The play is given in the margin. In a Grand the four Jacks are the only trumps.
A has the first play, and as he leads through the player, he begins with his long suit, of which he knows that the Ace alone is out, and it may be in the skat. If the player has the Ace, C will probably trump it. If the player has not the Ace, it is just possible that he will not trump the Ten.
C, leading up to the player, opens his short weak suit. At trick 3, C knows that A must have the Ten of hearts, or he would not fatten with the Ace. As this shows that A can stop the heart suit, C guards the spades and lets all his hearts go.
B loses a very strong Grand, which must have been successful if C had had one club, or if A had led anything but the club Ten. A Grand with three Matadores is worth 4 times 20 or 80 points, which is what B loses, although he may have bid only 10 or 12 to get the play.
A GRAND.
| A | B | C | B wins. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ♣10 | ♣A | J♢ | - |
| 2 | 8♠ | A♢ | 7♢ | 11 |
| 3 | ♡A | 9♠ | 10♠ | - |
| 4 | ♣7 | 10♢ | 9♢ | 10 |
| 5 | ♣8 | ♡J | Q♢ | 5 |
| 6 | ♣9 | J♠ | ♡9 | 2 |
| 7 | ♡7 | K♢ | ♡Q | 7 |
| 8 | ♣Q | ♣J | ♡K | 9 |
| 9 | ♣K | A♠ | 7♠ | 15 |
| 10 | ♡10 | Q♠ | K♠ | - |
| ♢8 and ♡8 in the Scat. | - | |||
| B wins 59 | ||||
Text Books. Foster’s Skat Manual, 1906. Eichhorn’s American Skat, 1898. Lehrbuch des Skatspiels, by K. Buhle. 1891. Deutsche Skatordnung, by K. Buhle. 1888. Scatspiel. (Anon.) Von Posert, Quedlinburg. 1879. Encyclopædia der Spiele, by Fr. Anton. 1889. Skat, by F. Tschientschy. 1888. Skat, by L.V. Diehl. 1891. Skat, by E.E. Lemcke. 1887.
All but the first two on the list treat of the old game, bidding by suits, and making no mention of Guckis; but some of them, especially Buhle’s, contain some very fine examples of good play. The first two on the list and the last two are in English. All the others are in German.