TEXT BOOKS.
- Solo Whist, by R.F. Green.
- How to Play Solo Whist, by Wilks & Pardon.
For the Laws of Solo Whist, see Whist Family Laws.
ILLUSTRATIVE SOLO WHIST HANDS.
The dealer, Z, turns up the heart 3 in both hands, and A leads. The underlined card wins the trick, and the card under it is the next one led.
| A Solo. | Trick | A Misère. | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | Y | B | Z | A | Y | B | Z | |
| 10♢ | 8♢ | Q♢ | K♢ | 1 | K♠ | 7♠ | J♠ | 10♠ |
| 3♢ | 9♢ | A♢ | 2♢ | 2 | Q♠ | 5♠ | 9♠ | 8♠ |
| ♡6 | ♡2 | ♡A | ♡3 | 3 | Q♢ | 5♢ | A♢ | J♢ |
| ♣8 | ♡4 | ♡Q | ♡K | 4 | 9♢ | 4♢ | K♢ | 10♢ |
| ♣9 | ♣A | ♣4 | ♣7 | 5 | ♡6 | 3♠ | 6♠ | 8♢ |
| A♠ | 9♠ | K♠ | 4♠ | 6 | ♡7 | 2♠ | 4♠ | ♣A |
| ♣K | ♣2 | ♣6 | ♣5 | 7 | ♣10 | ♣8 | ♣7 | ♣K |
| 7♠ | 2♠ | Q♠ | 6♠ | 8 | ♣9 | ♣6 | 7♢ | ♣Q |
| 5♢ | ♣3 | ♣Q | ♡8 | 9 | ♣5 | ♣4 | 6♢ | ♣J |
| 6♢ | 3♠ | ♡5 | J♢ | 10 | ♡8 | ♣2 | ♡K | ♣3 |
| 7♢ | ♡10 | ♡9 | ♡J | 11 | ♡A | ♡2 | ♡Q | ♡3 |
| 8♠ | 5♠ | ♡7 | 4♢ | 12 | 2♢ | 3♢ | ♡9 | ♡4 |
| J♠ | ♣J | ♣10 | 10♠ | 13 | ♡J | A♠ | ♡10 | ♡5 |
Solo player wins. Misère player loses.
In the first example, A and Y pass, and B calls Solo. A follows the modern practice of leading the top of his long weak suit, as a card of warning and support for his partners. Z knows Y must have 9 or Ace of diamonds, or no more, and he avoids the error of opening another suit, especially a weak one. B continues with the trump Queen, hoping to drop King and Jack together. At trick 5, Z cannot give up the command of trumps, and as A’s lead and discard indicate that he wants spades led up to him, Z’s best chance is that Y has some clubs. Y leads to A. At trick 9, Z knows B cannot have 10 and 9 of trumps, or he would have led one of them to prevent the J and 8 both making, so Y must have one of those trumps. At trick 11, if B leads the club, he loses his call. He must again take the chance of bringing the trumps down together.
In the second example A proposes, or calls Solo, and Y over-calls him with Misère. The great point in playing against Misère is to continue leading suits in which he is known to be long, so as to give your partners discards. This B does with the two long spades, the caller being marked with the ace and others on the second trick. Then Z allows B to discard his high diamonds on the clubs.