold. The little girl West came next. She drew Captain Wow. When she saw who it was, she smiled. I _like_ him, she said.