done to reduce the various rules of the game to a systematic form
until between 1850 and 1860, when a knot of young men proceeded to
a thorough investigation of whist, and in 1862 Henry Jones, one of
the members of this " little whist school, " brought out a work, under
the pseudonym of " Cavendish, " which " gave for the first time the
rules which constitute the art of whist-playing according to the most
modern form of the game."
The little school was first brought
prominently into notice by an article on whist in the Quarterly Review of January. Whist had previously been treated as though the " art
"
of the game depended on the practice of a number of arbitrary conventions. But it was now shown that all rules of whist play depend upon and are referable to general principles. Hence, as soon as these general principles were stated, and the reasons for their adoption were argued, players began to discuss and to propose innovations on the previously established rules of play A further development was the introduction of the system of discarding from the best protected suit instead of from the weakest, when the adversaries have the command in trumps. Soon after this (1872) followed the " echo " of the call for trumps, and contemporaneously with the echo the lead of the penultimate card frorn suits of five cards or more, not including the ace, a lead that was so vigorously opposed by some players that " the grand battle of the penultimate "
ensued. The old pl.iyers indeed regarded the new system with the same horror as they had formerly displayed with respect to the French school, stigmatizing it not only as an innovation, but as a private understanding, and even as cheating' Even Clay, the greatest player of his day, was at first an opponent of the penultimate, e lead, but after consideration adopted it. General Drayson {Art oj Practical IVIiist, 1879) was the first to propose an analogous system, namely, that six cards in a suit, not including the ace, could be shown by leading the ante penultimate card, but his proposal, logical though it was, did not at first find favoui IBefore this (1874-1875)
leads from high cards having regard to the number held in the suit, had not escaped attention, several innovations being introduced, but it yet remained for some one to propound a constant method of treating all leads, and to classify isolated rules so as to render it possible to lay down general principles This was done in 1883-1884 by Nicholas Browse Trist of New Orleans, who introduced the system of " American Leads."
American leads propose a systematic
course of play when opening and continuing the lead from the strong suit. First, with regard to a low card led When you open a strong suit with a low card, lead your fourth best When opening a fourcard suit with a low card, the lowest, which is the fourth best, is the card selected. When opening a five*card suit with a low card, the penultimate card is selected. Instead of calling it the penultimate, call it the fourth best
So with a six-card suit, but, instead of
ante penultimate, say fourth best And so on with suits of more than six cards disregard all the small cards and lead the fourth best Secondly, with regard to a high card led, followed by a low card When you open a strong suit with a high card and next lead a low card, lead your original fourth best The former rule was to proceed with the lowest. Thus, from ace, knave, nine, eight, seven, two, the leader was expected to open with the ace, and then to lead the two An American leader would lead ace, then eight. Thirdly, with regard to a high card led, followed by a high card When you remain with two high indifferent cards, lead the higher if you opened a suit of four, the lower if you opened a suit of five or more A player who adopts this system notifies by it to his partner that, when he originally leads a low card, he holds exactly three cards higher than the one led; when he originally leads a high card, and next a low one, he still holds exactly two cards higher than the second card led; and when he originally leads a high card, and follows it with a high card, he indicates in many cases, to those who know the analysis of leads (as laid down in whist books), whether the strong suit consisted originally of four or of more than four cards. (See Whisl Develofiments,
by
" Cavendish, " 1885.)
