The laws and practice of the game of euchre. As adopted by the Washington, D.C. euchre club

Front matter

i

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. !

THE LAWS AND PRACTICE

Preface

No sedentary game is more popular, or so generally played for amusement in domestic circles, throughout the wide spread "eminent demesne" of the United States, as Euchre — the Queen of all card-games; and but few, we regret to say it, possess less printed authoritative reference for consultation. Hence difficulties, doubts, differences of opinion, and local customs of play, exercise an irksome influence even among skillful players, and solely for the want of some proper compendium of the laws and of the correct practice of the game. To supply this deficiency, in an humble way, the ensuing pages, sanctioned by "very noble and approved good masters," are tenderly tendered.

THE AUTHOR.

Washington, D. C.

Laws of the Game 88

CHAPTER VII. Hints to Tyros 105

RULES FOR PLAYING DRAW POKER.

The Deal and Dealing of the Cards.. .135

Every Player for Himself 138

Drawing of Cards 140

Relative Value of Hands in their

Order, Beginning with the Best 142

EUCHRE.

CHAPTEE I.

PRELIMINARY.

Those clever fellows, who, in social circles, or at the club, resort to the exciting combinations exhibited by

*" The painted tablets, dealt and dealt again" —

recreation and amusement being their only aim — accredit Euchre, par excellence, the most entertaining and fascinating of all the* games of cards yet invented.

The earliest knowledge which we, personally, have been able to gather of this our favorite card-game, was its introduction in the Metropolis of the Union, in the days — " those days are passed, Floranthe" — of General Jackson's first presidential term, by an ardent and slightly illiterate admirer of the General's — an Honorable M. C, from the Tennessee State — who was wont emphatically to pronounce it the " hazardestest game on the keards;" though the game had been played, long prior to that period, in every inhabited township plat of the northwestern territory, and on every raft and steamboat afloat upon the exulting waters of the Mississippi Eiver.

There exists a legend ascribing its invention to two Friars, "of orders gray," who had been imprisoned for some improper practice, or other malversation., and who are said to have invented the game to while away the tedious hours of incarceration ; but the story is rather apocryphal.

It is also narrated that the game sprang like Venus, from the sea, — that it is the result of a sailorman's ingenuity, Jack reversing the usual order of things on shipboard by placing his namesakes in command, and giving them the appropriate nautical appellations of Eight-Bower, and Left-Bower, in compliment to the main anchors of the ship.

The origin of the game — generally admitted to be German — is not satisfactorily explained, and no mention whatever is made of it in the curious and elaborate treatise by S. W. Singer, entitled Eesearches into the History of Playing Cards, 4to., London, 1816 ; nor in any of the English editions of Hoyle's Games; nor in Captain Crawley's Handy Book of Games for Gentlemen, 12mo., London, 1860. The French are equally silent. No notice of the game is to be found in the long and learned array of articles on the various games of cards — and their name is legion — in the extended Dictionnaire des Jeux of the Encyclopedia Methodique ; and M. Van-Tenac, in his Album des Jeux, 12mo., Paris, 1847 a recent and careful collection of modern games of cards, seems entirely ignorant of its existence,

We have just learned under date of Paris December 8, 1861, from a distinguished French savant, now engaged in collecting materials for an elaborate and scientific treatise on card-games, that Euchre is not of French origin, and that the game is not noticed by any French writer on games.

In this country the only teaching we have of the game — except a few paragraphs in the late American editions of Hoyle's Games, and of Bohn's New Hand-Book of Games — is contained in The Game of Euchre ; with its Laws, 32mo., Philadelphia, 1850, pp. 32, attributed to a late learned jurist — a our illustrious predecessor" — and to which little volume we hereby acknowledge ourselves greatly indebted.

The name itself even — Euchre — is a mystery. Although the game is generally supposed, in this country, to be of German invention, yet we are informed by the most eminent linguist in Germany, Professor Grimm, of the University of Berlin, that Euchre is not a German word, and has no sound of the language.

It has been facetiously suggested that it might possibly be the German for Eureka ! denoting that the Queen game of cards has at last been found ! But, as we do not profess to especial erudition in the Teutonic linguistics, we venture no opinion of its philological deduction. Nor can we trace the least analogy or affinity, as regards the promotion of the Knaves into the rank of commanding cards, when of the suit, or color, of the trump, to any other card-game. In some few particulars, however, it bears quite a resemblance to the game of Ecarte. How so animated and bright a game ever sprang from the brain of a phlegmatic German is somewhat marvellous — unless, it may have been invented by that identical Baron, portly and solid like the rest of them, who was making the most terrible racket in his solitary apartment, in Paris, one morning, jumping over stools and slippers, and other u antialtitudinous" articles, and whose noted reply to the agitated and expostulating gargon, was, JTapprends a etre vxf. He may have sue* eeeded in attaining the lively !

