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CHAPTER II.

EXPLANATION OF TECHNICAL TERMS USED IN THE

MODERN SCIENTIFIC GAME.

Bring in. See Establish.

Command.-You are said to have the command of a suit when you hold the best cards in it. If you have sufficient of them to be able to draw all those in the other hands (as would probably be the case if you had ace, king, queen, and two others), the command is complete; if not, it may be only partial or temporary. Commanding cards are the cards which give you the command.

Conventional signals are certain modes of play designed purposely, by common consent, for the object of conveying information to your partner. The principle was sanctioned by Hoyle, and several of them are established and legalised in the modern scientific game; as, for example, the signal for trumps; the return of the highest from a short suit; playing the lowest of a sequence; discarding

the highest of a suit of which you have full command, and so on.

Discard.-The card you throw away when you have none of the suit led, and do not trump it. In the modern game, your first discard should be from a short or weak suit.

Establish.-A suit is said to be established when you hold the complete command of it. This may sometimes happen to be the case originally, but it is more common to obtain it in the course of the play by 'clearing' away the cards that obstructed you, so as to remain with the best in your hand. is highly desirable to establish your long suit as soon as you can, for which purpose not only your adversaries' hands, but also your partner's, must be cleared from the obstructing cards.

It

When your suit is once established, if the adversaries' trumps are out, and you can get the lead, it is obvious you may make a trick with every card of it you hold; and this is called bringing it in.

The establishment and bringing in of long suits form the great distinguishing features of the modern scientific game.

False card is a card played contrary to the established rules or conventions of the game, and which therefore is calculated to deceive your partner as to the state of your hand; as, for example,

following suit with the highest or middle card of a sequence, or throwing away other than your lowest card. The play of false cards without very good reason is characteristic only of hopelessly bad players.

Finessing is an attempt, by the third player, to make a lower card answer the purpose of a higher (which it is usually his duty to play) under the hope that an intermediate card may not lie to his left hand. Thus, having ace and queen of your partner's lead, you finesse the queen, hoping the fourth player may not hold the king. Or if your partner leads a knave, and you hold the king, you may finesse or pass the knave, i. e. play a small card to it, under the hope that it may force the ace. The word is sometimes applied to cases where it is certain the inferior card will answer the purpose intended; as, for example, where the left hand has already shown weakness. But this is clearly a misuse of the term, for unless there is a risk of the card being beaten, it is only ordinary play, and can involve no finessing—properly so called.

You are said to finesse against the intermediate card, and sometimes also against the person who holds it; but as by the nature of the case it should be unknown where the card lies, the latter meaning is apt to create confusion. The person against whom you act is more correctly the fourth player.

Forcing means obliging your partner or your

adversary to trump a trick, by leading a suit of which they have none.

Guarded second, or second-best guarded, is the combination of the second-best card for the time being, with a small one to guard it against being taken by the best; as, for example, king and a small one originally, or knave and a small one when the ace and queen have been played.

This combination is an important one, having an advantage analogous to that of the tenace; namely, that if the suit is led by your left-hand adversary, you are certain (bar trumping) to make your secondbest card.

Honours are the ace, king, queen, and knave of trumps; the term, however, is often applied to the same cards in plain suits. The ten and nine are sometimes called semi-honours.

Leading through, or up to.-The person who leads is said to lead through his left hand adversary, and up to his right hand one, such being the direction in which the play runs.

Long cards are cards remaining in one hand when all the rest of that suit have been played.

Long suit. One of which you hold more than three cards. See Strength.

Loose card means a card in hand of no value, and consequently the fittest to throw away.

Make. To make a card means simply to win a trick with it.

Master card, or best card, means the highest card in at the time. Thus, if the ace and king were out, the master card would be the queen. This is sometimes also called the 'king card,' a name likely to cause confusion.

Opening.-Term borrowed from chess, to denote the system on which you commence or open your game when you get your first lead.

Plain suits are the three suits not trumps.

Re-entry.-A card of re-entry is one that will, by winning a trick, bring you the lead at an advanced period of the hand.

Renounce. When a player has none of the suit led he is said to renounce that suit.

Revoke. If he fails to follow suit when he has any of the suit, he revokes, and incurs a serious penalty.

Ruffing is another word for trumping a suit of which you have none.

Score. The counting or marking of the progress of the game. Attention to the score, which is very necessary in playing, refers not only to the progress, but also to the prospects of the game, as evidenced by the tricks made and honours held in the current hand.