Whist

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Whist
Whist marker.jpg
A 19th-century whist marker by the British printing Co. De La Rue.
Origin England
Type Trick-taking
Players4
SkillsTactics, strategy
Cards52
Deck French
Rank (high→low)A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
PlayClockwise
Playing time30 min
ChanceMedium
Related games
Bridge

Whist is a classic English trick-taking card game which was widely played in the 18th and 19th centuries. [1] [2] Although the rules are simple, there is scope for strategic play. [3]

Contents

History

Drawing by Marguerite Martyn for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch of a session of the Women's Whist Club Congress, April 1906, in St. Louis, Missouri Drawing by Marguerite Martyn of Women's Whist Club Congress, 1906, St. Louis.jpg
Drawing by Marguerite Martyn for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch of a session of the Women's Whist Club Congress, April 1906, in St. Louis, Missouri

Cotton's The Complete Gamester (1674) describes Ruff and Honours as the most popular descendant of Triumph played in England during the 17th Century. Whist is described as a simpler, more staid, version of Ruff and Honours with the twos removed instead of having a stock. In the 18th Century Whist, played with a 52 card pack, would supersede Ruff and Honours. [4] [5] The game takes its name from the 17th-century word whist (or wist) meaning quiet, silent, attentive, which is the root of the modern wistful. [6]

Whist was first played on scientific principles by gentlemen in the Crown Coffee House in Bedford Row, London, around 1728, according to Daines Barrington. [7] Edmond Hoyle, suspected to be a member of this group, began to tutor wealthy young gentlemen in the game and published A Short Treatise on the Game of Whist in 1742. It became the standard text and rules for the game for the next hundred years.

In 1862, Henry Jones, writing under the pseudonym "Cavendish", published The Principles of Whist Stated and Explained, and Its Practice Illustrated on an Original System, by Means of Hands Played Completely Through, which became the standard text. [7] In his book, Jones outlined a comprehensive history of Whist, and suggested that its ancestors could include a game called Trionf, mentioned by a sixteenth century Italian poet named Berni, and a game called Trump (or Triumph), mentioned in Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra . [8] Many subsequent editions and enlargements of Jones's book were published using the simpler title Cavendish On Whist. Whist by now was governed by elaborate and rigid rules covering the laws of the game, etiquette and play which took time to study and master.

In the early 1890s, Whist was quickly replaced by the new game of Bridge in clubs. Whist was still played as a social game, in club individual duplicate cardplay competitions, and later at charitable social events called whist drives. [9] There are many modern variants of whist still played for fun, though whist can still be played online following the same rules as 300 years ago.

Rules

A standard 52-card pack is used and the game is played Clockwise. By the time of Whist, the Ace had been promoted to top honour, so the cards are ranked: A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2. Whist is played by four players who draw cards to decided partnerships and the Dealer. The two lowest cards play together, and choose their seats facing each other. Highest card is Dealer and 2nd highest is their partner.

Shuffling and dealing

Dealer chooses a pack, which their side will deal through out, and passes it to the player on their left to be shuffled. Dealer then picks up the pack, and may give it a last shuffle, before passing to the player on their right to cut. Dealer then completes the cut and deals 13 cards to each player one at a time, dealing their last card face up to set trumps.

Play

The play at Whist is the simplest form of Triumph and has been used by many other games. Eldest Hand, the player on Dealer's left, leads to the first trick. Dealer picks up the trump card when it is their turn to play. Players must follow suit if they can, and if they can't follow suit may discard or play a trump. The trick is won by the highest card of the suit led, unless trumps are played to the trick, when the highest trump wins.

Before the next trick starts, a player may ask to review the cards from the last trick. The winner of the trick leads to the next trick.

Scoring

19th-century whist scoring counter, depicting the departure of Cumberland Jack from Britain. Tohanovertoken.png
19th-century whist scoring counter, depicting the departure of Cumberland Jack from Britain.

A point is scored for each odd trick (trick in excess of six) won by a pair.

Short Whist in Britain was played with a game five odd tricks and the first pair to win two games won the Rubber. Honours were optional with a pair holding three of the top four Honours getting one trick bonus, and all four top honours a two trick bonus. In America game was seven odd tricks. Long Whist was also played where game was 9 or 10 odd tricks, usually played with Honours.

Modern Short Whist is commonly played with three Honours worth two points and all four Honours worth four points. A pair with four points is unable to win game by Honours and needs to make an odd trick.

When playing for stakes a game is one point. Game where opponents score 1 or 2 tricks is a double game and game where opponents don't score any tricks is a triple game. There is a two point bonus for winning the Rubber.

