Part 19

_=Calling.=_ Those solos are easiest which are declared by the eldest hand, or by the dealer; the hardest being those called by second hand. The safest solos are those called on trump strength; but average trumps and winning cards in the plain suits are more advantageous if the caller is not eldest hand. To call a solo on plain suits alone, with only one or two trumps, is extremely dangerous; and a solo called on a single suit must have at least five or six good trumps in order to succeed.

_=PLAYING.=_ When a call has been made entirely upon trump strength, it is much better to make tricks by ruffing, than by leading trumps. There is little use for a solo player to hold a tenace in trumps, hoping it will be led to him. If he has good suits, he should make sure of two rounds of trumps by leading the Ace.

When the solo player is depending on the plain suits for tricks, and has one long suit, he should make what winning cards he has in the other plain suits in preference to leading trumps, for his only danger is that his long suit will be led often enough to give his adversaries discards in the other suits.

If a proposal was made before the solo was called, it is better for the solo player to sit on the left of the player that proposed.

The caller should never play single honours second hand, unless he has only one small card of the suit, or the honour is the Ace.

With A Q x, second or third hand, the Q must be finessed if the caller has counted on both A and Q for tricks. If he can probably win without the finesse, he should play Ace. If he has tricks enough to win without either A or Q, he should play neither of them.

A solo player should be very sure of his call before finessing for over-tricks.

_=Adversaries’ Play.=_ The player to the left of the caller should not lead trumps; but if the solo player has had a lead, and has not led trumps himself, the player on his right should take the first opportunity to lead them through him.

The player to the left of the caller should not lead from suits headed only by the King; nor from those containing major or minor tenaces. The best leads are from suits headed by Q J or 10, even if short.

With such high-card combinations as can be used to force the command in one round, such as K Q, or K Q J, the regular whist leads should be used. With suits headed by winning sequences, held by the player on the left, it is often right to lead them once, in order to show them, and then to lead a weaker suit to get rid of the lead. It is sometimes better to play winning sequences as long as it seems probable that the caller can follow suit.

Many persons use the Albany lead to indicate a wish for trumps to be led through the caller. In response to such a signal the best trump should be led, whatever it is.

When the adversary who leads in any trick is not on the left of the solo player, the caller will, of course, not be the last player, as at least one adversary must play after him. In such cases it is best to lead the longest suits.

_=MISÈRE.=_ The great difficulty in Misère is not in playing it; but in judging what hands justify such an undertaking.

_=Calling.=_ As a general proposition it may be stated that misère should not be called with a long suit not containing the deuce. But the longer the suit the less the danger there is for a player who is determined to risk it; because the deuce is more likely to be found alone in some adversary’s hand. Short suits may be risked, even with no card smaller than a 5 or 6, and it is of course a great advantage to have a suit altogether missing.

_=Leading.=_ The lead is a disadvantage to the caller, because he must begin with a small card, and the adversaries can play their highest. The only satisfaction to the caller is that he can usually locate the high cards of the suit under such circumstances. For instance: Suppose he originally leads a 4; second hand playing the 9; third hand the Ace; and fourth hand the 10. The third hand is marked with whatever cards of the sequence K Q J are not in the caller’s hand.

Many players fall into the error of leading the highest card of a losing sequence, such as a 6 from 6 5 4 3. This accomplishes nothing, and only discloses to the adversaries the fact that the caller is safe in that suit. The three is the better lead.

_=Following Suit.=_ The caller should usually play a card as little inferior as he can to the highest already on the trick. When he has cards of equal value, such as the 5 and 2, the 3 and 4 being already on the table, he should play the lower card of the fourchette; for although it may be said that the fourth player must take the trick, there is no certainty that he will follow suit.

When second hand, if there is a choice between two cards, such as the 6 and 2, an intermediate card having been led, it is often a nice point to decide whether or not to risk covering and keeping the deuce. If the deuce is played, it must be remembered that the adversaries will follow with their highest cards, leaving two cards out against the caller, both smaller than the 6.

_=Discarding.=_ The misère player should never discard from his long suits. The high cards of short suits, and single intermediate cards, such as 5’s and 6’s, should be got rid of at every opportunity.

_=Adversaries of the Misère.=_ In playing against a misère the chief difficulty is to prevent the caller from discarding, and to place the lead with the player who can probably do him the most harm.

It is an axiom with solo-whist players that every misère can be defeated, if the weak spot in it can be found; because if the misère was absolutely safe, it would be played as a spread, which would pay the caller twice as much. This is not true, however, for it often happens that the cards are so distributed in the other hands that the call cannot be defeated, however risky it may have been.

The weak point in a misère is usually a short suit with one high card in it; or a suit of intermediate length, without the deuce.

