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6 Popular Card Games

Auction at a Glance

Partners and Deal. 4 players as partners, 2 against 2. There should be 2 packs, to mark the position of the deal. Remove the jokers; shuffle one pack and spread it, face down. The 4 players each draw a card, and the 2 lowest are partners against the 2 highest. In cutting, ace is low. In case of ties, spades have the preference, then hearts, then diamonds. The lowest chooses his seat and cards and deals the first hand; his partner, sitting opposite, shuffles the other pack, and places it at his right, ready for the next deal. Player on dealer's right cuts, and 13 cards are dealt to each player, one at a time, but no trump is turned. In case of a misdeal, the same player deals again. Otherwise, the deal passes to the left. Bidding. There are 5 bids or calls, which outrank one another. Clubs are lowest, then diamonds, hearts, spades, and no-trumps. The dealer must bid at least "one" in a named suit, or no-trump, or he may pass. Each player in turn to the left may then pass, or bid the same number in a higher call, or more in a lower call; such as one no-trump over one heart, or three clubs over two diamonds. The highest bid allowed is seven. Both sides may bid the same suit, and a player may overcall his partner. The bidding goes round and round until three players in succession pass. If no bid is made, the deal passes. Doubling. Any player, in his turn, may double the last bid made by an opponent, and the opponent, or his partner, in his proper turn, may redouble or bid something else. A player cannot double his partner and only one redouble is allowed. The double increases the value of the tricks and penalties in scoring; but not in bidding; 2 spades will overcall 2 hearts doubled. The highest bid made is the winning call, or "contract," doubled or not. The Play. The declarer is the partner who first named the winning call, no matter what bids or doubles have intervened. His partner is the dummy. The bidding finished, the player to the left of the declarer leads any card he pleases, and dummy's cards are then laid face up on the table, sorted into suits. Dummy takes no further part in the play, except to see that his partner does not revoke, the declarer playing both hands. Each player in turn must follow suit if he can, or may trump or discard if he cannot. The cards rank from A K down to the deuce, and trumps, if any, win all other suits. The highest card played wins the trick and the winner leads for the next trick. The declarer gathers the tricks for his side; either adversary for their side The first 6 tricks taken by the declarer are his "book." All over the book count toward game, if he makes good on his contract. On a call to make 1 or 2, he may make 5 or 6; but if he has bid 3 he must win 3 over his book, or 9 tricks altogether, or he is "set." Scoring. The declarers side is the only one that can score toward game. (The adversaries score only honors and penalties.) If he makes his contract, he scores for each trick over his book, 10 points at no-trumps, 9 at spades, 8 at hearts, 7 at diamonds, or 6 at clubs. These trick scores are all put "below the line" on the score pad. 30 points is game, but all over 30 is scored. Draw a line under a game won. When the same partners win two games, that ends the rubber. The scores are then settled up, and the cards cut for partners, deal, etc., for a new rubber. Honors and Penalties. In addition to the trick scores toward game, there are certain honor scores and penalties, which are put "above the line" on the pad. The honors are the AKQJ 10 of the trump suit, or the 4 aces at no-trump. Either side may hold and score honors. 3 between partners have the value of 2 tricks, so that 3 in spades would be worth 18; 4 honors same as 4 tricks, 5 honors same as 5 tricks; but 4 or 5 in one hand count double, and 4 in one hand, 5th in partner's are the same as 9 tricks. (In spades, this would be 81 points.) At no-trumps, "easy aces" count for neither side, but 3 aces count 30, 4 aces 40, and 4 in one hand 100. For winning 12 out of the 13 tricks, little slam, add 50; for grand slam, 13 tricks, 100. For winning the rubber, add 250. If the contract is doubled, the trick scores have a double value, or a quadruple value if redoubled. Spades doubled are worth 18 a trick to the declarer, if he makes his contract; if redoubled, 36. He also gets 50 in honors for fulfilling a doubled contract, and 50 for each trick over his contract, if any. If redoubled, this figure is 100. If he made 5 over the book on a contract to make 3, doubled, he would score 5 times 18 below the line and 150 above, together with honors as held. Penalties. If the declarer fails to make his contract, he scores nothing but honors as held, and his adversaries score 50 in honors for each trick by which he falls short, 100 if they doubled; 200 if it was redoubled. The penalty for a revoke, by the declarer is 50 points in honors,. If his adversaries revoke, he can take 50 points, or 2 of their tricks, which he adds to his own and scores as if he had won them in play. The revoking side can score nothing but honors as held. At the end of a rubber, everything is added up, the lower score is deducted from the higher, and the difference is the number of points won. The side having the most points technically wins the rubber, regardless of which side won two games. Hints On Bidding. The dealer, or first bidder, should bid one on any suit of 5 cards headed by A K, A Q J, or K Q J. These are called "tops." Do not bid a suit without, A, or K Q at the top, and then only when you have an A, or K Q in other suits. Bid no-trump with sure tricks in 3 different suits, but give hearts or spades the preference if you have 5 cards in either of those suits. Never bid a suit just because you have 5 or more cards in it, unless you have the A, or K Q at the top as well. Wait until the bid comes round again. Do not increase your own suit bids if overcalled, unless you have extra tricks in other suits. With a very strong suit, 6 or more, and the tops bid two on the first round. With two suits, either of which is a sound bid, call the one of higher rank first. With only one small of your partner's suit, or none of it, bid your own suit if you have a good one, unless he bids two; then leave him alone. With 3 small of his suit, or two good ones, "assist him," by increasing his bid if it is overcalled, only when you have at least 2 sure tricks in other suits. Otherwise pass if he is overcalled. Do not count trumps as tricks when you assist, unless you have none of another suit, or only a singleton. Then count each time you can trump as worth a trick. Do not double, unless you can defeat the bid, and are ready to double anything else they may bid. The conventional double of one-trick bids, when weak in that suit, but strong elsewhere, is a command to your partner to name his long suit, unless he can stop the adverse suit twice, in which case he should bid no-trump. The double of a no-trumper ask partner to call his longest suit. Hints On Play: If your partner has bid a suit, lead the best you have of it, unless you have an A K suit of your own. Then lead the K of that suit first. In leading your own suits, begin with the K if you have A or Q with it, or both. Lead A from A Q J, or A and 4 small. Lead Q from Q J, the J from J 10 and the 10 from K J 10. With no high-card lead, begin with the 4th-best, such as the 5 from K 10 6 5 3. Follow K with A to deny the Q; follow A with Q to show the J. Avoid suits headed by A Q K J, or Q 10, if possible. Lead through strong suits in dummy, especially A Q, or K J. "your partner should lead up to dummy's weak suits. Second hand, cover an honor with an honor, and with any two or more cards in sequence, play the lower, such as Q from K Q. Third hand, win tricks as cheaply as possible. Play K from A K; Q from K. Q. Always return your partner's lead, unless you have a very strong suit of your own. With only 2 small of your partner's lead, play the higher first, to show you can trump the third round. The declarer should get out the trumps whenever he has a good suit to defend. Try to make dummy's trumps separately. In no-trumpers, play for the suit you have most of, counting both hands. Keep high cards in the hand with the long suit. Lead from the weak hand to the strong, and with A Q third hand, play the Q; with A J 10, the 10. This is called "finessing." Try to lead through the adversary who is stronger in certain suits. Extracted from "6 Popular Card Games". Download the complete ebook from SuccessEsource.com for $5 (PDF format).

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