Whist can be scored with a pen and paper, or with whist markers [11]

Basic tactics

Terminology

Deal
One card at a time is given to each player by the dealer starting with the player on the dealer's left and proceeding clockwise until the deck is fully distributed.
Dealer
The player who deals the cards for a hand.
Deck
The pack of cards used for playing comprising 52 cards in four suits.
Dummy
In some variations, a hand is turned face up and is played from by the player seated opposite. This allows the game to be played by three players.
Finesse
The play of a lower honour even though holding a higher one, hoping that the intermediate honour is held by a player who has already played to the trick. To give an example: you hold the ace and queen of hearts. Your right-hand antagonist leads a heart, from which you infer that he holds the king of the same suit and wishes to draw the ace, in order to make his king. You however play the queen, and win the trick; still retaining your ace, ready to win again when he plays his king. [12] [7]
Game
Reaching a total score agreed beforehand to be the score played up to.
Grand Slam
The winning, by one team, of all thirteen tricks in a hand.
Hand
Thirteen tricks. (52 cards in the deck divided by four players equals thirteen cards per player.)
Honours
In some variations, extra points are assigned after a game to a team if they were dealt the ace, king, queen, and jack (knave) of the trump suit. [13]
Lead
The first card played in a trick.
Lurch
Rare or obsolete. To prevent one's adversary from scoring a treble [OED] or in the phrase 'save one's lurch' to just escape losing the game [Hoyle, Britannica 1911]. [7]
Pack
See Deck.
Rubber
Three games. [7]
Small slam
The winning, by one team, of twelve tricks in a hand.
Tenace
A suit holding containing the highest and third-highest of the suit or (the "minor tenace") second- and fourth-highest.
Trick
Four cards played one each by the players.
Trump
The suit chosen by the last-dealt card that will beat all other suits regardless of rank. If two or more trump cards are played in a single trick, the highest-ranking trump wins it.

Variants

As Whist is the simplest form of Triumph played with full 52 card pack and developed formal rules, it formed the basis of many subsequent trick-taking games. McLeod classifies this family into a number of sub-groups: the auction whist, Boston, classic whist and exact bidding groups, and games played by numbers of players other than four. The following is a selection within each sub-group.

Auction whist group

The auction whist group is a family of games with the characteristics of whist – an auction for the right to choose trumps won by the highest contract or largest number of tricks – and fixed partnerships. [14]

Boston group

Classic whist group

Exact bidding group

Whists for other numbers of players

Other games called 'whist'

Whist drive

A whist drive is a social event at which progressive games of whist are played across a number of tables which are numbered or ordered into a sequence.

In it, the winning (or sometimes losing, dependent on the local custom) pair of a hand "progress" around the room, i.e. one person moves up the table sequence and one person moves down. On arriving at the new table, the next hand is played.

By convention the pair who sits has shuffled and deals after the arriving pair has cut the pack.

A progressive whist drive is normally 24 hands, with each hand being a different trump. Trumps normally follow the sequence: hearts, clubs, diamonds, spades.

Sometimes a break for refreshments is taken after 12 hands. [9]

Literary references

In media

See also

Related Research Articles

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References

  1. Waddingtons Family Card Games, Robert Harbin, Pan Books Ltd, London, 1972
  2. Courtney, William Prideaux (1894). English Whist and English Whist players. London: Richard Bentley & Son.
  3. The Pan Book of Card Games, Hubert Phillips, Pan Books Ltd, London, 1960
  4. Oxford Dictionary of Card Games, p. 340, David Parlett ISBN   0-19-869173-4
  5. Pole, William (1895). The Evolution of Whist. Longmans, Green, and Co. (New York, London), 269 pages.
  6. "Wistful - Define Wistful at Dictionary.com". Dictionary.com. Retrieved 20 January 2015.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 "Whist"  . Encyclopædia Britannica . Vol. 28 (11th ed.). 1911.
  8. "History of Whist" in Roya, Will (2021). Card Night: Classic Games, Classic Decks, and the History Behind Them. Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers. p. 167. ISBN   9780762473519.
  9. 1 2 Cambridge Dictionaries Online Whist drive
  10. Notes and Queries, p.  26.
  11. "Hoyle's scoring method". The Whist Markers Museum. Retrieved 11 September 2021.
  12. Notes and queries, p. 328 – Bell & Daldy 1863
  13. Official Rules of Card Games, United States Playing Card Company, 59th ed., 1973
  14. "Auction Whist Group". pagat.com . Retrieved 21 August 2023.
  15. "Bid Whist". pagat.com . Retrieved 13 February 2021.
  16. Parlett 2008, p. 24.
  17. Parlett 2008, p. 49.
  18. "Court Piece/Rang". pagat.com . Retrieved 13 February 2021.
  19. Parlett (2008), pp. 87–88.
  20. Parlett (2008), pp. 86–87.
  21. 1 2 Parlett 2008, p. 38.
  22. Parlett 2008, p. 247.
  23. "Whist". pagat.com . Retrieved 30 April 2022.
  24. "Ladder Whist". gambiter.com. Retrieved 30 April 2022.
  25. "Progressive Whist Cards". wopc.co.uk. Retrieved 30 April 2022.

Bibliography