Whist Game

Bid Whist Plus presents a classic trick-taking card game where bidding determines the trump suit and ranking of cards. Play Classic Bid Whist with essential partnerships and bidding, or try Solo and Whist variants to play without partners or where the trump suit is pre-determined with each round. The classic game of whist is a plain-trick game without bidding for 4 players in fixed partnerships. There are four players in two fixed partnerships. Partners sit facing each other. A standard 52 card pack is used. Whist is a trick taking game for either 2 players or 2 teams of 2 players. Whist uses a standard 52 playing card deck with Aces high and 2s low. The trump suit changes with each deal. The objective of whist is to be the first team or player to reach 5 points.

• Whist Game - Image Results
• Whist Game Card Game

Types of Whist

This page describes the classic game of Whist which was played widely in the 18th and 19th centuries. Whist was derived from the older game Ruff and Honours, and in the twentieth century, bridge has displaced whist as the most popular card game internationally among serious card players. Nevertheless, whist continues to be played in Britain, often in local tournaments called 'whist drives'.

Nowadays there are many other games called whist - the name has become attached to a wide variety of games based on classic whist, but often with some kind of bidding added, for example:

• Knockout whist (a children's game in which a player who wins no trick is eliminated)
• Solo whist (played in Britain; a game where individuals can bid to win 5, 9 or 13 tricks or to lose every trick)
• Whist (Wiezen) and Suit Whist (Kleurenwiezen) (Belgian games similar to Solo Whist, but more elaborate)
• Bid whist (a partnership game with bidding, played in the USA)
• Minnesota whist (in which there are no trumps, and hands can be played to win tricks or to lose tricks - also the very similar game of Norwegian Whist)
• Romanian whist (a game in which players try to predict the exact number of tricks they will take - similar to Oh Hell)
• Israeli whist (another game somewhat related to Oh Hell, in which one tries to bid the exact number of tricks one will take)
• German Whist (a British two-player adaptation of Whist without bidding)
• Danish Whist, which exists in two forms: one with fixed partnerships, and one in which partners are chosen by calling an ace.

Whist Rules

The classic game of whist is a plain-trick game without bidding for 4 players in fixed partnerships. Although the rules are extremely simple there is enormous scope for scientific play, and in its heyday a large amount of literature about how to play whist was written.

Players

There are four players in two fixed partnerships. Partners sit facing each other. The game is played clockwise.

Cards

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.

Deal

The cards are shuffled by the player to dealer's left and cut by the player to dealer's right. The dealer deals out all the cards one at a time so that each player has 13. The final card, which will belong to the dealer, is turned face up to indicate which suit is trumps. The turned trump remains face up on the table until it is dealer's turn to play to the first trick.

It is traditional to use two packs of cards. During each deal, the dealer's partner shuffles the other pack and places it to the right. The dealer for the next hand then simply needs to pick up the cards from the left and pass them across to the right to be cut. Provided all the players understand and operate it, this procedure saves time and helps to remember whose turn it is to deal, as the spare pack of cards is always to the left of the next dealer.

Play

The player to the dealer's left leads to the first trick. Any card may be led. The other players, in clockwise order, each play a card to the trick. Players must follow suit by playing a card of the same suit as the card led if they can; a player with no card of the suit led may play any card. The trick is won by the highest trump in it - or if it contains no trump, by the highest card of the suit led. The winner of a trick leads to the next.

Scoring

When all 13 tricks have been played, the side which won more tricks scores 1 point for each trick they won in excess of 6.

The partnership which first reaches 5 points wins the game. This will normally take several deals.

Variations

Honours

Honours are the top four trumps - A K Q J. A partnership which between them held all four honours in their hands score an extra 4 points, which they claim at the end of the play. A side which held three of the four honours can claim 2 points for them. A team which at the start of the already has 4 points towards the 5 required for game cannot score honours on that deal.

If on the same deal one side scores for tricks and the other side scores honours, the tricks are scored first. That means that if both sides would have reached 5 or more points, it is the side scoring for tricks that wins the game.

