Card game Whist

The card game Whist, which has a history dating back to one of the earliest variations of the game found in historical records around 1529, was called Trump.

It later led to Ruff, Ruff and honours, Whisk and Swabbers, Whisk and Broom and finally to the now widely known Whist.

It is said that in the 19th century almost everyone knew and loved the game! In addition, another game was derived from Visto "Bridge".

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Instruments needed for the game

Played with a traditional deck of cards - 52 cards. The usual order of rank of the cards is from highest to lowest - Ace, King, Queen, Jack, Ten, Nine, and so on down to Deuce.

It is ideal to have 2 decks of cards, so that while one deck is being played, the dealer can carefully shuffle the other deck and prepare it for the next game.

How many players play?

Whist is usually played in pairs of two, so you'll need a group of 4 friends to have fun.

Shuffling and dealing cards

Players must sit in a position where one team is sitting opposite the other. To determine the dealer and team players (unless agreed in advance), players draw 1 card from the deck.

The player who draws the highest card becomes the dealer and plays on the same team as another player who also has a higher value card than the other players. His partner carefully shuffles the cards and hands them to the dealer.

It is also important to note that when dealing, dealing or already in play, it is forbidden to suggest good or bad cards to a player in the team, as this will result in penalties.

The dealer deals 13 cards to each player (cards dealt 1 at a time). The last card belonging to the dealer is turned over and placed on the table to determine the trumps. It remains on the table until it is the dealer's turn to act.

How to play Whist?

Card game Whist starts with the player to the left of the dealer and proceeds clockwise.

The player discards any card they wish. To win, each other player must cross the card dealt only with a higher card of the same family, or, if they do not have a higher card, with a trump.

If you don't have the latter, any other card is discarded. In this case, keep in mind that your teammate may still score a point for your team.

Thus, the player who dealt the highest trump card, or if there is no trump card, the player who dealt the highest ranked card, wins the pot. The right to start the next turn goes to the winner of the pick.

The winning die and its 4 cards are taken on the table, turned over and placed in the middle of the pair of players. When a player on the other team wins a die, the cards are also turned over, but are placed across the opponents' cards to make it easier to count points later.

It is also very important to keep track of which cards have already been played to determine your next move, giving you a better chance of winning further picks. As an exception, a player who wins a draw is allowed to look once at the cards played in the previous draw, provided that no trumps were played.

The game continues until all 13 crosses have been played and then the points are counted. If there are not enough points to win, a second or more games are played.

Scoring

At the start of the game, an agreement is reached on how many points will be played. When all 13 crosses have been played, the pair with the most points is counted. The winners get 1 point. The game is played in this way until one team scores the required number of points.

Interestingly, it is common to play up to 5 points in the UK, 7 points in the US and 3 points is also known as "Short Whist".

In addition, tournaments are time-limited and require players to play for a limited amount of time in order to score as many points as possible.

If you choose to play a longer version of the game, you will play with each player's "honours".

Some players ignore praise, while others see it as a sign of success, which helps them to improve their mental attitude and score more points.

Also, the team that collects the 4 highest-ranking trump cards (honours) - Ace, King, Queen and Jack - is awarded extra points. 3 of these cards are awarded 2 points, and 4 points are awarded if all 4 cards are present.

It is important to note that accents are counted before honours, as honours cannot be the last points of the game. For example, if the game is played to 9 points, the score is 6 points. A player has made 7 tackles and has asked for praise.

He wins 1 point, has a total of 7, and receives only 1 point for his praise, so that he does not immediately receive the required 9 points in total.

Card game Whist strategy

Experts in the game say that the first card to be dealt should be the strongest card, which means that your opponents will also deal their best cards.

It is also said that it is a good idea to discard a card that is the only one you have, or just a few from one family, for example, 4 wines, 4 hearts, 3 clubs and 2 drums. It is best to discard a drum in the hope that your teammate will discard a higher one.

For the second player, it is better to throw in a trump card - an Ace or a King. With an Ace, you will win immediately, and with a King you will also have a good chance.

