Playing Whist
Whist is a classic trick-taking card game which was played widely in the 18th and 19th centuries. It developed from the older game Ruff and Honours. Although the rules are extremely simple, there is enormous scope for scientific play; since the only information known at the start is the player's thirteen cards, the game is difficult to play well. In its heyday a large amount of literature about how to play Whist was written. Edmond Hoyle, of "according to Hoyle" fame, wrote an early popular and definitive textbook. By the late 19th century an elaborate and rigid set of rules detailing the laws of the game, its etiquette and the techniques of play had been developed that took a large amount of study to master. In the early 20th century, Bridge, which shares many traits with Whist, displaced it as the most popular card game amongst serious card players.
Whist rules
A standard 52 card pack is used. The cards in each suit rank from highest to lowest: A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2. Whist is played by four players, who play in two partnerships with the partners sitting opposite each other.
The Play
Each playeris dealt thirteen cards. The final card, which belongs to the dealer, is turned face up to indicate which suit is trumps. The turned up trump remains face up on the table until it is dealer's turn to play to the first trick.The deal advances clockwise.
The player to the dealer's left leads to the first trick. Any card in his hand may be led. The other players, in clockwise order, each play a card to the trick and must follow suit by playing a card of the suit led if they have one. A player with no card of the suit led may play any card either discarding or trumping. The trick is won by the highest card of the suit led, unless a trump is played in which case the highest trump wins.
The winner of the trick leads to the next trick. This continues until all thirteen tricks are played, at which point, the score is recorded. If no team has enough points to win the game then another hand is played.
Part of the skill involved in the game is one's ability to remember what cards have been played and reason out what cards remain. After all 13 tricks have been played, the side which won more tricks scores 1 point for each trick won in excess of 6 (called the "odd tricks"). When all four players are experienced, it is unusual for the score for a single hand to be higher than two. A game is over when one team reaches a score of five.
Basic Whist technique
For the opening lead, it is best to lead your strongest suit, which is usually the longest. A singleton may also be a good lead, trying to trump in that suit as partner should normally return the suit led.
1st hand: It is usual to lead the king from a sequence of honours that includes it, including AK (the lead of an ace therefore denies the king).
2nd hand usually plays low, especially with a single honour. However, it is often correct to split honours (play the lower of two touching honours) and to cover a J or 10 when holding Qx and cover a Q when holding the ace.
3rd hand usually plays high, though play the lowest of touching honours. The finesse can be a useful technique, especially in trumps where honours can't be trumped if they are not cashed. • Discards are usually low cards of a suit you do not like, however, when the opponents are drawing trumps a suit preference signal is given by throwing a low card of your strongest suit.
Source: wikipedia.
Where to play whist
- Bid Whist Online - free trial - then play by annual subscription
- CardSharp - Free online game againstcomputer opponents
- Dracis: A developing site - free to play
- FreeWhist.be: Play Whist free online