Although scoring honours was part of the traditional game, nowadays many players do not count them. Scoring for honours introduces a larger luck element into the game.

Determination of Trumps

Instead of determining trumps by facing the last card in the deal, an alternative is to fix the trump suit in advance. In this case it is normal to go through the trump suits in a fixed sequence - for the first deal hearts are trumps, for the second deal diamonds, then spades, then clubs, then hearts again, and so on. This method is commonly used in tournaments, such as whist drives.

It is also possible to introduce no trumps into the sequence - so that every fifth hand is played without trumps.

Scoring

The number of points required for game varies. In America a target of 7 was customary. In Britain the game was 5 points up, but it was usual to play a rubber which was the best of three games - that is, the winners were the first side to win two games. There was also 'Long Whist' in which game was 10 points.

When playing a tournament, it is inconvenient to have people at different tables play varying numbers of deals before moving. Therefore it is usual to play a fixed number of deals, rather than a game. Each player's score is the total number of odd tricks (tricks above six) that their side has taken over the deals played.

Other Whist WWW Sites

Doncaster Whist Club is an active and friendly club that runs whist drives in various formats four evenings per week.

Rules of classic Whist are also available at the Card Game Heaven web site.

The collection HOYLE Card Games for Windows or Mac OS X includes a Whist program, along with many other popular games.

You can play classic Whist online at CardzMania.com.

You can download a freeware classic Whist program from Thanos Card Games.

Whist can be played online at TrapApps.

Whist Game - Image Results

Jean-François Bustarret's page Le Whist has rules in French.

AOL games (formerly games.com / Masque publishing) has an online Whist game.

With the Whist program from Special K Software you can play classic Whist against computer opponents.

At DKM Whist from the CardSharp suite you can play Whist online against three computer opponents.

Card games are a great way to spend time with family and friends. They’re even better when you get to team up. The whist card game is played by two teams of two players each with the goal of winning hands based on the value of the cards you’re dealt. Its basic rules are easy to learn, making it a perfect game for beginners, but the game is deceptively simple, and strategy is important. And while a game of classic whist passes quickly, variants of the game are easy to master and can extend play as long as everyone’s up for it.

What Is the Whist Card Game?

Whist is a trick-taking game. (Tricks are sets of cards counted as a unit. Don’t worry: If you’re not familiar with the term, it will become clear.) The whist card game evolved from card games popular in England in the 1500s like Ruff and Honors. In the 1700s, formal rules were codified; a century later, they were revised. Over the centuries, the game has evolved, and it has inspired other trick-taking games such as contract bridge. It’s still considered the national card game of England, where whist drives are popular fundraising and social events.

How To Play

The whist card game is played by four people. It uses a standard 52-card deck, although it is traditional to play with an extra deck so that the dealer’s partner can shuffle as the dealer hands out cards from the live deck, making the game proceed more quickly. With the exception noted below, cards rank from ace high to two low.

To determine teams, each player draws a card from the deck. The players with the two highest cards play together. The player with the lowest card is the dealer. (Ace is the lowest card for determining partnerships and dealer.)

The player to the dealer’s left shuffles the deck, and the player to the dealer’s right cuts it. Starting with the player on the dealer’s left and going clockwise, the dealer hands out cards face down.

At the end, each player has 13 cards. The final card which goes to the dealer is placed face up in the middle of the table. This card is the trump card, and its suit is the trump suit.

The player to the dealer’s left lays down any card he or she chooses face up in the center of the table. Going clockwise, the other players must lie down cards that match the suit of the first card if possible (these cards “follow suit”); otherwise, they may choose a card of another suit.

On the first turn, when the play reaches the dealer, he or she may pick up the trump card and lay down a different card, or leave the card, using it as his or her play for that turn. As with the other players, the dealer must follow suit if possible.

Whist Game Card Game

Once the dealer has played, the winning partnership is awarded the trick. Tricks are won by the team that laid down the highest card that follows suit, unless any card in the trump suit was laid down, in which case the team that laid down the highest card in the trump suit collects the trick.

