Card Games in Sherlock Holmes Canon
& Premium Tobacco Pairings Vol. 1 Whist
For this and the next two Mondays, I'll be taking a brief look at specifically-named cardgames that appear in Sherlock Holmes canon. Each installment will include a bit of Sherlockian context, an overview of individual games, and finally, a recommendation as to premium tobacco (cigars & pipes) pairings. We begin with Whist, next is Ecarte, and lastly, Poker. There is your orientation; here is your content...
WHIST IN SHERLOCKIAN CANON
While together in the vault and waiting in ambush for the wannabe bank robbers, Holmes says that he might have his 'rubber' after all. By this, he is alluding to the fact that there are four of them present there. You see, Whist is a game played by two pairs of players. A 'rubber' is a usually best-of-three series of games. Holmes even had a deck on his person, alas, they never did play. They instead went lights out in order to hide their presence from the unwitting crooks.
But then who murderized the poor guy? It is learned that Adair played Whist quite regularly and at several different clubs. We first read that he never gambled for any large stakes... until the plot thickens as we find out that he, in fact, won as much as £420 in his cardplayer partnership with Colonel Sebastian Moran. A man Holmes refers to as "the second most dangerous man in London." A man under the employment of Moriarty himself.
ON THE GAME OF WHIST
Whist is a later off-shoot development of the 16th-century game Trump or Ruff. It actually directly replaced the popular variant known as Ruff and Honours. Whist is English in origin and a trick-taking card game wildly popular in the 18th and 19th centuries. The rules are quite simple but do offer a modicum of strategic play. In the 1890s, a variant known as Bridge Whist appeared that would eventually beget Contract Bridge. Today, Whist is still played at events called Whist Drives.
From Collins Dictionary: "whist drive in British English NOUN a social gathering where whist is played; the winners of each hand move to different tables to play the losers of the previous hand"
A standard 52-card pack is used. The main skill is in using one's ability to recall, and react accordingly, to cards that have already been played; while reasoning out which have yet-been. Partners sit opposite one another and signaling back and forth is frowned upon entirely. Kinda makes me think of the British 'stiff upper lip.' The word Whist is, of course, of English origin and first documented in 1529. The mention there was regarding its aforementioned Ruff and Honours roots.
PREMIUM TOBACCO PAIRINGS
Sure, one of cigar smoking's natural habitats is at a card table. But there also exists a specific tobacco pipe for the same occasion--Poker Pipes are straight-stemmed and flat-bottomed things that allow the pipe to stand on its own on a flat surface (e.g. card table) while you regrettably toss the keys to your hansom cab into the pot, holding your soon-to-be losing hand in the other. Sucker.
AWARE – Always Wager Responsibly – National Gambling Helpline: 1-800-522-4700.
There-so, each main form of premium leaf imbibing is equally copacetic. Now for the particulars at-hand: whilst Whist gave eventual birth to Bridge, the world's most complicated card game bar-none, it itself is far from complex. In fact, it feels as tho many moves are made for you on account of circumstance and I'd put it on-par w/ say Dominoes in difficulty. That said, the clearest mind ain't needed here, so why not fog it up a wee bit? But let's not swoon... say medium-full w/ an air of excitability to stave off boredom & incite conversation.
Think along the lines of these linked below:
COMPANION READING
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