The full pack of fifty-two cards is used, the cards ranking as at Whist.
The dealer, having been selected,[27] places an agreed number of counters
(either three or some multiple of three) in the pool. Three cards are
dealt, one by one, to each player, also an extra hand, known as "miss." The
card next following is turned up, and fixes the trump suit. The dealer then
asks each player, beginning with the elder hand, whether he will play or
"take miss." The player looks at his cards. If he holds a good hand, he
will elect to play; if otherwise, he has the option of either "taking
miss," _i.e._ taking the extra {87} hand in place of his own, or of
"passing," _i.e._ throwing up his hand altogether for that round. If miss
be declined, the same offer is made to the next in rotation; but so soon as
miss is taken, the remaining players have only two alternatives--viz.
either to play the cards they hold, or to pass. A player who has taken miss
is bound to play. The cards he has discarded, as also those of any players
who pass, are thrown face downwards in the middle of the table, and no one
has a right to look at them.
Should one player take miss, and all the rest throw up their cards, he is
entitled to the pool. Should only one player have declared to play, and not
have taken miss, the dealer may play either his own cards or take miss on
his own account, but if he does not care to do either, he is bound to take
miss and play for the pool, _i.e._ the proceeds of any tricks he may make
remain in the pool, to abide the result of the next round. In the event of
all save the dealer "passing," the dealer is entitled to the pool.
The elder hand (as among those who have declared to play) now leads a card.
If he has two trumps he is bound to lead one of them. If he holds the ace
of trumps he is bound to lead it, or if an ace be turned up, and he holds
the king of the same suit, he is bound to lead the latter. If only two
persons have declared to play, and the holder holds two or more trumps, he
must lead the _highest_, unless his highest trumps are in sequence or of
equal value,[28] when he may lead either of them. (With {88} more than
three declared players the last rule does not apply.)
The other players play in rotation to the card led, subject also to certain
fixed rules, viz. each player must follow suit, if possible, and he must
"head the trick," _i.e._ play a higher card to it, if able to do so. If
unable to follow suit, he is bound to trump, or if the trick be already
trumped, to over-trump, if practicable.
The winner of each trick leads to the next. He is under the same
obligations as the original leader, and is further bound to lead a trump,
if he has one. This latter obligation is briefly stated as "trump after
trick."
The hand having been played out, the pool is divided, in the proportion of
one-third to each trick. Suppose, for instance, that five persons have
played; that one of them has taken two, and another one trick. The first
takes two-thirds, and the second one-third. The remaining three players are
"looed," _i.e._ mulcted in the same amount as was originally placed in the
pool, and these "loos," as they are called, with alike contribution from
the new dealer, form the pool for the next hand. It may, however, happen
that only three players declare to play, and that each of them takes one
trick. In such case no one is looed, and the only fund to form the pool for
the next round is the contribution of the dealer. The next hand in such
case is known as a "single," and it is a usual, though not invariable,
rule, to make it what is called a "must," meaning that every one, whatever
his cards, is bound to play. This necessarily produces as many loos (less
three) as there are players, and consequently a full pool for {89} the next
hand. In the case of a "must" there is no miss.
In circles where the interest of a game is gauged by the amount of money
that changes hands, the payment for a loo is sometimes made equal to the
amount which may chance to be in the pool for the time being. Playing upon
this principle, the amount of a loo tends constantly to increase, until the
occurrence of a single (_i.e._ three players only declaring to play, and
each taking one trick) brings it back to its normal proportions. Loo in
this shape is known as "unlimited." Under such an arrangement pence grow to
pounds with startling rapidity, so much so, indeed, that no prudent player
will ever sit down to the game in this form, and even among the most
reckless it is customary to fix a _maximum_ beyond which no further advance
shall be permitted.