As it is probable that the caller is short in suits in which the adversaries are long, and long in those in which they are short, he is less likely to get a discard if they lead their shortest suits first. If the misère player has over-called a proposal or a solo, he is likely to be short in the trump suit, or at least safe in it. It is not good play to lead a single Ace; but a King may be very effective; for if no one plays the Ace on it, that card may be absolutely marked in the caller’s hand. In such a case the adversary with the greatest number of that suit should keep it for the attack. If this player can get into the lead, he is not only sure of preventing the caller from discarding, but of allowing the other adversaries to discard to advantage.

With an honour and one small card, a player on the left should lead the small card first; if on the right, the honour should be led first. A long suit containing the deuce should be avoided as long as possible.

The caller’s cards may sometimes be inferred if there has been a previous call on the hand. For instance: A misère may be a forced call; that is, the player first called a proposal, and not being accepted, was forced to amend his call, choosing misère in preference to solo. This would indicate a long weak suit of trumps. If the dealer calls misère, the turn-up trump should be carefully noted.

It is useless to persevere in suits in which the caller is evidently safe. If he plays a very low card to a trick in which there is already a high card, that suit should be stopped.

_=Discarding.=_ An adversary should get rid of some one suit, if possible; for when that suit is afterwards led he will have free choice of his discards in the other suits. Short suits should be discarded in preference to high cards in long suits, unless the cards in the short suit are very low. Discards give great information to the adversaries if the rule is followed to discard the highest of a suit; because all cards higher than those discarded must be between the two other adversaries and the caller, and each adversary is thus furnished with a guide. It is useless to discard a suit of which the caller is void; and it is best to keep discarding from one suit until it is exhausted, or only the deuce remains. The trump signal is frequently used in discarding to indicate that the signaller wishes to get into the lead.

_=Returning Suits.=_ Whether or not to return a partner’s lead may often be decided by inferences from the fall of the cards. It is frequently an easy matter to locate the cards in the various suits, if it is borne in mind that adversaries who play after the caller get rid of their highest cards. For instance: Right leads the 9; caller plays the 5; left the 10; and the last player finds he holds K Q J 6 of the suit. He should know that the caller has nothing between the 5 and the 9, and must have the Ace; so his cards were probably A 5 4 3 2. While it is manifestly impossible to catch him on that suit, it may still be led three times, in order to give the partners discards, as both of them must be short. If this estimate of the caller’s cards is wrong in anything, it is not with regard to the Ace, so there is not the slightest danger in continuing the suit.

As a general rule, the suit first led by an adversary should be returned, unless the player winning the trick has a singleton in another suit, when he should lead that.

The suit led by the caller, if he was eldest hand, should not be returned.

Some judgment of character must be used in playing on a caller’s own lead. An adventurous player will sometimes call a misère on a hand which contains a singleton 5 or 6, and will lead it at once; trusting that second hand will imagine it to be safe, and cover it. Players should be aware of this trap, and never cover a misère player’s own lead if they can help it, unless the card led is below a 4.

_=ABUNDANCE.=_ Very few persons will risk calling an abundance which they are not pretty certain of; but a player may be forced to the call on a doubtful hand, especially if he is over-called on his original proposal to play a solo. The lead is a great advantage, because trumps can be exhausted immediately, and the suits protected. If the caller has not the lead he must calculate in advance for trumping in, and if his plain suits are not quite established, he will require more trumps than would otherwise be necessary. The greatest danger to an abundance player who has not the original lead, is that his best suit will be led through him, and trumped, either on the first or second round. The caller is often trapped into unnecessarily high trumping when suits are led through him a second or third time.

_=The Adversaries=_ have little chance to defeat an abundance unless they can over-trump the caller, or ruff his good cards before he can exhaust the trumps. It is best for the Right to lead his longest suit, and for the Left to lead his shortest. A guarded King suit should not be led under any circumstances; nor a short suit Ace high. If an adversary has a single trump of medium size, such as a J or 10, it is often good play to trump a partner’s winning cards, so as to be sure of preventing the caller from making a small trump. If an adversary has trumped or over-trumped, it is very important to lead that suit to him again as soon as possible.

The rules for discarding that are given in connection with Whist should be carefully observed; especially in the matter of showing command of suits.

_=SPREADS.=_ These should not be called except with hands in which every suit contains the deuce, and all the cards are low enough to insure the player that nothing short of extraordinary circumstances will defeat him. Open sequences, or Dutch straights, as they are sometimes called, in which the cards are all odd or all even, such as 2 4 6 8 10, are quite as safe as ordinary sequences, provided the deuce is among the cards.

The player calling a spread must remember that it will be impossible for him to get any discards after the first trick without the consent of the adversaries; for they will not lead a suit of which they see he is void. In order to reduce the caller’s chances of a discard on the opening lead, before his cards are exposed, the adversaries should select their shortest suits, unless they have a bottom sequence to the deuce.