Whatever its origin, Euchre appears to have been introduced into the United States by the German settlers of Pennsylvania, and from that State gradually to have been disseminated throughout every State of the Union. But the original game has been so much improved by the variations and additions bestowed upon it in consequence of its great popularity with all classes in this country, that it may now fairly be denominated one of our peculiar American institutions. A squat ter, in the "Land of the West," would con sicler his education sadly neglected, now-a days, if a knowledge of this game was not one of his attainments ; — it is as necessary to his enjoyment of life as a stone-jug of "Bourbon, 7 ' with a corn-cob "cork" — the 11 democratic decanter," as they call it.

The word Bauer, the German for Jack, 01

PRELIMINAEY. 29

Knave, Americanized to Bower, is said to be the only term used in the game which has been adopted from the German.

Whist — and here let us pause with reverence — "not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Eome more" — Whist, we resume, since Hoyle perfected its invention, and published his treatise on the game, about one hundred and twenty years ago, has been universally acknowledged to be the noblest game played with cards. As twenty more cards are involved in its play than at Euchre, and every one of them delivered in each deal, the game is undoubtedly more exact and mathematical. We fancy, however, that it is this very absence of mathematical accuracy which is one of the peculiar merits of our game ; for nearly one-third of the Euchre pack is not distributed in the deal, but remains in the talon; thus adding to the variety and the chances of the play, and affording exciting combinations for the exercise of the shrewd player's judgment. But we are free to confess that, in nearly a quarter of a century's addiction to Euchre — viginti annorum lucuhmtiones — we have never met a fine player of both games who did not much prefer our pet game.

"We repeat, then, that accomplished adepts at both games — those social spirits who make of play a delassement, and not a laborious speculation — greatly prefer Euchre, because of the more sprightly character of the game, and its less mathematical exactness — giving more scope to chance and judgment, and affording a much keener enjoyment. And then consider, that during the entire play of all the thirteen tricks at Whist, the most lugubrious silence, which is not our grand talent, must prevail — for we can only " speak by the card" — and, indeed, it has become an axiom of that game, that whoever approximates nearest to being dumb may be deemed the best player! At Euchre, on the contrary, every deal of five cards a- piece only —

is played out, dashingly, in a few minutes, affording opportunities to discuss the general topics of the day, for lively repartee and anecdotes — those gems of conversation — while the contrasts of chagrin and joy presented by unlooked-for defeat or success, so often recurring in the various vicissitudes of play, " serve to set the table on a roar." Such a seance will frequently glide away so delectably as to inoculate pale melancholy with the bud of mirth.

In a transit of the Atlantic, or a voyage to the Indies, which " drags its slow length along" — especially when not sea-sick — Whist naturally presents peculiar advantages to those whose " only labor is to kill the time, and labor dire it is," says the poet. But, if one desires to amuse and tickle oneself — •'when sailing o'er life's troubled main" — for the limited period of eight or ten hours only, in the pleasant occupation of disclosing the mysterious combinations produced by thirty-two cards — seasoned with cheerful conversation and innocent mirth the while, we commend him to Euchre.

Euchre may be likened to that refined and seductive beverage.. Champagne wine — sparkling and bright — while Whist more resembles the potent, heady tipple, the Brown-stout of its native England.

Of all sedentary amusements — except a fourth class clerkship in the Treasury Department — ice most '' affectionate"' Euchre.

But. repawns a .s. The game of

Euchre is played with thirty-two cards — the six. five, four, tray, and deuce of each suit having been withdrawn from a "Whist or whole pack. The tray and deuce of spades and diamonds, of the refuse cards, are ordinarily used for the purpose of counting the game. Recently, however, packs are expressly manufactured for this game, (as well as for Picquet and Ecar:£, also played with the same number of cards.) by M. De la Rue, the eminent publisher of playing cards in London, and they may readily be obtained in all of our larger cities.

The Knave of trumps, the Right-Bower as it is termed, is the highest or be** trump ;

and the other Knave of the same color, termed the Left Bower, is the next highest card. The remaining cards, including the Knaves of the black, suits when a red suit is trump, and vice versa, have the same relative value as at Whist.

It is usual to play with two packs, distinguished by backs of different colors, and the pack selected by each party at the commencement of a game, should not be changed during the play of that game.

