Hoyle's Games Modernized

EDITED BY

PROFESSOR HOFFMANN

(Reset)

THOROUGHLY REVISED TO 1909

With the addition of Chapters on and Three other New Games

BY

ERNEST BERGHOLT

And with New Chapters on and BROWNING ("Slambo" of The Westminster Gazette)

ALL FOURS


 * The Scoring Items; Method of Playing; Four-handed All Fours

BACCARAT


 * Baccarat Chemin de Fer; Baccarat Banque

BÉZIQUE


 * The Old-fashioned Game; Hints for Play; Rubicon Bézique; The Laws of Rubicon Bézique

BLIND HOOKEY

CRIBBAGE


 * The Five-card Game; The Six-card Game; The Seven-card Game; Three-handed Cribbage; Four-handed Cribbage

ÉCARTÉ


 * The Laws of Écarté; French Terms used in Écarté; Illustrative Game; Jeux de Règle

EUCHRE


 * Two-handed Euchre; Four-handed Euchre; Three-handed Euchre; Marking the Score; Hints for Play

LOO


 * Three-card Loo; Five-card Loo; The Laws of Loo

NAPOLEON


 * The Orthodox Game; The Variations; The Game Explained for Novices; The Numbers of Players

PIQUET


 * The Deal; Discarding and Taking in; Calling; The Play; Carte Blanche; Repique; Pique; Capot; The Final Score; Application of Skill

POKER


 * The Varieties of the Game; Draw Poker; The Probabilities of the Various Combinations; The Straddle; Jack-pots; Table Stakes; Straight Poker; Stud Poker; Whiskey Poker; Mistigris; The Tiger

POPE JOAN

SOLO WHIST


 * Description of the Game; The Stakes; A Digest of the Laws; A Few Maxims

VINGT-UN
 * Description of the Game; French Vingt-Un

WHIST


 * The Laws of Whist; The Etiquette of Whist; Dummy; Double Dummy; How to become a Good Player; Leads; Return Leads; Second in Hand; What to Play Third Hand; The Play of the Fourth Hand; The Call for Trumps; The Echo to the Call; Discarding; The Use and Abuse of Trumps; Underplay; False Cards; How to Play Whist; Unblocking; Placing the Lead; The Play of the Twelfth and Thirteenth Cards; Maxims; Books on Whist

BRIDGE


 * Relation to Whist; The Score in Actual Practice; Hints for Play; The Laws of Bridge (1904); Books on Bridge

AUCTION BRIDGE


 * The Laws of Auction Bridge; Hints to Players; General Remarks

FIVE HUNDRED


 * Description of the Game; Revokes; Book on Five Hundred

QUINTO


 * Description of the Game; Dummy (or Three-Handed) Quinto; Book on Quinto

POKER PATIENCE


 * Poker Patience; Serpent Poker Patience

BACKGAMMON


 * The Board and Men; Playing; Bearing off the Men; Hints for Play

BAGATELLE


 * The Appliances of the Game; How to Play

BILLIARDS


 * The Implements of the Game, and Terms used in connection with it; The Half-ball Stroke; Losing Hazards into the Top Pockets from Baulk; Middle-Pocket Hazards; Position; Losing Hazards; Winning Hazards; Cannons; The Billiards Control Club Rules; Pyramids; Shell Out; Works of Reference

POOL


 * General Counsels; The National Rules of Pool

SNOOKER POOL


 * Description of the Game; The National Rules of Snooker Pool

CHESS


 * The Board and Men; The Movements of the Men and their Power to Take; Chess Notation; Example; Technical Terms used in the Game; Value of the Pieces; The Openings; The Giuoco Piano; The Evans Gambit; The Evans Gambit Declined; The Two Knights' Defence; The Ruy Lopez; Philidor's Defence; Three Knights' Game; Four Knights' Game; The Vienna Opening; The Steinitz Gambit; The Scotch Game; The Scotch Gambit; The Danish and Centre Gambits; Petroff's Defence; The King's Gambits—The King's Knight's Gambit; The Muzio Gambit; The Salvio Gambit; The Kieseritzky Gambit; The Allgaier Gambit; The Cunningham Gambit; The Bishop's Gambit; The Gambit declined; Close Games—The French Defence; The Sicilian Defence; The Queen's Gambit; The Fianchetto; The End Game—King and Pawn against King; King and Queen against King; King and Two Rooks against King; King and Rook against King; King and Two Bishops against King; King, Bishop and Knight against King; End Game with Two Knights; General Observations; Bibliography of Chess

DRAUGHTS


 * The Rules of the Game; General Advice; Names of the Various Openings and how Formed; End Games—Two Kings to One; Three Kings to Two; The Elementary Positions—First Position; Second Position; Third Position; Fourth Position; Works of Reference

ROULETTE


 * Description of the Game; The Different Modes of Staking; Systems—The "Montant et Demontant" System; The Fitzroy System; The "Labouchere" System

TRENTE ET QUARANTE


 * Description of the Game; Staking; Method of Play

PREFACE

To the present generation the name of Edmond Hoyle conveys but a vague meaning, though the phrase "according to Hoyle" is still now and then used as a synonym for correct play in a card-game.

Hoyle was in fact the "Cavendish" of his day, and was in many ways a man of special mark. He was born in 1672, and died in 1769, having outlived half-a-dozen monarchs. Of his earlier life little is known. He is said to have been called to the Bar, though whether he ever practised as an advocate is uncertain. In 1742 he was living in Queen's Square, and giving lessons in whist-play, which he was the first to reduce to a scientific method. He had up to that time communicated his system either personally, or in the form of manuscript, but in that year he for the first time published his memorable "Short Treatise on the Game of Whist." Of this first edition only two copies (one in the Bodleian Library) are known to exist. Its price was a guinea. It was freely pirated, and this fact was probably the reason that the succeeding editions, of which there were three published in 1743, were issued at the more modest price of two shillings, each genuine copy being guaranteed by the autograph of the author. Other editions followed, several of which are only now represented by single copies. Of the seventh edition, published in 1747, no copy exists. The eighth (1748) embodied, in addition to the Whist manual, short treatises on Quadrille, Piquet, and Backgammon, which had in the meantime appeared separately. The book was from time to time further amplified, and the eleventh edition (precise date uncertain) is entitled "Mr. Hoyle's Games of Whist, Quadrille, Piquet, Chess and Backgammon Complete." The autograph signature to each copy was continued until Hoyle's death. In the fifteenth edition it is replaced by an impression from a wood block.

It is significant of the respect in which Hoyle was held, that his Laws of Whist, with some slight alterations by the habitués of White's and Saunders' chocolate-houses (the then headquarters of the game), were accepted as the final authority from 1760 till 1864, when the basis of the present code, settled by the Turf and Portland Clubs, was adopted in their stead.

Nothing would now be gained by reproducing Hoyle's original text. In the present volume no attempt is made to do so. Its teachings are, however, but the teachings of the master, amplified and brought up-to-date, and it is a fitting tribute to his memory that his name should be retained upon the title-page.



PREFACE TO THE REVISED EDITION OF 1909

The articles on Whist and Bridge have been rewritten and brought thoroughly up-to-date. Those on Billiards, Pool, and Snooker Pool have been completely revised, and all the recent changes in Rules have been either incorporated or quoted. Entirely new chapters have been added on Auction Bridge, Five Hundred, Quinto, and Poker Patience.

For the articles specially written for this New Edition on Roulette and Trente et Quarante, the able pen of Captain Browning is responsible.