Part 52
_=Keeping.=_ In selecting the hand to keep, much depends on the score. Early in the game you want a counting hand; near the end, especially if you have only four or five points to go, you want a pegging hand; that is, one with every card different, so that you can pair several cards, or make fifteens with almost anything that the pone may lead. In keeping a counting hand, much depends on whether it is good in itself, or needs a starter. In reckoning on the possibilities of the starter, it must never be forgotten that there are sixteen tenth cards in the pack, and that they are therefore the most probable starters of all. It is better to keep sequences open at both ends than those open in the middle. With two Sevens and two Eights, either a Six or a Nine will make your hand worth 24; but with two Eights and two Sixes, nothing but a Seven will improve your hand more than 4 points. Sequences are the best to keep, especially those of three cards with a duplicate. After them pairs royal are valuable, and next to them cards which will make a number of fives in various combinations, such as two Threes and two deuces.
_=Leading.=_ There are two systems of playing, known as _=playing off=_, and _=playing on=_, and they are selected according to the player’s position in the score. Long experience has shown that in six-card Cribbage the average expectation of the non-dealer for his hand and play is 12 points; and for the dealer, in hand, crib, and play, is 17. This being so, each player having had a deal, their scores should be about 29. If a player is 29 or more, he is said to be _=at home=_; and if he is seven or more points ahead of his adversary on even deals, he is said to be _=safe at home=_. When a player is safe at home, he should play off; that is, take no chances of scoring himself that might give his adversary a chance to make a still better score. This is usually found in the method of playing sequences. A player who avoids playing cards that might lead up to a run is said to play off. If he invites the run, hoping to make it longer himself, he is said to play on. When a player is behind, it is better for him to play on, and to seize every chance to score, especially with sequences. As it is considered an advantage to be ahead on the first deal, most players prefer a forward game on the opening hand.
_=Playing Off.=_ In this it is best to play cards on which it is unlikely that your adversary can score. Lead Aces, Twos and Threes, which cannot be made into fifteens. Do not pair his cards unless you have a card which will make you a double pair royal, (without passing 31,) if he should make a pair royal on you. Do not play close cards which he may turn into sequences.
Never play a card which will allow the adversary to make a double score, such as a pair and a fifteen, or a sequence and a fifteen at the same time. Such as the following are all bad plays: 9 on 3; 7 on A; 6 on 3, 4, or 5; 5 on 5; 4 on 7; 3 on 9; A on 7. All these expose you to the immediate rejoinder of a double count. Of course, if you have the card to make a pair royal in return, that is another matter, and is playing on, not playing off.
Do not play a card which brings the pip count to 5 or 21 if you can help it; because any tenth card will enable your adversary to peg two holes. Be a little wary about pairing the first card played, unless you have a third of the same denomination. If you have a choice between a pair and a sequence, your decision will depend on whether you are playing off or on. If you are playing off, make the pair, and take no chances of long runs.
_=Playing On.=_ In this you play to give your adversary a count, hoping to make a better yourself. It is always advantageous to play one of a pair, and to begin with one end of a sequence. If he pairs your first card, you can reply with a pair royal. If he plays to make a sequence, you can sometimes hold him off until you get the score, and he will be unable to continue the run without passing 31. Play one of two cards that form a five, such as 3 and 2; 4 and A. If he plays a tenth card to it, you can peg fifteen. In playing on, you should make all the sequences possible, taking chances of your adversary’s being able to continue the run. If you think he is leading you on, you must be guided by the state of the score as to how much you can risk.
Toward the end, you must reckon pretty closely how many points you can afford to risk your adversary’s making without putting him out. If you have enough in your hand to get out on the show, you should not attempt to make a single point in play. Pair nothing, for he might come out with a pair royal; make no runs, for he might extend them. But if you have not enough to show out, you must take every chance to peg the difference, because if you cannot get out in play and first show, the dealer has not only both hand and crib against you, but the first show on the next deal. In six-card Cribbage, the usual pegging for the play is five holes for the dealer, and four or five for the non-dealer. By adding this expectation to your show, you can see how many you can hope to peg yourself, and how many the dealer will probably be on hand, crib and peg altogether. The hands should average 7 points, and the cribs 5.
FIVE-CARD CRIBBAGE.
In this form of the game only five cards are dealt to each player, one at a time. Two of these are laid out for the crib, and the three remaining are used in play, exactly as in the six-card game.
_=Three for Last.=_ The non-dealer on the first hand of each game is allowed to peg three holes as a compensation for the advantage his adversary derives from having the first deal. Although the rules allow these three to be pegged at any time during the game, they should be put up immediately, in order to avoid disputes.
There is no further play after a go is declared, or either player has reached 31. The score for 31 is two holes; and for the go, one hole. Great importance is attached to the score for the go at five-card Cribbage, because so little is made in play that every point counts.
