Part 1
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HOYLE'S GAMES MODERNIZED
Edited by
PROFESSOR HOFFMANN
NEW EDITION (Reset)
Thoroughly Revised to 1909
With the addition of Chapters on AUCTION BRIDGE and Three other New Games
by
ERNEST BERGHOLT
And with New Chapters on ROULETTE and TRENTE ET QUARANTE BY CAPTAIN BROWNING ("Slambo" of _The Westminster Gazette_)
With Diagrams
London George Routledge and Sons, Limited New York: E. P. Dutton & Co. 1909
{v}
PREFACE
To the present generation the name of Edmond Hoyle conveys but a vague meaning, though the phrase "according to Hoyle" is still now and then used as a synonym for correct play in a card-game.
Hoyle was in fact the "Cavendish" of his day, and was in many ways a man of special mark. He was born in 1672, and died in 1769, having outlived half-a-dozen monarchs. Of his earlier life little is known. He is said to have been called to the Bar, though whether he ever practised as an advocate is uncertain. In 1742 he was living in Queen's Square, and giving lessons in whist-play, which he was the first to reduce to a scientific method. He had up to that time communicated his system either personally, or in the form of manuscript, but in that year he for the first time published his memorable "Short Treatise on the Game of Whist." Of this first edition only two copies (one in the Bodleian Library) are known to exist. Its price was a guinea. It was freely pirated, and this fact was probably the reason that the succeeding editions, of which there were three published in 1743, were issued at the more modest price of two {vi} shillings, each genuine copy being guaranteed by the autograph of the author. Other editions followed, several of which are only now represented by single copies. Of the seventh edition, published in 1747, no copy exists. The eighth (1748) embodied, in addition to the Whist manual, short treatises on Quadrille, Piquet, and Backgammon, which had in the meantime appeared separately. The book was from time to time further amplified, and the eleventh edition (precise date uncertain) is entitled "Mr. Hoyle's Games of Whist, Quadrille, Piquet, Chess and Backgammon Complete." The autograph signature to each copy was continued until Hoyle's death. In the fifteenth edition it is replaced by an impression from a wood block.
It is significant of the respect in which Hoyle was held, that his Laws of Whist, with some slight alterations by the _habitués_ of White's and Saunders' chocolate-houses (the then headquarters of the game), were accepted as the final authority from 1760 till 1864, when the basis of the present code, settled by the Turf and Portland Clubs, was adopted in their stead.
Nothing would now be gained by reproducing Hoyle's original text. In the present volume no attempt is made to do so. Its teachings are, however, but the teachings of the master, amplified and brought up-to-date, and it is a fitting tribute to his memory that his name should be retained upon the title-page.
LOUIS HOFFMANN.
{vii}
PREFACE TO THE REVISED EDITION OF 1909
The articles on Whist and Bridge have been rewritten and brought thoroughly up-to-date. Those on Billiards, Pool, and Snooker Pool have been completely revised, and all the recent changes in Rules have been either incorporated or quoted. Entirely new chapters have been added on Auction Bridge, Five Hundred, Quinto, and Poker Patience.
For the articles specially written for this New Edition on Roulette and Trente et Quarante, the able pen of Captain Browning is responsible.
ERNEST BERGHOLT.