r
These leads led to an overhauling of the play of the second and third hands, whist becoming apparently so complicated as to deter players of moderate ability from plunging into its intricacies This (act, combined with the introduction of the fascinating and simpler game of bridge, caused a distinct decadence in the popularity of whist during the last decade of the 19th century. Whist (i.e. modern " short " whist) is played with a full pack of 52 cards. The ace is the highest, except in cutting, when it is the lowest. After the ace rank king, queen, &c, in order, down to the two. Four persons play, but with only three or two players the game can still be played v.'ith certain modifications (see Dummy below). The players each draw a card, the one who gets the lowest deals, and has choice of cards and seats The player who draws the next lowest is his partner; if two or more players draw cards of equal value, they cut again, the lowest Iilaying with the original lowest The cards arc then cut and dealt one by one from left to right. The last card is turned up to show the trump suit In America the trump suit is sometimes cut for, the card then being replaced in the pack before shuffling (bUnd trump) A misdeal passes the deal, and at the end of each hand it passes in any case to the player on the left. At the end of the first trick the dealer takes the turned trump card into his hand
If he fails to do so, the card may be called to any subsequent trick. The player on the dealer's left leads, and it is compulsory for the others to follow suit if possible, under penalty for " revoke " (by which the adversaries may either add three to their score, deduct three from the defaulting side, or take three tricks of theirs and add them to their own). A player who cannot follow suit may play any card he chooses to the trick unless he has exposed a card and the adversaries call it. The
highest card, or trump (if one is played), wins the trick, the winner leading to the next trick. When all the cards have been played the tricks gained by each side are counted, each trick over six counting one. Six tricks are called " a book." Trump
honours— ace, king, queen, knave— also count to the score, but a side which has a score of four at the beginning of a hand cannot score for honours. Tricks count before honours, thus if one side has a score of one and holds four honours, while the other has a score of four and makes the odd trick, the latter wins a double, the honours not counting, as the game has already been won by tricks. The scores for honours arc as follows, but some players halve these scores, or, particularly in America, do not count honours at all
This is a matter of arrangement. If one side holds all four honours, four points, if three, two points; if both sides hold two there is no score, honours being "divided, " or " p-asy " A rubber consists of the best of three games, unless one side wins the first two games. A game consists of five points Thus if one side makes nine tricks and holds three honours it scores a game— three points by tricks (or " by cards ) and two by honours — but it a revoke has been made, i.e. if a player, holding a card of the suit led, has played a card of another suit, the revoking side cannot score more than four, whatever its score in points may be The side that wins the rubber scores tVvo points in addition to the game points, which are reckoned thus, three points for a
"
treble, " a game in which the adversaries have no score; two points for a " double, " i.e . when the adversaries have made one or two; one point for a "single, " i.e. when they have made three or four Thus two trebles and the rubber (or " rub ) count eight points, treble, single and the rub count six points. If the losers have won a game, its value is deducted. Sometimes, by arrangement, the rubber points are raised to four. At the
end of a rubber, or, by airangcnient. of two rubbers, the players cut again for partners. If others wish to join the table the original players cut, the highest going out
It is not customary for more
than two to join — technically, to"cut in", hence, if two players vacate at the end of the next rubber, they now take the place of the other original pair, who leave without cutting. When only one player " cuts in, " the other three retire by rotation, decided by cutting, and come back in their turn.
If more than four
players wish to form a table, they cut first to see who shall stand out, the highest retiring; they then cut afresh for partners. Dummy Wlusl is played by three players, two being partners and the other playing with dummy, whose cards, which must be dealt face downwards, are exposed on the table before the play begins
Dummy has the first deal in every rubber
His cards
being exposed he is not considered able to revoke, if he docs, there is no penalty, nor is his partner liable for any mistake of his own whereby he cannot profit, c g by exposing a card, but if he leads from the wrong hand, a suit can be called. At Double Dummy each player has a dummy partner, and there is no misdeal, as the dea4 is a disadvantage.
The leads and the play of the different hands have been so minutely systematized that some of the various text-books should be studied carefully by any one who wishes to become proficient, but some broad general rules may be useful to the beginner The original leader
should lead from his strongest, which is almost always his longest suit, but if his longest suit contains only four cards and is also the trump suit, opinions differ, though most players would observe the general rule. The same rule applies to subsequent first leads of a suit, unless they have to be modified owing to information derived from cards already played. Thus a player who has to lead after, say, the third or fourth trick may have to sacrifice his lead of his strongest suit in response to a
"
call for trumps " by his partner.
Such a lead is
