The Penguin Book of Card Games: Everything You Need to Know to Play Over 250 Games (29 page)

rounds of three. The trumps are always, from highest to lowest,

Q, ✝7, Q, J, J, J, J, fol owed by AK(Q if red)T986, giving

14 black trumps or 15 red. Plain suits rank AK(Q if red)T9876.

Each in turn bids to win from five to nine tricks with the eventual

aid of a partner. A higher bid overcal s a lower, and a bid in clubs

overcal s an equal bid in another suit. The partner is the holder of a

card cal ed after the bidding, usual y a high trump or a non-trump

Ace lacking from the bidder’s hand.

| Preference (Austrian)

3 players, 32 cards

Preference is a three-hander clearly descended from Ombre, but

with two novel features. One is that not only the soloist but also

each defender must undertake to win a predetermined quota of

tricks – a development of the Ombre situation, which also requires

the defenders to keep their won tricks separately. The other is its

introduction of a primitive form of suit hierarchy. Previously, only

one suit was a suit of preference –clubs in Boston, diamonds in

Quadril e, or a suit turned at random, as in Solo Whist. In

Preference, the four suits rank upwards in order , , , , a pat ern

that spread into many nineteenth-century games, including Bridge.

(The modern suit order of Contract arose in Auction Bridge through

an upgrading of the spade suit that took place around 1910.) The

originality of this hierarchical feature is emphasized by the fact that

the game itself is named after it. Preference has long been popular

in Austria, and can be traced back to about 1820. Other varieties of

it are played throughout eastern Europe, from Lithuania to Greece.

Preliminaries Three players are active, but normal y four play

together, with each in turn dealing and sit ing that deal out. Al

play goes to the left. Play is normal y for cash, though accounts can

be kept in writing. At the outset, each contributes to the pot an

equal sum divisible by ten. The game ends when the pot is empty,

unless the players agree to contribute a further stake and play on.

Cards Thirty-two, either French-suited and ranking AKQJT987, or

German-suited (acorns, leaves, hearts, bel s) and ranking Deuce,

King, Ober, Unter, X, IX, VI I, VI . The order and value of suits for

bidding and scoring is:

Deal Deal ten each in batches of 3-(2)-4-3, the (2) going, face down,

to the table as a talon.

Auction This determines who wil play solo against the other two.

The soloist wil name trumps, may take the talon and discard two

cards, and must then win at least six tricks in play. The basic bids

are from one to four. ‘One’ entitles the soloist to name any suit as

trump. ‘Two’prevents clubs from belng named, ‘three’ prevents also

spades, and ‘four’ prevents diamonds, automatical y making hearts

trumps. Each in turn, starting with eldest, may pass or bid and,

having passed, may not come in again. The first bid is ‘one’. Each

thereafter must either pass or bid one higher –‘jump-bidding’ is not

al owed. However:

1. An earlier player may ‘hold’ the bid of a later player.

Example: if Anton bids ‘one’, Bertl must pass or bid ‘two’. If he bids

‘two’, Christl must pass or bid ‘three’. Bertl and Christl may not

hold the previous bid, as they come later in the auction. Anton,

however, may then hold Christl’s bid of three, as he is the earlier of

two players wil ing to bid the same amount.

2. Any player may immediately declare ‘hand’ or ‘preference’,

provided they haven’t already made a numerical bid. Both bids

of er to play the hand as dealt, without taking the talon, but

preference undertakes to do so with hearts trump, and cannot be

overcal ed. If two wish to play ‘hand’, priority goes to the one

nominating the higher-ranking suit as trump (diamonds beats

spades beats clubs).

Example of bidding: Anton Bertl Christl

One Two Three

pass Hold Four

pass pass

Anton is wil ing to play only if given a free choice of suits.

Christl’s Three of ers a red suit. Bertl, also wil ing to play a red suit,

‘holds’ this bid by virtue of positional priority. Christl overcal s by

commit ing herself to hearts, which she would have played were it

not that numerical bids must go in order. (Had she been wil ing to

play without taking the talon, she could have ended the auction by

bidding ‘Preference’ immediately.) Bertl, whose suit was diamonds,

declines to ‘hold’ hearts. Christl becomes the soloist.

The exchange In a numerical contract, the soloist takes the talon

into hand without exposing it, discards any two cards face down,

and announces the trump suit, which may not be lower in value

than the bid. In a Game contract, he simply announces trumps.

The defence Each defender, starting at the soloist’s left, now

announces whether he wil play or drop out.

If he plays, he must win at least two tricks or be penalized.

If he drops out, he escapes penalty, but this makes it easier for

the soloist to win.

If both drop out, the soloist wins al 10 tricks by default.

If only one defender is wil ing, he may either play alone, in

which case the other defender lays his hand face down and tricks

are played between the soloist and one defender, or he may invite

his partner to assist. An invitation must be accepted, but the guest

wil not be penalized if he fails to make two tricks. Instead, the host

wil be penalized if they fail to take four tricks between them.

Play If there is any defence, the soloist leads to the first trick.

Players must fol ow suit and head the trick if possible, otherwise

Players must fol ow suit and head the trick if possible, otherwise

trump and overtrump if possible, and only otherwise renounce.

However: if both defenders elected to play, and the soloist leads to

a trick, and the first defender can beat that lead, he must do so with

the lowest card legal y playable. The trick is taken by the highest

card of the suit led, or by the highest trump if any are played, and

the winner of each trick leads to the next.