{ix}
CONTENTS
PAGE
ALL FOURS The Scoring Items 1 Method of Playing 2 Four-handed All Fours 3
BACCARAT Baccarat Chemin de Fer 5 Baccarat Banque 8
BÉZIQUE The Old-fashioned Game 12 Hints for Play 15 Rubicon Bézique 17 The Laws of Rubicon Bézique 22
BLIND HOOKEY 32
CRIBBAGE 34 The Five-card Game 35 The Six-card Game 49 The Seven-card Game 50 Three-handed Cribbage 51 Four-handed Cribbage 51
ÉCARTÉ 53 The Laws of Écarté 53 French Terms used in Écarté 61 Illustrative Game 61 Jeux de Règle 63 {x}
EUCHRE 68 Two-handed Euchre 69 Four-handed Euchre 70 Three-handed Euchre 72 Marking the Score 72 Hints for Play 73
LOO Three-card Loo 86 Five-card Loo 89 The Laws of Loo 91
NAPOLEON The Orthodox Game 94 The Variations 96 The Game Explained for Novices 99 The Numbers of Players 102
PIQUET The Deal 104 Discarding and Taking in 105 Calling 105 The Play 107 Carte Blanche 111 Repique 111 Pique 112 Capot 112 The Final Score 113 Application of Skill 115
POKER The Varieties of the Game 120 Draw Poker 120 {xi} The Probabilities of the Various Combinations 130 The Straddle 131 Jack-pots 132 Table Stakes 133 Straight Poker 134 Stud Poker 134 Whiskey Poker 135 Mistigris 136 The Tiger 136
POPE JOAN 137
SOLO WHIST Description of the Game 142 The Stakes 147 A Digest of the Laws 149 A Few Maxims 154
VINGT-UN 157 French Vingt-Un 163
WHIST The Laws of Whist 166 The Etiquette of Whist 183 Dummy 184 Double Dummy 185 How to become a Good Player 185 Leads 191 Return Leads 195 Second in Hand 196 What to Play Third Hand 198 The Play of the Fourth Hand 201 The Call for Trumps 201 {xii} The Echo to the Call 203 Discarding 204 The Use and Abuse of Trumps 205 Underplay 208 False Cards 209 How to Play Whist 210 Unblocking 212 Placing the Lead 214 The Play of the Twelfth and Thirteenth Cards 218 Maxims 219 Books on Whist 222
BRIDGE Relation to Whist 223 The Score in Actual Practice 224 Hints for Play 227 The Laws of Bridge (1904) 228 Books on Bridge 246
AUCTION BRIDGE 247 The Laws of Auction Bridge 248 Hints to Players 252 General Remarks 254
FIVE HUNDRED 257 Revokes 261 Book on Five Hundred 262
QUINTO 263 Dummy (or Three-Handed) Quinto 266 Book on Quinto 266
POKER PATIENCE 267 Serpent Poker Patience 268 {xiii}
BACKGAMMON The Board and Men 271 Playing 273 Bearing off the Men 275 Hints for Play 277
BAGATELLE The Appliances of the Game 281 How to Play 284
BILLIARDS The Implements of the Game, and Terms used in connection with it 287 The Half-ball Stroke 293, 298 Losing Hazards into the Top Pockets from Baulk 302 Middle-Pocket Hazards 305 Position 307 Losing Hazards 308 Winning Hazards 309 Cannons 311 The Billiards Control Club Rules 320 Pyramids 321 Shell Out 322 Works of Reference 323
POOL General Counsels 324 The National Rules of Pool 325
SNOOKER POOL Description of the Game 331 The National Rules of Snooker Pool 332 {xiv}
CHESS The Board and Men 336 The Movements of the Men and their Power to Take 337 Chess Notation 343 Example 345 Technical Terms used in the Game 347 Value of the Pieces 352 The Openings 353 The Giuoco Piano 354 The Evans Gambit 363 The Evans Gambit Declined 371 The Two Knights' Defence 373 The Ruy Lopez 377 Philidor's Defence 381 Three Knights' Game 383 Four Knights' Game 384 The Vienna Opening 385 The Steinitz Gambit 386 The Scotch Game 387 The Scotch Gambit 389 The Danish and Centre Gambits 391 Petroff's Defence 392 The King's Gambits The King's Knight's Gambit 393 The Muzio Gambit 394 The Salvio Gambit 396 The Kieseritzky Gambit 397 The Allgaier Gambit 398 The Cunningham Gambit 400 The Bishop's Gambit 400 The Gambit declined 403 {xv} Close Games 405 The French Defence 406 The Sicilian Defence 408 The Queen's Gambit 409 The Fianchetto 409 The End Game King and Pawn against King 410 King and Queen against King 415 King and Two Rooks against King 417 King and Rook against King 418 King and Two Bishops against King 419 King, Bishop and Knight against King 420 End Game with Two Knights 423 General Observations 424 Bibliography of Chess 425
DRAUGHTS The Rules of the Game 427 General Advice 432 Names of the Various Openings and how Formed 433 End Games Two Kings to One 436 Three Kings to Two 437 The Elementary Positions First Position 439 Second Position 441 Third Position 443 Fourth Position 445 Works of Reference 446
ROULETTE Description of the Game 447 {xvi} The Different Modes of Staking 449 Systems The "_Montant et Demontant_" System 455 The Fitzroy System 455 The "_Labouchere_" System 456
TRENTE ET QUARANTE Description of the Game 464 Staking 465 Method of Play 469
{1}
HOYLE'S GAMES MODERNIZED
ALL-FOURS.