Various customs of play prevail in different coteries and clubs, but the compiler has endeavored to follow those customs which are most in vogue, and are most consistent with the spirit of the game, and the chances on the cards.

There are, also, many varieties of the game, with the denominations of Ace-Euchre, Booster, Set-Back, Cut-Throat, and the like, and Euchre may be played by any number of persons, from two to six. But, the only game worthy of the scientific player is that which is

played by four persons, who cut for partners, 2

34 BUCHBS.

as at Whist, and it is to them that this Treatise is most affectionately dedicated.

"Let not cards, therefore, be depreciated; a happy invention, which, adapted equally to every capacity, removes the invidious distinctions of nature, bestows on fools the preeminence of genius, or reduces wit or wisdom to the level of folly." Henry's History of Great Britain, vol. 12, p. 385.

Axiom. — If you are invited from home to assist at a Euchre party, and the tempestuous inclemency of the weather should be terrific, if your wife does not object too much, — go. Your failure "to be thar" may seriously inconvenience your friends.

CHAPTER II.

MODE OF PLAYING.

"They know not when to play, where to play, noi what to play. — Middleton. a Who plays— who plays — who plays." — Old Play, "How absolute the Knave is !" — Shakspeare.

The game of Euchre, which consists of five points only, is played by four persons, who cut for partners. It is the practice in some circles for the players to determine among themselves who shall be associated together as partners, and then to throw round, one card at a time to each player, for the first Knave, which gives the deal to the player to whom it is thrown ; but the more approved method is to cut for partners, the two highest becoming partners against the two lowest. He who cuts the lowest card wins the deal ; and, in cutting, the Ace is accounted the lowest, and the Knaves rank as at Whist.

When the game is formed, and the players seated at the table, partners opposite to each other, so that each player is between his two adversaries, the player who has won the deal shuffles the pack and presents it to his right-hand adversary to cut. The dealer then places the cards lifted off by the cut at the bottom of the pack and distributes twenty cards, by giving five of them in two rounds, of two and three, or by three and two, to each player, beginning with his left-hand adversary, and then turns up the twenty -first card, which he places on the top of the talon, for the trump.

The remaining cards of the pack, called the talon, or stock, he places on the table to his right. The deal passes in rotation as long as the parties continue to play.

The dealer's left-hand adversary, who is termed the eldest-hand, then examines the cards dealt to him, and if he is of opinion that he can win three of the five tricks at the suit turned up for trumps, he says, "I order it up," and the card turned up by the dealer then becomes the trump. But, if he thinks he cannot win three of the tricks, he simply says, " I pass."

If he passes, the dealer's partner then examines his cards, and if he believes that him< self and partner can win three tricks at the suit turned up, he says, "I will assist," and the turn-up card then also indicates the trump suit. But if he believes that himself and partner cannot win three tricks, he also says, "I pass." The third player, after looking at his cards, for the same reason that influenced his partner, either says, a I order it up," or, "I pass."

If all the players have passed, the dealer then examines his hand, and if he is confident of winning three tricks by playing with his partner, he says, " I take it up." He then discards the card of lowest value in his hand, and places it, face downwards, under the talon, and the turn-up card belongs to him in lieu of the one discarded. The dealer is always entitled to discard one card and take the turn-up, or trump card, into his hand, whether it is ordered up by his antagonists, or lie is assisted by his partner, or takes it up himself. Should the dealer be doubtful of winning three tricks at the suit turned for trump, he says, "I turn it down," and immediately places the turn-up card, face down, on the talon.

If all the players, including the dealer, decline to play at the suit turned up, the eldest-hand then has the privilege of making a trump, and, should his hand be sufficiently strong to win three tricks, he says, " I make

it ," naming the suit he prefers, which

then becomes the trump suit. If his cards are not strong enough to win three tricks, he says, " I pass the making." The second and third player in rotation, have the same privilege of naming a trump suit, and, after them, the dealer. But, if all the players, including the dealer, pass the making, the deal is forfeited, and belongs to the last dealer's left-hand adversary, who immediately gathers the cards for dealing.

But, when the deal is completed, if the eldest-hand, on first looking at his cards, believes that his hand is strong enough to win three tricks if the suit turned up is trumps, he orders it up, which makes that the trump suit, and it must be played accordingly. The dealer then discards, and the play commences. The eldest-hand opens the game by leading in any suit he chooses, and all the other players follow to it, in regular order; and whoever plays the highest card wins the trick, which entitles him to the next lead. A player must always play a card of the suit led, if he holds one, on penalty of giving his adversaries two points for the revoke. But, if he has no card of the suit led, he can trump or not at his option. The player who has won the first trick then leads, and the play continues, in like manner, until the five cards in each hand are all played out. The trump, as at all other games, is the commanding suit, the lowest trump winning the highest cards of either of the other three suits.

