Points
0
Best
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The 17th-century two-player card game. Exchange, then compare your best point, sequence and set before a single card is played.
A thirty-two card pack, twelve cards each and eight left face down. You discard first, from one to five cards, and draw the same number from the top of the talon; the rival then takes as many as they like from what is left.
Before a single trick, the two hands are compared in three ways. Point is the longest suit, and the longer hand scores one for every card in it. Sequence is the longest run of three or more cards in one suit. Set is three or four cards of the same rank, tens and above. In each category only the better hand scores, and the winner scores for every holding of that kind, so the second-best sequence is worth nothing at all.
Then come twelve tricks with no trump suit; you must follow the suit led if you can. Leading to a trick scores one, taking a trick the rival led scores one, the last trick scores one more, and taking most of the tricks is worth ten — or forty for taking all twelve.
Thirty points from declarations alone before the rival has scored anything is a repique, worth sixty. Reaching thirty first, counting declarations and tricks together, is a pique, worth thirty. The partie is four deals and your score is your own running total.
The discard is where most of the game is decided, and the instinct to keep high cards is usually wrong. Point, sequence and set are all won by concentration, not by strength: four cards of one suit beat a scattered hand of aces every time. Pick the suit you are already longest in and throw everything that does not serve it, even kings, because a king in a two-card suit will rarely take a trick and never helps a declaration.
Remember that in every category the loser scores nothing at all. A quart to the king is a fine holding, but if the rival has a quint it is worth exactly zero, and the three points you spent building it are gone. That asymmetry means it is usually better to commit hard to the category you are strongest in than to keep a little of everything. Three cards towards a quint beat a safe tierce you will probably lose anyway.
When you discard first you see the top of the talon before the rival does, and that is a real edge: take the full five whenever your hand is not already concentrated. When the rival discards first, they will usually take most of the talon, so plan on a thinner draw and keep an extra stopper — an ace or a guarded king in a side suit — because you will be defending more tricks than you win.
In the play, leading is worth a point by itself, so a hand full of small cards in one long suit is better than it looks: once the rival is out of that suit, every lead is a free point and often a trick as well. Count how many cards of your long suit are still out, and hold the ace until the suit is clear rather than cashing it into the first round.