_=Sinking.=_ A player is not obliged to declare any combination unless he wishes to do so, and he may sink a card if he thinks it would be to his advantage to conceal his hand. Sinking is calling only part of a combination, as, for instance, calling 51 for his point when he really has 61; calling a quinte when he has a sixième, or a trio when he has a quatorze. Sinking is usually resorted to only when the player knows from his own hand and discards that what he declares is still better than anything his adversary can hold; but it must be remembered that the part of the declaration which is sunk in this manner is lost. _=Irregular Declarations.=_ If either player claims a combination which he does not hold, and does not remedy the error before he plays a card, he cannot count anything that deal, losing any other declarations he may have made which are correct. His adversary then counts everything in his hand, whether his combinations were inferior or not. He also counts for what he wins in the tricks. If the elder hand’s declaration is admitted by the dealer to be good, it is good, even if the dealer afterward proves to have a better point, sequence, quatorze or trio. If any combination named by the elder hand is not actually his best, he cannot amend his declaration after the dealer has replied to it.
If the statement is not correct, the three cards are at once taken back into the player’s hand, together with all the cards lying face down in the centre of the table at the time. Should the statement turn out to be true, the player who doubted it must take the three jacks and all the cards on the table. That settled, the next player to the left lays out three cards and announces that they are three of a kind of something or other, each player to the left passing or doubting it. If no one questions the correctness of a statement, no explanation is given by the player who laid out the cards. He simply pushes them to the centre of the table with the others, face down. If he shows them, or any one of them, as some may do in a spirit of bravado, he must take all three back into his hand and all on the table with them. The object of doubting is simply to prevent a player from getting rid of three cards, but toward the end of the game one must be careful, as triplets are gradually gathered for that stage. If any player has less than three cards in his hand when it comes to his turn to lay down, he must draw from the table, face down, enough to make three. He may look at what he draws before announcing. If there are no cards on the table, he must pass his turn.