If the eldest-hand passed and the dealer's partner assisted, or if the dealer's partner

40 EUCHBE.

passed and the partner of the eldest-hand ordered it up, or if the latter having passed, the dealer takes up the trump, the mode of play is the same.

If the player, who orders it up, and his partner, win three of the five tricks — the odd trick, as it is termed — they score one point to the game. K they win four of the five tricks they are also entitled to count one point only. But if they gain all five of the tricks, w^ is termed making a march, they score two points towards game.

But if a trump is ordered up, or is taken up : or, if a trump is made by either player, and such player and his partner fail to win ::::ir :r::ks. ::tt are Euch?.ii\ as i: :s tern:-::. which entitles their antagonists to add two points to the score of their game. And if one party win all five tricks when their opponents adopt or make a trump, which will rarely occur, except when the trump-car ordered up for the Bridge, — explained infra, — the winning party are only entitled to c for the Euchre, which is two points.

The eldest-hand, in leading, should placo his card on the table immediately before him, and each player, in rotation, should observe the same method — a practice which prevents any misunderstanding about the ownership of cards ; and, as no player has a right to ask who played any particular card, this practice also serves to designate each player's card by its position on the board.

The tricks belonging to either party may be turned and collected by the player who wins the first trick, on either side ; but the ^ better mode is to agree, at the commencement of the game, that one of the partners of opposite sides shall gather all the tricks won by himself and partner, and shall also keep the score of the game.

The five points constituting game are counted with the tray and deuce of the refuse cards, termed counters, which are placed at two diagonal corners of the table, and in such a manner as always to be in view, for no player should ask how the score of the game stands, or call his partner's attention to it.

The game is scored by placing the tray of the two counters, crosswise, with the face down, upon one half the face of the deuce, leaving only one of its pips exposed, for one point. To count two, the deuce is withdrawn from beneath the tray, upon which it is placed back to back. For three, both cards are turned over, exposing the face of the tray. Four is counted by removing the deuce from below the tray, and replacing it, lengthwise, half covered, with the face up. This arrangement of the position of the counters should always be adopted, for then no mistake in the count can occur — except, only, at the score of one — should the counters by accident be displaced on the table.

The number of games won by each party may be reckoned with an ordinary fourbladed penknife, in this manner: a blade one-quarter open for one game; half open tor two games ; three-quarters open for three games; fully opened, for four games. The second blade can reckon four more games, which will be eight — when you count them — and the entire four blades open will reckon as many as sixteen games. "Cut and come again." The knife may then be closed, if the players are lucky or skillful enough to continue its use; and sixteen more, or fortyeight, or ad infinitum games may be reckoned on it. If this simple practice will not suit the fastidious, we will con-nive at any other method.

The mode of playing is, at times, varied by one of the players announcing that he will Play Alone — a variation of such great interest and amusement — and peculiar, in many respects, to this game — that we respect fully beg leave to be permitted to treat the modus operandi somewhat at length in the ensuing Chapter.

CHAPTER III.

ON PLAYING ALONE.

" Solitary and alone I set this ball in motion."

Benton*

" There's a game much in fashion— I think it's called

Euchre, (Though I never have played it, for pleasure or

lucre,) In which when the cards are in certain conditions, The players appear to have changed their positions,. And one of them cries in a confident tone, *I think I may venture to go it alone. 1 M — Saxe. " Alone I did it." — Shakspeare.

It occurs quite often during an evening passed in social intercourse at Euchre, that a player has dealt to him five cards of such superior value that he is quite confident of winning all the five tricks without playing with his partner, and in such case he announces that he will Play Alone. The proper time to (44)

declare this intention is when it is the turn of the player who holds the lone hand, as it is termed, either to order up the trump, or assist ; or, if the dealer, when he takes up the trump and before he discards ; or, when the player, or his partner, makes the trump. In each case the player makes known his intention by saying, distinctly and unequivocally, "I Play Alone." His partner then places the cards dealt to him, faces down on the table immediately before him, and is not permitted to make any remark in relation to the value of the cards which he had in his hand, during the play of the five tricks.