_=THE SLAM.=_ This feature of Solo Whist is even rarer than the _grand coup_ at Whist. It is not very marvellous for an abundance player to make twelve or thirteen tricks; but to announce thirteen tricks before a card is played is something phenomenal. All the adversaries can do against such a call is to show each other, by their discards, in which of the suits they have a possible trick. It is very annoying to have a player succeed in making a slam just because two of his adversaries keep the same suit.

SOLO WHIST FOR THREE PLAYERS.

The best arrangement is to play with a pack of forty cards, deleting the 2, 3, and 4 of each suit. The last card is turned up to determine the trump, but it is not used in play.

There is no proposal and acceptance, solo being the lowest call. If all three players pass, the trump card is turned down, and each player in turn has the option of calling a six-trick abundance, naming his own trump suit. In some places it is the custom to allow the players to over-call each other, after the trump is turned down, each increasing the number of tricks he proposes to take. A misère over-calls eight tricks.

_=Kimberly Solo=_ is for four players, without any proposal and acceptance, solo being the lowest call. If all pass, a six-trick solo with a different trump is allowed.

TEXT BOOKS.

Solo Whist, by R.F. Green. How to Play Solo Whist, by Wilks & Pardon.

For the Laws of Solo Whist, see Whist Family Laws.

ILLUSTRATIVE SOLO WHIST HANDS.

The dealer, Z, turns up the heart 3 in both hands, and A leads. The underlined card wins the trick, and the card under it is the next one led.

| T| _=A Solo.=_ | R| _=A Misère.=_ | I| --------------------------------+ C+------------------------------- A Y B Z | K| A Y B Z +-------+-------+-------+-------+--+-------+-------+-------+------+ | 10♢ | 8♢ | Q♢ | _K♢_ | 1| _K♠_ | 7♠ | J♠ | 10♠ | | 3♢ | 9♢ | _A♢_ | 2♢ | 2| _Q♠_ | 5♠ | 9♠ | 8♠ | | ♡6 | ♡2 | _♡A_ | ♡3 | 3| Q♢ | 5♢ | _A♢_ | J♢ | | ♣8 | ♡4 | ♡Q | _♡K_ | 4| 9♢ | 4♢ | _K♢_ | 10♢ | | ♣9 | _♣A_ | ♣4 | ♣7 | 5| ♡6 | 3♠ | _6♠_ | 8♢ | | _A♠_ | 9♠ | K♠ | 4♠ | 6| ♡7 | 2♠ | _4♠_ | ♣A | | _♣K_ | ♣2 | ♣6 | ♣5 | 7| ♣10 | ♣8 | ♣7 | _♣K_ | | 7♠ | 2♠ | _Q♠_ | 6♠ | 8| ♣9 | ♣6 | 7♢ | _♣Q_ | | 5♢ | ♣3 | ♣Q | _♡8_ | 9| ♣5 | ♣4 | 6♢ | _♣J_ | | 6♢ | 3♠ | _♡5_ | J♢ |10| ♡8 | ♣2 | ♡K | _♣3_ | | 7♢ | ♡10 | ♡9 | _♡J_ |11| _♡A_ | ♡2 | ♡Q | ♡3 | | 8♠ | 5♠ | _♡7_ | 4♢ |12| 2♢ | _3♢_ | ♡9 | ♡4 | | J♠ | ♣J | ♣10 | 10♠ |13| ♡J | _A♠_ | ♡10 | ♡5 | +-------+-------+-------+-------+ +-------+-------+-------+------+

_Solo player wins._ _Misère player loses._

In the first example, A and Y pass, and B calls Solo. A follows the modern practice of leading the top of his long weak suit, as a card of warning and support for his partners. Z knows Y must have 9 or Ace of diamonds, or no more, and he avoids the error of opening another suit, especially a weak one. B continues with the trump Queen, hoping to drop King and Jack together. At trick 5, Z cannot give up the command of trumps, and as A’s lead and discard indicate that he wants spades led up to him, Z’s best chance is that Y has some clubs. Y leads to A. At trick 9, Z knows B cannot have 10 and 9 of trumps, or he would have led one of them to prevent the J and 8 both making, so Y must have one of those trumps. At trick 11, if B leads the club, he loses his call. He must again take the chance of bringing the trumps down together.

In the second example A proposes, or calls Solo, and Y over-calls him with Misère. The great point in playing against Misère is to continue leading suits in which he is known to be long, so as to give your partners discards. This B does with the two long spades, the caller being marked with the ace and others on the second trick. Then Z allows B to discard his high diamonds on the clubs.

