Page INTRODUCTION

Card games have continued to fascinate mankind for centuries now, the world over. Take a closer look and you will find thousands of variations of games using playing cards. You must have certainly heard about the whist family of card games. It is being referred as a family because these are ever so many variations of whist games popular in different parts of the world. A simple game of whist is the simple two-handed whist. Then comes the knockout whist, which is equally popular. German whist is yet another whist game. Partnership whist is a whist game played by two teams of two players each. Solo whist is a game for four people and considered a gambling game. Napoleon (Nap) is also such a gambling whist game. One of the most widely played game of whist family is the Bridge and the best-known version is known as Contract Bridge. (Actually the game of contract Bridge was preceded by a simpler game called Auction Bridge). There are other card games, which are popular in some parts of the world only. Some of the best known are CLOBBIOSH and BELOT, BLACK MARIA, PIQUET, FIVE HUNDRED, POKER, BRAG, CASSINO, THE RUMMY FAMILY, KALUKI GIN RUMMY, CANASTA, CRIBBAGE, PONTOON etc. You may not have heard of some of these card games but it is more than likely that some variation of the games is being played in your part of the world. You may be calling it by some other sweet name. In spite of these variations, luckily a pack of cards is the same the world over. Card games can be broadly divided into three categories. The first category is those games in which one can participate as an individual only. A good example of such a game would be rummy.

LESSON

The second category is the games where one has to have one or more partners to play a game. There are games in which you can participate as an individual or as a member of a team which constitute the third category. But irrespective of the card game you play, you think of cards and the first thing that comes to your mind is the element of luck. It is easy to see why. In card games you receive cards from a shuffled pack and the probability of getting a particular card is just 1/52 if you are playing with a single pack of cards. When you get the right cards that help you win, that probability is your luck. Luck alone is not enough to play most games. You need skills which is a combination of memory, mathematics and some commonsense. 'FIFTY SIX' is a game that requires all the above skills. 'Fifty Six' is a partnership game, and all partnership games require excellent memory. As you go ahead discovering this game you will find that 'Fifty Six' can not only help in improving your memory power, but also a very interesting game to play. 'Fifty Six' is played among six players split into two teams and is very popular in southern parts of India. There are many aspects which makes '56' a very fine game of cards. Perhaps the first aspect is the fun of playing itself. Even without cash bets you will find the competitive spirit, the team spirit and the joy of winning, sustained throughout the duration of the game. Yet another aspect of 56 is that you need excellent skills to win a game. '56'needs an excellent memory, coupled with a very logical mind. As you will see in the following pages, '56' is played with double cards. For example there are two jacks of diamond. The player who plays the first jack has precedence over the player playing the 2nd jack in the same trick. Soon you can discover that a logical mind is of paramount importance, especially because of the precedence factor. So now forge ahead and discover the wonderful game of 56

LESSON

LESSON 1
Getting Started

LESSON Get to know a pack of cards

Before you start reading ahead buy two packs of cards (56 is played with 2 packs). Open a pack of cards and you will find there are 52 cards divided into four 'Suits': Clubs( ) diamonds( )hearts( ) and spades( ) . (In reality there will be 3 extra cards in every pack; 2 jokers and 1 blank card; and they may be forgotten for the moment). Separate the four suits and each suit will have thirteen cards each.

J 9 A 10 K Q 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

Clubs

Diamonds

J 9 A 1 0

K Q 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

J 9 A 1 0

K Q 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

Hearts

LESSON

J 9 A 1 0

K Q 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

A is known as Ace K is known as King Q is known as Queen You are already aware that there are thousands of games being played using playing cards. Some of the games are played with a full pack of cards while some games are played with more than one pack of cards. Rummy for instance makes use of 2 or 3 packs (usually 3 packs). Some of the games only need a part of a pack. Different games follow different point (value) system for cards. Some of the card games give points for cards. For example '9' has a value of 2 points in '56'. Some card games follow a ranking system for cards. Bridge is one such game. (This is also called pecking order). '56 is played with 48 cards drawn from 2 packs of cards which implies that only 24 cards from each of the two packs are needed to play this game. The cards for playing 56 '56' is played with cards from 2 packs of cards. But not all cards are used in a game.

J is known as Jack

LESSON 56 needs only 48 cards selected from 2 packs. J 9 A 10 K Q J 9 A 10 K Q J 9 A 10 K Q J 9 A 10 K Q

These are the 24 cards selected from one pack. Similarly another 24 cards will be selected from the second pack making it 48 cards for the game. What is the net result now? The game is played with 2 cards of each suit (variety) or there will be doubles of each card in the game. That means there will be 2 cards each of J, J, 9, 9, A, A, 10, 10, K, K, Q, Q J, J, 9, 9, A, A,'10, 10, K, K, Q, Q J, J, 9, 9, A, A, 10, 10, K, K, Q, Q J, J, 9, 9, A, A, 10, 10, K, K, Q, Q Point system in 56' 56 follows a point system for cards. (J ) Jack is worth 3 points ( 9 ) Nine is worth 2 points (A) Ace is worth 1 point (10 ) Ten is worth 1 point ( K ) King is worth no points or 0 point ( Q ) Queen is worth no points or 0 point

LESSON Ranking System in 56

Even though Aces and '10's' have the same value = 1, Ace is a higher card than 10. Similarly K (Kings) and Q (Queens) have the same value (or no value perhaps) but K is higher than Q. So let us compute the total points in a '56 ' game. There are 2 Jacks in each suit meaning 8 Jacks (2 Jacks x 4suits) in all. 8 Jacks x 3 points make 24 points There are 2 '9's of each suit meaning 8, 9's (2 9's x 4 suits) In all 8 (9's) x 2 make 16 points Similarly 8 Aces make 8 points and 8 Tens makes 8 points Kings and Queens have 0 point value. Thus the total is 24+16+8+8=56 Thus 56 points is the total points in the cards being used in the game giving the game the name 56. Some Cards Terminology Irrespective of the card games you play there are terms which you will come across while playing most card games 'The Pack', suits', 'Cutting and shuffling', Dealing, 'Lead Suit', 'Following suit', 'Tricks', and "Trumps' are very common terms. You have already discovered what a pack is and the four suits in a pack. 'Shuffling' and 'Dealing' is described below. The rest of the terms are discussed in this book as and when the occasion arises.

LESSON Shuffling

In any card game the players receive cards. In '56 each player receives 8 cards. On discovering a pack you find that different cards have different values. For example a J is bigger than 9 and 9 is bigger than A and so on. Each player wants to get the best cards, at the same time no one else should know what cards they have received. To ensure this, the cards are mixed properly. This random mixing is 'Shuffling'. The act of shuffling may also be known as 'making.' Dealing Dealer is the player who distributes the cards. The dealer will first shuffle the cards all cards face down. Then the whole pack will be placed on the right hand side of the dealer face down. The player on the right side of the dealer will divide the pack into 2 by taking a part of the cards at the top of the shuffled pack and placing it separately face down. After this the bottom section will be placed on the top of the other section. Now the cards are ready for distribution or dealing. The dealer will then distribute 4 cards at a time starting with the player to the left of the dealer and continuing in clockwise direction until] all cards are finished. In 56 48 cards are used and hence each player will receive 8 cards . Conventions in this book When discussing a hand or cards in a book the suits may be shown as actual pictures like , , and or may be represented as C-clubs, D- Diamonds, H-Hearts and SSpades In this books the actual pictures are shown like or

LESSON Now come back to game 56

56 is a partnership game. 56 is ideally played with 6 players split into two teams. So each team will have 3 members. The partnership among members may be arranged ahead of time or players may- draw for partners. To draw for partners the cards are shuffled and fanned face down on the table. The three players drawing the higher cards form one partnership and the lower cards form the other partnership. The partners sit around a table in alternate order. For this book call the teams X team and Y team. The team members are X1; X2; X3 of X Team and Y1; Y2; Y3 of Y Team Then the seating arrangement is X1 Y1

Y3 X3 Y2

X2

Through out this book the seating arrangement is considered like this to discuss various possibilities however the above seating arrangement is represented in this book as given below. X1 Y3 X3 Y2 Y1 X2

LESSON You must imagine players seated around a table.

10

In reality the players will be seated around a round table or table with 6 or 8 sides. The X team consists of 3 players X1, X2 and X3 The Y team consists of 3 players Y1, Y2 and Y 3 Spirit of the Game Unlike many other card games, '56' is rarely played for cash bets. The team spirit and the spirit of winning itself will keep the game interesting for hours together. Before the game starts each team will receive 12 cards not used in the game. One team will have clubs and spades 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and the other team will have Diamonds and hearts 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. One team gets the black ones while the other gets the red ones. Remember that these cards are not used for playing 56 These cards are knows as 'tables' and they are exchanged in lieu of success and failure in each round of game. How many tables are exchanged will be discussed later in this book (at the section dealing with bidding) In short if X team wins, then Y team will give tables to X team and if Y team wins, X team will give tables to Y team. Similarly the exchange goes on and at a particular point one team will not have any / sufficient of tables to compensate the other. At this point that team is declared defeated and the other team wins. There are certainly places where tables are substituted with cash bets.

LESSON EXERCISES (E1)

11

Answer the following questions and check with the correct answers to ensure that you have understand lesson 1 1. How many cards are there in a pack of cards? 2. How many suits are there in a pack of cards? What are they? 3. How many cards are there in each suit? Note down the separate cards in the diamond suit? 4. Arrange these cards in descending order

J, A, 10, 9, Q, K 5. How many points are there in the above hand? 6. How many points are there in each suit in the cards selected for '56'? 7. How many cards from each suit are selected for a game of '56'?

LESSON

12

LESSON

13

LESSON 2
Take the First Step

LESSON Now let's start playing

14

Earlier in this book it was mentioned that 56 is played with 48 cards drawn from 2 packs of cards. The cards are J, 9, A, 10, K, Q J, 9, A, 10, K, Q J, 9, A, 10, K, Q J, 9, A, 10, K, Q 2 cards each 2 cards each 2 cards each 2 cards each

The game starts when one of the players shuffles and deals the cards. If the teams are pre determined then one member from each team could draw a card from the deck face down before dealing and the cards may be kept face up on the table. The person who draws the higher card can start shuffling and deal the card for the first time. If the teams are decided by drawing cards from the deck then the person who draws the highest can deal. Remember that before the cards are distributed the player to the right of the dealer cuts the shuffled cards in to two parts and the lower part is kept above the upper section to ensure absolute random mixing. (This is called cutting) Recall the seating arrangement again. X1 Y3 X3 Y1 X2 Y3

LESSON Suppose you are X1 and you are the dealer.

15

You shuffle cards. Y3 cuts the cards. You start distributing 4 cards at a time; face down in the clockwise direction. That means you give 4 cards to Y1, X2, Y2, X3, Y3, and X1 and repeat the round again in the same order. At the end, each player will have 8 cards (8 cards X 6 players = 48 cards) Each Players 8 card constitute a 'hand' The players pick up their hands and fan them so that they alone cap see their cards . It becomes easier to understand your hand if the cards are sorted into suits, in alternating colors with the cards in each suit arranged from left to right according to the value or rank. How you arrange your card is a matter of personal preference but the above arrangement is ideal for beginners. A sorted hand might look like this.

