How to Play

Whist is the classic English 4-player partnership trick-taking game and direct ancestor of Bridge. Partners sit opposite; each player gets 13 cards from a standard deck; the dealer's last card is turned up for trump. Follow suit strictly; highest trump (or led-suit) wins each trick. 1 point per trick above the book of 6; Short Whist to 5, Long Whist to 9; best of three games wins the rubber.

Whist is the classic English partnership trick-taking game that defined parlour card play for two centuries and is the direct parent of Bridge. Four players in two fixed partnerships (partners sit opposite each other) receive 13 cards each from a standard 52-card deck. The last card dealt is turned face-up to name the trump suit. The player to the dealer's left leads, and thirteen tricks are played with strict follow-suit rules: the highest card of the led suit wins, unless a trump is played, in which case the highest trump wins. Only tricks beyond the first six (the 'book') score, so a partnership needs at least 7 tricks to score and earns 1 point per odd trick (trick above the book). Short Whist is first to 5 points; Long Whist is first to 9. In the traditional English rules, a pair also scores honour bonuses for holding any three or four of the top trumps (A, K, Q, J). Whist is a game of silent partnership inference: no bidding, no table talk, only the information each card play reveals. It remains the canonical introduction to classical trick-taking and is still played in English social clubs, Welsh pubs, and community Whist drives.

Players

Exactly 4 players in two fixed partnerships. Partners sit opposite each other at the table so that play proceeds partner-opponent-partner-opponent around the table. Partnerships are chosen by drawing cards at the start: the two highest form one team, the two lowest the other; lowest card becomes first dealer. Deal rotates clockwise after each hand. Players cannot change partners within a game; a rubber typically fixes teams for the whole session.

Card Deck

A standard 52-card French-suited deck, no jokers. Ranks within each suit, high to low: A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2. Ace is always high. There are no card-point values in Whist; only tricks count. The four suits [♠][♥][♦][♣] are equal in rank; during each hand one suit becomes trump (the turn-up card's suit), and every card of that suit outranks any card of the three other (plain) suits.

Objective

Over a series of hands (rubber), your partnership aims to take as many tricks as possible and score points for tricks won beyond the initial book of 6. The first partnership to the target score (5 points in Short Whist, 9 in Long Whist) wins the game. Best of three games wins the rubber.

Setup and Deal

1. Shuffle a standard 52-card deck. The player to the dealer's right cuts.
2. Deal 13 cards to each player, one at a time, clockwise, starting with the player to the dealer's left.
3. The dealer's 52nd (last) card is dealt face-up in front of the dealer; its suit is the trump suit for this hand. The dealer may leave the trump card face-up until it is their turn to play it in the first trick, at which point they pick it up into their hand.
4. Partners do not show each other their cards; no table talk is permitted.
5. The player to the dealer's left leads the first trick.

Gameplay

1. Thirteen tricks are played. A trick consists of four cards, one from each player, played clockwise.
2. The lead player plays any card face-up to the centre of the table.
3. Follow suit if you can. If you hold any card of the led suit, you must play one. Only if you are void (hold no cards of the led suit) may you play a card of another suit, including a trump.
4. Trick resolution: if any trumps were played, the highest trump wins. If no trumps were played, the highest card of the led suit wins.
5. The winner of the trick leads to the next trick. Continue until all 13 tricks have been played.
6. Each partnership keeps its won tricks stacked together in front of one partner; the first 6 tricks form the book and score no points; only tricks 7-13 are odd tricks that score.
7. No revokes: playing a wrong-suit card when you could have followed suit is a revoke and incurs a penalty (see Scoring).

Scoring

• Odd tricks: Each trick won beyond the first 6 scores 1 point for the winning partnership. A partnership winning 7 tricks scores 1 (7 minus 6 book); 9 tricks scores 3; slam (all 13) scores 7 plus a slam bonus by agreement.
• Honours (traditional English Whist): A partnership holding the four top trumps (A, K, Q, J) across both their hands scores 4 points for honours; holding any three scores 2 points. Honours are scored at the end of the hand. Some American and modern Short Whist forms omit honours entirely (see variations).A♠K♠Q♠J♠
• Revoke penalty: A player who fails to follow suit when able commits a revoke. The penalty is 3 tricks (or 3 points) transferred to the opposing partnership after the hand ends, with the revoke discovered before the hand is gathered up.
• Short Whist game: first partnership to 5 points wins the game.
• Long Whist game: first partnership to 9 points wins the game.
• Rubber: best of three games. The first partnership to win two games takes the rubber; winning 2-0 earns an extra rubber bonus of 2 points.

