1. The person who gains the deal shuffles the cards, presents them to
his adversary to cut, and then deals ten cards, five to his adversary
and five to himself. He distributes them by three and two, or two and
three, at his option, beginning with his adversary, turns up the
eleventh card as the trump, and places the remainder of the pack or
stock, as it is called, at his right hand.
2. The order of dealing observed at the beginning of the game must be
continued as long as the game lasts. For instance, if the dealer began
with three and two, he cannot change and give two and three; and _vice
versâ_.
3. If there be one or more faced cards in the pack, and it be discovered
before either hand has been seen, the deal is void, unless it be the
eleventh card, which, being the one that is to be turned up, can effect
no alteration in the game.
4. If it be not discovered till after the discard has been put out, and
the faced card or cards come to the dealer, the deal is good, and the
faced card or cards must form a part of his hand. If, on the contrary, a
faced card come to the elder hand, he may, at his option, consider the
deal good, or call a new deal; for this reason, that the fault being
committed by the dealer, the elder hand ought not to suffer for it.
5. It sometimes happens, that the dealer turns up one or more cards in
dealing. If they chance to be his own cards, the deal is good, for the
knowledge thus acquired by his adversary, of one or more of the cards in
his hand, can be prejudicial only to himself, and he ought to submit to
the penalty of his fault: if he turn his adversary’s card, the deal goes
on, but it is optional with the adversary to allow it to stand, or to
call a new one. Some persons contend, that the moment a card is seen
there ought to be a new deal. This is by no means a just rule. An unfair
or not strictly scrupulous player, who might know some of the cards in
the pack, might perhaps purposely turn up a card or two in dealing, if
he found he was giving good cards to his adversary, and would incur no
penalty but the trouble of dealing again.
6. When a player deals out of turn, and it is discovered before the
trump card is seen, there must be a new deal: but if not discovered till
after the trump card is known, or before the parties have discarded or
played, the pack, just as it is, is left for his next deal, and the game
proceeded in by the right person dealing with the other pack: if the
play have commenced, or the discard been put out before the discovery,
the deal is good.
7. Should there be a misdeal, and it be discovered before either party
has seen his hand, it may be made good by restoring the cards to the
order in which they would have fallen had no misdeal been made.
8. If the elder hand perceive that the dealer has not given him as many
cards as he asked for, and the mistake be discovered before the dealer
has seen the cards he has to take in, it may be rectified in the same
manner as in the preceding case.
9. If the cards have been seen by both parties, and the dealer should
have a deficiency, it is in the option of the adversary, either to allow
him to supply the deficiency, from the uppermost cards of the stock, or
oblige him to lose the deal; if the dealer should have a card too many,
his adversary has the option of drawing a card from his hand by chance,
or obliging him to lose the deal.
10. If the elder hand should have a deficiency, it is optional with him
to supply it from the stock, or claim the deal; if he have too many
cards, he may either discard them, or claim the deal.
11. If however it can be proved, that the fault did not originate with
the dealer, as, for instance, where the elder hand has asked for three
cards and has only discarded two, or has asked but for two and discarded
three, then the elder hand shall lose one point, and not be allowed to
reckon the king.
12. He who after having taken in his cards for his discard, plays with
more than five cards, loses a point, and also the right of marking the
king.
13. When the dealer turns up two or more cards, instead of one for the
trump, it is optional with the adversary to claim what would have been
the turn-up card, if the order had not been deranged, or to place the
cards seen at the bottom of the stock and have a new cut, or to call a
new deal.