Pay-of Whether or not the contract is made, the soloist takes 10

units from the pot and pays each active defender one unit for each

trick the lat er took – except in the case of a guest, when only the

host is paid, and that for each trick taken between them. If the

soloist took fewer than six, he then pays 20 units to the pot. Next,

any defender who chose to play but failed to win two tricks pays

10 to the pot. If one player was invited and the defence failed to

win four tricks, the host pays 10 to the pot and the guest is

exempted.

Bonuses The fol owing bonuses, if applicable, are wonor lost as

between the soloist and each opponent, independently of the pot.

1. Hearts bonus. In a Hearts contract (without the talon), the

soloist wins or loses 10 units per opponent.

2. Four Ace bonus. A soloist who held four aces receives 10 from

each opponent if the contract succeeded, but does not pay anything

if it failed.

3. No Ace bonus. A soloist who held no aces, and announced this

before leading to the first trick, wins or loses an extra 10 units per

opponent. (You may not discard an Ace to the talon in order to

claim this bonus.)

(There are other ways of handling the pot and the various

bonuses.)

Il ustrated Preference

(Il ustrierte Préférence) includes at least the first two of the

fol owing additional bids.

Five (or Bet el) A bid to lose every trick after taking the talon.

There is no trump, but players must stil head the trick if possible.

Scores 10. Six (or Durchmarsch) A bid to win every trick at no

trump after taking the talon. Scores 20.

Seven (or Bet el Ouvert, or Plauderer) As Bet el, but the soloist’s

hand is laid face up on the table after the opening lead, and the

defenders may discuss their procedure. (A ‘chat y’ bid: plaudern

means to converse.) Scores 30.

Eight (Of ener Durchmarsch) As Durchmarsch, but with the

soloist’s cards exposed after the opening lead. Scores 40.

In these extra contracts neither defender may drop out, the soloist

wins or loses as between each defender, independently of the pot,

and Ace bonuses are not recognized. Some also al ow the same bids

and contracts without taking the talon. In this case they outrank suit

games in the bidding, and win or lose double.

Kontra and Rekontra In a no-trumper, each opponent in turn may

double (‘Kontra’), thereby doubling the value of the game as

between himself and the soloist, but without bearing on the other

defender. If the first declines and the second doubles, the former

may not then change his mind. If either doubles, the soloist may

redouble (‘Rekontra’). Usurping (Nachgehen) When the soloist in a

number contract has taken the talon and discarded, another player

may, provided he has made at least one positive bid, usurp the role

of the soloist by taking the new talon, making two discards, and

declaring at least Five (Bet el). However, the original soloist, or the

third player if he also bid, may similarly usurp it again for a yet

higher contract, and so on. Sans atout If Six is the highest bid

recognized, some play it as a contract cal ed Sans Atout (No Trump)

instead of Durchmarsch. After the exchange, the player at declarer’s

right makes the opening lead, and declarer’s object is to win any six

consecutive tricks.

Preference (Russian)

3 players, 32 cards

Russia, when at home, in dressing gown and slippers, plays

chiefly at Preference.

Revd Edwin S. Taylor, The History of Playing Cards (1865)

Preference reached Russia in the 1830s and remains that country’s

national card game, albeit hitherto somewhat furtively. Because the

old Soviet regime disapproved of card-playing, it was only with the

col apse of communism that Preference-players were able to

organize themselves and disseminate information about the game

that could filter out into the western world. Unsurprisingly, we find

it played in various ways. The version described below is that

approved by the Moscow-based Preference Lovers’ Society, founded

in 1996, but that body makes reference to the Leningrad, Sochi and

so-cal ed Classical varieties of Preference.

Preliminaries Players, cards and deal, as for Austrian Preference.

Auction Eldest bids first. The bidding sequence from lowest to

highest runs 6S, 6C, 62, 61, 6NT, fol owed by 7 of each in the same

order, then 8, misére, 9, and 10. A bid is an of er to win at least the

stated number of tricks with the stated or a higher-ranking trump.

Misére – played always at no trump – may not be cal ed by a

player who has already made a positive numerical bid. Each bid

must be higher than the last, but an earlier player may ‘hold’ the

bid of a later player by saying ‘Here’.

Example: If Eldest bids 6S, Second hand 62, and Third hand 61, Eldest (or

Second hand if Eldest passes) can assert priority for 61by saying, ‘Hearts here.’

But Third hand could not have called ‘Diamonds here’, because Second hand

enjoys positional priority.

No player may bid again, having once passed. The last-named

bidder becomes the soloist, in either the contract named or a higher

one. Fol owing two immediate passes, the third can bid or pass, or

(in some circles) take the talon silently and become the declarer by

default. But if he wishes to play misére after two immediate passes

he must say so before taking the talon. If he also passes, they play a

round of raspasovka (explained later).

Contract announcement Declarer turns the talon face up for al to

see, takes it into hand, and makes any two undisclosed discards face

down.

He then announces his contract, which must be not lower than his

last bid (if any), but may be for a greater number or a higher

trump. He may not cal a misére if he previously made a positive

bid, or if he became declarer by neither bidding nor passing after

two immediate passes. No mat er how weak the hand or

unfavourable the talon, declarer may not concede, but must name a

contract and play it through.

Whisting The player at declarer’s left now states whether or not he