Winning

A game is won by the first partnership to reach the target score (5 for Short, 9 for Long). A rubber is won by the first partnership to win two games. Final rubber totals aggregate the game points, honours, and rubber bonus, giving an overall winning margin in points. In tournament or club play, multiple rubbers are played and the highest margin across the session wins the evening.

Common Variations

• Short Whist vs Long Whist: Game to 5 points (short) or 9 points (long). Short became the standard form from the mid-19th century onward.
• American Whist (no honours): The British honour bonus is dropped; only odd tricks score. Faster, more skill-based.
• Dummy Whist: 3 active players; one hand is exposed as 'dummy' controlled by one player. Used when only 3 are present.
• Solo Whist: A 4-player individual variant with bidding (Prop and Cop, Solo, Misère, Abundance, Spread Misère, Slam). Game itself is id 26; a separate entry.
• Bid Whist: American partnership variant with spade bidding, no-trump options, and jokers. Popular in African-American social clubs; a separate entry (id 268).
• Knock-Out Whist: Elimination variant where the losing player drops a card each round; a separate entry (id 53).
• German Whist (two-handed): 2-player variant with an open stock; a separate entry (id 75).
• No-trump Whist: The turn-up is ignored and no suit is trump; every trick goes to the highest card of the led suit.
• Whist drives: Club-level rotating-partnership tournaments where players move between tables between hands.

Tips and Strategy

• Count your trumps the moment you pick up. 4 trumps is normal; 5+ is a trump-control hand and you should lead trumps to strip the opponents; 0-2 trumps means defend side suits.
• Lead your longest plain suit. Establishing length in a side suit gives you extra tricks once the trumps have been cleared. Opening leads of 4th-highest from your longest suit is the classical Whist signal.
• Lead trumps when your partner has shown length. If your partner's play suggests 4+ trumps, lead a trump to flush opponents' trumps and let your partner's long trumps take late tricks.
• Return partner's lead. If your partner leads a suit and you win the trick, returning that suit respects their signal and builds their length.
• Count honours and watch the turn-up. If the turn-up is a top honour (Ace or King of trumps), the dealer's side has a large honour bonus likely; adjust play accordingly.
• Save Aces for later tricks. The Ace of a plain suit is almost always safer in trick 3 or 4 (after trumps have been drawn) than on the opening lead.
• Watch discards for voids. When an opponent cannot follow suit, they are void in that suit. Every void is information about their distribution; classical Whist experts reconstruct the entire 13-card hand by trick 6.
• Do not revoke. The 3-trick penalty can swing an entire hand; always check your hand before following suit.
• Defensive partnership play. If your partnership needs 2 tricks to prevent a game, sacrifice top cards to trump opponents' winners rather than hoarding honours.

Glossary

• Trick: Four cards, one from each player, played in rotation; the highest-ranking legal card wins.
• Trump: The suit determined by the dealer's turned-up final card; any trump outranks any plain-suit card.
• Book: The first 6 tricks taken by a partnership; they score 0.
• Odd trick: Any trick above the book (tricks 7-13); each scores 1 point.
• Honours: The top four trumps (A, K, Q, J). A partnership holding three or four of them earns a bonus in traditional English Whist.A♠K♠Q♠J♠
• Revoke: Failing to follow suit when able to. Penalty: 3 tricks to the opponents.
• Rubber: Best-of-three games; the session unit of Whist.
• Short Whist: Game to 5 points. The standard form since the mid-19th century.
• Long Whist: Game to 9 points. The older traditional form.
• Void: Holding no cards of a given suit.
• Turn-up: The dealer's last card dealt face-up to name trumps.
• Fourth-highest lead: The classical opening convention of leading the fourth-highest card of your longest suit; signals length to partner.