SCOTCH WHIST, OR CATCH THE TEN.

_=CARDS.=_ Scotch Whist is played with a pack of 36 cards, which rank in plain suits, A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6; the Ace being highest both in play and in cutting. In the trump suit the Jack is the best card, the order being, J A K Q 10 9 8 7 6.

_=MARKERS.=_ There are no suitable counters for Scotch Whist, and the score is usually kept on a sheet of paper.

_=PLAYERS.=_ Any number from two to eight may play. When there are five or seven players, the spade 6 must be removed from the pack. In some places this is not done; the thirty-fifth card being turned up for the trump, the thirty-sixth shown to the table, and then laid aside.

_=CUTTING.=_ Whatever the number of persons offering for play, the table is formed by cutting from the outspread pack for partners, seats, and deal.

When two play, the one cutting the lowest card has the choice of seats and cards, (if there are two packs).

When three play, the lowest deals, and chooses his seat and cards. The next lowest has the next choice of seats.

When four play, partners are cut for; the two lowest pairing against the two highest; the lowest of the four is the dealer, and has the choice of seats and cards.

When five play, each for himself, the lowest cut deals, and has the first choice of seats and cards. The next lowest has the next choice of seats, and so on.

When six play, they cut for partners, the two lowest pairing together; the two highest together; and the two intermediates together. The player cutting the lowest card of the six has the choice of seats and cards, and deals the first hand. If the six play, three on a side, the three lowest play against the three highest; the lowest cut of the six taking the deal, and choice of seats and cards.

When seven play, each for himself, the lowest deals, and has the choice of seats and cards; the others choosing their seats in the order of their cuts.

When eight play, they may form two sets of four each, or four sets of two each. In either case the partnerships are decided by cutting, and the lowest cut of the eight has the deal, with choice of seats and cards.

_=TIES=_ are decided in the manner already described in connection with Whist.

_=POSITION OF THE PLAYERS.=_ Two players sit opposite each other. Three, five or seven sit according to their choice. Four sit as at Whist, the partners facing each other. Six, playing in two partnerships, sit alternately, so that no two partners shall be next each other. Six, playing in three partnerships of two each, sit so that two adversaries shall be between each pair of partners. Eight, playing in two sets of four each, or as four pairs of partners, arrange themselves alternately. If we distinguish the partners by the letters A, B, C, D, the diagram will show the arrangement of the tables.

The player to the left of the dealer is the original leader.

_=DEALING.=_ The method of dealing varies with the number of players engaged. When only one pack is used, any player may shuffle, the dealer last. The pack must be presented to the pone to be cut, and the entire pack is then dealt out, one card at a time.

When two play, the dealer gives each six cards, one at a time. These two hands are kept separate, and two more are dealt in the same manner, and then a third two, the last card being turned up for the trump. When the deal is complete, there will be six hands on the table, three belonging to each player.

When three play, the cards are dealt in much the same manner; two separate hands of six cards being given to each player.

When four, five, six, seven, or eight play, the cards are dealt in rotation from left to right until the pack is exhausted, the last card being turned up for the trump. When five or seven play, either the spade 6 must be thrown out of the pack, or the thirty-sixth card must be shown, after the dealer has turned the thirty-fifth for the trump. When eight play, all four sixes are deleted.

The deal passes to the left, each player dealing in turn until the game is finished.

The general rules with regard to irregularities in the deal are the same as at Whist.

_=STAKES.=_ When stakes are played for, they are for so much a game. Rubbers are not played. It is usual to form a pool, each player depositing the stake agreed upon, and the winner taking all. In partnership games, each losing player pays the successful adversary who sits to his right. If three pairs were engaged, and A-A won, C and B would each pay the A sitting next him. Before play begins, it should be understood who pays for revokes; the side or the player.

_=METHOD OF PLAYING.=_ The player on the dealer’s left begins by leading any card he chooses, and the others must all follow suit if they can. Failure to follow suit when able is a revoke, the penalty for which, if detected and claimed by the adversaries, is the immediate loss of the game. When there are more than two players or two sets of partners, the revoking player or side must pay the two or more adversaries as if each had won the game. In some places the individual is made to pay, not the side. This should be understood before play begins. If seven are playing, and one is detected in a revoke, his loss is equal to six games. Any player having none of the suit led may either trump or discard. The dealer should take up the trump card when it is his turn to play to his first trick; after which it must not be named, although a player may be informed what the trump suit is. If all follow suit, the highest card played of the suit led wins the trick, trumps win all other suits. The winner of the trick may lead any card he chooses for the next; and so on, until all the cards have been played.

It is not necessary to keep the tricks separate, as at Whist; but one player should gather for his side.

When two or three play, the hands must be played in the order in which they were dealt. For instance: If these are the hands:--