Preference (Preferans)

Full rules

1. Overview
2. The cards
3. Setup
4. Bidding
5. The widow and the contract
6. Whisting
7. Playing the tricks
8. The all-pass hand
9. Scoring
10. Ending the game and settling
11. Tips for beginners
12. Variants

Overview

Preferans is the Russian form of Préférence and one of the great card games of Eastern Europe. It is a trick-taking game for three players. In each hand the players bid for the right to play alone: the highest bidder, the declarer, takes two extra cards and must win at least 6 of the 10 tricks – or more, depending on the bid. The other two decide whether to play against the declarer (whist) or not. Scores are kept on a special sheet with three areas: the pool (good), the mountain (bad) and the whists (points owed between players). The game ends when every player's pool is full; then everything is converted into whists and settled.

These rules describe the most widespread Russian version, Sochi Preferans.

• Players: 3. With 4, the dealer sits out each hand.
• You need: one standard 52-card deck, and paper and pen for the score sheet.

The cards

Take out all 2s, 3s, 4s, 5s and 6s and the jokers. You play with 32 cards: A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7 in each suit, ranking from A (high) to 7 (low).

For bidding, the suits have a fixed order, from low to high:

♠ – ♣ – ♦ – ♥ – no trumps

A trump suit is a suit that beats all others: any trump beats any card of another suit. In a no-trumps game there is no trump suit.

Setup

1. Dealer: pick the first dealer at random. After each hand the deal passes to the left.
2. Deal: the dealer shuffles, the player on the right cuts, and the dealer deals clockwise, 2 cards at a time, starting with the player on the left: 10 cards to each player. Once during the deal (not with the first or last pair) the dealer puts 2 cards face down in the middle. These two cards are the widow (in Russian prikup).
3. The player to the dealer's left is the first hand; the others follow clockwise.

Bidding

A bid names a number of tricks (6 to 10) and a trump suit or no trumps, e.g. "six spades" or "seven no trumps". Each bid must be higher than the last: first by number, then by suit order.

6♠ – 6♣ – 6♦ – 6♥ – 6NT – 7♠ – … – 8NT – misère – 9♠ – … – 10NT

• The first hand starts; then clockwise. On your turn, bid higher or pass. Once you pass, you are out of the bidding.
• Holding: once only two players are still bidding, the one earlier in the bidding order – the senior hand (first hand against anyone, second hand against third hand) – may say "here" to match the last bid instead of raising it. The later player must then raise or pass.
• Misère is a promise to win no tricks at all. You may bid misère only as your first bid; after it, others can only beat it with 9 or more.
• The bidding ends when two players have passed. The last bidder is the declarer. If the first two players pass, the third may still open with any bid.

If all three pass at once, an all-pass hand is played (see below).

The widow and the contract

1. The declarer turns the two widow cards face up for everyone to see, then takes them into hand.
2. The declarer discards any two cards face down.
3. The declarer names the contract: any game at least as high as the last bid (a higher one is allowed; a misère bid must be played as misère).

Whisting

The two other players are the defenders. The player on the declarer's left speaks first, then the other defender: each says "whist" (I'll play against you) or "pass".

A whister promises that the defenders will win a minimum number of tricks:

• Nobody whists: the declarer wins the contract without playing.
• One whists, one passes: the whister alone is responsible and gets the tricks of both defenders. The whister chooses to play closed (everyone holds their cards) or open (both defenders lay their cards face up and the whister plays both hands).
• Both whist: they share the obligation – at a 6 each is responsible for 2 tricks, at a 7 for 1.
• Half-whist: only at 6 or 7. If the first defender passes, the second may say "half-whist". The first defender may then still whist (and the half-whist counts as a pass). If not, nothing is played: the declarer scores the contract, and the half-whister scores whists for half the required tricks (2 at a 6, 1 at a 7).

