Hoyle's Games Modernized Part 21

67.--In no case can a player be compelled to play a card which would oblige him to revoke.

68.--The call of a card may be repeated at every trick, until such card has been played.

69.--If a player called on to lead a suit have none of it, the penalty is paid.

IRREGULAR PLAY.

70.--If the third hand play before the second, the fourth hand may play before his partner.

71.--Should the third hand not have played, and {179} the fourth play before his partner, the latter may be called on to win or not to win the trick.

72.--If any one omit playing to a trick, and such error be not discovered until he has played to the next, the adversaries may claim a new deal; should they decide that the deal stand good, the surplus card at the end of the hand is considered to have been played to the imperfect trick, but does not const.i.tute a revoke therein.

73.--If any one play two cards to the same trick, or mix his trump, or other card, with a trick to which it does not properly belong, and the mistake be not discovered until the hand is played out, he is answerable for all consequent revokes he may have made.[61] If, during the play of the hand, the error be detected, the tricks may be counted face downwards, in order to ascertain whether there be among them a card too many; should this be the case they may be searched, and the card restored; the player is, however, liable for all revokes which he may have meanwhile made. If no revoke has been made, the card can be treated as an exposed card.

THE REVOKE.

74.--It is a revoke when a player, holding one or more cards of the suit led, plays a card of a different suit.

75.--The penalty for a revoke--

I. Is at the option of the adversaries, who, at the end of the hand, may either take three tricks from the revoking player, and add them to their own tricks, or deduct three points from his score, or add three to their own score (the adversaries may consult as to which penalty they will exact);

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II. Can be claimed for as many revokes as occur during the hand, and a different penalty may be exacted for each revoke;

III. Is applicable only to the score of the game in which it occurs;

IV. Cannot be divided, _i.e._ a player cannot add one or two to his own score, and deduct one or two from the revoking player;

V. Takes precedence of every other score--_e.g._, The claimants two--their opponents nothing--the former add three to their score--and thereby win a treble game, even should the latter have made thirteen tricks, and held four honours.

76.--If a player who has become liable to have the highest or lowest of a suit called, or to win or not to win a trick (when able to do so), fail to play as desired, or if a player, when called on to lead one suit, lead another, having in his hand one or more cards of that suit demanded, he incurs the penalty of a revoke.

77.--A revoke is established, if the trick in which it occur be turned and quitted, _i.e._, the hand removed from that trick after it has been turned face downwards on the table--or if either the revoking player or his partner, whether in his right turn or otherwise, lead or play to the following trick. Throwing down the hand, or claiming game, const.i.tute acts of play within the meaning of leading or playing to the following trick.

78.--A player may ask his partner whether he has not a card of the suit which he has renounced, or whether he has played as desired or demanded; should the question be asked before the trick is turned and quitted, subsequent turning and quitting by the adversaries does not establish the revoke, and the error may be corrected, unless the question be answered in the negative, or unless the revoking player or his partner have led or played to the {181} following trick; but if the revoking player or his partner has turned the trick before the question is answered, the revoke is established.

79.--At the end of a hand, the claimants of a revoke may search all the tricks.[62]

80.--If a player discover his error in time to save a revoke, the adversaries, whenever they think fit, may call the card thus played in error, or may require him to play his highest or lowest card to that trick in which he has renounced;--any player or players who have played after him may withdraw their cards and subst.i.tute others; the cards withdrawn are not liable to be called.

81.--If a revoke be claimed, and the accused player or his partner, after such claim has been made, mix the cards before they have been sufficiently examined by the adversaries, the revoke is established. Prior to such claim, the mixing of the cards renders the proof of a revoke difficult, but does not prevent the claim, and possible establishment, of the penalty.

82.--A revoke cannot be claimed after the cards have been duly cut for the following deal.

83.--The revoking player and his partner may under all circ.u.mstances, require the hand in which the revoke has been detected to be played out.

84.--If a revoke occur, be claimed and proved, bets on the odd trick, or on amount of score, must be decided by the actual state of the latter, after the penalty is paid.

85.--Should the players on both sides subject themselves to the penalty of one or more revokes, neither can win the game, and the revokes cancel each other.

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86.--In whatever way the penalty be enforced, under no circ.u.mstances can a player win the game by the result of the hand during which he has revoked; he cannot score more than four.

EXACTION OF PENALTIES.

87.--Where a player and his partner have an option of exacting from their adversaries one of two penalties, they must agree who is to make the election, and must not consult with one another which of the two penalties it is advisable to exact; if they do so consult, they lose their right to demand any penalty; and if either of them, with or without consent of his partner, demand a penalty to which he is ent.i.tled, such decision is final.

This rule does not apply in exacting the penalties for a revoke; partners have then a right to consult.

88.--Any player demanding a penalty which is not authorised for the offence committed, forfeits all right to exact any penalty for the offence in question.

GENERAL RULES.

89.--Any one during the play of a trick, or after the four cards are played, and before, but not after, they are touched for the purpose of gathering them together, may demand that the cards be placed before their respective players.

90.--If any one, prior to his partner playing, should call attention to the trick--either by saying that it is his, or by naming his card, or, without being required so to do, by drawing it towards him--the adversaries may require that opponent's partner {183} to play the highest or lowest of the suit then led, or to win or not to win the trick.

91.--In all cases where a penalty has been incurred, the offender is bound to give reasonable time for the decision of his adversaries.

92.--If a bystander make any remark, before the stakes have been paid, which calls the attention of a player or players to an oversight affecting the score, he is liable to be called on, by the players only, to pay the stakes and all bets on that game or rubber.

93.--A bystander, by agreement among the players, may decide any question.

94.--When a trick has been turned and quitted, it must not again be looked at until the hand has been played out, except as provided by Law 73. A violation of this Law renders the offender, or his partner, liable to have a suit called when it is the next turn of either of them to lead.

THE ETIQUETTE OF WHIST.

The following rules belong to the established Etiquette of Whist. They are not called Laws, as it is difficult, in some cases impossible, to apply any penalty to their infraction.

Any one having the lead should not draw a second card out of his hand until his partner has played to the trick, such act being a distinct intimation that the former has played a winning card.

No intimation whatever, by word or gesture, should be given by a player as to the state of his hand or of the game.

A player who desires the cards to be placed, or {184} who asks what the trump suit is, should do it for his own information only, and not in order to invite the attention of his partner.

No player should object to refer to a bystander, who professes himself uninterested in the game and able to decide, any disputed question of facts; as to who played any particular card, whether honours were claimed, though not scored, or _vice versa_, &c. &c.

It is unfair to revoke purposely. Having made a revoke, a player is not justified in making a second in order to conceal the first.

Until the players have made such bets as they wish, bets should not be made with bystanders.

Bystanders should make no remark; neither should they, by word or gesture, give any intimation of the state of the game, nor should they walk round the table to look at the different hands.

No one should look over the hand of a player against whom he is betting.