The winning team takes the cards and places them to the side face down. A player may ask to review the cards before the next hand deals, but once a new hand is on the table, tricks must remain face down.

The player who laid down the winning card now leads the next hand, placing any card he or she wishes, face-up in the center of the table. The game continues until players discard all 13 cards in their hands.

At the end of a round, partnerships count up the number of tricks they’ve won. The first six tricks are considered a “book”; they do not count toward a partnership’s points. Only tricks above six count. For example, if one partnership won five tricks, and the other won eight tricks, the score would be zero points to two.

The play continues until one partnership reaches an agreed-upon number of points. Traditionally, the game continues until one partnership reaches five points, although the players can agree to other point totals. While five points is typical in English play, American Whist goes to seven points, and Long Whist goes to nine.

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Tips, Strategies, & More

As with any game that has a long history, whist players observe both formal rules and a system of etiquette designed to facilitate the play. Players are highly discouraged from commenting on their hands. Signaling to a partner is also forbidden.

The whist card game has several variants. For games with higher point goals, players may wish to add “honours” points: If a partnership has all the face cards from three suits between their two hands, they receive two extra points; if they have the face cards from all four suits, they receive four extra points. These points are calculated at the end of each hand, but they can’t be used to win a game. For example, in a nine-point game, a partnership has six points. They are then dealt all face cards. Their point total will now be eight points because, even though they would otherwise receive four honours points, that would bring their total up to ten and win the game.

The whist card game is highly situational; no strategy will work in every situation. There are, however, some things to keep in mind as you develop your own tactics.

If you are leading (that is, laying down the first card of a hand), choose a card from your longest suit. (A long suit means a suit in which you have many cards. In the whist card game, a suit in which you have four or more cards is long.) If you do not have the highest cards in your long suit (that is, ace, King or Queen), in early turns, lead with your low cards in that suit. This will flush out the higher cards and allow you to take subsequent tricks in it. For example, a player has the King, 10, 8, 4 and 3 of hearts. He or she may want to lead with the 3 to force the other players to lie down the ace, thus assuring that the next time that suit leads, the player will take the trick.

If you have a high sequence of cards in the same suit, such as King-Queen-Jack of hearts, lead with the highest card, unless you also have the ace, in which case lead with the ace.

Alternatively, you may want to lead with a singleton (a card in a suit you don’t have any other cards in). This is because if that suit leads in subsequent turns, you’ll be able to play a trump card.

If you are long in the trump suit, lead with that. This will force the other players to use their trump-suited cards early in the game, making it easier for you and your partner to win tricks using non-trumps.

If you are second to the lead (that is, you are sitting to his or her left), you should generally play a low card. This is because there are two other players, including your partner, who has yet to lie down, and you don’t want to waste a high card. The exception is if you have a high sequence, such as King-Queen-Jack, in which case you may want to play the lowest card in that sequence, regardless of whether you have other, lower cards in the suit.

If you are third to the lead and you have cards that follow suit, play the highest card you can. This will force the final player either to lose the trick or to play a high card of his or her own. If, however, you have a high sequence, such as King-Queen-Jack, play the lowest card in the sequence. If the player behind you plays a higher card, such as an ace, it will show your partner you have the cards in between.

If you are the final player, you will have the benefit of seeing everyone’s cards before you play. Just make sure you don’t unnecessarily win a trick! If your partner has already laid down the highest card in the hand, you get a chance to discard your worst card.

At all times, you want to play the lowest card you can while still winning tricks. Your play will also be vastly improved if you have a good memory. Remembering the high cards that have been played, and keeping in mind what high cards haven’t been played, will allow you to avoid losing tricks.

Conclusion

The whist card game may be an old game, but it’s just as fun to play now as it was when it was developing in the taverns of Elizabethan England. It’s a simple game to learn and a challenging game to master, but with a little effort, anyone can become a whist wiz.

Last update on 2021-02-07 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API