Piquet

Players and equipment

Two players and a 32-card pack, sevens up to aces, with everything below the seven thrown out. There are no trumps, and the ace is high. It is the classic two-hander, four centuries old, and the scoring is most of the game.

The deal

Twelve cards each in twos or threes, and the remaining eight face down between you as the talon. The non-dealer is called elder and the dealer younger; the roles alternate each deal, and elder has the advantage. Cut for the first deal.

Play

Exchange first. Elder must discard at least one card and may take up to five from the top of the talon; younger may then take what elder left. Discards are kept face down and may be looked at by their owner. A hand with no king, queen or jack is carte blanche: show it before you exchange and score 10.

Declaring

Elder announces the best of each of three things in turn, younger replies "good", "not good" or "equal", and only the player with the better one scores it — along with every other holding of that kind in their hand.

Point

One a card

The longest suit, ties by pip value

Sequences

3 to 15

Three or more in suit, ties by top card

Sets

3 or 14

Three or four of a kind, tens or higher only

Point is the number of cards in your longest suit, and a point of five scores 5. If both suits are the same length, the cards are added up — an ace 11, a court card 10, the rest their pips — and the higher total wins; still equal, and neither scores. A sequence of three scores 3, four 4 and five 15, and each card beyond five adds one more; longer beats shorter, and between equal lengths the higher top card wins. A set is three or four of one rank, tens or higher: three score 3 and four 14, four beats three, and the higher rank wins between equals. You may declare less than you hold if it suits you, which is called sinking. Younger scores her winning declarations before she plays to the first trick.

The tricks

Elder leads. Follow suit if you can; there are no trumps, so the higher card of the suit led wins. Score as you go, and it is the leading that is scored rather than the winning.

Scoring

Leading to a trick

1

Whoever leads, whatever happens

Winning a trick you did not lead to

1

Taking the lead from the other

The last trick

1

On top of the point for it

Most tricks

10

Seven or more of the twelve

All twelve tricks

40

Called capot, and it replaces the ten

Six tricks each scores nothing for cards. Two bonuses decide close deals. Repique is 60, scored by a player who reaches thirty in declarations alone before the other has scored anything at all. Pique is 30, scored by elder reaching thirty in declarations and play combined before younger scores. Carte blanche counts towards both. Younger can never pique, because elder scores 1 for leading before younger has played a card.

A worked deal

Alice is elder. After the exchange she holds the ace, king, queen, jack and ten of spades, the ace and king of hearts, the ace, queen and ten of diamonds, and the king and nine of clubs. Ben, younger, holds the nine, eight and seven of spades, the queen, jack, ten and nine of hearts, the king and jack of diamonds, and the ace, queen and ten of clubs.

Point

5, total 5

Alice's five spades against Ben's four hearts

Sequence

15, total 20

Ace down to ten of spades, five cards, against Ben's four hearts

Sets

3 + 3, total 26

Three aces, and then three kings, once the aces are good

The lead

4, total 30

Ace, king, queen and jack of spades led in turn

Pique

30, total 60

Thirty reached before Ben has scored a point

The rest of the play

8, total 68

Six more leads, one trick won on Ben's lead, and the last trick

Cards

10, total 78

Ten tricks of the twelve

Alice declares a point of five; Ben's best is four hearts, so he says "good" and she scores 5. Her five spades in a row beat his four hearts, 15. Her three aces are good, and having won the category she scores her three kings too, 6. That is 26 from declarations, four short of a repique. Then she leads spades, 1 a lead, and Ben, following with his three low spades and then throwing what he likes, cannot win a trick. On the fourth lead her total reaches 30 with Ben still on nothing: a pique, and 30 more goes on at once.

She leads the ten of spades, both red aces and the king of hearts, all winners, then the queen of diamonds, which Ben takes with the king for 1 — his first point. He leads the ace and queen of clubs, 1 each, and Alice's king of clubs wins the second for 1. She leads her ten of diamonds to the last trick, 1 for the lead and 1 for the last. Ten tricks to two is the cards, 10. Alice has 78 for the deal and Ben 3.

