Whist

Full rules

1. Overview
2. The cards
3. Setup
4. Playing a deal
5. Scoring
6. Winning a game and the rubber
7. Tips for beginners
8. Variants

Overview

Whist is the classic English trick-taking game for four players in two fixed partnerships. A trick is one card from each player; the best card wins all four. There is no bidding: the trump suit is decided by turning up the last card of the deal, and then both sides simply try to win as many of the 13 tricks as they can. Every trick your side wins beyond six scores a point, and holding the top trumps can score extra. These rules describe Short Whist: a game is 5 points, and a rubber is the best of three games.

• Players: 4, in two partnerships. Partners sit opposite each other.
• You need: one standard 52-card deck without jokers (traditionally two decks, used in turn), paper and pencil.

The cards

In every suit the cards rank from high to low:

A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

The cards have no point values – only tricks count. The honours are the four highest cards of the trump suit: A, K, Q and J of trumps.

Setup

1. Partners: agree on partners, or spread the deck face down and let everyone draw a card: the two highest play against the two lowest, and the highest card deals first. Partners sit opposite each other.
2. Shuffle and cut: the player on the dealer's left shuffles, the player on the dealer's right cuts (lifts off part of the deck and puts it underneath).
3. Deal: the dealer deals all 52 cards one at a time, face down and clockwise, starting with the player on the left. Everyone gets 13 cards – their hand.
4. Trumps: the last card of the deal, which belongs to the dealer, is turned face up. Its suit is trumps for this deal. The card stays face up on the table until the dealer plays to the first trick, then the dealer takes it into their hand.
5. After each deal, the turn to deal passes to the left.

Two decks (optional): while one deck is being dealt, the dealer's partner shuffles the other and puts it to their right. The next dealer then finds the spare deck on their left.

Playing a deal

1. The player to the dealer's left leads (plays the first card to) the first trick. Any card may be led.
2. The others play one card each, clockwise. You must follow suit: play a card of the suit that was led if you have one. If you have none, you may play any card – either a trump, to try to win the trick (this is called ruffing or trumping), or any other card you want to get rid of (a discard).
3. Who wins the trick: the highest trump in it; if no trump was played, the highest card of the suit led.
4. The winner gathers the trick face down in front of their side and leads to the next trick. Partners keep their tricks together.

Play all 13 tricks.

Example: Hearts are trumps. North leads the K♣. East follows with the 4♣. South has no clubs and ruffs with the 2♥. West has no clubs either and plays the 5♥. West's 5♥ is the highest trump and wins the trick for East–West.

Revoke: failing to follow suit when you could is a revoke. Under the traditional laws, once a revoke has been discovered, the opponents may at the end of the deal either take three tricks from the offending side, or deduct 3 points from their score, or add 3 points to their own.

Scoring

Tricks: after the deal, the side that won more tricks scores 1 point for each trick over six. These are called odd tricks. 7 tricks = 1 point, 8 tricks = 2 points, and so on up to 7 points for all 13 tricks.

Honours: a side whose two partners together were dealt

• all four honours (A K Q J of trumps) scores 4 points,
• three of the four honours scores 2 points.

Honours are counted from the cards dealt, no matter who wins them in the play – so they can score even for the side that lost the deal. Claim them at the end of the deal.

Two restrictions:

• A side that already has 4 points at the start of a deal cannot score honours in that deal – it can only reach 5 by winning tricks.
• Tricks are scored before honours. If one side reaches 5 with tricks, it wins the game even if the other side's honours would also have got it there.

Example: Clubs are trumps. North–South win 8 tricks (2 odd tricks). East holds A♣ and Q♣, West holds K♣ – East–West had three honours. North–South score 2 for tricks, East–West score 2 for honours. The score is now 2–2.

Winning a game and the rubber

A game is won by the first side to reach 5 points. Points beyond 5 are lost. Then both scores go back to 0 and the next game begins.

A rubber is the best of three games. If one side wins the first two games, the third is not played. Games are worth:

The winners of the rubber add 2 rubber points to the value of their games. If the rubber went to three games, the value of the game the losers won is subtracted.

Example: North–South win game 1 by 5–2 (a double, 2), East–West win game 2 by 5–3 (a single, 1), North–South win game 3 by 5–0 (a treble, 3). North–South win the rubber by 2 + 3 + 2 − 1 = 6 points.

Tips for beginners

• Lead from your longest suit – when its high cards have gone, its small cards will win tricks.
• Keep track of which trumps have been played. Knowing when all the trumps are gone is the key to Whist.
• Your partner's lead tells you about their hand: help them by returning their suit.
• With a weak hand, don't waste high cards on tricks your partner is already winning.

Variants

• No honours: many modern players don't count honours at all – it removes a big element of luck.
• Long Whist: a game is 10 points instead of 5.
• American Whist: a game is 7 points, traditionally without honours.
• Fixed trumps: instead of turning the last card, the trump suit follows a fixed order – hearts, diamonds, spades, clubs, then again – sometimes with every fifth deal played without trumps. This is usual at whist drives (whist tournaments).
• Tournament scoring: play a fixed number of deals and just add up each side's odd tricks.