What are the 5 honors in court whist?

Answer 1

We have debated what the "honors" are for the final four hands of Court Whist. I will share our two most common interpretations, one of which is almost certainly correct.

1. In more card games than Whist, the Ace-King-Queen-Jack of Trump are sometimes considered the "four honors" for the hand. With this interpretation, when the points are counted for each hand, one point is scored for each trick, and in addition, four extra points are counted: one each for whomever has taken the Ace, King, Queen, and Jack of Trump for that hand. Playing with this interpretation (most likely the correct one) pushes a player who has been dealt the Jack or Queen of Trump to trump-in with such a high trump card in order to garner an extra point, hoping, of course, that no other player over-trumps. It also encourages such a player to play the Queen or Jack of Trump if his or her partner has played the Ace of Trump.

2. A second interpretation of the "four honors" for a hand is to count the four Jacks as the four honors. Although this is likely not the most-correct interpretation, it does add strategy to the hand, as it is often the case that players who have been dealt the various Jacks must try to play them when their partners appear to be able to take the trick in order to garner the extra points for the hand.

We typically play with the first interpretation given here.

[As an anecdotal side note, I learned and played Court Whist as a youngster, often played during get-togethers with relatives, and over time I became a very good strategy card player in general. in Court Whist games I played where my mother was one of the players (when I was a teenager, when I was in my 20's and 30's, etc.), the vast majority of the time, she was dealt the Ace-King-Queen-Jack of Trump in one of the hands of this last set of four hands, when each one of the honors counted as an extra point. It didn't matter whether she was my partner or my opponent, somehow, she managed to be dealt all four honors in one of these hands. It was incredible.]