Ending

A partie is six deals, and the higher total takes it. The winner's margin is what counts: add 100 to the difference, or, if the loser failed to reach 100 points at all, add 100 to the sum of both scores instead, which is a rubicon and roughly doubles the damage.

The discard as elder

Take all five unless you have a clear reason not to: every card from the talon is one your opponent never sees, and elder's advantage is the size of the exchange. Throw from your shortest suits and keep the long one whole, because a point and a sequence in the same suit score twice from the same cards. Keep aces and kings in the other suits as guards for the play.

The discard as younger

Younger's three cards cannot build much, so build a defence. Keep the cards that stop elder taking seven tricks: kings guarded by a small card, and an ace in each suit if you can. Six tricks each denies elder the 10 for cards, and a single trick won early kills any pique, because a pique needs you still on nothing when elder reaches thirty.

Point or sequence

A sequence is worth far more than a point of the same length — five in a row are 15 where five of a suit are 5 — so when you must choose which suit to keep, keep the one with cards in a row, especially at the top. The same long suit usually wins both. Three of a kind at 3 is not worth wrecking a suit for; four of a kind at 14 is.

The play for cards

Elder should lead the long suit from the top and count towards seven tricks, keeping the guards in the other suits until it is exhausted. The declarations have already told you a great deal: an opponent who answered "not good" to a point of five holds six of a suit, and one who scored three queens holds three of them. Play round what you know is there; a lead is worth 1 whether or not the trick is won, so the player who keeps the lead scores steadily.

Counting to thirty

Both bonuses are about the count. As elder, 26 or 27 from declarations means a pique is likely and you should lead your winners at once; 30 from declarations alone is a repique and worth planning the discard around. As younger you may still repique, since the declarations rank before the play, and a point, a sequence and a set together can reach thirty on their own.

Piquet au cent

The older form. Play continues until one player reaches 100 points, and the one who gets there first wins. A loser who has not reached 50 when the winner passes 100 is rubiconed and the stake is doubled.

The partie of six deals

The standard game as described above: six deals, each player elder three times, and the totals compared at the end with 100 added to the difference.

The partie of four deals

A shorter game. Four deals are played and the first and last count double, so that each player has one double deal as elder and one single. The scoring at the end is otherwise as for the six-deal partie.

Rubicon Piquet

The name of the six-deal partie with the rubicon, settled by the London clubs in the nineteenth century. A loser who fails to reach 100 in the six deals is rubiconed: the winner scores 100 plus the sum of both totals rather than the difference.

Exchanging by rule

Under the strictest rules younger, like elder, must exchange at least one card; under the club rules younger may decline to exchange and keep her hand as dealt. Agree which before the first deal.

What does pique mean in Piquet?

A bonus of 30 for elder. If elder's declarations and leads reach thirty before younger has scored a single point, elder adds 30 at once. Only elder can pique, because elder's 1 for the first lead comes before younger has done anything.

What is repique?

A bonus of 60 for reaching thirty in declarations alone — point, sequences, sets and carte blanche — before the other player has scored anything. Either player may repique, since the declarations are scored before the first card is led.

How do you score point in Piquet?

Point is your longest suit, and it scores one for each card in it, so five spades are a point of five for 5. If both players have the same number, the cards are added up — an ace 11, a court card 10, the rest their face value — and the higher total wins. Equal again, and neither scores.

What is a rubicon in Piquet?

A loser who fails to reach 100 points over the six deals has been rubiconed. Instead of adding 100 to the difference between the scores, the winner adds 100 to the sum of both, so losing 60 to 140 costs 300 rather than 180.

How many cards are used in Piquet?

Thirty-two: the ace, king, queen, jack, ten, nine, eight and seven of each suit. Everything from the six down is removed, and the short pack is still called a piquet pack for that reason.

Who is elder hand?

The player who did not deal. Elder exchanges first and may take five cards from the talon, declares first and leads to the first trick, which is why elder wins more deals than younger.