Note that the cards are arranged in alternate suits in alternate colors to give a clear view of cards to the player.

LESSON

16

When a hand is discussed in a textbook or newspaper, it can only be displayed in a symbolic fashion A hand will be depicted in this book like this J, 9, A K, Q J, J 9 When discussing a complete deal all six hands are shown in the following manner J, J, 9, A, 10, K 10, 10 A, A, K, K, Q K 10 10 9 9, 9, Q Q, Q J, K J A, Q J, Q A, 10, K J J, J, 9, 9, A A, K K 9, 9, A, 10, Q 1O, Q

LESSON

17

The seating arrangement is uniform throughout this book and hence the players names are not given. To recall the names the above hands refers to X1 Y3 X3 Y1 X2 Y2

The Two stages of the game There are two stages in the game of ' 56'.First there is bidding, as is in an auction to determine which partnership will undertake a contract. In the next stage, the playing of the cards follows where one side tries to fulfill the agreed contract while the other side tries to defeat it. Before looking at how the bidding works, understand something about the playing of cards.

The Trick
The playing of cards is always started by the player to the left side of the dealer and in the clock- wise direction. So the first player leads a card by placing it on the table and turning it face up. The suit the first player (lead player), placed is the lead suit or suited. The next player in clockwise rotation always playing a card of the same suit with face up on the table will follow this. This is called following suit. Like this all six players will play one card each and the six cards played constitute a trick.

LESSON

18

This is a partnership game. So if either you or one of your partners plays the highest card your side wins the trick. Here is an example of a trick J A 10 X1 is dealer Y1 plays X2 plays Y2 plays X3 plays Y3 plays X1 plays Q K 9 10 A J and wins the trick for X team Q K 9

When X1 has won the trick a member of X team (either X1, X2, X3) will collect all the 6 cards and keep it in front of the player face down. Remember that the person who collected the cards for the First trick won will collect the cards for all other tricks won by the same team. That means if the first trick is won by X team and cards collected by player X1 then when X team wins tricks subsequently X1 will collect the cards and keep it face down in the front. Similarly when Y team wins a trick, either Y1, Y2, or Y3 will collect the cards and keep it in the front face down. The player who collects the cards for the first time on behalf of the team will continue to collect the cards when the team wins any tricks subsequently. So we have just covered four important rules of the play (second stage) of cards.

LESSON

19

1. The player to the left of the dealer starts the game by leading a card and turning it face up. 2. The others will have to follow suit in the clockwise order. 3. The player who puts the highest card wins the trick for the players team. 4. The player whose card won the trick leads the next trick. Discarding In the previous exempla Y1 played card. Thus clubs is the suited. Q as the lead

When your turn comes, you imagine that you do not have any cards in the Clubs suit. In that case you can play any card from another suit. This is called discarding An example of discarding 10 clubs. J K Y2 has discarded A 9 K K Y1 is lead player and leads a

Like this 8 tricks will be played in a round because each player has 8 cards in a hand. Once the 8 tricks are over, the team, which has made the bid, counts the points in the cards collected by their team by winning the tricks. If the points equal or exceed the bid amount the team wins the round of game. No-trump and Trump

LESSON

20

Trump and No-Trump bidding will be discussed in detail in the chapter connected with bidding. At this point it is worth remembering that a bid may be made with a trump suit or without a trump suit often referred to as no-trump. When the contract (bidding) is played without a trump suit, the highest card played to a trick wins the trick provided it is of the same suit as the suited (lead suit) Here is an example J Q 10 9 K 9 9

Y1 plays the lead X1who plays

J and wins the trick for team X

But on many deals, one suit is designated through the bidding as a trump suit. When there is a trump suit, a trump beats any card in another suit. Here are some rules to remember when playing a hand with a trump suit. You have to follow suit if you have the cards of the lead suit. That means if the lead card is a diamond and you have diamonds with you then you have to play a diamond card only. When you have no cards in the suited, then you may play a trump (Trump here refers to any card belonging to the trump suit). This is called trumping or ruffling. Here is an example 10 J (Y1 is lead player and diamond is suitled ) 9 A 10 K

LESSON

21

Here if clubs is the trump suit then X1 wins the trick for the X team If more than one player plays a trump on a trick, the highest ranked trump wins the trick Here is an example. 10 suited) K A J (Y1 is lead player and diamond is 9 A

Here X1 and Y2 have played trump cards. A is bigger than 10. Hence Y2 wins the trick for Y team The trump suit does not have to be led at any particular time. It is up to the discretion of each player to decide when to lead a trump That means if the lead card is the trump suit then the highest card wins the trick Here is an example J K Q A (Y1 is lead player and clubs is suited) 9 9

In this trick X1 wins the trick for team X Note that Y2 has played 9 it has no significance. What Y2 has done is called discarding. Here Y2 has done it because Y2 has no clubs in hand. It is not necessary that you should use the trump every time you are not able to follow suit. That means suit. That means suppose the lead card is a diamond. You do not have diamonds. Trump suit is clubs. You have clubs, but that

LESSON

22

does not mean that you should trump this trick. You may choose to discard any other card like spades or hearts if you have them. The next important rule is that when two players have played the same card then the first card played gets the precedence. Here is an example A 10 9 J J Q

Here YI and X2 have played J. But Y1 first and hence Y1 wins the trick for Y team.

J was played by

LESSON

23

LESSON 3
Take the Second Step

LESSON The Language of Bidding

24

Before the play of each deal the contract must be determined. This is done through an auction Having looked at the hands that were dealt, the members of each partnership would like the right to decide whether the deal is to be played in no-trump or a particular trump suit. For this the partners should exchange information about their hands. They do this through the special language of bidding. Bidding After the cards have been dealt and the players have looked at. Their hands, the player to the left of the dealer starts the auction by making the first call. However it is important to note that the player to make the first call (bid) can decide to make the bid or can leave the chance to the next player by saying 'pass' Here is an example Recall the seating arrangement X1 Y3 X2 Y1 X3 Y2

If XI was the dealer then Y1 can either make a bid or can say 'pass'. Once Y1 says pass then the next chance to make a bid automatically goes to X2. Here also X2 can make a bid or say 'Pass'. If X2 also says pass then the next chance to make the bid goes to Y2 who can make a bid or 'pass'. X3 also has the same right to make a bid or pass. However if all the first four players (in this case Y1, X2, Y2, X3)

LESSON

25

Have said 'pass' then it is obligatory on the part of Y3 to make a bid. That means if the dealer is an X team member then one member of the Y team has to make a bid if none of the X team members make a bid. Once the opening bid is made the players make higher bids each time in clock wise direction until 5 players in secession say 'pass' following a bid which now becomes the final contract. Now, if Y3 has made a bid then X1 has the next chance to bid. Here again X1 has the option to make a higher bid or 'pass'. Whether X1 makes a bid or not YI has the next chance to bid . The chance to make a bid comes to all players in clockwise rotation until the bid amount reaches the maximum or 5 players say 'pass' in succession. That means that even if one player chooses to 'pass' in one round that player can make a bid in the next round provided the bid is not finalized before the next chance. During the play the team, which won the bid, becomes the offence and the opposite team becomes the defense. A bid consists of two parts; a number indicating the points the bidder's team propose to take by winning the tricks and a denomination indicating which suit or no-trump the contract is to be played in. An example of a bid is Clubs 30 'Clubs' is the Denomination part 30 is the number part The number is the total number of points the team agrees to collect by winning tricks. That means if X team member has bid 30 CLUBS and the bid is finalized, then Team X should collect 30 points by winning the tricks. The highest bid to which the bidding can proceed is 56 since 56 is the total number of points available in the cards.

LESSON

26

Remember at this point that the opening bid number cannot be less than 28. The Denomination In addition to the number part a bid states whether the contract is to be played in a trump suit or in no-rump. There are only five possible denominations- clubs, diamonds, hearts, spades and no-rump. The Bidding process As in an auction, each bid must be higher than the proceeding bid by at least one point. The smallest bid level is 28 The highest bid level is 56. That means if the 1st bid is 28 be minimum 29. then the next bid must

You may choose not to make a bid by saying 'pass' We will look at bidding more deeply in the next lesson. The player who makes the first bid is the opening bidder. You may make a pass and still you may get a chance to make a bid again later Five 'passes' after a bid ends the bidding. Note that even though it is mentioned five 'passes' a player whose bid is live will have a chance to make a higher bid after the five passes. However if the player does not make any further bid then the bid is finalised and the bidding process ends. On the other hand if the player chooses to make a further bid then the bidding process would continue in clockwise rotation again.

LESSON

27

During the play the partnership that win the bid becomes the offence and tries to collect the number of points needed to win the bid by winning the tricks. If the players on offence succeed then they make the contract and win the round. The other partnership, which did not get the bid, becomes the defence. They try to prevent the opponents from fulfilling the contract. If they succeed they win the round. Doubling and Redoubling In the process of bidding you can choose to double or redouble a bid amount. As an example, if Y1 has bid 40 and X2 has to make the next bid, then if X2 is sure to defeat the bid then X2 can double' the bid. The implication is simple. If Y team wins the game by collecting 40 points than X team will give 2 times the tables (the reward for winning) that Y team should have got earlier. Alternatively if Y team looses, then Y team has to give 2 times the tables to X team (applicable on defeat). That is equivalent of saying that the stakes are doubled The Bidding process As in an auction, each bid must be higher than the proceeding bid my at least one level. Y1 made a bid X2 doubles it. Then Y2 has 3 choices 1) To pass 2) To make a fresh bid 3) To redouble.

LESSON

28

If Y2 redoubles the bid then bid is finalised and the play starts. In that case the rewards and punishments are 4 times the normal. Now let us look at the normal rewards the punishments Rewards Level 28-39 Level 40-55 Level 56 1 table 2 tables 3 tables Punishment 2 tables 3 tables 4 tables

Now you can infer that if X team looses 40 then have to give 3 tables to Y team. If X team wins 40 then they get 2 tables from Y team. If X1 bids 40, Y1 doubles and none of the next 5 members make a fresh bid, then X team will get 4 tables on winning. If X team looses the game then Y team will get 6 tables. Tables are also called 'base' in some parts of India. In the case of redoubling the rewards and punishments are four times the normal More into Bidding You must have understood by this time that the spirit of the game is to finalise a bid on a suit ( the trump suit) or on no-trump that is of advantage to your team and fulfill the contract to win the game. Remember that you are playing as a team. To make a successful bid you must know what cards your partners have and also what cards your opponents have got. Once you get to know the cards with your partners and opponents and REMEMBER them, then you can use your skills to play well and win the game. Let's look at a situation Suppose you have J and the second J is with your opponent team member, the trick in which is the suitled is goes to the player who plays the J first because of the

LESSON

29

Precedence factor. That means unless you are able to play J before your opponents chance comes, you will not benefit from your J That is where the language of bidding becomes important. Remember that you cannot announce publicly that you have such and such cards but you can let your partners know about your hand through the bidding language. Let us take a real example. Seating arrangement is X1 Y3 X3 Y1 X2 Y2 follows

After the deal the hands are as A, K J, K A, 10,K, Q 9,A 9,A, Q K 9,K 10 J, A, 10 9, A, 10, K

A, A, Q, Q J, Q 10 J

J, Q J, 9, 10 J, 9

K J, 10, K 9, 9, 10, Q

LESSON

30

X1 has finished dealing. All six players have received 8 cards each. Each player sorts the cards, fans the cards and studies the cards. Now Y1 has to start the bidding. Now let's look at a normal bidding process. Y1: Says 'pass' because Y1 has no cards worth calling. Usually a player starts bidding only if the hand has at least 4 cards of the same suit with a Jack. X2: Says 'pass', because no great cards to announce.