ALL-FOURS, known in America as OLD SLEDGE, or SEVEN UP, is usually played by two players, with the full pack of fifty-two cards, which rank in play as at Whist, the ace being the highest, and the two the lowest. The game is seven points.
There are four different items which count towards the score, whence the name _All-Fours_. Such items are as follows:
_High._--The highest trump out, scoring one to the original holder.
_Low._--The lowest trump out, scoring one to the original holder.
_Jack._--The knave of trumps, scoring one to the dealer, if turned up; if otherwise, to the winner of the trick to which it falls.
_Game._--Scoring one to the ultimate holder of the more valuable cards in the tricks won by him, according to the following scale:--
For each ten (trump or otherwise) 10 For each ace " 4 For each king " 3 For each queen " 2 For each knave " 1
{2}
N.B.--In the case of the players being equal in this particular, or of neither party holding any card which counts towards Game, the elder hand scores the point.
METHOD OF PLAYING.
The players cut for deal, the highest card having the preference.[1] The dealer gives six cards to each, turning up the thirteenth as trump. If the elder hand is dissatisfied with his cards, he may say, "I beg," in which case the dealer is bound either to allow him (by the phrase, "Take one") to score one point, or to give each player three more cards from the pack, turning up that next following by way of fresh trump card. If this should be of the same suit as the original trump, the dealer is bound to give three more cards to each, again turning up the seventh, until a new suit does actually turn up. If the turn-up card be a knave, the dealer scores one, this taking precedence of any other score. If, by reason of the elder hand "begging," there is a further deal, and the dealer a second time turns up a knave, he again scores one. The elder hand leads any card he pleases. His antagonist must follow suit or trump, his right to do the latter not being affected by his holding cards of the suit led. If, however, having a card of the suit led, he neither follows suit nor trumps, he becomes liable to the penalty of a revoke.
The player of the highest card of the suit led, or a trump, wins the trick, which is turned down as at {3} Whist, and so on throughout the six tricks. In scoring, the order of precedence is (1) High, (2) Low, (3) Jack, (4) Game; subject, as we have seen, to the contingency of "Jack" having been the turn-up card, the point for this being scored before the hand is played.
The play is mainly directed to capturing the Jack, and such cards as may score towards Game.
Some players score a point whenever the adversary does not follow suit or trump. Some, again, make it the rule that each player must count his score without looking at his tricks, under penalty of losing one or more points, as may be agreed, in the event of a miscalculation.
FOUR-HANDED ALL-FOURS.
The players cut to decide who shall be partners; the two highest playing against the two lowest, and facing each other, as at Whist. The right to the first deal is decided by the cut, the highest dealing.[2] Afterwards each player deals in rotation.
The dealer and the elder hand alone look at their cards in the first instance, the option of begging resting with the latter. The other two players must not take up their cards till the dealer has decided whether he will "give one" or "run the cards" for a new trump.