_=The Crib.=_ This is the most important thing in the five-card game, and it is much more important to baulk your adversary’s crib than to preserve your own hand. The best baulking cards are a King with a 10, 9, 8, 7, 6 or A. Never lay out a Jack, nor two cards which form a five, nor any pair, nor any two close cards. In laying out for your own crib, Fives, Sevens and Eights are the best. Any pair, any two cards that make five or fifteen, and any close cards are also good. Keep pairs royal and runs in your hand, and do not forget that a flush of three counts in the hand; but the starter must agree to make a flush in the crib.
_=Playing Off and On.=_ The pegging in play is usually small; 2 for the dealer, and an average of 1½ for the non-dealer, hence the importance of the go. The average hand is a little less than 5, and the crib about 5. The player is at home if he has pegged 17 in two deals, his own and his adversary’s. He is safe at home if he is 7 ahead, or his adversary is 7 behind.
In Five-card Cribbage, more than any other game, it is true that a game is never won until it is lost. Take the following example, in which the pone is 56 up, and the dealer has pegged only 5 holes altogether. The separated cards show those laid out for the crib, and the odd card is the starter.
The pone leads a Seven, and afterwards pairs the dealer’s Six, pegging to 58. The dealer pegs 6 for the pair royal, and is told to go. This enables the dealer to make a double pair royal and 31, pegging fourteen holes more. (The last card does not count when a go or 31 is pegged). On the show the pone has only a pair, which puts him to 60, within one of the game hole. The dealer shows 12 in hand and 17 in crib, making him 54 up. In the next deal the player who wanted one could not peg, his adversary securing a fifteen and a go, and showing out with a pair and a fifteen, 61 up and game.
THREE-HANDED CRIBBAGE.
Five cards are dealt to each player, and then another, face down, for the foundation of the crib. Each player then lays out one card to make the dealer’s crib up to four. The starter is cut by the player on the dealer’s left, and the game proceeds as at six-card Cribbage, the eldest hand having the first show, the dealer the last.
FOUR-HANDED CRIBBAGE.
When four play, they cut for partners, choice of seats, and deal; the two lowest pairing against the two highest, and the lowest taking the first deal and crib. The game is usually 121 points up, or twice round the board, and only one player on each side keeps the score.
Five cards are dealt to each player, one at a time, and one of these is discarded from each hand to form the crib, leaving four cards with which to play. The right-hand adversary of the dealer cuts for deal; the left-hand adversary for the starter. The eldest hand plays first, and all pairs, sequences, and fifteens are scored by the side making them. If a player says “go,” his left-hand neighbour must play, or pass the go to the next player on his left. In this way it may pass entirely round the table to the last player, who will then peg for it.
At this game there is a great deal more in the play than in either hand or crib. The average hand and crib is the same as at six-card Cribbage, 7 for the hand and 5 for the crib, but the play for the partners will run to 8 or 10 holes. Either side should be at home with 48 to 50 on two deals; four individual hands of 7 each, four plays of five each, and one crib of 5.
SEVEN-CARD CRIBBAGE.
This form of the game for two players differs from the others only in the number of cards dealt to each player, which is seven. Two are laid out for the crib, and five kept for playing. There being six cards in each hand, with the starter, the counting combinations sometimes run into high figures, and it is therefore usual to play the game 121 or even 181 points up.
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There are no authoritative _=LAWS=_ for Cribbage, but the foregoing descriptions contain all the regulations in force at the best clubs.
TEXT BOOKS.
The Cribbage Player’s Handbook, by Walker. Bézique and Cribbage, by Berkeley. Pocket Guide to Cribbage, by “Cavendish.” Bohn’s Handbook of Games. Cribbage, by Rawdon Crawley. Dick’s Handbook of Cribbage.
PIQUET.
Piquet is supposed to have been introduced during the reign of Charles VII., and was designed as a motif for a ballet of living cards which was given in the palace of Chinon. Of the etymology of the word piquet, little or nothing is known, but the game itself is one of those perennials that have survived much more pretentious rivals, and, thanks to its intrinsic merits, it has never since its invention ceased to be more or less à la mode.
There are several varieties of Piquet, but the straightforward game for two players, sometimes called _=Piquet au Cent=_, or 100 points up, is the most common and popular, and will be first described.
_=CARDS.=_ Piquet is played with a pack of thirty-two cards, all below the Seven being deleted. The cards rank: A K Q J 10 9 8 7, the Ace being the highest both in cutting and in play. There is no trump in Piquet, and all suits are equal in value. Two packs are sometimes used, one by each player in his proper turn to deal.
The cards have a certain pip-counting value, the Ace being reckoned for 11, other court cards for 10 each, and the 7 8 9 10 for their face value.
