Whist

Players and equipment

Four players in two partnerships, sitting across from each other, and a standard 52-card deck with no jokers. Aces are high and twos low. Whist is the ancestor of most partnership trick play and still the cleanest version of it: there is no bidding and there are no special cards, and the whole game is remembering what has gone and reading your partner's leads. Something to keep score on. Traditionally two packs were used in turn, one being shuffled while the other was dealt.

The deal

Thirteen cards each, the whole deck, dealt one at a time clockwise, starting with the player on the dealer's left. The dealer's last card is dealt face up: its suit is trumps for the hand. It stays on the table until the first trick is led, so everybody knows one card the dealer holds, and the dealer then picks it up into hand. The deal passes to the left after every hand.

Play

The player to the dealer's left leads anything. Follow suit if you can; if you cannot, play anything, a trump or a card of another suit thrown away. The highest trump in the trick wins it, and if it holds no trump, the highest card of the suit led. The winner of a trick leads the next. Each side keeps its tricks in a pile so that they can be counted at the end. There are thirteen, so one side must hold at least seven.

Scoring

Each trick above six

1

Only the seventh onward counts

Game

5

Commonly the first side to 5 points; 7 or 9 in some schools

Six tricks is the book, and only tricks over the book count, so one side scores in every hand and the other scores nothing: seven tricks is one point, thirteen is seven. Enter each side's tricks above six against both partners; the app adds the hands up and stops the game at the finish line. A side that reaches the target partway through a hand still plays the hand out, and every trick above six in it counts.

Older rules also score honours, which are the ace, king, queen and jack of trumps. All four in one partnership's hands scores 4, and three of them scores 2, to whichever side holds them. Most modern play leaves honours out entirely, since they reward the deal rather than the play. Agree before you start.

A worked deal

Alice and Cara against Ben and Dev, playing to 5. Spades are turned up. Alice and Cara take eight tricks to Ben and Dev's five.

Alice and Cara

2

Eight tricks, two above the book

Ben and Dev

0

Five tricks, below the book

The two trick counts add to thirteen, which is the check. On the second deal Ben and Dev take seven for 1, and on the third they take seven again, so the score stands at 2 all. On the fourth Alice and Cara take nine tricks, three above the book, and their total is 5. That is game, and players who want a rubber deal again for a second game: the first side to win two games takes the rubber. Had honours been on, and Alice held the ace, king and queen of spades in the first deal, her side would have added 2 to the 2 for tricks and stood at 4 after one hand.

Ending

First side to the agreed points wins the game; best of three games is a rubber. A side reaching game mid-hand still finishes the hand. Keeping score on SquareScores, set the target when you launch and the app ends the game at the line.

Leading

Lead from your longest suit, and lead it low unless you hold the top cards. The suit you hold most of is the one the others hold least of, and it is the suit you will eventually be winning tricks in once their high cards have gone. Your first lead tells your partner where your length is, and a partner who remembers it can lead the suit back to you later. Do not lead a lone card of a suit in the hope of trumping the return: you throw away the one chance to tell your partner anything.

Second and third hand

The oldest advice in the game: second hand low, third hand high. If you are the second to play to a trick, play low and let your partner, who plays last, judge whether to win it; if you are third, play high, because your partner led the suit and needs the trick won. The player who plays last to a trick sees everything and should win it as cheaply as possible.

Trumps

Count them. There are thirteen, you saw one on the table, and once your own are counted you know how many the other three hands share. Lead trumps when you and your partner hold most of them, to pull the others out before your long suit is trumped; hold them back when you have few. Do not trump a trick your partner is already winning, and do not spend a trump on a trick that is already yours.

Partnership

Return your partner's suit when you win the lead, and lead a suit your partner is out of so that they can trump it. Signals are the whole art: a high card followed by a lower one in the same suit says you hold no more of it and would like a trump lead. Watch the discards too, because a card thrown away is a suit somebody has given up on.

The finish line

At 5, a single strong hand can take a game, so a side at 3 or 4 should play steadily for one or two tricks over the book, and a side far behind can afford to play for the big hand, holding trumps back to run a long suit at the end. Honours, where they are counted, arrive with the deal and not the play, which is why so many tables leave them out.

Long and short whist

Long whist is the older game, played to ten points. Short whist, to five, took over in the nineteenth century and is the game most rules describe. Some tables play to seven. A rubber is the best of three games in either.

Honours

The ace, king, queen and jack of trumps. A side holding all four between them scores 4, and three of them scores 2, whoever dealt. In short whist a side already at four cannot go out on honours alone; it has to win the game by tricks. Left out by most tables, since honours reward luck.

Knockout Whist

Every player for themselves, the hands shrinking from seven cards to one and a player who takes no trick in a hand knocked out. A quicker, rougher game that shares only the trick play. It has its own page here.

Bid Whist

The American partnership game in which each player bids the number of tricks over the book they will take and names uptown, downtown or no trumps. Two jokers are added, and the last six cards are a kitty the winning bidder takes into hand. Played to seven points, and a game of its own.

Minnesota Whist

No trumps at all. Each player secretly says whether they want to win tricks or lose them, by laying a black or a red card face down. If anybody has voted to win, the hand is played high and the side with more tricks scores a point a trick above six; if all four vote low, the side with fewer tricks scores instead, a point for every trick the other side took above six. Game is 13.

Solo Whist

Each player for themselves, and a round of bidding before the play: to take eight tricks with a temporary partner, five alone, none at all, or nine alone. The trick play is whist's; everything around it is different.

German Whist

Two players, thirteen cards each and the rest a stock, with the top card turned to show trumps. The winner of each trick takes the turned card and the loser the next one, face down, until the stock is gone; then the last thirteen tricks are played out, and they are the ones that count.

How many points is a game of whist?

Five is the usual game. Some tables play to seven, and long whist runs to ten. Only tricks over six count, so a side needs several good hands or one very good one to get there. The best of three games is a rubber.

Why do only tricks above six count?

There are thirteen tricks in a hand, so one side must win at least seven. Six is the book, the half a side is expected to take, and only the tricks over it are worth anything, which is why one side scores in every hand and the other scores nothing.

How are trumps decided in whist?

The dealer's last card is dealt face up, and its suit is trumps for that hand. It lies on the table until the first card is led, so everyone knows one card in the dealer's hand, and the dealer then takes it up.

Do you have to trump if you cannot follow suit?

No. When you have no card of the suit led you may play any card: a trump if you want to win the trick, or a card of another suit if you would rather keep your trumps or the trick is already your partner's.

What is a rubber in whist?

The best of three games. The side that wins two games has won the rubber; if the first two games go to different sides, a third is played to decide it.

What are honours in whist?

The ace, king, queen and jack of trumps. Under older rules a partnership holding all four between them scores four points and three of them two points, on top of any tricks. Most tables now leave honours out, since they are dealt rather than won.

Is whist the same as bridge?

Bridge grew out of whist and plays its tricks the same way, but bridge adds bidding, a dummy hand and a far larger scoring table. Whist has no bidding, trumps come from the turned card, and every hand is scored on tricks alone.

Can you play whist with two or three players?

The partnership game needs four. Two can play German whist, three can play with a dummy fourth hand exposed on the table, and Knockout Whist takes two to seven, each for themselves.