Y2: 'Pass' because no cards worth announcing. There are 4 spades but no Jack. J is there but the other two cards are small. X3: 28 ' Means X3 has a Jack and some more of clubs and has opened the bidding because X3 has another 2 Jacks in hand. Y3: 29 Nos meaning Y3 has no clubs in hand. Note that Nos stands for No-Trump X1: 30' to announce that X1 has some clubs cards but no Jack. (Look at the difference now, if X1, bid 30 , then that would mean that X1 has a Jack) Y1: Pass. Again Y1 has nothing to announce. Which means X2 has a jack and some other club

X2: 30 cards in hand Y2: X3: Y3: of X1: 'Pass' bids 32

to announce that X3 has a Jack of

33 to make an entry by announcing that Y3 has a Jack and some other Bids 35 Nos: To imply that X1 has no diamonds in hand.

Remember that it X1 said 34 Nos that would have Meant that XI has no spades. Instead X1 said 35 (adding 2) telling that X1 refer to the trump called by X3.

LESSON Y1: 'Pass' No cards to announce

31

X2: bids 'plus one spade' meaning X2 has a single Jack (Now the bid level is 36) Y2: bids 1+2 to announce that Y2 has two 9's of spades plus a few other cards. (Now bid level is 38) X3: bids 39 to announce that X3 has a Jack of hearts and same other card of Y3: 'Doubles' because Y3 thinks that their team can defeat X team if played on a hearts trump. X1: clubs. Note that 40 is called honors and by winning 40 the X team will get two tables or bases Let us assume that no one else makes any further bid in which case the bid is finalised. Bidding leads to play Let us try to analyze the bids and see how it can influence the tricks: The first player to lead is Y1 because X1 has dealt the cards. Y1: Look at Y1's hand. Y1 cannot play because that is the trump and both the Jacks are announced by X team members. Then Y1 has hearts but hearts jacks are with X team members. Y1 has a spade King but X2 has announced a single J and so the trick will go to X team. Y1 cannot play diamond also because X1 has announced that X1 has no diamonds and hence if diamond is led, then X1 will trump the trick and the trick will go to X team. Therefore the only chance is to play hearts because if Y2 has no hearts then Y2 can trump the trick. Bids 40 to announce that X1 has more than 1

LESSON Y1: Plays A IO

32

X2: Has to follow suit. Plays Plays

Y2: Has no hearts and hence unable to follow suit. K X3: Plays Q because Y2 has played the trump 9 because Y team can yet 2 points more in K because the trick belongs to Y team

Y3: Plays this trick X1: Plays because of trumping.

So Y team won the 1st trick Total points collected in this trick by Y team is 4 Now Y2 has to lead Y2: Look at Y2's hand. Y2 has only diamonds and spades Y2 cannot play diamonds because X1 has announced no diamonds, which mean X1, have trump diamonds . Also spade Jack has been announced by X2 (toY1's left) and J has been announced by Y3. So Y2 plays 9. Q J K K J (Only one card)

X3: Follows suit: Plays Y3: Follows suit: Plays X1: Follows suit Plays Y1: Follows suit: Plays X2: Follows suit: Plays

So the 2nd trick is won by Y3 for Y team. Total point in this trick is 8 making a total of 12 points in 2 tricks. Next lead player is Y3. Y3: Y3 will play trick again 10, 10 thinking that Y2 will trump the

LESSON X1: Follows suit: Plays Y1: Follows suit: Plays trick like the previous time. J

33

9 thinking that Y2 will trump the

X2: Will play J (uses the highest trump) because if X2 uses only Q and if Y2 has a bigger trump card then X team will -loose the game. Y2: Will discard Q because Y2 has no trump cards left. J

X3: Will follow suit: Plays

So this third trick is won by X2 for X team. Now X2 is lead player. X2: Plays opponents hands. Y2: Discards Q in order to finish of the trump cards in the K J is already gone in the previous J is with X3 only which means 9

X3: Plays 9 One tricks. The next highest card is is the highest card. Y3: discards K

X1: Follows suit: plays Y1: Follows suit: plays

Q A

This trick is won by X3 for X team Now X3 is the lead player X3: Plays Y3: Discards J 1O K

X1: Follows suit: plays Y1: Plays 9

LESSON X2: plays Y2: Plays A (Discards a point card) 10 (Discards a small card)

34

This trick is won by X3 for the X team. X3 is again the lead player. Now little flash back. In the last trick only member from the opponent team who followed suit was Y1. Y1 followed suit by playing 9 (which was the biggest card) that means no more trump suits are there with the defence team. X3: Plays J A

Y3: Follows suit. Plays XI: Discards Y1: Plays X2: Plays Q A (discards). A

Y2: Discards 9. This trick is again won by X3 for X team. X3 is the next lead Player again. X3: Plays Y3: Plays 9 10 IO K Q

X1: Trumping by Y1: follow suit: Play X2: follows suit with

Y2: follows suit with IO This trick is won by X1 for X team and X1 is the next lead player X1: Plays Y1: Plays X2: Plays A 9 Q

LESSON Y2: Plays X3: Plays Y3: Plays J 10 A

35

This trick is won by X1 for X team. Now X team counts the points and finds that X team has collected 44 points and won the game. X team receives 2 tables or bases. Probably you are able to appreciate the importance of bidding language, the memory and partnership skills in '56' by this one example. So let us note down the implication of the bidding language in brief. (a) If you bid 28 it means you have no jack but a number of (at least 5) diamonds. (b) If you bid 28 more) (c) (d) (e) (f) (g) If you bid 29 If you bid 30 one 9 then it means you have 2 Jacks of then it means you have 2 Jacks, diamonds and at least 2 more other diamonds. and at least one other diamond card. it means you have a jack of diamonds and a few other diamonds (at least 3

If you say 'plus one diamond' if means you have a single diamond jack. If the previous bid was 30 If X1 bids 30 Y1 bids 3l and you bid 31 nos and you bid 33 nos then it means you have no diamonds then it means you have no diamonds.

LESSON To finalise a bid

36

In the course of the game you will soon discover that every team will take pride in concluding a bid of their own and win the game than to win by defeating the bidding team. Probably this is due to the fact -that bidding is concluded on a trump suit or norump as the case may be which is advantageous to a team and hence the defence will find it difficult to defeat the offence. Then how can you finalise a bid which your team can win with a reasonable surety? In bidding as discussed before, you are actually communicating with your partners. You are communicating in the official language of bidding. In the process what is being done is that. You are getting to know each others hand with a reasonable amount of surety. As a result you are able to calculate how many tricks you can win as a team. Now you are aware that there is 56 points spread in 48 cards. There are 8 tricks in all, which means the average points you can score in a trick are 7 points (56 / 8 =7). So if you want to collect 28 points then your team must win at least 4 tricks. (This is not be exact because you may not get 28 points or you may collect more than 28 points in 4 tricks depending upon the variation in hand and the actual play of cards.) However on an average you can calculate 7 points for each trick that can be won and finalise your bid based on this calculation. There are only 8 tricks in a single game and when you and your team can win all the 8 tricks, you can bid 56. If your team can win 6 tricks then you can bid 40, and if your team can win 7 tricks you could bid 48 and so on.

LESSON How to asses the probable no of tricks that can be won?

37

You are aware that you can reach at a probable point level for maximum bidding based on the probable number of tricks that can be won. The maximum points to which you bid whether on a trump suit or no-trump depends on the cards, which you and your partner have. For that look at the total cards in the game again. There are 48 cards drawn from 2 packs, divided into 4 suits. So each suit has 12 cards and 14 points per suit. You know that when a bid a played and no-trump (denomination) the highest cards always win the trick. When a bid is played on a trump suit (denomination), the trumps (the cards of the designated trump suit) beat all other cards. Let's see some examples of concluding the bidding levels. Example 1 9 A, 10, 10, K, Q, Q Q J, 9, K, Q A, Q 9, K J, J, 9, 9, A (Y1 is lead player) J J, J 9, A, 10, K A A, 10 K J, A, 10, K, Q 9, 10 J A, 10, Q 9, 10, K, K, Q

LESSON Here Y1 can straightaway bid 56 nos

38

Logic: Look at Y1'shand. All cards are the highest in their respective suits and Y1 is the lead player. So any card led by Y1 wins the trick, trick after trick resulting in winning all the 8 tricks and 56 points. Points to remember Here Y1 can bid 56 only if Y1 is the lead player. Imagine that Y3 was the dealer and X1 was to lead then if X1 leads the 9, then the first spade Jack will be played by X3 and the trick will go to X team and Y team will loose the game When you really play a game you will rarely get such a hand. When you get such a hand you are playing a solo game in the sense that you are winning a game for your team all by yourself There may be a temptation to bid 56 but Y team will loose the game because X1 has six trump cards and therefore one trick will go to X team and Team Y will loose the game of 56 Y1 can win the bid of 56 nos because all the cards are the highest ones their respective suits. That is referred to as the strength of the suit when referring to a suit and that practically becomes the strength of the hand.

Example 2 After the deal imagine the hands are as follows J, Q A, 10, 10, K, Q, Q J, J, 9, 9 (Y1 is lead player) Q K, K, Q J, 9, K A, Q 9,10, K 9, A, 10, K A A, 10 K

LESSON J, 9, A, 10, K, Q 9, 10 J, J, 9 Q A J, A, 10 Let's look at the bidding process Y1: 32 -announcing 4 highest cards of the diamond suit

39

X2: Pass - nothing worth announcing Y2: 35 X3: 36 -announcing 3 highest cards of hearts -announcing a Jack and at least 3 cards of spades

Y3: doubles X1: pass-no cards to support X3 Y1: 37 -announcing some cards of hearts but is also telling the partners that there are no high cards of hearts. This bid is very important in the sense that it is telling Y2 that Y1 can lead a hearts so thatY2 is able to win tricks with the 3 high cards of heart announced in the first round X2: pass-no cards to support X3 Y2: 56nosThe logic is simple. Y1 has announced 4 highest cards of diamonds in the first call. That means Y1 will win the first 4 tricks with diamonds. Y1 has also announced cards of hearts and hence Y1 can lead a hearts. When Y1 plays hearts Y2 will win the next 3 tricks with the 3 highest cards of hearts announced earlier. Then Y2 will lead the Jack diamond and win the eighth trick to win 56 nos You must have understood the importance of memory in this game by this time while bidding as well as playing.

