THE DEAL.

The two players cut for deal, and in this cutting the ace ranks the highest. The player who cuts the higher card has the choice of first deal.

After this the players deal alternately.

It is customary to use two packs of cards, and the first dealer has the choice which pack he will use. Each player has a right to shuffle both his own and the adversary's pack, the dealer shuffling last. After this the pack is "cut to the dealer" by the adversary, as at Whist.

It is customary to call the non-dealer the "elder hand." {105}

The dealer must deal the cards by two at a time or by three at a time, giving the top cards to his adversary, the next to himself, and so on, until each has twelve cards.

The eight cards that remain (called the "stock") are placed face downwards between the players.

There are no trumps in this game.

DISCARDING AND TAKING IN.

Before anything else is done, each player has a right to reject some of his cards, and take others in their place.

The elder hand begins. He has the privilege of discarding from his hand any number of cards not exceeding five (he _must_ discard at least one), and taking a corresponding number from the top of the stock. If he does not take all his five, he may look at those he leaves, concealing them, however, from the other player.

The dealer may then discard and replace in like manner, taking the cards from the stock in the order in which he finds them. He is bound to discard one, and he may, if he pleases, take all that remain, or any number of them. He may look at any cards of his own portion of the stock he leaves behind; but if he does, the elder hand may demand to see them too, after playing his first card, or naming the suit he intends to play.

CALLING.

The hands being thus made up, the elder hand proceeds to declare or "call"

the scoring {106} combinations he may hold, in the following manner. There are three things in the hand that may be scored, namely (1) the _point_; (2) the _sequence_; (3) the _quatorze_ or _trio_.

(1) The _point_ is scored by the party who has the most cards of one suit.

The elder hand states how many he has. If the dealer has not so many, he says "Good," and the elder hand scores one for each card; if the dealer has more, he says "Not good," and the elder hand, scoring nothing, pa.s.ses on to the next item. If the dealer happens to have the same number, he says "Equal," and then the elder hand must count and declare the number of the pips--the ace counting eleven, the court cards ten each, and the others what they are. The highest number of pips makes the cards "good," and invalidates those of the other party. If the number of pips are equal, neither scores.

(2) The second item is scored by the party who has the best _sequence_, that is, the greatest number of consecutive cards, not less than three, of the same suit, or, if an equal number, those of the highest rank. Thus, ten, nine, eight, seven are better than ace, king, queen; but ace, king, queen are better than king, queen, knave; and so on. A sequence of three cards, no matter what, counts three; of four cards, four; beyond this ten are added, so that a sequence of five cards counts fifteen; of six cards, sixteen; and so on. The elder hand declares his best sequence. If the dealer has a better, he says "Not good"; if only inferior ones, he says "Good." In the latter case the holder scores not only for the _best_ sequence, but for every other he holds in his hand; all the opposite party may hold being {107} invalidated. If the best sequences are equal, neither scores.

(3) The third item is called the _quatorze_, from the fact that four aces, four kings, four queens, four knaves, or four tens in one hand, if "good,"

score fourteen. Three of either kind (called a _trio_) score three. In deciding which party is to score, the higher cards are better than the lower, but any four like cards take precedence of the best three. Thus four tens are better than three aces; but three aces are better than three kings, and so on. The elder hand names his best quatorze or trio, to which the dealer says "Good" or "Not good," as the case may be; and, as with the sequence, the one who has the best scores all others he may hold, while those of the opponent are all destroyed.

The point and sequence, when scored by either party, must be shown to the other, if asked for.

THE PLAY.

The items in the elder hand thus being counted, the holder lays down one card, thus beginning the "play." The dealer plays to this; but, immediately before doing so, he calls and counts all _he_ has to score in his hand.

The play, the object of which is to gain tricks, follows the ordinary Whist rule; the second player being obliged to follow suit, if he can, and the best card winning. If he cannot follow suit, he loses the trick, throwing away any card he pleases.

The scoring of the play is peculiar. The first player to every trick counts one for the card he so plays; but if the second player wins the trick, he {108} also counts one. The player who takes the last trick counts an extra one for it.

If either player wins more than six tricks, he scores _ten_ "for the cards," as it is called. If the two players win six tricks each, there is no score "for the cards" on either side.

EXAMPLE.

What has been above described const.i.tutes the simple or ordinary game.

There are some additional scores for extraordinary cases; but before we mention them it will be well to ill.u.s.trate the foregoing directions by an example of an imaginary hand, which will show that although the description may appear complicated, the practice is very easy.

A and B play at Piquet, B being the dealer, and A the elder hand. B deals out the following cards:

To A.

Spades--nine, seven.

Hearts--ace, nine, eight.

Clubs--knave, ten, seven.

Diamonds--knave, ten, nine, eight.

To B.

Spades--queen, ten, eight.

Hearts--queen, knave, seven.

Clubs--ace, king, queen, eight.

Diamonds--king, queen.

After the deal the stock contains cards in the following order:

Ace of diamonds (top card).

Nine of clubs.

Seven of diamonds.

{109} Ace of spades.

King of hearts.

------ King of spades.

Ten of hearts.

Knave of spades (bottom card).

A has a poor hand, and must take all his five cards, in the hope of improving it. He must keep his diamond suit entire; so he discards the nine and seven of spades, the nine and eight of hearts, and the seven of clubs, taking in the five upper cards from the stock.

B's is already a good hand with the quatorze of queens--which he knows must be "good"--a fair chance for the point, and other favourable cards for trick-making. But he discards the ten and eight of spades and the seven of hearts with the hope of improvement, taking in the three remaining cards of the stock.

The two hands are then as follows: A (elder hand) has ace of spades, ace and king of hearts, knave, ten, nine of clubs, and ace, knave, ten, nine, eight, seven of diamonds. B (dealer) has king, queen, knave of spades; queen, knave, ten of hearts; ace, king, queen, eight of clubs, and king and queen of diamonds.

The following conversation may be supposed to take place:

A: My point is 6.

B: Good.

A (shows his diamonds, or says,--in diamonds; and then adds): My best sequence in the quint to the knave of diamonds. {110}

B: Good.

A: I have also a tierce to another knave (shows knave, ten, nine of clubs, or says,--in clubs).

A: And I have three aces.

B: Not good.