TENNIS WHIST INSTRUCTIONS

Intro

Tennis Whist is played with a 52-card deck of cards. which are ranked Ace highest to two lowest. Suits are broken in Major Suits (Spades and Hearts) and Minor Suits (Clubs and Diamonds) 

To Start

Shuffle the cards, then cut the pack; the highest card drawn gets to deal the first hand. 
The dealer then deals eight cards to each player. He then turns up the next card, which then becomes the trump suit for the first hand. 

Play

Play starts from the person left of the dealer (clockwise) of the dealer. Player 1 chooses a card to start the trick with and places it face up in the centre of the table. In clockwise order, the other players must play a card from their hand. They must follow the same suit that was led, or if they have none of that suit, they may play a trump card (to try to win the trick) or throw off a card from another suit. If another player then plays a higher trump card on their turn, they would win the trick. Winning tricks are placed face down in front of the person who won the trick. Play continues with the trick winner, then playing the first card for the next round. Once all players have played their cards, there should be eight completed tricks on the table. Players then add up the number of tricks that they have each won, and the player who has won the most tricks becomes the dealer of the next round. Players who do not take any tricks are eliminated and do not play any more hands in the set. The dealer of the second round then deals seven cards, and once they have looked at their cards, they get to nominate what the trump suit is for the next round. Like the first round, play continues until all cards have been played, and players again add up the tricks that they have won(in the second round, that will be seven). The winner will become the dealer for the next round, and those players who do not take a trick are eliminated. The new dealer (can be the same person as before) then deals six cards, and in each subsequent round, the number of cards is decreased by one. Last player standing is the set winner, and the first player to win three sets is the match winner. 

Scoring

TBD

Tie Break

If 2 or more players have the same number of tricks and are leading the round, a tie break is used to find the winner of that round. The dealer deals out one card to the players, and the person with the highest card is the winner for the round. If all players say drew an 8, then it goes down to the highest-ranked 8. The ranking order from highest to lowest is Spades, Hearts, Diamonds, and Clubs, being the lowest.

Terms

TBD