Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 19.djvu/126

Rh 116 p i R r i K that deal. The younger hand should also count that the proper number of cards are in the stock, before he takes in, as, if he mixes one of the elder s cards with his hand, he can reckon nothing that deal. After taking in and before calling your hand, look through it and your discard to ascertain what remains against you. If there is anything against you which is not called, you will probably be able to judge from this some portion of the discard, and will so be assisted in playing the cards. But implicit reliance must not be placed on this. For experienced players not unfrequently omit to call some small score, such as a tierce, in order intentionally to mislead you. This manoeuvre (called sinking a. score) is especially resorted to when a player has a high card unguarded. In order to induce you to believe that it is guarded, he will put up with the loss of several points in calling, on the chance of recouping himself by afterwards saving or winning the cards in consequence of your misconceiving his discard. If your adversary calls a point which is not good, you should at once note in which suit it is (or may be), in order to count the hand. If the younger hand admits a point to be good (as regards the number of cards that compose it), the elder should observe whether the younger could possibly have had equal or better in any suit. If so he has probably put out that suit. But it may be that the younger hand, if a good judge of the game, will admit the number of cards of a point to be good when he has an equal number. Thus : A calls five cards, and B knows, from examining his hand and discard, that there is only one suit in which A can have five cards, and that they make fifty. B has five cards making forty-nine. B should promptly reply &quot;good,&quot; although he has five cards himself ; because he ought to know that A s five cards are better than his. By saying &quot; equal, &quot; he unnecessarily exposes his hand. In playing the cards, you must be guided a good deal by what your adversary has called, and, to some extent, by what he has not called. You will generally know several cards in the adverse hand, or will be able to mark some that have been put out. Sometimes you will know all the cards. Thus, if the younger hand fails to follow suit to your first lead in which you could only have five cards, it is evident he has put out three cards of that suit, and you know every card in his hand. Failing direct indications, lead the point, unless you have a small point and there is a tenace in that suit against you. When playing to the opponent s lead, keep guards to kings and queens. Having the choice between throwing a card you have declared and one you have not, prefer the former. If you can make a pique, lead your winning cards one after the other, -without considering how many of the remaining tricks you will lose. There is one exception to this : in the sixth hand, if your losing the cards will enable the younger hand to save his rubicon, and your score is such that you can win the partie without the pique, you should forego the pique, when by not leading out your winning cards immediately you can divide or win the cards. When you have five or six tricks and a winning card, lead the winning card, unless certain that your opponent has cards of that suit. By playing otherwise, you risk eleven points for the chance of gaining one for the last trick. This, of course, is liable to a similar exception as the previous case, viz., in the sixth hand with five tricks up, if you must win the cards or the last trick to win the partie or to save the rubicon. In the sixth hand, if a player has scored less than a hundred, he should consider, before calling or playing, whether he can make his aggregate score up to a hundred or more. If he cannot, his object should be to reckon as little as he can, and to prevent his adversary from scoring, by making his point or sequence equal (if possible), and by endeavouring to divide the cards. If he is satis fied he cannot divide the cards, and there is no capot against him, he is at liberty to score two (one for a trick he wins, and one for a card he plays), and to throw his cards down, allowing the adversary to reckon thirteen in play. On the other hand, a player who is ahead, and who sees his adversary cannot reach a hundred, should endeavour to prevent the decoration of equalities, and, if he cannot win the cards himself, should play to lose them. During the calling and play of the hand, always keep in mind your adversary s score and satisfy yourself that he does not reckon too many. Mistakes occur, even among the most honourable players. If your adversary reckons too few, you are not bound to correct him. Lawn of Piquet. 1. A player may shuffle either pack, above the table. The dealer has the right to shuffle last. 2. A cut must consist of at least two caMs. 3. Highest has choice of deal and cards. (Ace highest, seven lowest.) 4. If a card is exposed in cutting or before dealing, there must be a fresh cut. 5. The mode of distributing the cards (by twos or by threes) must not he altered during the partie. 6. The stock must be placed, in one packet, face downwards, between the players. 7. If the cards are dealt wrongly, the error may be rectified before either player has taken up his hand, or the adversary may demand a fresh deal. 8. If a card belonging to the elder hand or the stock is exposed when dealing, the adversary has the option of a fresh deal. If there is a faced card in the pack, there must be a fresh deal. 9. If, after the deal is completed, more than one card is found to have been dealt wrongly, or nine cards are found in the stuck, there must be a fresh deal. The same if the wrong pack is dealt with, and the error is discovered before either player has taken up his cards ; otherwise the packs remain changed. 10. If only one card has been dealt wrongly, the elder hand, after looking at his cards and before taking in a card, has the option of a fresh deal, and if there are only seven cards in the stock, he may alter his discard (see Laws 12 sq.). 11. The players deal alternately. If a player deals out of turn, and the error is discovered by either player before he takes up his cards, the deal is void, and the right dealer deals. If the error is discovered later, the elder liand must deal twice running with his own pack, unless that or the next deal is the last of the partie. 12. Each player is bound to discard at least one card (but see Laws 21, 22, and 23). 