LESSON

40

*The last game was won on the combined strength of two partners Y1 and Y2 *Y team can bid 56nos only when Y team member is the opening lead player A bid with a trump A bid on a particular suit is made when the length and strength of a particular suit is advantageous to a team on a combined basis. Here also the general rule is to calculate the number of tricks that can be won based on the strength of the designated trump suit and other high cards of the other 3 suits to arrive at a suitable bid Example 9,10,10, K 9, K, K A A, 10, 10, Q A J, 10 J 9, Q, Q A, Q, Q 9, K J, 9, 9 J, K J A, A The bidding will be as follows. X1 Y1 28 Pass 31 Pass +1 X2 Y2 X3 Y3 J Q J, 9, A J, 9, K Q A, 10, 10, K, K, Q 10

Pass 29 Pass +1 Pass 35

Pass 30 Pass 33 Pass +1

Pass 56 Nos

LESSON Explanation

41

Y1: 28 clubs Y1 does not have the length (at least 3 cards and a Jack) to start the bidding. But Y1 has J, 9, A of clubs and jack of diamond and a jack of spades. Thus Y1 bids 28 clubs. Y2: 29 clubs - meaning Y2 has one clubs jack and some other cards. Y3: clubs 30 - meaning Y3 has at least 4 cards of clubs but not any big card. Then XI also says 'pass'. Note at this moment that X team has not made any call so far. This implies that X team members do not have any suits suitable enough (suits having either length, strength or a combination of both) to make a bid. Y1 - 31 - meaning Y1 has a Jack of diamonds and some other cards of diamonds but not long enough as clubs. Y2 - +1 means Y2 has a single Jack of Diamonds.

Y3 - 33 meaning Y3 has a- Jack of spade and some other cards of spades suit. Y1 - +1 Y2 - 35 cards of hearts Y3 - +1 meaning Y1 has a single Jack of hearts. meaning Y2 has a jack of hearts and some other meaning Y3 has a single hearts Jack

Y1 - 56 Nos. Logic: Y1 has 3 Jacks Y2 has announced through the bidding language 3 Jacks (of Hearts, clubs and Diamonds). Y3 has announced Jack of spade and hearts. Thus all 8 Jacks are with Y team making it possible to win 8 tricks and suitable for 56 No-trump. Caution: With 8 Jacks around and with connecting cards it is possible to bid 56 Nos irrespective of the opening player. That means even if an X team player is the opening player also, Y team can win 56 no-trump. But there are 3 singleton Jacks with Y team.

LESSON

42

Do remember that unless the play is logical, Y team may lose the game. Let us see the correct game with two different players as opening player. Lead cards are marked in square. X1 is dealer Y1 is opening player. Imagine the play is in clockwise direction. Mark indicates the winner of the trick. Trick X1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 K K 10 A 10 9 K 9 Y1 J J 9 J 9 Q K A X2 10 Q Q K K 10 10 A Y2 A J 9 K J J 9 A X3 Q Q Q K 9 A Q 9 Y3 10 A Q 10 10 J A J

Y1 is dealer, X2 is Opening Player. Tricks 1 2 3 4 X1 A K 10 10 Y1 Q K A 9 X2 Q K K Q Y2 J Q 9 Q 9 A J Q X3 J Q 10 A Y3

LESSON

43

5 6 7 8

9 K K 9

9 J J J

10 10 10 A

J K 10 A

K 9 Q 9

10 A 10 J

Example: 4 A, 10, 10, K, Q, Q K Q A, 10, Q A, 10, K 10, Q 9, A, 10, Q 10 9, A, Q J, J 9, A, K, Q A, 10 J, J, 9, 9, A, K J, J 9, K, K J, J, 9 9, K

Look at Y1's hand Y1 is to make the first bid. Y1's hand has strength & length. Naturally Y1 is tempted to make a hasty bid of 56 No trump or 56 clubs. . Unfortunately there are 6 clubs with X1.Therefore Y team will loose 56 no-trump or 56 clubs. Such cases are not rare. Therefore a hasty bid may end in defeat. However if the bidding was to progress in the normal way Y1 Would bid 33 clubs to begin with announcing 5 biggest cards of clubs. But where no partner supports for A( A being the next highest card in clubs) or any clubs the danger becomes clear.

LESSON Example 5 10, K, K, Q, Q K Q 9 A, 10, Q A, 10, K 10, Q 9, A, 10, Q A, A, 10, Q 9, K, K J, J, 9 9, K J J, J 9, A, 10, K, Q J, 9, 9, A, A, 10 J, J

44

In this case Y1 can start with 34 clubs. Y3 will bid '+1 clubs'. In the very next chance Y1 can opt for 56 clubs or 56 Nos. Logic: There are 6 highest cards of clubs with Y1 except one Clubs Jack and that card is with Y3. Thus Y team accounts for 7 highest clubs. There are only 12 clubs cards. So the maximum number of clubs cards possible in any other hand is only 5. Since the Y1 is the opening player, Y1 will start the game with J, followed by other 5 clubs and the 2 Jack of diamonds to complete the 8 tricks and win the game. Example 7 10, K, K, Q, Q K Q 9 LESSON J, J J, J, 9, 9, A K 45

A, 10, Q A, 10, K 10, Q

J 9, A, K, K, Q Q A

9, A, 10, Q 10 A, A, 10

J, 9 J, J, 9 9, K, K

Y1 is having all big cards except Hearts King. Y3 is having J. But still Y team cannot bid 56 clubs because X2 will not announce J and Y team is unsure as to which player has J. Hence 56 trump or No-trump is impossible. Even 48 are risky. The safe bid is between 40-48. But the tables are same for 40 or 48. Hence keep the bid at minimum 40 or nearest to 40. Example 8 10, K, K, Q, Q A, K Q 10, K, Q 9, A, K 9, 9, A, 10, Q 10 A, Q J, 9, 9, A, A J, 9 Q J, J, 9 9, 10, K, K J J J, J A, 10, 10, K

LESSON Normal bidding will be X1 Y2 28 Pass 33 Pass 35 Pass Pass X2 +3 Pass Pass Y2 +1 +1 +1 X3 Pass Pass Pass Y3

46

Pass Pass 40

56 No Trump

Logic: Y2 has announced 4 Jacks, ( J, J, J, J) J is 9 single- ton with Y2. Hence Y1 can start the game by playing J followed by 9, 9, A, A thus winning 5 trumps. Then Y1 will lead 9 and pass on the control to Y2. Y2 can win the 6th trick with J and win the 7th and 8th tricks with the two Jacks of Hearts completing all the 8 tricks for the Y team. Caution: Y team will loose the game of 56 no-trump if Y1 plays J as the lead card in the 6th trick. What will happen then is that Y1 will win the 6th trick, followed by 9 and win the 7th trick, but the last lead card will be Q , and the trick will go to X2. Thus passing the control to the right partner at the right time is of at most importance. Obviously this needs an excellent memory of the bidding process and skills to foresee the outcome so as to ensure the victory as a team. Example 9 K 10, K, Q J, 9, 9, A, A, 10 9 K

LESSON K, K A 10,K J, J, 10 9, A, Q 9, 9, 10, K 10, Q, Q J J, J, Q, Q J J, 9 Q, Q A, 10, K 9, 9, A, 10 Bidding is likely to be as follows X1 Y1 28 Pass Pass 44 56 X2 30 45 /56 No trump: Y2 +1 47 X3 36 Pass

47

Y3 38 48

Logic: Y1 has 6 big cards of clubs because the only missing Jack of clubs is a singleton with Y2. Y2 has two hearts Jack and Y1 has A to pass the control to Y2. Then Y2 can take all other tricks. Important: Logically Y1 should play the 4 clubs first and lead AH as the lead card for the fifth trick, otherwise Y3 will be confused as to what card to discard. Even if Y1 play clubs as the fifth lead suit, Y team will win because of the present hand. However Y1 shared play A as the 6th lead card logically

LESSON Example 10 10 J, 9, A, K, A, Q, Q 9 J, J, 9, 9, A, A A 9, 9, A, 10, K, K A, A J, J, 10, K, K, Q, Q J 9, 9, 10 10, K, K, Q, Q J, J, 10, Q, Q A, 10, 10

48

This is a very tricky position. Y team can bid 56 No-trump or 56 clubs or 56 Hearts. X team can bid 56 spades Important: There is no bid above 56. Hence the team that bids 56 first gets the contract. Therefore Y team has to make up their mind very fast or else X team will bid 56 spades. If X team bids 56 spades and Y1 play 9 then both Y3 and X3 has no diamonds and trump the trick. X3 has the first chance and X3 has two 9 and one 10 . X3 has to trump with 9 . If X3 trumps with 10 Y3 will play A and X team will loose the game. Logic: In the course of the bidding XI should have made a bid on diamonds. That means there is length in X1's hand for diamonds. When one hand has length of a particular suit, it is more than probable that one or more hands have no cards of that suit. Hence when you choose to trump such a suit, you must make use of a high card. Similarly if X team bids 56 S, Y1 may lead a clubs suit (say AC) If X2 do not trump it with JS, Y3 will trump it with A (S) and X team will loose the game.

LESSON Example 12 J, 9, A, K, K, Q, Q A 9 J, K, J, 9, 9, A, A A 10 9, 9, A, 10, K, K A 9, 9, 10 10, K, K, Q, Q This is also a very tricky position. Team Y can bid 56 No-trump, 56 clubs or 56 hearts. J, J, 10, K, K, Q, Q J J, J, 10, Q, Q A, 10, 10

49

Team X can bid 56 spades or 56 Diamonds because Y1 does not have any spades. Hence the team to arrive at 56-bid point wins the game irrespective of the fact that both teams have excellent cards. Important: Here again if X team bids 56 spades, Y1 will open the play by leading a diamond suit and X3 has to trump the trick with 9S or else Y3 will trump it with AS and win the trick resulting in the defeat of X team. Similarly if Y1 leads a clubs suit to begin with, then also X2 has to trump the trick with JS or else some other opponent player may trump it with A . Locally in this game Y2 has no clubs but has no spades too. Only X1 has no clubs and the trump A but belong to X team only. In general, suits in which bids have been made will be long ones for a particular hand and hence trump it with high cards wherever possible.

LESSON Example 13 10, 10, Q, Q 9, 10, K, Q J, J, 9, 10, K, K A 10 J, K, Q, Q J, 9, A, K 9, A, 10, K J, K, Q Q 9, A, A, 10, Q J, 9, A Bidding X1 Pass Pass Pass Y1 31 Pass Pass Pass X21 Pass Pass Pass Pass Y2 32 Nos 36 Nos 40 43 X3 Y3 J, 9, A, 10 J, 9, A, K

50

Pass 35 Nos 37 Nos 39 Pass 42

Logic: There is no hand good enough to the take the bid to 56. From 40-55, the rewards are same. So once you reach 40 try to proceed with caution. In reality Y1 will lead a Jack of diamond and Y2 and Y3 will discard some card. X1 will trump it and win a trick for X team. Here there is only a chance for one trick for X team. A distinct advantage of Y team, here is that Y team has 6 jacks. It is worth understanding at this point that '56' is very much a Jack oriented game More into playing By this time you must have acquired reasonable knowledge about '56'as a game. Let us recall the process of a game once again.

