DOUBLE DUMMY.
CARDS. Double Dummy is played with a full pack of fifty-two cards, ranking as at whist both for cutting and playing. Two packs are generally used.
MARKERS are necessary, and are of the same description as those used in whist.
PLAYERS. According to the English usage, double dummy is played by two persons, and the table is complete with that number.
CUTTING. The players cut for the deal; the player cutting the lowest card deals for his dummy first, and has the choice of sitting to the right or left of his opponent. It is usual to select the seat on the right of the living player, because it is possible that one may forget whether or not certain cards have been played, and under such circumstances it is better to lead up to an exposed hand than to one whose contents you are not sure of.
The methods of spreading, cutting, deciding ties, etc., are the same as those employed at whist.
POSITION OF THE PLAYERS. It is not usually considered necessary to distinguish the players further than to indicate which hand had the original lead. For this purpose the whist notation is used, A being the leader, and Z the dealer.
DEALING. When two packs are used, the still pack should be shuffled by the non-dealer, and placed on the left of the player or dummy whose turn it will be to deal next.
The general rules with regard to irregularities in the deal are the same as in whist.
The cards being dealt, it is usual to sort the dummy hands first, running the suits down in rows, with the turn-up trump across, and to the right of the others.
STAKES. The remarks already made on this subject in connection with whist and dummy, apply equally to double dummy, except that there is no double payment; but each player wins from or loses to his living adversary the unit agreed upon.
METHOD OF PLAYING. This so closely resembles dummy as to need no further description. Neither dummy can revoke, and there are no such things as exposed cards, or cards played in error. It is very common for one player to claim that he will win a certain number of tricks, and for his adversary to admit it, and allow him to score them, without playing the hand out.
LEADING OUT OF TURN. Should either of the dummies or the players lead out of turn, the adversary may call a suit from the one that ought to have led; but if it was the turn of neither, there is no penalty. If all four have played to the trick, the error cannot be corrected, and no penalty remains.
The methods of Taking Tricks; Scoring; Claiming and Counting Honours; Marking Rubber Points, etc., are the same as in whist, and the counters are used in the same manner.
RUBBERS. If the first two games are won by the same player and his dummy, the third is not played. Tournées are not played, and the completion of the rubber breaks up the table.
CUTTING IN. The table being complete with two, at the end of a rubber a new table must be formed.
SUGGESTIONS FOR GOOD PLAY. The player should first carefully examine the exposed hands, and by comparing them with his own, suit by suit, should fix in his mind the cards held by his living adversary. This takes time, and in many places it is the custom to expose the four hands upon the table. Players who have better memories than their opponents object to this, for the same reason that they prefer sitting on the right of the living player. It is not at all uncommon for a player to forget that certain cards have been played, to his very serious loss.
The hands once fixed in the mind, some time should be given to a careful consideration of the best course to pursue; after which the play should proceed pretty rapidly until the last few tricks, when another problem may present itself.
There is nothing in the game beyond the skilful use of the tenace position, discarding, and establishing cross-ruffs. Analysis is the mental power chiefly engaged. There are no such things as inferences, false cards, finesse, underplay, speculative trump leads, or judgment of human nature. The practice of the game is totally different from any other form of whist, and much more closely resembles chess.
The laws of Dummy will be found at the end of the English Whist Laws.