_=MARKERS.=_ As the scores are not put down until the end of the hand or play the game is usually kept on a sheet of paper, or it may be marked on a cribbage board.
_=PLAYERS.=_ Piquet is played by two persons, who sit opposite each other. They are known as the dealer, and the elder hand or pone.
_=CUTTING.=_ They cut for seats and cards, the lower cut having the choice, and dealing the first hand. If a player exposes more than one card the lowest of those exposed must be taken as his cut. Ties are decided by cutting a second time.
_=STAKES.=_ Piquet is played for so much a game of 100 points; but if the loser has not reached 50 points he is lurched, and loses a double game.
_=DEALING.=_ The cards shuffled, they are presented to the pone to be cut, and at least two cards must be left in each packet. Twelve cards are dealt to each player, either two or three at a time; but whichever method is first selected must be maintained throughout the game. In England the cards are always dealt by twos. No trump is turned. The remaining eight cards are placed face downward on the table, the five top cards being laid crosswise on the three at the bottom. These eight cards are called the _=talon=_ or stock. Each player deals in turn.
_=Irregularities in Dealing.=_ If the pack is proved to be imperfect the deal is void, but all previous scores or cuts made with that pack stand good. A misdeal does not lose the deal under any circumstances. If a card is found faced in the pack there must be a fresh deal with the same cards. If a player deals out of turn, and detects the error himself before he sees any of his cards, he may insist on his adversary’s dealing, even if the adversary has seen his cards. As the deal is a disadvantage the adversary is not bound to correct the player in error.
If the dealer gives too many or too few cards to either player a new deal is at the option of the adversary. The error will of course be detected when it is found that there are only seven cards in the talon. If the non-dealer elects to have the deal stand, the error in the player’s hand must be remedied in the discard, as will presently be described, and the stock must be divided 4-3 or 5-2, according to which player has too many cards.
_=Carte Blanche.=_ The cards dealt, each player takes up his twelve cards and sorts them into suits. If the pone finds himself without a K Q or J, he should immediately claim 10 points for carte blanche. If the dealer holds carte blanche, he does not declare it until the pone has discarded.
_=DISCARDING.=_ The five cards on the top of the talon belong to the pone, and he may discard from his hand any number of cards from one to five, and replace them by an equal number from the top of the stock. He must take at least one card, and he must take from the talon in the natural order of the cards. If he has elected to let a deal stand in which he has been given thirteen cards, he is entitled to four cards only from the talon, and must in all cases leave himself with twelve cards after his discard and draw are completed. If he does not take all five cards, he must announce distinctly how many he leaves, for if he fails to do so the dealer is not liable for having too many cards.
The dealer then discards, first declaring carte blanche if he holds it. In England, he need not draw at all, in France he must draw at least one card. Besides the three cards which belong to him, he is entitled to take as many as he pleases of those left by the pone, and in drawing from the talon he must take the cards in the order in which they come. If two cards are left by the pone, for instance, and the dealer wants three only, he must take the two left by the pone and one of his own three, leaving the two others face down on the table. The number of cards in hand after the discard and draw must be exactly twelve. Only one discard is allowed, and having been made it cannot be changed after the stock has been touched.
If the pone does not take all the cards to which he is entitled, he is allowed to look at those that remain of the first five that were on the talon; but on no account may he look at any of the dealer’s three. If the dealer leaves any cards in the stock, he has a right to look at them, but the pone may not see them until he has led for the first trick, or announced the suit he will lead. If he announces a suit, and after seeing the cards in the stock does not lead that suit, the dealer may call a suit. If the dealer does not look at the remaining cards the pone cannot see them either.
Each player keeps his discards separate from those of his adversary, and is allowed to refer to them at any time during the play of the hand, but on no account can he see his adversary’s discards, unless that adversary has mixed with them one or more of the unseen cards that were left in the stock, and afterward picks up and looks at his discard, including the card which the other is entitled to see. For instance: The dealer leaves a card without looking at it. This he afterward mixes with his discard. Now, if he looks at his discard, of course he sees the card left in the stock, and the pone may demand to see not only the card left, but the entire discard. The same rule applies to the pone if he takes into his discards an unseen card of the stock.
_=Irregular Discards.=_ If a player discards less cards than he intended, it is too late to remedy the error if he has touched the stock. If he discards too many cards, as the dealer frequently will by laying out five instead of three, he may take them back if he has not touched those in the stock, but if he touches any card in the stock, he must play with the short hand if there are not enough cards left in the stock to make his hand up to twelve.