LESSON * The teams are decided * One player shuffles and deals the cards

51

* Bidding starts from the player to the left of the dealer in clockwise rotation * Bidding proceeds and reaches a contract bid * The play of cards follows and 8 tricks are completed * The teams counts the points collected by winning the tricks. * If the contract is fulfilled the team is declared the winner. So in nutshell you study your hand, communicate in the official language of bidding and play the tricks to win your (your team's) contract or defeat your opponents' contract Thus the objective of the game is to win- to win by fulfilling a contract or by stopping your opponents from fulfilling their contract. In both the cases the winning is to be achieved by collecting the maximum points in the tricks being won by each side. And from where do these points come from? The points come from the cards played by the players in each of the 8 tricks. So it implies that every card that you play matters much for your team even if the particular card does not win a trick for your team. That means that the success for team in a game depends on all members of the team playing the right card at the right time. It is not possible to discuss each and every probability and situation in a book but let us discuss some aspects, which will be of use always. When you analise the play you will find three distinct situations. a) You are the lead player for the game meaning you are the opening player. (Player to the left of the dealer)

LESSON

52

b) You are the lead player after winning a trick (You are aware that the player who wins a trick becomes the lead player for the next trick) c) You are not the lead player Is there a general principle by which you can play the right card at all the above situations? The answer is a Big NO The only principle that you could keep it in mind is that your play should prove to be advantageous to your team. The card that you play can be advantageous to your team in 3 ways. a) By leading a card or playing a card that can win a trick for your team b) By contributing the maximum points for a trick won by youre teams without the risk of loosing another trick. c) By contributing only the least possible point in the tricks won by the opposite team. You have to keep in mind that you have to achieve this by adhering to the rules of the game, meaning you are forced by the rules of the game to follow suit wherever possible. That means even if your opponent player before you have played a Jack of diamonds and you have a singleton Jack Dice in your hand you have to play the Jack Dice only, even though your opponent will win the trick by the precedence factor However there are some points, which can prove to be advantageous while playing Let us look at them Situation 1 You are the first lead player and your team has bid 56 Nos As such you have already discovered that a team will bid 56 No-trump only when a member of that team is the opening player.

LESSON

53

The only exception to this is when all Jacks are announced by the same team (that team must also have the appropriate connecting cards) in which case the opening player does not matter. In general when a no-trump bid is played, the lead player will lead a Jack if the player has got one or lead a suit in which one of the partners of the team has a Jack with precedence (That means the chance to play the lack of the suit first). Situation 2 X team and Y team are playing. The players are X1, X2. X3 and Y1, Y2, Y3 and the seating arrangement is the same Y1 is the lead player. Y1 leads J and is the trump.

You are Y3 and you have no trumps and hence unable to follow suit. Obviously you have to discard a card. What card would you discard? You should discard the card with the maximum point because you are sure that the trick is going to be won by your team. Similarly if your opposite team member had played the highest trump card first you would discard the card with the least point. Thus a general discard principle is to discard the maximum value card when your team is sure to win the trick and vice-versa when your opponents are sure to win the trick. However this principle is not always applicable, as it needs further thinking. '56' is a partnership game. You have announced certain cards in your hand through the bidding language. Obviously your partners must have calculated winning one or more tricks based on cards announced by you.

LESSON

54

For instance you have J and your partner has a A. Obviously your partner must have calculated winning a trick with J in which your partner can follow suit with A. In this case if you were to discard J in another trick in which you could not follow suit you will not in a position to win the Clubs trick for your team. So another discard principle is that even when you discard a high value card in a trick to be won by your team it should not be at the risk of loosing another trick later. As discussed earlier the ultimate objective is to win by collecting the required points in the tricks won. You assume that your opponents have called 40 . That means in order to defeat them your team needs to collect 17 points. As an alert player you will always keep track of points being collected in each trick being won. Imagine you have won 2 tricks and collected 10 points. The third trick is about to be won by your team and there are 4 points on the table. When your turn comes if you contribute 3 points, the total points in the trick becomes 7 and on winning that trick your team's total points collected touches 17 defeating the offence. In such a situation you need not think of any other future tricks. You can confidently discard a Jack into the trick to complete the target of 17 points provided the lack is of the same suit or any other Jack when you are unable to follow suit. So in order to play the right card at the right time, remember the bidding and always keep track of points being collected in the trick won or in simple terms remember your target (points to be collected) and the actual points being collected. When a bid with a trump suit is played and the opening player has a card of the trump suit the player usually leads a trump suit.

LESSON

55

The logic is that a team will bid on a trump suit only when the combined strength of the partners for the suit is strong. When a trump suit is led others will have to follow suit. Thus the opponents will be forced to drop the trump cards with them. This is often referred to as drawing trumps. Obviously the player who won the first trick will continue to draw the trumps until all trump cards are drawn from the opposite team. The advantage of drawing the trumps is that it will prevent your opponents from trumping your team's other high cards when they are unable to follow suit. Situation 3 Imagine you are the lead player and your team has bid on a trump suit and you do not have any trumps. Then you have two options One option is to lead a singleton Jack if your hand has one and win a trick. The chance of a singleton Jack getting trumped is remote (although it is probable) unless some other hands are very strong in length of that suit. (This you can easily infer if some player has made a bid on that suit). If you are the opening player and do not have a Jack then you may opt to lead a suit in which one of your team members have bid Nos. This will give your partner a chance to trump the trick and complete drawing the trumps in the subsequent tricks. Situation 4 On some occasions when you are the lead player and your team is the offence (the team which won the bid) you may opt to play a Jack (need not be a singleton but should not be a long suit also) of a suit in which one of your partners have made a Nos bid. The advantage is that your partner may discard an unworthy card (that means a card not capable of winning a trick)

LESSON Singletons

56

Singletons are single cards of a particular suit in a hand and the play of singletons matter very much in a game Let's consider some situa6ons After the deal the hands are as follows 9, 10, K, Q J, 9 9, 10 J, A, Q A, A J, A Q 9, A, K 9, Q 9, 10, Q 9, 10, 10, Q A 9, 10 J Assume that Y team's bid of 40 player Y1 cannot play clubs because X2 will trump clubs Y1 cannot play trick for the X team K because X2 will play J and win the is finalized. Y1 is the lead J, J, 10 J, A, 10, Q K A, K, K J, K, Q K, K

LESSON Therefore Y1 will play a trump suit as the lead suit.

57

You can see that Y2 does not any big cards to win a trick after which J can be a lead card. (You might think that Y1 can lead a small card of hearts in which Y2 can follow suit with 9 and win a trick. But Y1 does not know where the second 9 is and hence Y1 will not take the risk.) Hence the only option for Y2 is to discard the singleton in a sure trick of Y team. J

So in general discard the singleton Jacks at the earliest opportunity if you are not sure of winning a trick with that Jack. Let us consider another situation. After a deal the hands are as follows. 9, Q A, A 9, 10, K, Q K J, J, 9, A, K, K J 9, Q A, A, K 10, 10, Q A J, 9, 10 J, 10, 10, Q J, J, 9, 10, Q J, K 9 9, A, K, K J, 10, K, Q, Q

As you can see this is a sure chance for team Y to bid 56 no-trump. 56 no-trump means that Y team has to win all tricks. Y1 can win four tricks with Y2 can take two tricks with Y3 can win two tricks with J, J, 9 and J and J, J. J. J.

LESSON

58

Remember at this point that this would happen only if Y1 and Y2 plays the right card at the right time or else the game would be lost. The right order of play of lead cards and discards would be as follows. Trick X1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Q K 10 A A Q 9 9 Y1 J J 9 J K 10 9 9 X2 Q Q K K A 10 9 J Y2 Q 9 10 10 J J A 10 X3 K A A Q 9 Q 10 10 Y3 K K A A A 9 J J

The rectangles indicate the lead cards. Note that discard from Y2 is very important. Y2 has no clubs. Hence if Y2 were to discard A when clubs was the lead suit then Y2 cannot lead dice in the seventh trick to pass on the control to Y3. Similarly Y1 plays clubs thrice. Y2 has no clubs and unable to follow suit. If Y2 discards 10, 10,and Q then also Y team will loose the game because when Y1 leads J Y2 is forced to follow suit by playing J. So the ideal discard must be 10, 10, and first three instances and Y2 must retain the singleton the trick to Y3. 10 in the A to pass

Thus singletons are important and have to be discarded or retained as per the situation. LESSON 59

GLOSSARY OF TERMS Auction: Refers to a series of bidding by players in clockwise direction to determine the final contract. The auction ends with the figure quoted by an individual player and the contract is for that player's team. Bid: Refers to the commitment made by an individual player on behalf of one's team to collect a minimum number of points by winning tricks based on a trump or no-trump. The bid is the end of the auction. Bidding Message: The message given by a bid interpreted as per the official bidding language. Dealer: The player who shuffles the cards and distributes the 48 cards to the six players. Defeat: The outcome of a game in which the bidding team fails to make the contract by playing. Defence: The team that wins the bid Discarding: Refers to playing of any card other than of the suitled or of the trump suit. Double: The bidding language to announce that the previous bid will surely be defeated and the rewards and punishments get doubled. Doubleton: Refers to just two cards of any suit in a hand.

LESSON

60

Drawing Trumps: The act of leading a trump suit until there are no more trumps suits left in the opponents hand. Follow suit: Means to play a card of the same suit led which is compulsory as long as you have a card of the suit led. Hand: The set of eight cards received by each player after the deal No-trump suit: When a bid is specifying no trump suit Offence: The partnership that wins the contract. Note that this is different from winning a game. Partnership: A call indicating that a player does not wish to bid in a particular turn. Rank of cards: Refers to the order. Of precedence of the cards which is J, 9, A, 10, K, Q Shuffling: The act of mixing cards in a random manner. Suits: Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts and Spades. Trick: The play of cards in which each player contributes one card each in clockwise direction with one player making a lead. The first lead will be made by the player to the left of the dealer and the subsequent ones by the player whose cards win a particular trick. Trumping: To play a trump suit on a trick when the suit led is not of the trump suit and you are unable to follow suit. Variations of the game 56' Six players split into two teams usually play 56. However you may find that four players also can play '56'. When only four players participate in a game all the Kings and Queens are removed from the deck of cards used.

