DEALING.
The deal is decided by the cards being turned face upwards before each player, until the first knave is exposed. The player to whom the knave falls then becomes the first dealer. It is better to play with two separate packs of cards, as considerable time is saved in collecting and shuffling, which operations are to be performed by the player on the next dealer’s left hand side. When shuffled the cards are to be placed on the right hand side of the dealer, where they are to be left until the player on his right cuts them. The dealer distributes five cards to each player, going from left to might, and dealing the cards one at a time.
As the deal is a disadvantage, inasmuch as the dealer has the last call, there is no penalty attaching to a misdeal, unless the game is being played with the addition of a pool or kitty (see page 11), in which case the player making a misdeal pays a penalty to the pool equal to the stake of one trick. In the event of a misdeal, or accidental exposure of a card, the whole pack must be collected, shuffled and re-cut, as before, after which the cards are to be re-dealt by the same player who made the mistake. The players must not interfere with the cards during the deal, under a similar penalty, nor touch the remainder of the pack when once it has left the dealer’s hands.
CALLING.
The deal having been completed the players are entitled to look at their cards, and then declare, in turn, whether they will “stand” or “pass,” the player on the dealer’s left having the first call. If he decide to stand he declares the number of tricks he will stand for, while if he elects to pass [10] he simply states his intention of so doing, but it is understood that the first caller must stand for one trick, should all the others decide to pass, except in the case where the Double Header is agreed to (see page 13). The next player then announces his intention. If he cannot stand for more tricks than have already been called he must pass, and the same holds good all round, until the dealer is reached. No player may make a second declaration, or alter one once made.
PLAYING THE HANDS.
The player who has called the highest number of tricks now becomes senior hand, and his object is to make the tricks he has declared, in opposition to the united efforts of the other players, who combine—without consultation or arrangement of any kind—to defeat his purpose. The senior hand may make trumps of any suit he chooses, and this he signifies by leading one of the suit he selects. It will thus be seen that the first card played in each deal decides the trumps for that deal.
The player on the left of the leader then follows. If he has a card of the suit led he must play it, but if not he may throw off any card he chooses. If he has more than one card of the suit he can play either, as he is not forced to head the trick even if he has a card higher than that led but in practice it is seldom desirable to pass a trick in the first round, when headed by the senior hand, except under exceptional circumstances, such for instance as holding ace and a small one, with knave or a lower card led.
Provided no player has headed the trick, i.e., played a higher card of the same suit as the one led, the trick is scored by the senior hand, and he leads for the second [11] round. If, however, one of the players has taken the trick, then the lead passes to the winner of that trick, and the same occurs after the second, third and fourth tricks.
In the second and subsequent rounds the leader may play whatever card he chooses, just as in the first, the trumps remaining unaltered. A player having one of the suit led in either round must play it, but if he has none of the suit he may either discard one of the others, or head the trick by playing a trump. This continues throughout the five rounds, unless the senior hand shall have previously won the number of tricks he declared, or shall have lost such a number as to render his success impossible, in either of which cases the cards are collected for the next deal.