The players play in succession as at Whist, four cards constituting a trick. In other respects, the play is the same as in the two-handed game.[3]
* * * * *
{4}
BACCARAT.[4]
Baccarat has many points of resemblance to Vingt-un, but the element of chance is much more prominent. The stakes are made before any card is dealt, and one player plays for several. There is therefore, save on the part of the banker, scarcely any scope for personal skill or judgment.
The object of the game is to hold such cards as shall together amount to the point of _nine_. The cards from ace to nine count each according to the number of its pips. Court cards are equivalent to tens, and ten at this game is _baccarat_, a synonym for zero. Thus a player holding a three and a ten (or court card) is considered to have three only; a player holding two tens and a five counts five only. And not only is a tenth card baccarat (0), but ten occurring as part of a total score, however made, is disregarded; so that a five and a six count, not as eleven, but as one only; three, seven and five, not as fifteen, but as five; and so on.
There are two forms of Baccarat, known respectively as _Baccarat Chemin de Fer_ and _Baccarat_ {5} _Banque_, the latter being the version more frequently played. A description of Baccarat Chemin de Fer will, however, be the best introduction to the explanation of Baccarat Banque, and we therefore take it first in order.
BACCARAT CHEMIN DE FER.
Six full packs of cards of the same pattern are used, shuffled together. The players seat themselves round the table. In the centre is a basket for the reception of the used cards. If there is any question as to the relative positions of the players, it is decided by lot. The person who draws the first place seats himself next on the right hand of the croupier, and the rest follow in succession. The croupier shuffles the cards, and then passes them on, each player having the right to shuffle in turn. When they have made the circuit of the table, the croupier again shuffles, and, having done so, offers the cards to the player on his left, who cuts. The croupier places the cards before him, and, taking a manageable quantity from the top, hands it to the player on his right, who for the time being is dealer, or "banker." The other players are punters. The dealer places before him the amount he is disposed to risk, and the players "make their stakes." Any punter, beginning with the player on the immediate right of the dealer, is entitled to "go bank," viz. to play against the whole of the banker's stake. If no one says "Banco" (which is the formula by which the desire to go bank is expressed), each player places his stake before him. If the total so staked by the seated players is not equal to the amount for the {6} time being in the bank, other persons standing round may stake in addition. If it is more than equal to the amount in the bank, the punters nearest in order to the banker have the preference up to such amount, the banker having the right to decline any stake in excess of that limit.
The stakes being made, the banker proceeds to deal four cards, face downwards, the first, for the punters, to the right; the second to himself; the third for the punters, the fourth to himself. The player who has the highest stake represents the punters. If two punters are equal in this respect, the player first in rotation has the preference. Each then looks at his cards. If he finds that they make either _nine_, the highest point at Baccarat, or _eight_, the next highest, he turns them up, announcing the number aloud, and the hand is at an end.
If the banker's point is the better, the stakes of the punter become the property of the bank. If the punters' point is the better, the banker (or the croupier for him) pays each punter the amount of his stake. The stakes are made afresh, and the game proceeds. If the banker has been the winner, he deals again. If otherwise, the cards are passed to the player next in order, who thereupon becomes banker in his turn.
We will now take the case that neither party turns up his cards; this is tantamount to an admission that neither has eight or nine. In such case the banker is bound to offer a third card. If the point of the punter is baccarat (_i.e._ cards together amounting to ten or twenty, = 0), one, two, three, or four, he accepts as a matter of course, replying, "Yes," or "Card." A third card is then given to {7} him, face upwards. If his point is already six or seven, he will, equally as a matter of course, _refuse_ the offered card. To accept a card with six or seven, or refuse with baccarat, one, two, three, or four (known in either case as a "false draw"), is a breach of the established procedure of the game, and brings down upon the head of the offender the wrath of his fellow-punters; indeed, in some circles he is made liable for any loss they may incur thereby, and in others is punishable by a fine. At the point of five, and no other, is it optional to the punter whether to take a card or not; nobody has the right to advise him, or to remark upon his decision.