The eldest-hand leads. The eldest-hand is always entitled to the lead, except when his partner Plays Alone, and then the lead is transferred to the dealer's partner, for the partner of the player playing alone is always hors de combat during the play of that hand.

If the player who Plays Alone, wins all five of the tricks from his antagonists, he is entitled to score four points to his game. But if he only makes four or three of the tricks, he can count but one point. Should he fail to win three tricks, however, he is Euchred, which, when playing alone, counts his antagonists the same number of points that he would have gained if successful in winning all the tricks, namely, four points.

In playing the game on the Mississppi river, if the player who Plays Alone is Euchred, the steamer is stopped at the first landing and the unlucky player is put ashore. In the State of Arkansas he is carried out to be hung to the first adjacent tree, without benefit of clergy. But in a more refined and better established order of civilization, a hearty laugh against him is the only penalty he has to endure for the misplaced confidence on the cards — except those four points to the game of his opponents.

It is customary in some coteries to count but two points when the adverse party Euchre the player who Plays Alone, and as part and parcel of the same usage either of his antagonists holding high cards in the trump suit, may also Play Alone against him. In such a case, each player plays without his partner, and he who wins the odd trick, is entitled to score the four points. But this practice, and quite deservedly, receives but little favor, as the approved mode of play achieves the same result.

There is also another improper custom, adhered to by a few players only, which transfers to the player who announces a lone hand, the right to lead, without any regard whatever to the position he holds to the dealer, or indeed, if it should be the dealer himself who "Plays Alone. But this practice is too much at variance with the spirit of the game to be tolerated by experienced players.

If the dealer's partner assists, or makes a trump, the dealer has the privilege of Playing Alone, and if the eldest-hand orders up the trump, or makes a trump, his partner may, in like manner, Play Alone.

It occasionally happens that each one of two partners may hold a lone hand, and in that event the right of Playing Alone belongs to the partner whose turn to play is last. For example: A and C are partners opposed to B and D. A deals and gives each of his opponents a lone hand. B ; who is the eldest-hand, orders up the trump card, and announces that he will Play Alone. D, his partner, has the right to take the privilege of Playing Alone from him. But in this case, the partner D is compelled to Play Alone, and the player B, who first announced a lone hand, cannot play, lot withstanding that he would have a great advantage, being entitled to the lead. If this rule did not prevail, an unfair player, wishing to intimate the strength of his own hand to his partner, might say that he would Play Alone, after his partner had announced his intention to do so, and then decline to Play Alone, which would convey to his partner the information that he, also, had a strong hand at trumps, and, in that way, give him a great and an improper advantage. Until this rule was established, the compiler had often witnessed partners, both holding lone hands, bickering with each other before they could agree as to which one should have the privi lege of Playing Alone, which, of course, as developing their hands to each other, was entirely unfair.

Should the eldest-hand, holding very strong cards at the suit turned up for trumps, and being also strong at next in suit, pass — which, by the way, is always done in order to Euchre the adverse party in case they take up the trump — and his partner also holds a stronghand of the trump suit, and, in his turn, orders it up, the eldest-hand, having once passed the trump, cannot then Play Alone, but must take the chances with his partner to win a march. A player, having once passed the trump, or passed the making, cannot Play Alone, when his partner orders up, or makes a trump. We have known it asserted that when the eldest-hand — being strong in trumps and also at next in suit — passes, and his partner, when in turn, orders up, that the eldest-hand may then re-enter and be permitted to Play Alone. But this practice is clearly too unfair to be entertained, and we most unqualifiedly

denounce it as entirely incompatible with 3 the principles of play and the spirit of the game.

Four high trumps and an Ace of a lay suit constitute a good lone hand. Three high trumps, with an Ace and the seven even of the same suit, is often a winning lone hand. A sequence of the Left-Bower, Ace, and King of trumps, and commanding lay cards, is always a good lone hand, because, if the Eight-Bower is out against it, one point only could be made if both partners played together ; and, if it is not out, the player, who Plays Alone, has a fair chance to win all the tricks. In Playing Alone, the eldest-hand, being entitled to the lead, may Play Alone with a less strong hand, than either of the other players ; and, he may sometimes, when cards are running favorably for him and unfavorably to his opponents, win all the five tricks when holding only the Eight- Bower and a small trump, with commanding cards in one or more suits.

But although the Eight-Bower and a small trump — the seven even— supported with comloanding cards in lay suits, frequently make a winning lone hand, yet it would not be recommended to the tyro to play so bold a game. Players of experience are at times indulged with a presentiment as they call it, foretelling that so small a lone hand will win, but such prescience is more the result of observation than luck.