 Bid Whist:
A New and Improved
Classic Card Game
by Joe Andrews
Illustration By:
Tatjana Krizmanic
For decades, bid whist has been an extremely popular card game among
African-Americans, yet it has remained virtually unknown to most other card players. Now,
a new website and some recent books may help this fascinating game gain the broader
following it deserves.
Like bridge, bid whist involves a series of hands in which two pairs
of partners bid and play their cards; partnerships earn points when they take enough
tricks to fulfill their bids and lose points when they fail. Bid whist, however, has at
least three appealing features that bridge lacks: a single round of bidding, which
eliminates the need to learn complicated bidding rules or systems; a "kitty,"
which adds drama and tends to give the high bidder some spectacularly strong hands; and
the option of making a "downtown" bid that reverses the ranking of the cards.
Origins
Whist is one of the original classic card games; it predates such old favorites as bridge,
spades, and hearts. This wonderful pastime has its roots in two card games from the early
17th century-the English game of ruff and honors and the French game of triomphe-and is
related to the obsolete games of hombre, vint, and ruff. A major claim to fame of Edmond
Hoyle, whose name is synonymous with the rules of all card games ("according to
Hoyle"), is his pamphlet titled "A Short Treatise on Whist" published in
the early 1740s.
James Clay, the leading authority on card games in the mid 1800s, penned his
"Treatise on Whist" in 1864. This extremely rare booklet, which is generally
considered the first comprehensive work on the game, explored
whist bidding systems, reviewed the play of the hand, and even described in detail the
rare tactic known as a "Vienna coup." (The term is still used in bridge;
technically, it means cashing a winner to unblock a suit and
thereby establish a squeeze threat.) Whist continued to evolve, and by 1880, it was the
second most popular partnership card game in the United States, surpassed only by euchre.
The game variation of today, if it has merit, may well become the standard of tomorrow.
For example, in the olden whist days of our great-grandfathers, some player somewhere
disliked having to turn his last card as dealer in order to determine trump-perhaps after
it turned out to be his only card in the suit, even as he held seven top cards of another
suit! Later, someone else with a balanced hand (such as a 4-3-3-3 suit distribution)
conceived of the idea of passing the buck and "bridging" the right to name trump
to his partner. A few years later, yet another player stuck without a partner in a
three-player game proposed the exposed dummy hand. Thus bridge was born.
Next came straight bid whist, featuring a competitive one-round auction in which suits
were not mentioned. Auction bridge (circa 1905) followed thereafter; it featured multiple
rounds of bidding at progressive levels, with ranked suits and no-trump options. For
nearly two decades, the new concept was tweaked and adjusted. Finally, in 1925, Harold S.
Vanderbilt invented contract bridge, in which the key new rule stipulated that you
could not score game unless you had bid it. He also added large premiums for bidding and
making slams (contracts to take all, or all but one of the tricks). Soon another pioneer,
Ely Culbertson, added the last major element to modern bridge- vulnerability, which helped
to offset the advantage of the side that had already won the first game of a match. For a
time the popularity of bridge, along with the creation of the game of spades (see
Decem-ber 1999 GAMES), nearly eradicated whist from the card-playing populace.
In the late 1930s, the original straight whist was replaced by a version with a four-card
kitty and one round of bidding. The modern bid whist game with a five- or six-card kitty
and the use of one or two jokers became a fad in the late 1940s, especially on college
campuses in the Midwest and South. The two-joker variation with a six-card kitty soon
became the standard way to play. The African-American community promoted bid whist in a
big way in the 1950s and '60s. The game was often found at rent parties, a unique concept
in entertainment that often helped to defray living expenses for groups of families in
many cities. Despite the continuing growth of bridge throughout the 1950s, the post-World
War II popularity of spades, and the canasta craze (1949-55), bid whist's many fans and
dedicated players assured the game's survival into the new millennium.
The growth of the Internet, including a website devoted to bid whist www.sharksinc.com
has helped to promote the game. Clubs have sprung up in many cities, and a national
championship is held each year in Florida. (Click
Here For A List Of USA Bid Whist Clubs).
In addition, two pamphlets and one hardcover book, geared primarily toward the novice
or intermediate player, have been published in recent years. All three feature a selection
of basic instructional hands.
"How To Play Bid Whist" (Agee Publishing Co., 1981) by R.
Wesley Agee, Esq., features an informative chapter about rules, and a very good glossary.
"How to Play Bid Whist" (Zwita Productions, 1994 A7notrump@aol.com) by Angel C.
