DUMMY.
There are three forms of Dummy: The English game, for three players; the French game, for three or four: and the game now generally known as Bridge, or Bridge Whist. Dummy is not recognized in any form by the American Whist League, and there are no American Laws governing it. We shall describe each variety of the game in its turn; beginning with the English.
Cards. ENGLISH 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 patterns as those used in whist.
Players. According to the English usage, Dummy is played by three persons, and the table is complete with that number.
They cut for partners and for the deal; the player cutting the lowest card takes dummy for the first rubber; the one cutting the next lowest takes dummy for the second rubber; and the one cutting the highest takes it for the last rubber. It is considered obligatory to play three rubbers, in order that each may have whatever advantage or disadvantage may be supposed to attach to the dummy. The three rubbers so played are called a Tournée. It is sometimes agreed that one player shall take dummy continuously, on condition that he concedes to his adversaries one point in each rubber. When this is done, the largest rubber that the dummy’s partner can win is one of seven; and he may win nothing; whereas his adversaries may win a rubber of nine, and must win at least two. This concession of a point is not made, as many imagine, because it is an advantage to have the (dummy) partner’s hand exposed; but because it is an advantage to have the player’s hand concealed. He knows the collective contents of the adversaries’ hands; each of them knows only the contents of dummy’s hand and his own.
Cutting. The player cutting the lowest card has the choice of seats and cards; but he must deal the first hand for his dummy; not for himself. The methods of spreading, cutting, deciding ties, etc., described in connection with whist, are those employed in dummy.
Position of the Players. The players are distinguished, as at whist, by the two first and last letters of the alphabet, and their positions at the table are indicated in the same manner. There is no mark to distinguish the dummy hand; a defect which is remedied in the French system.
Dealing. At the beginning of a rubber, dummy’s partner presents the pack to his left-hand adversary to be cut, and deals from right to left, beginning with the player on his right, and turning up the last card for dummy’s trump. When two packs are used, there is no rule as to which player shall collect and shuffle the still pack. On this point the French rules are very explicit.
The general rules with regard to irregularities in the deal are the same as at whist.
The cards having been dealt, it is usual for dummy’s partner to take up and sort the dummy first. There are several ways of laying out dummy’s hand; the most common being to run the suits down in rows, with the turn-up across and to the right of the other trumps, if any.
Method of Spreading Dummy’s Cards.
Stakes. The remarks made on this subject in connection with whist apply equally to dummy. Dummy’s partner must pay to, or receive from each adversary the amount agreed.
Method of Playing. The general method of playing is identical with that of whist, with the following exceptions:—
When it is dummy’s turn to play, his partner selects the card.
The Revoke. For this dummy is not liable to any penalty, as his adversaries can see his cards. Even should the revoke be occasioned by dummy’s cards being disarranged, or one of them covered up, the adversaries should be as able to detect the error as the partner. Should dummy’s hand revoke, it cannot be remedied after the trick in which it occurs has been turned and quitted; and the game must proceed as if no revoke had occurred. All the penalties for a revoke may be enforced against dummy’s partner, should he renounce in error, and not correct it in time. There being no American laws for dummy, the English penalty of three tricks or three points may be enforced, and the revoking player cannot win the game that hand.
Cards Played in Error. Dummy’s partner is not liable to any penalty for cards dropped face upwards on the table, or two or more played at once, because it is obvious that Dummy cannot gain any advantage from such exposed cards.
Leading out of Turn. Should either dummy or his partner lead out of turn, the adversaries may call a suit from the one that should have led. It should be noticed that if it was not the turn of either to lead, there is no penalty; for neither can have gained any advantage from knowing what suit the other wished to lead, or from the exposed card. Should all have played to the erroneous lead, 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.
Cutting Out. As already observed, there is no change of partners, or of the rotation of the deal, until the completion of a rubber; but at the beginning of each rubber, dummy must deal the first hand. Should one side win the first two games in any rubber, the third is not played. At the end of the tournée, should any player wish to retire, and another offer to take his place, the cards must be shuffled and cut as at the beginning; a player’s position in one tournée giving him no rights in the next. There is nothing in the English game to recognize that there may be more than three candidates for dummy; as it is supposed that if four were present, they would prefer playing whist.
Suggestions for Good Play. As these are equally proper to any form of dummy, we shall postpone their consideration until we have described the other varieties of the game; French dummy, and Bridge; giving them all at the end of the chapter on “Bridge.”