LESSON

61

That means there will be 32 cards drawn from two packs of cards containing two cards each of the following cards J, 9, A, I 0 J, 9, A, 10 J, 9, A, 10 J, 9, A, I 0 You can also be sure that the players will find it easier to play with four players than with six players for the obvious reason that you need to remember only about biddings made by three people. Sometimes there will be more than adequate number of players interested in playing 56. In such cases eight players can play 56 The eight players can split into two teams and follow the alternate seating arrangement. There are two ways of selecting cards for this game. One way is to play with the same cards selected for six players. In this case the dealer shall distribute only three cards each at a time and hence each player would receive six cards only. Another way is to add 'eights' and 'sevens' of all suits in two packs to the usual cards for '56'. The cards in their proceeding order will be doubles of the following cards. J, 9, A, 10, K, Q, 8, 7 J, 9, A, 10, K, Q, 8, 7 J, 9, A, 10, K, Q, 8, 7 J, 9, A, 10, K, Q, 8, 7

LESSON

62

That implies that while the total points remains the same at 56 the number of cards increases to 64. It is to be remembered that it will be comparatively be difficult to play the game, as you have to remember the bidding by 7 members. Rules of the game * There shall be two teams of three players each. The teams may be decided in advance or may be decided by drawing cards by individual members. The players drawing the three highest cards will make one team and the other three will make the second team. In case two players draw the same cards (56 is played with two packs) they will draw a card each once again to decide the tie. * The players shall be seated around a table in alternate order. * The cards needed for a game are J, 9, A, 10, K and Q of all the four suits drawn from 2 packs of cards making a total of 48 cards * Points for the individual cards are as follows J=3, 9=2, A=1, 10=1, K=O, Q=O 'A' (Ace) is bigger than '10' and K (King) is bigger than Q (Queen). Thus the pecking order will be J-9-A-10-K-Q

* The dealer shall separate the 48 cards needed for the game from 2 packs of cards. From the remaining cards, dealer shall give 12 cards each to the team captains.

LESSON

63

One team will receive 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 of clubs and spades while the other team receives the 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 of diamonds and hearts. *The dealer shall shuffle the 48 cards and place it face down' in front of the player to the right for cutting. The player to the right will divide the stack in to two by separating a part of the stack and keeping it face down after which the dealer will keep the bottom portion above the separated portion. *The dealer shall then distribute 4 cards at a time face down starting from the player to the left of the dealer and continuing in clockwise direction until all cards are finished Since there are 48 cards each player would receive 8 cards. *The players will take the cards, fan them and study them to make the bids. * The particular round of game will be abandoned under two conditions. a) When a hand is full of Jacks. That means when all the Jacks in the game is with a single hand that player must declare that in advance and abandon the particular deal. b) When a hand has no cards with any points that player can demand a reshuffle. That means all the cards in a hand will be either Kings or Queens. * In the above cases of abandoning a round, the same dealer has to reshuffle and deal again. * The bidding shall begin with the player to the left of the dealer and continue in clockwise direction. * All biddings should be in the formal bidding language only. * The first bidding (opening bid) amount shall be at least 28 trump or no-trump * The opening bidding can be of 3 styles. a) A trump suit followed by a number between 28 and 56. An example is Hearts 28. b) A number followed by a trump suit. An example is 30 spades. c) A number followed by Nos or No-trump. An example is 29 Nos.

LESSON

64

* Once the opening bid is made further bidding will progress in clockwise direction only. * All the subsequent bids must be higher than the opening bid by at least 1. * These bids can be of 7 styles 1) A trump suit followed by a number. An example is 'Clubs 30'. 2) A number followed by a trump suit. An example is '34 diamonds'. (Sometimes it is called 34 dice too). 3) A number followed by Nos or No-trump. An example is '35 Nos'. 4) 'Plus' a number followed by a trump suit. An example of such a bid is 'Plus 2 clubs' 5) 'Plus' A number followed by Nos. An example is 'Plus 1 Nos'. 6) Double. 7) Redouble * The player to the left of the dealer who has the first chance to make bid need not necessarily make a bid. That player may choose to pass the chance to the next player in clockwise direction. The same rule applies to the next 3 more players until the chance comes to the player to the right of the dealer who has to make an opening bid. *A bid is said to be 'live' until any other player chooses to increase the bid as and when a chance comes to him or her in clockwise rotation. * When a bid is 'live' any member of the opposite team can opt to bid 'double. However players can continue to make higher bids in clockwise rotation. The bid and the 'double' will be 'live' until any other player makes a further bid. In the event the 'double' and the bid being 'live' till the chance to bid comes to the player whose bid is 'live', then the bid is finalized on 'double' terms, implying that the rewards and punishment for success and failure are doubled.

LESSON

65

*When a bid and 'double' are 'live' any member of the team whose bid is 'live' can opt to bid 'redoubled. Once a bid is 'redoubled' the bid is finalised on 'redoubled' terms implying that the rewards and punishments for success and failure are four times the normal. *Five 'Passes' following a bid usually ends the bidding. Recall that after five 'passes' following a bid the chance to bid again comes to the player whose bid is 'live'. In this circumstance the player may choose to finalise the bid in his/her favor by saying 'pass' or may choose to increase the 'bid'. In case a higher bid is made the bidding process will resume in clockwise rotation and everyone will have a chance to bid again. *The bidding will also come to an end once the bidding level reaches 56. However the opposite team members have a chance to 'double' the bid and in case the bid is 'doubled' the team members of the bidding team can opt to 'redouble'. *The process of bidding always starts with the player to the left of the dealer and proceeds in clockwise order. No player should break this order of bidding even for saying 'pass. A player who has bid pass' in one chance has to say 'pass' again in the next chance to bid provided he/she does not want to make a higher bid. A player may opt to 'pass' in one round and make a bid in the next chance *A member of the same team can upgrade the 'live' bid by a team member. *The normal winning and loosing rewards are as follows when playing with 'tables' (Often called bases) 1) Bid amount 2) Less than 40 3) 40 or more But less than 56 4) 56 Get on winning Give on loosing 1 2 3 2 3 4

LESSON 66 *The give and take figures are two times the normal when a bid is played on 'double' and four times the normal when a bid is played on 'redoubled'. *The player to the left of the dealer shall be the first lead player. The lead player shall start by placing any card of any suit face up on the table. The players must follow suit in clockwise direction. *The player who played the highest card wins the trick for his -or her team. *If two players played the same highest card of the trick, then the player who played the first highest card first gets the precedence. * If two players trump the same trick with the same highest trump card then the player who played the highest card first gets the precedence. *When a game is played on a trump suit any card of the trump suit beats cards of the remaining three suits A Player may discard a card or use the trump when the player cannot follow suit. In lumping also when two players have played the same card, the player who played the first card gets precedence. * The player who wins a trick becomes the next lead player * During the play no player should play his/her card before their chance comes in clockwise order. If a player plays a card

LESSON

67

Before his/ her turn comes that team looses the game irrespective of the points collected till that moment * Once a round of game is over the next round begins with the next dealer shuffling and dealing the cards. The dealer also changes in clockwise rotation Chapter 5 This final chapter includes a few solved examples with explanation for each step. Remember the seating arrangement X1 Y3 X3 Y1 X2 Y2

Team X has 12 bases (tables) and Team Y has 12 bases (tables) In other words the success and failures in each game will he followed by an ex- change of bases. X1 is the first dealer and the games will continue is the clockwise direction with players becoming the dealer in clockwise rotation. Game 1 Dealer: X1 After the deal the hands are as follows, 9, 10, K 9, A 9, Q 10 J, J, 10, Q J J, 9 J A, K A, 10, K J, A, K J, 9 9, 10, K J, 9, K

LESSON A, A, Q 9, 10, Q Q Q Let us understand the bidding process 10, K, Q 10, K, Q A, 10

68

Y1- 'Pass': To begin the bid at 28 on trump suit, normally a player should have at least 4 cards of the same suit. (This is not a rule but a conversion from which your partners make inferences). Y1 does not have any suit that satisfies this condition and hence choose to say 'Pass'. Remember that this is only a general principle to begin a bid and not a rule.' That means if Y1 wants to begin to bid even with two cards of a suit, nothing can prevent Y1 from going ahead with bidding, X2: 'Pass': X2 has no cards worth bidding. Y2: 'Pass': Y2 has no hand worth bidding. X3: 'Pass': X3 has no hand worth bidding. Y3: '29 ': Remember that it is compulsory for Y3 to make an opening bid, because it was Y1's chance to make the first bid and Y1, X2, Y2 or X3 did not make an opening bid. '29 ' means X3 has 2 Jacks of hearts followed by at least 2 cards of hearts. X1: Pass': X1 has no hand worth bidding. Y1: '30 ': Y3 has announced 2 Jacks of heart. The next highest card of hearts is '9'. So '30 ' replies that Y1 has one '9 ' followed by at least one more card of hearts.

LESSON 69 X2: '31 ': In reality there is no hand worth bidding and at the same time none of X team members have made a bid so far. Hence this is an effort by X1 to open the bid for team X so that if the other team members are strong in diamonds, then X team can make higher bids in diamonds. Y2: '33 Nos: Note this bid very carefully. The active bid now was '31 '. Y2 has increased by 2 to bid '33 Nos'. This implies that Y2 does not have any cards of the trump suit announced in the bid by Y1. So in this case '33 Nos' implies that Y2 has no hearts. X3: 34: Diamonds are also referred to as dice in many places. This bid is to support the bid made by X2. X2 has announced one J .'So the next highest card in the second J. X3 has only ' 9' followed by two other cards, Home X3 chooses to bid ' 34 implying that X3 has at least two diamonds but not a J. Y3: 'Plus one clubs: The implication is that Y3 has a singleton Jack of clubs. Now the active bid is ' 35 . X1 - 'Pass' - No hand worth announcing. Y1 -'Plus two clubs': Y3 has announced a singleton Jack of clubs. So the next two highest cards are J and 9 . So the implication of the bid is that Y1 has a Jack and 9 of clubs. Now the active bid is 37 . X2: 'Pass' nothing more to make a higher bid. Y2: 'Pass' by Y3 and Y1. X3: 'Pass' Y3: 'Plus one spades': This bid implies that Y3 has a singleton J Active bid is 38 now X1: 'Pass Y1: 'Plus two spades: Y3 has announced one J. The next two highest cards of spade are J and 9 and Y has both these cards. No cards worth announcing to support the bid

LESSON Now the active bid is 40 X2: Pass Y2:Pass X3:'Pass' .

70

Y3: '56 Nos: Y3 Calculates the number of probable tricks that can be won as follows. Y1 has announced two highest cards of clubs. So 2 tricks can be won with that. Y1 has announced two highest cards of spades. So another 2 tricks can be won with that. Y1 has 9 be won with that. which are also a highest card. So one trick can

In short Y1 will win 5 tricks. Y3 can win 3 tricks with 2 Jack of hearts and one Jack of diamonds. When a player bids '56 Nos' the bidding ends. Play of game starts. Let us look at the play. Y1 is the first lead player. Y1 Plays X2 - Play ' suit. J'- when '56 Nos' is the bid play a sure card. K'- X2 has no clubs and hence unable to follow ' - Following suit contributes a point. Q- Following suit contributing the least point. J'- Following suit J is the only possibility. 71

Y2 - Plays '10 X3 - Play ' Y3 Plays ' LESSON

X1 - Plays ' K' - Following suit contributing the least point. The trick is as follows K J Q J K 10

In this trick Y1 who is the lead player wins the trick and collects the cards. Y1 is the next lead player for trick 2 The trick will be as follows. 10 9 A 9 10 Q

This Trick 2 is won by Y1 for team Y. Y1 is again the lead player for trick 3. The trick will be as follows Q J Q Trick - 3 is won by Y1. Y1 is again the lead player for trick - 4. The trick will be as follows. 9 Q Q 9 K A J A 10

LESSON Trick by Y1. Y1 leads the trick 5. The trick will be as follows, A 10 A 9 A K

72

Note at this point that even though Y3 has ' J, Y3 chooses to play a sin smaller card so that the ' 9' played by Y1 wins a trick for team Y. Y1 wins trick 5 Y1 leads trick - 6 The trick will be as follows, 9 J Q 10 K Q

Y3 wins the trick - 5. Note here that Y I has Played 10 IO So that the trick will be won by Y3 who has announced 2 Jacks of IV in the beginning of bidding. Y3 is the lead player for trick - 7 10 J 10 Y3 wins the trick - 7 K A K

LESSON Y3 leads the trick 8 9 J 9 K J A

73

Trick 8 is also won by Y3. Thus all 8 tricks are won by team Y and wins the game Y team receives 3 tables (bases) from X team. Now X team has 9 bases Y team has 15 bases. Game - 2 Y1 is the dealer after the deal the hands are like this. 9, 10 J, J, 9, 9 J, A A, A 10, Q 9, Q 10, Q 9, A J, A, K J, A 10 10, K, Q 9, K, K 10, K J, K, K Q, Q J, Q A J, 9, 10 9, A, Q K 10

LESSON The bidding process starts with X2 as the opening bidder X2: 'Pass' Y2: 'Pass' No hand worth making as opening bid. No hand worth making a bid.