Beck, explains how the house rules of whist vary from place to place.
The Official Bid Whist Road Map
(Thomas Publishing Co., 1997, hardcover) by Butch Thomas, includes several delightful
stories, plenty of humor, and even a challenging crossword puzzle.
My own contribution, Win at Whist (Bonus
Books, Inc., 2000, softcover) details all aspects of the game.
Bid Whist have been brought to a whole new generation. Straight and
four-card kitty whist are also on the rebound. And the game's future looks bright, as more
people from all walks of life discover a truly great traditional card game.
Basic Rules
The version described here is the most popular form of the game, played with a standard
52-card deck and two jokers designated "Big" and "Little." (In most
decks, one joker appears larger than the other; otherwise, one
will need to be marked.)
The game is played by four players, who are divided into two partnerships. Partnerships
may be prearranged or determined by drawing cards, with the two highest and two lowest
cards matched together to form separate teams. Partners sit across the table from one
another.
The Deal
The deck is shuffled and dealt out completely. Each player receives 12 cards, and the
remaining six cards are dealt facedown to form a kitty.
Bidding
There is one round of bidding. Beginning with the player on the dealer's left and
proceeding clockwise, each player in turn may either pass or make a bid. To bid, a player
states a number from 3 to 7, followed by one of
three descriptions: "uptown," "downtown," or "no-trump." A
bid's number represents the minimum number of tricks in excess of 6 that the player is
promising that his side will take during the play of the hand. Thus, a player who bids 3
hopes that he and his partner together will take at least 9 tricks. (However, the discards
made after the declarer picks up the kitty will count as one of these tricks, as explained
below; therefore, the declarer who bids 3 really only needs to take 8 out of 12 tricks.)
Bids of "uptown" (or "high") and "downtown" (or
"low") indicate that the player will name a trump suit if he or she wins the
bid. In suit contracts, jokers are considered to be part of the trump suit. If the bid is
uptown, cards in the trump suit will rank from high to low as follows: Big Joker, Little
Joker, A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2; with a downtown bid, cards will rank: Big
Joker, Little Joker, A, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K. Cards in other suits rank the
same way as in the trump suit, except that they contain no jokers. A no-trump bid means
there will be no trump suit in the hand, and that jokers are worthless (they cannot win a
trick).
A bid must be higher than any previous bid; for this purpose, a no-trump bid outranks a
bid of uptown or downtown, but uptown and downtown bids are of equal rank. For example, if
a previous player has bid "4 downtown," a player may bid "4 no-trump"
or make any kind of 5, 6, or 7 bid; however, he may not bid "4 uptown" or make
any 3 bid. The highest bidder, known as the declarer, wins the kitty. Before looking at
the kitty, the declarer must either: (i) name the trump suit, if the bid was uptown or
downtown; or (ii) state whether the hand will be played uptown or downtown, if the bid was
no-trump. The declarer then picks up the kitty and discards any six cards to bring his
hand back to 12 cards. If the bid is no-trump, any jokers in declarer's hand must be
discarded. Thus, many hands end up with wildly unbalanced distribution. It's common for a
declarer to end up with a very long trump suit, a sizable second suit, and very few other
cards. The six discarded cards are placed facedown in front of the player, and make up the
first "book," or trick taken, for the player.
The opening lead is then made by the declarer. The method of play is identical to that of
bridge, spades, and other similar trick-taking games. Players must follow suit if they are
able (keeping in mind that jokers count as trumps in suit contracts), but may otherwise
play any card. After all four players have played a card, the trick is complete and is
picked up by the player who won it. The highest trump played on a trick, if any, wins the
trick; if no trumps are played, the trick is won by the highest card of the suit
originally led. The winner of each trick leads the first card of the next trick.
Scoring
Successful bids are rewarded with their point value, and no-trump contracts score double.
(For example, a bid of 5 no-trump is worth 10 points, if made). Some players reward extra
tricks with points as well, so that a player who bids 3 but makes 4 (takes 10 tricks)
earns 4 points instead of 3. If a team fails to make its bid, it is penalized by the
amount of the bid (double for no-trump bids). Bidding 7 and taking all of the tricks,
incidentally, is called a "Boston."
The usual rule is that the first team to score seven points is the winner. Also, in many
circles, a team loses if its score falls to -7. My preference is to avoid negative points,
and instead to award the defending side with
positive points when they defeat a contract (e.g., if declarer fails to make a 3 bid, the
defending side would get 3 points.) In this system, players may wish to set a higher point
total for winning, such as 11 or 21 points.
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Reprinted with permission.