"Three" Nap is very nearly a game of chance. Only fifteen cards, or practically one quarter of the pack, are in play, so that the chances are nearly three to one against any given card being out. Consequently great risks are run, and these risks are for the most part justified. A player should call Nap on any hand of one suit headed by an honour, however small the remaining cards; while he has a tolerable chance of making the same call upon any hand consisting of two suits, if he has four cards of the first suit headed by an honour, and an ace, king, or queen to fill up his hand. Where the hand consists of three or four suits, the cards that are not trumps should be aces or kings to make the call a prudent one.
Reverting to the game as played by four or five players, the novice may be advised to lead trumps against the caller when he only requires one more trick, and, as a general rule, to let trumps alone when
the caller has more than one trick to make to establish his declaration.
In conclusion, remember that on an ordinary call your first discard should be from your shortest and weakest suit, and bear the fact in mind as you note the discards of other players. In a Misery, your original discard should be your highest card of your shortest suit—a single card for preference, unless it be a deuce or tray.[[31]]
PIQUET.
Piquet is generally regarded as the best of card games for two players.
It is played with a pack of thirty-two cards, which is called a "piquet pack," all below the seven being excluded. The cards rank in Whist order—ace, king, queen, knave, ten, nine, eight, seven.
The score is made partly by combinations of cards held in the hand, and partly by points marked in the course of play.