The dealer then discards, first declaring carte blanche if he holds it. In England, he need not draw at all, in France he must draw at least one card. Besides the three cards which belong to him, he is entitled to take as many as he pleases of those left by the pone, and in drawing from the talon he must take the cards in the order in which they come. If two cards are left by the pone, for instance, and the dealer wants three only, he must take the two left by the pone and one of his own three, leaving the two others face down on the table. The number of cards in hand after the discard and draw must be exactly twelve. Only one discard is allowed, and having been made it cannot be changed after the stock has been touched.
If the pone does not take all the cards to which he is entitled, he is allowed to look at those that remain of the first five that were on the talon; but on no account may he look at any of the dealer’s three. If the dealer leaves any cards in the stock, he has a right to look at them, but the pone may not see them until he has led for the first trick, or announced the suit he will lead. If he announces a suit, and after seeing the cards in the stock does not lead that suit, the dealer may call a suit. If the dealer does not look at the remaining cards the pone cannot see them either.
Each player keeps his discards separate from those of his adversary, and is allowed to refer to them at any time during the play of the hand, but on no account can he see his adversary’s discards, unless that adversary has mixed with them one or more of the unseen cards that were left in the stock, and afterward picks up and looks at his discard, including the card which the other is entitled to see. For instance: The dealer leaves a card without looking at it. This he afterward mixes with his discard. Now, if he looks at his discard, of course he sees the card left in the stock, and the pone may demand to see not only the card left, but the entire discard. The same rule applies to the pone if he takes into his discards an unseen card of the stock.
Irregular Discards. If a player discards less cards than he intended, it is too late to remedy the error if he has touched the stock. If he discards too many cards, as the dealer frequently will by laying out five instead of three, he may take them back if he has not touched those in the stock, but if he touches any card in the stock, he must play with the short hand if there are not enough cards left in the stock to make his hand up to twelve.
Irregular Drawing. If the pone draws one of the three cards which properly belong to the dealer, he loses the game; and if the dealer draws any of the first five, before the pone has announced that he leaves them, the dealer loses the game. The dealer has no right to touch any part of the stock until the pone has discarded and drawn; but if the pone draws without making any announcement about leaving cards, the dealer has a right to assume that five cards have been taken, and that only three remain in the stock. For instance: The pone discards five cards, but draws four only, without saying anything. The dealer proceeds to discard and draw. He has of course taken one of the pone’s cards, but it is too late to remedy the error or claim a penalty, and the pone must play with eleven cards. It is evident that the dealer will have too many cards, but as he has been led into the error by his adversary, he must be allowed to discard to reduce his hand to twelve.
If a player takes a card too many from the stock, he may replace it if he has not put it with the other cards in his hand. If he has seen it, he must show it to his adversary. If the superfluous card has been taken into the hand, the player must have too many cards, and can score nothing that deal. This does not prevent the adversary from scoring anything he may have in hand or play, even if it is inferior.
If a player is found to have too few cards after the draw, he may still play and count all he can make, but he cannot win a capot, because he has no card for the last trick, which must be won by his adversary.
The Stock. If a player looks at one of his adversary’s cards in the stock before or during the draw, he can count nothing that hand. If he looks at a card left in the talon after the draw, which he is not entitled to see, his adversary may call a suit from him as many times as he has seen cards. If a card of the talon is accidentally exposed, the player to whom it would naturally belong may demand a fresh deal.
OBJECTS OF THE GAME. In order to understand the principles that guide players in discarding, the objects of the game must first be explained. There are three classes of counting combinations at Piquet, and the player that holds the better of each class, scores it. These combinations are: Point; Sequence; Fours and Triplets.
The Point is the suit having the greatest pip value, reckoning the Ace as 11, court cards as 10 each, and the 10 9 8 7 at their face value. If one player’s best suit contains five cards, worth 48 points, and his adversary has a suit worth 51, the latter would be the only one to count, and it would be called the point for that deal.