BEZIQUE

BEZIQUE was popular in France and came to England in the late 19th century, where the Prince of Wales helped popularize it before he succeeded to the throne. Americans generally prefer the development from it called Pinocle.

NUMBER OF PLAYERS

Bezique is for two players, but can be adapted for three or four as described later.

CARDS

Bezique is played with two packs of cards from which the 6s, 5s, 4s,3s and 2s have been removed, but can be played with three, four, six, or eight packs as described later. The cards rank in the order: Ace, 10, King, Queen, Jack, 9, 8 7.

Eight cards are dealt to each player-three, two and three at a time. The remaining 48 (the stock) are placed face downwards on the table, and the top card exposed alongside to denote the trump suit; if it is a 7 dealer scores 10 points.

THE PLAY

The non-dealer leads to the first trick. As in most poker games the winner of a trick leads to the next, but it is a feature of Bezique that a player is under no obligation to follow suit to the card led. The object of the game is to score points for declaring certain cards and combinations of cards.

The declarations, and the points that may be scored for them, are as follows:
Double Bezique Two ♠ Q and two ♦ J 9 or ♣ Q and ♥ J if spades or diamonds are trumps) 500 sequence in trumps.

Bezique ♠ Q ( ♣ Q if spades or diamonds are trumps ) and ♦ J (or ♥ J if spades or diamonds are trumps) 40 Royal marriage K and Q of trump suit 40 Common marriage K and Q of same plain suit 20 .

A player scores 10 points if he holds a 7 of trump suit and exchanges it for the turn-up card; and 10 points are scored for playing a 7 of the trump suit. When a player has won a trick he may declare by placing the appropriate poker cards face upwards on the table.

He may make as many declarations as he chooses, always provided that the declarations do not involve the same cards. If the exposed cards show more than one declaration the player must announce which declaration he intends to score, and leave the other to be scored when he wins another trick.

A card that has once scored cannot again be used to form part of a similar declaration. As an example, a player may expose ♠ K, ♠ Q, ♦ J score 40 for bezique and announce ‘Twenty to come’ meaning that the next time he wins a trick he will score 20 points for the common marriage of the ♠ K and ♠ Q.

He may not expose a second ♦ J and score Bezique with ♠ Q. The cards that have been declared, and so exposed on the table, remain a part of the player’s hand and he may play them to later poker tricks.

Tricks should be gathered and kept by the player who wins them, because at the end of a deal a player scores ten points for every Ace and every 10 that he has won. They are known as brisques.

When both online poker players have played to a trick they replenish their hands from the stock: winner takes the top card, loser the next.