The Penguin Book of Card Games: Everything You Need to Know to Play Over 250 Games

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Authors: David Parlett
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cards. If the top cards of the opening suit
    form one of the fol owing pat erns, lead to the first and second
    tricks as indicated below:
    from lead
    AKQJ
    K thenj
    AKQ-
    K then
    AK-J
    K then
    A-QJ
    A then
    -KQJ
    j
    From any other Ace holding, lead the King if you have it,
    otherwise Ace then fourth best (as it was before the Ace was led).
    Holding neither Ace nor King, lead fourth best of the suit – for
    example, the Seven from Q9873.
    You may lead trumpsifyou hold fiveor more, the appropriate
    signals being:
    from lead
    AKQJ
    J then Q
    AKQ-
    Q then K
    AK…
    if 7+ held, Kthen A, otherwise fourth highest
    The rule of eleven Leading the fourth highest (counting from the
    top down) enables a partner to get a good idea of the lie of the
    cards by applying the ‘rule of eleven’. Assuming your partner to
    have led fourth highest, you subtract its face value from eleven to
    discover how many higher cards are lacking from his hand. By
    further subtracting the number you hold yourself, you discover how
    many lie with the other side, and may thereby be able to place key
    high cards. For example: your partner leads the Seven of a suit of
    which you hold King-Jack. Seven from eleven means there are four
    cards against him that lie above the Seven, of which you hold two.
    He cannot have the Ace, or he would have led it, so it must lie with
    an opponent. So his original holding must have been any four cards
    out of QT987 (regardless of anything lower), and the opponents
    hold between them the Ace and any one of QT98.
    Whist variants
    The game described above is the classic form of English Short
    Whist. Also to be noted are:
    Long Whist
    Until about 1800 the game was played up to 10 (sometimes 9)
    points, and was subsequently known as Long Whist to distinguish it
    from the faster 5-point game, which many experts considered too
    chancy.
    American Whist
    Honours are not counted, and game is 7 points. Very logical.
    Suit-value Whist
    Odd tricks score 1 point each with spades as trump, 2 with clubs, 3
    with diamonds, 4 with hearts. No honours. Game is 10 points.
    Drive Whist
    At Whist Drives, and in the home game if preferred, it is usual not
    to turn a card for trump but to have fixed trumps for each cycle of
    four deals, respectively hearts, diamonds, spades, clubs. Sometimes
    also every fifth hand is played at No Trump. Suitably pre-printed
    scoresheets are obtainable for this purpose. In tournament play it is
    usual for each person or partnership to play a predetermined
    number of deals, each scoring the total number of odd tricks they
    have taken over the number of deals played.
    Cayenne
    Dating from about 1860, this is worth perpetuating as a stage in the
    evolution of Suit-value Whist to Bid Whist to Bridge.
    At each deal a suit is established as the cayenne suit by cut ing
    either the playing pack or, preferably, a second pack and noting the

    either the playing pack or, preferably, a second pack and noting the
    suit of the top card of the bot om half. This establishes an order of
    suit preference as fol ows:
    if the cayenne suit is
    ×4 if trumps
    then second colour is
    ×3 if trumps
    third colour is
    ×2 if trumps
    fourth colour is
    ×1 if trumps
    Deal thirteen each in batches of 4-4-5. Dealer either announces
    trumps or passes this responsibility to his partner, who may not
    refuse. Whoever decides announces one of the fol owing six
    contracts: cayenne, second colour, third colour, fourth colour, grand,
    nul o. Naming cayenne or a colour contracts to win a majority of
    tricks (7+) with that suit as trump. Grand is a bid to win a majority
    of tricks at no trump, nul o to lose a majority at no trump. At nul o,
    an Ace counts as the lowest card of its suit unless its holder specifies
    otherwise upon playing it. Eldest leads to the first trick.
    The side taking most tricks in a suit contract counts a basic 1
    point per odd trick taken, and whichever side held the majority of
    honours (AKQJT of trumps) scores a basic 2 if they held

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