ing to win or lose less on their own declarations.

It must always be borne in mind, however, that whichever course is pursued
it is only his own actions that can be governed by each player. One
may adopt a quiet, safe game, and risk little, while some or all of the
opponents may adopt the opposite extreme, and force all the competitors,
[8] in a manner of speaking, to share in their risky speculations.
If the bold player wins, and we think the chances are in his favour,
the quieter ones, no matter how safe their own declarations may be,
must necessarily lose, and _vice versa_ so that we have, not only the
numberless possible combinations of the cards to consider, but also the
temperament and position of those engaged in each game.

Care should be taken to remember, as far as possible, the cards thrown away
by the other players, when they cannot follow suit to any particular lead,
and it will be found in practice that much information can be derived
as to the character of the remaining cards from a careful study of the
hands during the progress of the play, and this knowledge is particularly
valuable when a player is left with two cards of equal, or nearly equal
value, and his chance of success depends upon his winning a trick with
one of them.

We shall now proceed to consider the various parts of the game, and the
variations that have been introduced into the method of playing it.

_STAKES_.

The stakes may consist of any amount previously arranged, and whatever is
decided upon, whether it be counters or money, is recognised as the limit
per trick, only changed when a player having declared for Nap, succeeds
in making it, in which case each player pays double, or as though he had
lost ten tricks. In other cases the players win or lose one stake for each
trick that the senior hand has declared for. Say, for example, he declared
to win three tricks, and succeeded, then each of the other players would
pay him three times the amount of the stake; if the senior hand did not
succeed, he would have to pay a similar amount to each of the others.

[9]

_DEALING_.

The deal is decided by the cards being turned face upwards before each
player, until the first knave is exposed. The player to whom the knave
falls then becomes the first dealer. It is better to play with two
separate packs of cards, as considerable time is saved in collecting and
shuffling, which operations are to be performed by the player on t