Playing the tricks

A trick is one round in which each player plays one card, face up; the best card wins all three. The first hand leads (plays the first card) to the first trick, whoever is declarer; the winner of each trick leads to the next.

1. Follow suit: you must play a card of the suit led if you can.
2. Can't follow: you must play a trump if you have one.
3. Only with neither may you play any card.

Who wins: the highest trump, or if no trump was played, the highest card of the suit led.

Misère is played without trumps. The declarer takes the widow as usual; there is no whisting. The two defenders put their cards face up on the table and play together to force a trick on the declarer.

The all-pass hand

If nobody bids, everyone plays for themselves and tries to win as few tricks as possible. There are no trumps, and the widow stays on the table. For the first two tricks, a widow card is turned face up to set the suit; the first hand plays first to each of them. The players must follow that suit, and the highest card played by a player wins. From the third trick on, the winner of the previous trick leads – so the winner of the second trick leads to the third – and play continues as usual.

Scoring

The score sheet has three areas for each player:

• Pool: points for contracts made. Everyone plays towards a target agreed in advance, usually 20.
• Mountain: penalty points. They are bad.
• Whists: points one player writes against another – in effect, money owed. 1 pool or mountain point = 10 whists.

Each contract has a value:

• Contract made: the declarer writes the value in the pool.
• Contract failed: the declarer writes value × missing tricks on the mountain. Each defender writes the same amount in whists against the declarer.
• Whists: each whister writes value × tricks won in whists against the declarer (a lone whister also counts the passer's tricks).
• Whister short: a whister who fails the obligation writes value × missing tricks on the mountain.
• Misère: made – 10 in the pool; failed – 10 on the mountain for each trick taken (the defenders score no whists).
• All-pass: each player writes 1 on the mountain per trick taken; a player who takes none writes 1 in the pool.

Example: Anna bids and plays 7♥ (value 4). Ben whists, Carla passes; Ben needs 2 tricks. Anna takes only 6 tricks, the defenders 4. Anna writes 4 × 1 = 4 on the mountain. Ben writes 4 × 4 = 16 for the tricks + 4 for Anna's missing trick = 20 whists against Anna; Carla writes 4 whists against Anna.

Ending the game and settling

Full pool: once your pool reaches the target, further pool points go into the pool of a player who is still short, and you write 10 whists per point against that player. The game ends when every pool is full.

Settlement:

1. Subtract the smallest mountain from every mountain.
2. Multiply each remaining mountain by 10 and divide by 3. Each player pays that many whists to each opponent – the opponents write it against them.
3. For each pair of players, set their whists against each other off: the difference is what one owes the other. Each player's balance adds up to zero across the table.

Example: Mountains: Anna 15, Ben 6, Carla 0. After subtracting 0: 15 × 10 ÷ 3 = 50, and 6 × 10 ÷ 3 = 20. Ben and Carla each write 50 whists against Anna; Anna and Carla each write 20 against Ben. These are added to the whists from the play before settling up.

Tips for beginners

• Count your sure tricks before bidding. Remember the widow can help – or not.
• Whist only when you can deliver. Against a 6 a lone whister needs 4 tricks – falling short puts points on your mountain.
• Open or closed? Playing open lets a lone whister use both defenders' hands – but the declarer sees them too.
• In an all-pass hand, get rid of high cards early while other players still hold the suit.
• Watch the mountain. A failed contract costs the mountain points and whists to both opponents.

Variants

• Leningrad (Piter): whists and mountain are written double; after an all-pass the lowest bid rises to 7.
• Rostov (Moscow): no mountain; penalties are paid directly in whists, and a short whister pays only half.
• All-pass progression: many tables raise the price of consecutive all-pass hands (e.g. 1, 2, 3).
• Austrian Préférence: the original game from Vienna, played for chips: the declarer always needs 6 tricks, and bids name suits (♣ 1, ♠ 2, ♦ 3, ♥ 4) instead of trick numbers.
• Pool size: 10 for a short game, 30 for a long one.