What is called being "put to a card," is, if possible, to be avoided. The following will serve as an example:
A holds king, knave, ten, of hearts; queen of diamonds, and knave of spades (nine of clubs turned up). A proposes, and is refused. He may now conclude that Y has two trumps at least.
A leads king of hearts, which wins; then knave, which wins. If Y holds ace of hearts, A must lose the point. If, however, Y hold either a diamond lower than the queen, or a spade lower than the knave, A may win, if he keep the right card; if, however, A play a third heart, and this is trumped, and Y play, say, queen of trumps, A must discard either his queen of diamonds or his knave of spades, and he has no guide as to which to discard. Instead, therefore, of playing the third heart he should lead either the diamond or the spade, and thus avoid being "put to a card."
The dealer has the option of refusing or accepting;
before doing either, he should not only consider well the cards in his hand, but the state of the score.
It is not unusual for a player who may hold the trick for certainty to propose in the hopes of being refused, in order that he may, by winning the trick, score two. If this occurred at the score of three, the results would be fatal.
As a general rule, refuse if only two cards can be discarded. A king or a trump should not be discarded in the first instance.
With three trumps, refuse, unless the king of trumps is one of the three, when there is a great chance that the cards taken in may enable the vole to be won.
With only one trump and one king, no matter what the other suits may be, if not having a card higher than a ten, accept. But with one trump, two queens guarded, or a king and queen guarded, refuse. Although in many cases, where it is the rule to play, it is two to one in favour of the player winning the point, it must not be imagined that he will always win. He may win twice out of three times, but it is possible for the adversary to hold exceptionally good cards, and to win the point against the jeu de règle. For example, A holds queen, ace, and seven of hearts (trumps), king of spades, king of diamonds, and, of course, plays without proposing. Y holds king, knave, nine, and eight of hearts, and nine of clubs, and must win the point; but for A to propose would have been wrong, his hand being strong enough to win four times out of five.
When a player proposes, and is refused, he may form an estimate of the suit or suits out of trumps in which his adversary it likely to be strong. Suppose