It is customary to set a limit to the ‘hole’, say 500. Should a player reach 500 in the hole, the opponent who is leading at the end of the deal is the poker winner. This is to prevent a player in the hole bidding recklessly and preventing his occonents from making a contract, and in effect spoiling the game.

To outline the mechanics of the game, suppose hands are held as in the illustration. Player A has bid seven diamonds, and has been lucky enough to find ♣ A in the widow.

He decides to lead trumps immediately, hoping to lose one only, to ♥ J (left bower ), which will ensure his contract. Play proceeds as follows:

From trick 2, when ♦ J (right bower) failed to drop ♥ J, Player A knew that his best chances were that Player C held the ♥ A, which would give him a chance of making ♥ K, or that Place C could be forced to lead his remaining trumps (in which case Player A would lose only one trump ) or that the defenders would make a mistake with their discards. As it happened, the defenders played well, and Player A was forced to lose both hearts and two trumps.

Player A therefore failed to make his contract of seven diamonds, and scored 180 points in the hole. Players B and C each made two poker tricks, so each scored 20 points.

Strategy in playing the cards is similar to most trick-taking games. The main skill in Five hundred lies in the bidding. As the trump suit consists of ten cards, one player must hold at least four, so four trumps is the minimum requirement for a bid, and even then they must be good ones and supported by side Aces.

Unless six or more trumps are held in the deal, the chances are slightly in favour of at lest one more being in the widow, but this should not be relied upon.

As a rough guide, a player might count any of the top four trumps (Joker, right and left bower, ace) as one point each, all trumps held in excess of three as one point each, all master cards in side suits as one point each, and a guarded King in a side suit as half a point, and bid accordingly.

In the example above Player A held three points in top trumps, two more with the ♦ 9, 7, one more with ♠ A, and two half points with guarded Kings, the ♥ K and ♣ K (he found ♣ A in the widow).

He therefore had seven points and bid seven diamonds. The ♣ A would usually have made his contract a good one, but as it happened the outstanding trumps were badly split for him, and the ♥ A was badly placed.

To outline the mechanics of the game, suppose poker hands are held as in the illustration. Player A has bid seven diamonds, and has been lucky enough to find ♣ A in the widow. He decides to lead trumps immediately, hoping to lose one only, to ♥ J (left bower ), which will ensure his contract. Play proceeds as follows:

From trick 2, when ♦ J (right bower) failed to drop ♥ J, Player A knew that his best chances were that Player C held the ♥ A, which would give him a chance of making ♥ K, or that Place C could be forced to lead his remaining trumps (in which case Player A would lose only one trump ) or that the defenders would make a mistake with their discards. As it happened, the defenders played well, and Player A was forced to lose both hearts and two trumps.

Player A therefore failed to make his contract of seven diamonds, and scored 180 points in the hole. Players B and C each made two tricks, so each scored 20 points.

Strategy in playing the cards is similar to most trick taking poker card games. The main skill in Five hundred lies in the bidding. As the trump suit consists of ten cards, one player must hold at least four, so four trumps is the minimum requirement for a bid, and even then they must be good ones and supported by side Aces.

Unless six or more trumps are held in the deal, the chances are slightly in favour of at lest one more being in the widow, but this should not be relied upon. As a rough guide, a player might count any of the top four trumps (Joker, right and left bower, ace) as one point each, all trumps held in excess of three as one point each, all master cards in side suits as one point each, and a guarded King in a side suit as half a point, and bid accordingly.

In the example above Player A held three points in top trumps, two more with the ♦ 9, 7, one more with ♠ A, and two half-points with guarded Kings, the ♥ K and ♣ K (he found ♣ A in the widow).

He therefore had seven points and bid seven diamonds. The ♣ A would usually have made his contract a good one, but as it happened the outstanding trumps were badly split for him, and the ♥ A was badly placed.

A variation often played is to allow an extra bid, called nullo. This is a contract to win no tricks at all. There are no trumps. The value of the bid is 250, placing it between eight spades and eight clubs. A player holding the Joker can play it only when void of the suit led.

If the Joker is led, its player specifies the suit it represents. The Joker always wins the trick in which it is played. When the declarer makes nullo, he scores 250 and his opponents score nothing. When he fails he is debited 250, and his opponents score ten points each for each trick he makes.

FIVE HUNDRED FRO TWO PLAYERS

The cards are dealt as for the three-handed game described, the third hand being put to one side and taking no part. With ten cards being dead, the game is much more one of chance than the three-handed version.

FIVE HUNDRED FOR FOUR PLAYERS

With four players the pack must be enlarged to allow each poker player to have ten cards. The 6s,5s, and two red 4s are added to the 33-card pack. Play is in partnership, partners sitting opposite each other. Bidding proceeds as before, and the player making the highest bid leads to the first trick each side keeps its tricks separately, and scoring is as before.

FIVE HUNDERED FOR FIVE PLAYERS

The full pack is used, plus the Joker, so that each player receives ten cards and there are player three in the widow as before. Each player plays for himself, but the player who wins the contract calls upon one of the others to be his temporary partner, and the two play that hand against the other three.

In some schools the declarer names the player he wants as his partner, who will possibly be a player who has bid, and who therefore is known to have a good hand.

More usually, the declarer calls upon the holder of a specific card to be his partner. This will usually be the highest missing trump, but it might be an Ace in a side suit.

The holder of the poker card does not announce it, so until he plays the card only he knows that he is pertaining the declarer. With neither method does the partner of the declarer change his seat.

Each partner trying to make a contract scores the relevant points if successful and is debited with them if unsuccessful. The opponents each score ten points for each trick taken.