The third player, after the second player has thrown an ace, discards his lowest card, especially the one with the fewest cards in his family. Alternatively, a player may play "modestly" and try to cheat the player. For example, the player holds the ace of hearts and the queen in his hand (the previous card discarded being hearts) and knows that his opponent has a king.

He discards a queen, possibly loses, but in the next game the probability of winning with an ace is almost 100%.

The fourth player normally plays the lowest card if he sees that his pair has lost, or throws in the lowest trump honours card if his teammate has thrown in a trump card with which to win the draw.

So, one of the most important things in this game is for the two players on the team to "talk" and keep track of the cards.

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Card game Whist variants

As mentioned above, the card game Whistruth has evolved slowly and in different regions, so there are many variations of the game. You may discover your favourite! For example,

• "Boston Whist"  - the most played in 19th century Europe. Interestingly, the rules of the game can be found in Leo Tolstoy's epic historical novel War and Peace, in which the protagonist Nikolai Rostov was very fond of "whist".
• "Whist with Bets" (Eng. Bid whist) - traditional Whist is played with bets on who will win and money. Most commonly played in the United States.
• "Blob is a game in which the player guesses how many picks each of them will take, and if they get it wrong, they "drown" and lose points. Can be played with 4 or 5 players. Each player is dealt 6 cards. In addition, the sum of all players' bets cannot exceed 6 picks. The player dealing from the left starts the game and establishes (and can play without) trumps. The latter then deals the cards.
• "Ace or Danish Whist" . Includes several different variations of Whist (e.g. "Solo Whist" and "Esmakker"), who chooses his playing partner by saying the ace of the desired family. The playmate is only revealed once the blind game is underway and the player has discarded that ace. The game is also played with 2 or 3 jokers, who can replace the trump cards.
•  "Catch 10" (Catch 10. Catch the ten) - also known as the "Scottish Whist". It is played with half a deck of cards, with tens as the most valuable cards.
• "Descending Card Whist" is an English variation in which players play individually rather than in pairs, each time cards are dealt, they bet on who will get how many cards and how many diamonds. Points are counted after the game is played and if you win as many whips as you bet, you get as many as 10 bonus points! In addition, as each game is played, the number of cards in the deck is reduced by 4 - first 52, then 48, then 44, and so on until there are 4 cards left and the players have made their last pick. The trumps are determined immediately after each new game played in the following sequence - hearts, clubs, drums, wines, then a game without trumps, a game where you lose 10 points if you miss a bet, then hearts, clubs, drums, wines, hearts, clubs, drums again. In addition, the total of the players' bets cannot exceed the total points of the game, so the dealer should ensure that all players are fair.

Less well-known options:

•  "Dutch Whist" is similar to "Vist", discussed earlier, with stakes. In this variant, 7 players start with one card, but add 1 card each time they play a game, and keep playing until they have 7 cards in their last game. The next game is played with no trumps (winning this game results in 5 points), then a "minus" game where 5 points are deducted after winning the game, then a "blind" game where a guess is made as to the number of trumps to be collected. The game then continues, but moves from 7 cards to 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1. The trump cards are set before each game in the following order: hearts, clubs, drums, wines. Up to 10 points are played, with 1 point possible in each game.
•  "Double Whist" - often played in South Asia, where points are scored only when players win twice in a row.
• "Liar's Whist" is a three-player betting variant.
• "German Whist - two players play without betting.
• "Israeli Whist" is a variation of the game where the other players guess the number of picks you're going to make.
• "Minus Whist is a game where a player is eliminated from the game if he fails to win a club.
• "Ninja Whist - very similar to Declining Cards Whist, but with jokers
• "Serbian Whist - a variation of the game with guesses as to how many picks a player will take, but if the number is less or more, the difference is deducted from the player's point total.
• "Solo Whist is a variation of the game where players bet to win 5, 9 or 13 points. If no guesses are made, no points are scored.
• "Wine Whist" (Spades) is a variant of the game where the trumps are all wine for the entire game.
• "Arab Whist" (Tarneeb) - played in Arab countries, where the winner picks trumps for the next game.