74

X3: 'Pass' No hand worth making a bid. Y3: 'Pass' No hand worth making a bid. X1: '31 ' X1 is compelled to make a bid because X2, Y2, X3 or Y3 did not make an opening bid so far. This bid implies that XI has 4 biggest cards of diamonds. X2: '32 : To announce that X2 has a Jack as a few other cards of clubs but not very strong. Otherwise X2 should have made the bid in the first round of bidding itself Note: X1 has an active bid of 31 . X2 is bidding 32 . This also implies that X2 has some diamonds but not worth announcing, otherwise X2 should have bid '32 Nos'. Y2: '33 ': Y2 is announcing the hand to check weather the other team members have a hand to make a bid in hearts. This bid in the second round implies that Y2 has a Jack and some other cards of hearts but not 4 cards. Otherwise Y2 should have made the bid in the first round itself X3: '35 Nos': This bid implies that X3 has no clubs. Y3:'36 ': This implies that Y3 had a J and a few other cards of hearts but not long enough; otherwise Y3 should have made the bid in the first round itself X1:'37 Nos': This implies that X1 does not have any hearts. Y1:'38 ': This implies that Y1 has a 9 and some other cards of hearts. 9 is very specific because the other two highest cards ( J) is already announced by Y2 and Y3. X2: '39 : To announce that X2 has a cards of 75 spades. J and some other

LESSON

75

Y2: '40 ': This is a risky bid but the bid is made on the combined strength of hearts for the Y team. X3: 'Pass': No more cards worth announcing. Note that X3 also has not announced a 'Nos' for Diamonds implying that X3 has at least one diamond card in hand. Y3:'Pass'. No need to make a fresh bid as Y2's ' 40 active. X1: '42 '. X1 calculates the chance of winning the tricks. One trick with J of X2, one trick with J of X2, 4 tricks with the 4 trump cards. Again X3 can win a trick by trumping clubs. Actually J of X1 can win the 8th trick. Thus there is ample chance for X1 to bid 56 but not sure of the hand of X3. So limits the bid to 42 . None of the other player makes any more bids and the bid is finalised. The play of cards starts with X2 leading a card. Trick 1: X2 is the lead player. 9 A Q J is

9 Q Note that even though X3 has no clubs and when to do trumping, X3 does not do it because the highest card is played by teammate X2. X2 wins the trick. Number of points collected is: 8 Trick 2: X2 is the lead Player 10 J 10 10 K A

LESSON X3 wins the trick Number of points collected: 7. Commutative points collected: 8+7=15 Trick- 3. X3 is the lead player 9 K 10 Q A 10

76

Note that X3 leads become X1 has announced a 'nos' for hearts. Y3 plays a small card of for the same reason. X1 wins the tricks. Number of Points collected: 5. Cumulative points collected: 15+5=20. Trick -4 X1 is lead player. J 10 K X1 wins the trick Number of points collected: 5 Cumulative points collects: 20+5+25 Trick-5: X1 is the lead player J A Q A Q 10 A Q K

Note that X1 is drawing trumps.

LESSON Y1 wins the trick Number of points collected: 6 Cumulative points collects: 25+6=31.

77

Note that all players would have been watching the number of trump cards that are already played. Till now 11 cards are already played. Hence the only trump left is So no need to lead again. Trick -6. X1 is the lead player. A A K Note that X1 leads announced by X2 X2 wins the trick. Number of points collected: 7 Cumulative points collected 31+7=38 Trick-7. X2 is lead player. J 9 K X1 plays 10 Q 9 J and wins the trick Q J 9 A because the second J was 9 and is with X1.

Number of points collected: 8 Cumulative points: 38+8=46. There is no need to play the eighth trick as X team has already collected 46 points that exceeds the bid point of 42.

LESSON

78

It is important to note that the individual team members in the mind will do the counting of points. Thus an alert mind keeps track of points being collected and the number of trump cards being played. Team X wins the game and receives 2 tables from Y team. Now, X team has: 11 tables Y team has 13 tables Game 3. X2 is the dealer. After the deal the hands are as follows, J, A, K, Q 9, 10 A 10 J, 9 J, 10, 10, K J, 9 J, A, K, K, Q 10 9, K J, A, Q A, Q 9, A, 10 9, K, Q A, K, Q Q 10 Y2 to start the bidding. J, 9, K J, A, 10, Q 9

LESSON Y2: 'Pass': No hand worth bidding. X3: '28 Y3: '29 X1:'30 ' :Implying ' :Implying ' :Implying J followed by at least 3 hearts. J followed at least 3 clubs. J followed by at least 3 spades.

79

Y1: 'Doubled': Y1 has cards to bid in diamond, but prefers to 'double' the bid by X1. X2: 'Redoubled'- X2 has cards to support the bid made by X1. So X2 tre-doubles the 'double' by Y1. The bidding ends and play of cards starts. Y2 to start the play. Trick 1 Y2 is the lead player Q K 10 9 10 Q

Note that Y2 leads a spade to give a chance for X1 to draw the trumps. But X1 is reasonably sure that the second J is with the opposite team as Y1 has chosen to double. Hence plays a small card. At the same time Y1 plays only 9 because Y1 is sure that J is with X1 and hence Y1 can win this trick with 9 and one more trick with J. Y1 wins the tricks. Number of points collected: 4. Trick-2: Y1 is lead players. Q J K J A 9

LESSON

80

Note that Y1 leads a trump with a purpose. Y1 has a Jack of diamonds and on finishing the trumps Y1 may win a trick with J. Y2 and Y3 contributes the maximum points to the trick because they are sure of winning this trick. Y1 wins the trick. Number of points collected is 9 Cumulative points collected by Y team: 4+9=13 Trick -3: Y1 is lead player. A 10 9 K 9 Q

Note that Y1 leads K to finish of the trumps in X team's hand, but still one trump remains with X1. X3 contributes the maximum possible point of 2. X2 does not discard J as X2 has a chance to win a trick with that card. X2 wins the trick Number of points collected: 6. Cumulative points collected by X team: 6 only as this is the first trick won. Trick-4 X2 is lead player. A 10 A X2 wins the trick Number of points collected in the trick: 8 Cumulative points collected by X team: 6+8= 14 9 J K

LESSON Trick -5. X2 is the lead player 10 9 K Q A Q

81

Note that X cannot follow suit, but instead of trumping the trick, X1 discards because X1 has been watching the game and knows that A is the highest card remaining in the hand . 9 were discarded by Y2 in the same trick. The second J and 9 was played in Trick-4. Hence A is the highest card. X2 wins the trick Number of points collected: 4 Cumulative points for X team: 14+4=18 Trick -6. X2 is the lead player 9 J Q 10 Q 10

In this trick also X1 decided to discard 9 instead of trumping because X1 is aware that Q is the highest card available since nobody else followed suit in the previous trick. Y3 discards J because if 9 are discarded then both J and J will become singletons. X2 wins the trick Number of points collected: 7 Cumulative points collected by X team: 18+7=25 Trick -7: X2 is the lead player. 10 9 J LESSON A A K 82

X3 wins the trick Number of points collected: 8 Cumulative points: 25+8= 33. No need to play further as X team has already collected 33 points, which is in excess of the target of 30. Actually the daintily and reason being done is correct as per the norms. However a bid is not doubled at such low levels, unless you are so sure of defeating the offence. of 40 bid in won. In this game Y team had a good chance to win a game . But Y1 preferred to double the bid of X1 to making further .Thus Y teams last a game, which they would have easily For this game Y team has to give 4 tables to X team. At present X team has 15 tables and Y team has 9 tables. Game 4. Y2 is the dealer. After the deal the hands are as follows J, J, A A, Q 10, Q K J, 9,A, 10, 10, Q K J A LESSON 83 9, 10, Q 9, K J 9, 10 J, 9, Q J, A, K 10

J, A, K 9, K A, Q K X3 to start the bidding. X3 -'Pass' No hand worth bidding. Y3-'28 '- Meaning

9, 10, K, Q 9,10 A Q

J followed by at least 3 cards.

X1-' 30'- Even though these sufficient hand to make a bid, X1 'makes a bid on account of the 2 Jacks. X1 is telling the partners about the '2' Jacks. Y1 -'+1 spades': This message is that Y1 has a singleton active bid id '31 ' X2- '32 ' - X2 does not have sufficient cards to bid 32 bid level is very low and has an additional Jack of clubs. Y2- 'pass'. No cards worth supporting. X3-'33 'this bid implies that X3 has a of hearts. J and some other cards J. The but the

Y3- 36 to announce that there are 3 highest cards of spades in hand followed by some small cards of the same suit. X1- 'Pass'- Cannot bid further as no partner has supported diamond. Y1 -'Pass'- Nothing to announce X2 -'37 clubs. ' -To announce that X2 has J and some other cards of

Y2 - 'Pass' - Nothing to announce.

LESSON

84

X3 -'Pass'- 37 of X2 is the active bid and hence need not increase it. Y3- '40 '- Y3 can confidently bid ' 40 ' because Y team is sure to win 6 tricks with the 6 trumps and a seventh trick with J. Hence theoretically speaking X team can bid upto 48 . But there is no point in bidding above 40 the reason being that the number of tables you receive for winning 48 or 40 is the same. X1 -'Pass' -No more cards to bid higher. Y1 - 'Pass'- The active bid is that of Y3. X2- '41 '- X2 is having 2 high cards of and X3 is having J. So X team is sure of winning 3 tricks with . Thus X2 can win a trick with J and X1 can win 2 tricks with Jack making it possible to win 6 tricks. So X team can bid up to 42 . Y2 Pass X3 - 'Pass Y3 -'42 '- Y team can bid up 48.

