In the following paragraphs the words dealer and player will be used to distinguish the adversaries at Écarté.
The principle underlying the jeux de règle is the probable distribution of the cards in the trump suit, and the fact that the odds are always against the dealer’s holding two or more. There are thirty-two cards in the Écarté pack, of which eight are trumps, and one of these is always turned up. The turn-up and the player’s hand give us six cards which are known, and leave twenty-six unknown. Of these unknown cards the dealer holds five, and he may get these five in 65,780 different ways. The theory of the jeux de règle is that there are only a certain number of those ways which will give him two or more trumps. If the player holds one trump, the odds against the dealer’s holding two or more are 44,574 to 21,206; or a little more than 2 to 1. If the player holds two trumps, the odds against the dealer’s holding two or more are 50,274 to 15,506; or more than 3 to 1. It is therefore evident that any hand which is certain to win three tricks if the dealer has not two trumps, has odds of two to one in its favour, and all such hands are called jeux de règle. The natural inference from this is that such hands should always be played without proposing, unless they contain the King of trumps.
The exception in case of holding the King is made because there is no danger of the dealer’s getting the King, no matter how many cards he draws, and if the player’s cards are not strong enough to make it probable that he can win the vole, it is better for him to ask for cards, in hope of improving his chances. If he is refused, he stands an excellent chance to make two points by winning the odd trick.
While it is the rule for the player to stand when the odds are two to one in his favour for making the odd trick, and to ask for cards when the odds are less, there are exceptions. The chances of improving by taking in cards must not be forgotten, and it must be remembered that the player who proposes runs no risk of penalty. He has also the advantage of scoring two for the vole if he can get cards enough to win every trick, whereas the dealer gets no more for the vole than for the odd trick if the player does not propose. Some beginners have a bad habit of asking for cards if they are pretty certain of the point. Unless they hold the King this is not wise, for the player cannot discard more than one or two cards, but the dealer may take five, and then stands a fair chance of getting the King, which would not only count a point for him, but would effectually stop the vole for which the player was drawing cards.
The most obvious example of a jeux de règle is one trump, a winning sequence of three cards in one suit, and a small card in another. For instance: Hearts trumps—
| 1 | 44,724 to 21,056. |
If the dealer does not hold two trumps, it is impossible to prevent the player from winning the point with these cards; because he need only lead his winning sequence until it is trumped, and then trump himself in again. With this hand the player will win 44,724 times out of 65,780.
There are about twenty hands which are generally known as jeux de règle, and every écarté player should be familiar with them. In the following examples the weakest hands are given, and the trumps are always the smallest possible. If the player has more strength in plain suits than is shown in these examples, or higher trumps, there is so much more reason for him to stand. But if he has not the strength indicated in plain suits, he should propose, even if his trumps are higher, because it must be remembered that strong trumps do not compensate for weakness in plain suits. The reason for this is that from stand hands trumps should never be led unless there are three of them; they are to be kept for ruffing, and when you have to ruff it does not matter whether you use a seven or a Queen. The King of trumps is of course led; but a player does not stand on a hand containing the King.
The first suit given is always the trump, and the next suit is always the one that should be led, beginning with the best card of it if there is more than one. The figures on the right show the number of hands in which the player or the dealer will win out of the 65,780 possible distributions of the twenty-six unknown cards. These calculations are taken, by permission of Mr. Charles Mossop, from the eighth volume of the “Westminster Papers,” in which all the variations and their results are given in full.