13. When taking in, the cards must be taken in order from the top of the stock. 14. After taking a card, a player cannot alter his discard ; and if lie then takes back any of his discard, he must play with more than twelve cards (see Law 30) ; if after taking a card he mixes any of bis hand with his discard, he must play with less than twelve cards (see Law 29). 15. If either player, when taking in, exposes a card of the stock belonging to his adversary, he can reckon nothing that deal. 10. If either player mixes with his baud a card of the stock which belongs to his adversary, he can reckon nothing that deal ; or the adversary may have a fresh deal. If he stands the deal he can only take in such of his cards as have not been mixed. 17. If a player discards more cards than he takes in, he must play with less than twelve cards (see Law 29). 18. If a player discards fewer cards than he takes in, he can reckon nothing that deal. 19. The adversary has the option of not enforcing the penalty of reckoning nothing that deal. 20. If the younger hand leaves any cards and mixes them with his discard, without showing them to the elder hand, the elder, after leading a card, is entitled to see the younger s discard. 21. If the elder hand elects to stand the deal when one card has been dealt wrongly, and he has thirteen cards, he must discard one card more than he takes in, and must discard at least two cards. If there are eight cards in the stock, the younger hand discards one less than he takes in, and if he only takes one card he need not discard any ; if there are seven cards in the stock, and the elder hand discards six cards and takes five, the younger hand can only take two cards. 22. If the elder hand elects to stand the deal when he has eleven cards, and there are eight in the stock, he must discard one less than he takes in ; if he only takes one card he need not discard any. The younger hand must discard one more than he takes in, and must discard at least two cards. 23. If the elder hand elects to stand the deal when he has twelve cards, and there are seven in the stock, he discards the same number as he takes in ; the younger discards one more than he takes in, and must discard at least two cards. 24. When the elder hand s call is good against the cards, it is suffi cient if he states the number of cards that compose it ; if not he must say what it makes or to what card it is, or the value of the cards of which it con sists. 25. The elder hand calling too little may correct his miscall before it has been replied to by the younger hand ; and the younger hand, allowing a correct call to be good or equal, when he holds better, may correct his reply before the elder hand has made another call, or, if there is no further call, before the elder hand has led a card. 26. If a player calls what he does not hold, he may correct his call before the younger hand has played to the first trick ; and, if the younger hand has miscalled, the elder hand may take up his card and play differently. In the absence of correction, the offender can reckon nothing that deal, and the adversary, on discovery of the error, can reckon anything he has good, which is not barred by a correct call made in addition to the miscall. But there is no penalty for calling anything which a player could not possibly hold in his hand and discard taken together, nor for misnaming a suit, nor for misnaming the rank of a sequence, when one of the counting value named is held, provided the claim could not have been held in the hand and discard taken together; and, if a player voluntarily shows what he claims for, he is liable to no penalty for miscalling it. 27. A player who calls anything which is allowed to be good or equal must show the cards called at any time they are asked for during the play of the hand. 28. When the younger hand has played to the first trick, neither player can reckon anything omitted (but see Law 26). 29. A player is liable to no penalty for playing with less than twelve cards. His adversary counts as tricks all cards that cannot be played to. 30. If a player plays with more than twelve cards, he can reckon nothing that deal ; but his cards, though not good to score, are good to bar his adversary. 31. A card led or played cannot be taken up (but see Law 26), but cards accidentally dropped may be retaken. Also, if the leader leads several cards consecutively without waiting for them to be played to, and the adversary plays too many cards, he may retake the extra ones ; and cards subsequently played in error must be taken up and played over again. Or, if a player leads out of turn, he may take up his card unless it has been played to. Or, if a player does not follow suit when able, the card played in error and all cards subsequently played must be taken up and played over again. Or, if a player misinforms his adversary when asked what cards he holds that have been allowed to be good or equal, the adversary may retake all the cards he has subsequently played, and may play differently. 32. Errors in counting the hand, if proved, may be rectified before the player in error has seen his next hand. 33. If both players score the same number in six deals, each deals once more, when the partie is concluded, even if there should be a second tie. 34. If the loser fails to score a hundred, he is rubi- coned, whether the winner s score reaches a hundred or not. 33. The deal in which the discovery of an incorrect pack is made is void. All preceding deals stand good. 34. A bystander calling attention to any error or oversight, and thereby affecting the score, may be called upon to pay all stakes and bets of the player whose interest he has prejudicially affected. See Edmond Hoyle, A Short Treatise on the Game of Piquet (1744); &quot;Cavendish,&quot; The Laws of Piquet and of Rubicon Piquet, adopted by the Portland Club, with a Treatise on the Game (1882). (H. J.) &quot; PIRACY. Sir Edward Coke (Instit. iii. 113) describes a pirate (Latin pirata, from Greek Treipar^s) as hostis humani generis, and as a rover and robber upon the sea. Piracy may be denned in law as an offence which consists in the commission of those acts of pillage and violence upon the high seas which on land would amount to felony. By the ancient common law of England piracy, if com mitted by a subject, was deemed to be a species of treason, being contrary to his natural allegiance, and by an alien to be felony; but since the Statute of Treasons, 25 Edw. III. c. 2 (1351-52), piracy has been held to be felony only. Formerly this offence was only cognizable by the Admiralty courts, whose proceedings were based upon the