Nobody bids further and the deal is finilised The Play of card follows. Trick 1. X3 is the lead player K J K J A Q

Note that X3 leads a trump suit even though Y team has bid on spades because, from the bidding language it is clear that X team has 5 jacks in total. so if a trump suit is led, it will result in drawing of trumps from the offence partners and Y team can win a few tricks with 5 Jacks in hand as members of the offence will not be in a position to trump their jacks.

LESSON

85

More ever you find Y3 playing J even though it is clear that the second J. is a singleton with Y1. This is becau"'se, if Y3 plays a small card and Y1 wins the trick, then Y1 will not be in a position to draw the rest of the trumps as Y1 as announced only a singleton. All the more important is the reason that if Y1 leads club suit as the lead for the second trick, then Y3 will be forced to play the singleton J. Y3 wins the trick. Points collected is 7 Trick-2 Y3 is the lead palyer. Q 9 9 9 10 9

Note that Y3 is repeating to lead the trump suit to complete the drawing of trumps. Y1 and Y2 contribute the maximum points. X2 has discarded 10 because that was a singletern card. The advantage is that when the lead card is dice (diamond), X2 can contribute high points in that trick as the J 's are with X1. Y3 wins the trick. Number of points collected: 9 Cumulative points for Y team: 7+9=16 Trick -3 Y.3 is ther lead player. Q J K Y3 wins the trick Number points collected: 9. 9 K 9

LESSON Cumulative points collected by Y Team: 16+9 =25 Trick 4 Y3 is lead player 10 A Q Points collected in this trick Cumulative points for Y team Trick-5 Y3 is lead Player A 10 K Y3 wins the trick. Points collected in this trick Cumulative points for team Y Trick -6: Y3 is lead player A 10 A Y3 wins the trick. Points in this trick Cumulative points collected :7 : 35+7= 42 10 9 10 :5 : 30+5=35 10 A 10 9 Q A :5 : 25+5 =30

86

If the players are keeping track of points being collected there is no need to play further as team Y has won the game by fulfilling the contract.

LESSON

87

Y team receives 2 tables (bases) now X team has 13 tables and Y team has 11 tables. Games -5 X3 is the dealer. After dealing the hands are as follows. 9, 10 9, A, 10, K J A J, 9, 9, K J J, 10 K J, 9, A, 10, Q 10, Q J J, K, Q K, K J, K 10 A, Q A, 10, Q A, 10 A Y3: to open the bid Y3:'28 ': Meaning J follows by at least 3 spades. 9, 9, A, K, Q 9 Q Q

X1: ' 29' Since the bid level is low, X1 is letting the partners know about the hand that it contains at least 4 diamonds but no Jack Y1: '+1 ': Implying that Y1 has a singleton Jack of spades in hand. Now the active bid is 30 . X2: '31 ': Supporting the bid made by X1 and letting the others know about the J Y2: '32 ': Implying that Y2 has a good length of clubs but no Jack.

LESSON X3: 'Pass': No card worth bidding.

88

Y3: 'Plus one clubs': meaning that Y3 has a singleton jack of clubs. Active bid is 33 . X1: '34 Nos'. You can see that this is a false bid, (You are permitted to make false bids, But remember that it might mislead your partners as well as the opponents). In this case X1 wanted to mislead Y3 because X1 has a singleton J and Y3 is the opening player. So if Y3 leads J, then X1 is forced to follow suit by playing J. Hence the false bid. Y1: '35 ': Announcing a J and at least 3 hearts.

X2: 'Pass': Passes this round to let XI know that X2 does not have that good a hand in , even though there is J Y3: ' 36': Y2 can bid 36 because Y2 has 5 cards of clubs and one jack is with Y3. Two spade Jacks and one hearts Jack is with Y team. So the only probable trick to loose is that of the second J. X3: Pass Y3: 40 X1:Pass Y1: 41 X2: Pass Y2: Pass X3: Pass Y3: 42 '. . To announce that Y has a jack too. . To confirm the strength of spades

Note that as we read this book we know that Y team will win even 56 Nos because Y3 is the opening player. That we know because we are able see all hands, but in reality we get to see the hands through the bidding language only. Hence Y3 does not know for sure that Y3 can win 5 tricks with spades alone. Y3 believes X1 and thinks that X1 will trump J if led first.

LESSON Let's see the play of cards. Trick 1 Y3 to lead 10 Q A Y1 wins the trick. Points collected in this trick: 5 Trick - 2 Y1 to lead K J Q J Q 9 J J K Q

89

Note that Y3 has discarded the singleton Y1 wins the trick points in this trick: 8 Cumulative points for Y Team: 5 + 8 = 13 Trick: 3: Y1 to lead 10 10 A 10 K Q

Note that Y1 had 3 choices to play. One was to lead hearts, but since hearts in long, the defence may trump it. The second option was clubs. But clubs can be cut by X1 as X1 has announced no clubs in bidding itself Thus Y1 chooses to lead dice again in which Y3 can trump it as Y3 did not follow suit in the previous trick. Y3 wins the trick

LESSON Points collected : 4 Cumulative points for Y team: 13 + 4 Trick 4: Y3 to lead 9 J Q Y3 wins the trick Points collected Cumulative points : 9 : 17+ 9 : 26. 9 K 9 17

90

If Y3 was counting the trumps then Y3 would he sure that all the trumps are finished with the defence. Trick 5. Y3 to lead A 10 10 Y1 wins the trick Number of points collected Cumulative points for Y team Trick - 6 Y1 to lead. J Q 10 K 10 A J, Y3 . :8 : 26 + 8 =34. J K 9

Note that Y1 leads a clubs so that if the defence plays can trump it. For the same reason Y2 plays a point card A

LESSON

91

But till Y3 nobody played J . Hence Y3 thinks that some defence player before it is retaining the J. Moreover the highest card till then is played by Y2. Y1 has called Nos for clubs. So Y3 decides to discard Q X1 wins the trick. Total points in this trick for X team: 6 At this point Y3 can keep the 2 cards remaining in hand face up on the table and say that Y team has won as the rest of the tricks are sure tricks for Y team on account of the trump strength as nobody else is having anymore trumps. Thus Y team receives 2 tables. Now Y team has 13 tables and X team has 11 tables. Game 6: Y3 is the dealer After the deal the hands are as follows. J, 10 J, 9 9, 9, K, Q 10, K A, 10, K K, Q 10 J, A, 10, K, Q A, K, Q J, J, A, K 9, 10 J, 9 A, Q J, A, 10 K, Q Q LESSON 9, A 9, A, Q J, 9 10 92

X1: is the opening bidder. X1: 'Pass': There is no hand to open a bid. Y1: 'Pass': No hand worth making a bid. X2: '29 : Implies that X2 has two jacks of Hearts. Followed by at least 2 cards of hearts. Y2: 'Pass': No hand worth making a bid. X3: 'Pass': No hand worth making a bid. Y3: '30 ': To announce that Y3 has a J and at least 3 spades.

X1: '32 : X2 had bid '29 ' meaning two J's in hand. Thus the next two highest cards are the 9s. This bid implies that X1 has two ' 9' followed by one more cards of hearts. Y1: Pass X2:'34 Nos': To imply that X2 has no spades. This call comes handy if X team makes a bid or if Y team makes a bid in any other suit Y2: ' 35': To tell the partners that Y2 has a ' other cards but no J. X3: 36 ': Till this round X3 has not made a bid. 9' and some

So team members do know that X3 has no strength on length of clubs but has a J. Y3: '39 ': Y3 has cards of 2 suits only. More over Y2 has supported spades. So Y3 goes ahead with bidding 39 . The advantage of this bid is that if X team has to make another bid, they have to bid at least 40 points. The rewards and punishments for 40 are higher than that of 39. Thus Y team has to take a higher risk to make further bids.

LESSON

93

X1: '41 Nos': By this time X team is almost sure of a good hand and is time to explore the full strength. There bid '41 Nose' by X1 implies that X1 has no clubs. Y1: Pass. X2:42 -To announce J and some other card of .

Y2: Pass X3: Pass Y3: 'Pass' X1: '43 X1: 'Pass' X2: '44 Y2: 'Pass' X3: Pass Y3: Pass' X1: 45 Y1: 'Pass' X2: '56 and J '. The calculation is simple. X1 will win 2 tricks with 9's announced. . J ' ' : Announcing the J and some other cards of .

X1 will win another 2 tricks with two

X1 will win a fifth trick with the trump by trumping X2 can win two tricks with ' X2 will win a trick by trumping Now let's see the play of cards. X1 is the Opening Player. J'. .

LESSON Trick 1

94

X1: Play ' 9: X team has announced 4 Jacks other than of the trump suits. Hence Y team members should not be able to trump the Jacks. So the first lead card must be the trump suit it. Y1: Y2: X3: ' Y3: ' 10 are with X2 and hence 10 - Follows suit. Q' - Follows suit. Q' - Discarding. 9 is the highest card.

X1 wins the trick for X team. There is no need to count the points as X team should win A the trick to win this game. (It is mentioned her that a team must win sell the 8 trick to win a 56. It need at be the car. In one trick there can be a suit when no player is contributing a put is which care the not of the seven trick full fills the contract of 56) X1 is the next lead player. Trick 2 X1: 9. In the first trick X1 has 3 hearts. That makes it 8 hearts. Since X2 make the first bid in the first round, X2 must have had a death 4 hearts and must be left with 3 hearts. That makes it 11 hearts. There are actually 12 hearts in a game. So one hearts is with the Y1, Y2 OR X3. It is safe for the Jacks to export that trump also before playing Jacks. (Actually in the case there was no need to draw trumps now as the less and ' A' was with X3. But in a game there is no way of it). Y1: Plays X2: Plays Y2: Plays X3: Plays Y1: Plays Q A Q A K Discards Following suit. Discards Following Discarding

LESSON XI wins the trick Track 3: X1 is lead player. X1: Plays X2: Plays Y2: Plays X3: Plays Y3: Plays K 9 A Q Q

95

X1 Win the trick. Trick 4: X1 is the lead Player. X1: Play Y1: X2: Y2: X3: Y3: K 9 A Q K J - Highest card that can win a trick. Following suit. Discarding a high point Follow suit Follow suit Follow suit

X1 wins the trick for team X Tricks: 5: X1 is lead player X1: Play << 9 Y1: Play X2: Play Y2: Play X3: Play 10 J 9 K - X2 has announced no << - Follow suit. - Trumping the trick. - Follow suit. - Discarding.

LESSON Y3: Plays 10 - Follow suit.

96

X2 wins the trick for team X. Track 6 - X2 is lead player. X2: Plays Y2: Plays X3: Plays Y3: Plays X1: Plays Y1: Plays J 9 10 A 10 10 J is the highest card Follow suit. Discards Discards. Follow suit. Follow suit.

X2 wins the trick for team X. Trick 7 - X2 is leading Player. X2: Plays 10 safe to play . Y2: Play X3: Play Y3: Play X1: Play Y1: Play J A A K K Leads .X1 has bid no and hence

Follow suit. Follow suit. Discarding Trumps the trick as unable to follow suit Follow suit.

X1 wins the trick for X team. X1 is leading Player. Trick - 8 Won by X2 as X2 has Thus all 8 trick are won by X team Now X team has - tables 4 and Y team has - tables . J which is the highest card.