_=Irregular Drawing.=_ If the pone draws one of the three cards which properly belong to the dealer, he loses the game; and if the dealer draws any of the first five, before the pone has announced that he leaves them, the dealer loses the game. The dealer has no right to touch any part of the stock until the pone has discarded and drawn; but if the pone draws without making any announcement about leaving cards, the dealer has a right to assume that five cards have been taken, and that only three remain in the stock. For instance: The pone discards five cards, but draws four only, without saying anything. The dealer proceeds to discard and draw. He has of course taken one of the pone’s cards, but it is too late to remedy the error or claim a penalty, and the pone must play with eleven cards. It is evident that the dealer will have too many cards, but as he has been led into the error by his adversary, he must be allowed to discard to reduce his hand to twelve.
If a player takes a card too many from the stock, he may replace it if he has not put it with the other cards in his hand. If he has seen it, he must show it to his adversary. If the superfluous card has been taken into the hand, the player must have too many cards, and can score nothing that deal. This does not prevent the adversary from scoring anything he may have in hand or play, even if it is inferior.
If a player is found to have too few cards after the draw, he may still play and count all he can make, but he cannot win a capot, because he has no card for the last trick, which must be won by his adversary.
_=The Stock.=_ If a player looks at one of his adversary’s cards in the stock before or during the draw, he can count nothing that hand. If he looks at a card left in the talon after the draw, which he is not entitled to see, his adversary may call a suit from him as many times as he has seen cards. If a card of the talon is accidentally exposed, the player to whom it would naturally belong may demand a fresh deal.
_=OBJECTS OF THE GAME.=_ In order to understand the principles that guide players in discarding, the objects of the game must first be explained. There are three classes of counting combinations at Piquet, and the player that holds the better of each class, scores it. These combinations are: Point; Sequence; Fours and Triplets.
_=The Point=_ is the suit having the greatest pip value, reckoning the Ace as 11, court cards as 10 each, and the 10 9 8 7 at their face value. If one player’s best suit contains five cards, worth 48 points, and his adversary has a suit worth 51, the latter would be the only one to count, and it would be called the point for that deal.
The value of the point is the number of cards that go to make it. In England, they count a point containing the 7 8 and 9 as worth one less than the number of cards. This is a modern invention, unknown to the older writers on the game, and not always played.
_=Sequence.=_ Three or more cards of the same suit, if next in value to one another, form a sequence. The French terms are generally used to designate the number of cards in the sequence: Tierce, Quatrième, Quinte, Sixième, Septième, Huitième. Many English works on cards erroneously spell quinte without the “e,” and give “quart” for a sequence of four. If one is going to use the French language at all, it may as well be used correctly.
Sequences outrank one another according to the best card, if they are of equal length; so that a quinte to a King would be better than a quinte to a Queen; but a longer sequence always outranks a shorter one, regardless of the high cards. The player holding the best sequence is entitled to score it, together with any inferior sequences he may hold in other suits. Should his adversary hold intermediate sequences, they are of no value. For instance: One player holds a quinte to the Jack in spades, a tierce to the Ten in hearts, and a tierce to the Nine in clubs; while the other holds a quatrième majeure (A K Q J) in hearts, diamonds, and clubs. None of the latter are of any value; but all those in the other hand are good. If the best sequence is a tie, no sequences can be scored by either player.
The value of a sequence is ten more than the number of cards that go to form it, provided that number exceeds four. A tierce counts 3 only, and a quatrième 4 only; but a quinte is worth 15, a sixième 16, and so on.
_=Fours, and Triplets.=_ Any four cards of the same denomination, higher than a Nine, is called a Quatorze; three of any kind higher than the Nine is called a Trio, or sometimes a Brelan. As a trio is seldom mentioned without naming the denomination, it is usual to say; “Three Kings,” or “Three Jacks,” as the case may be. The 7 8 and 9 have no value except in point and sequence. The player holding the quatorze of the highest rank may score any inferior ones that he may hold, and also any trios. Should his adversary hold any intermediate ones, they are of no value. In the absence of any quatorze, the best trio decides which player shall count all the trios he may have in his hand, his adversary counting none. For instance: One player holds four Tens and three Jacks, his adversary holding triplets of Aces, Kings, and Queens. None of the latter would be of any value, as the lowest quatorze is better than the highest trio, and the player with the four Tens could count his three Jacks also. Pairs have no value.
The value of any quatorze is 14, as its name implies. Trios are worth 3 only.
In discarding, the object is to secure the best counting combinations, and also to retain cards which will win tricks in play. The combinations take precedence of one another in scoring, the first being always Carte Blanche, then the Point, then Sequence, and lastly the Quatorze or Trio.
_=DECLARING.=_ Carte blanche must be announced and shown before a discard is made. Each player having discarded and drawn, the elder hand proceeds to announce any counting combinations he holds, which he must declare in regular order, beginning with the point. In announcing the point, the suit is not mentioned, only its value. The sequences are defined by the number of cards and the highest; “sixième to the King,” for instance. The fours and trios are defined in the same way; “four Kings,” or “three Jacks.”