Guide
How to Play Whist
Whist is a game of memory and partnership. Follow suit, watch the trump suit, and win more than six of the 13 tricks each hand — the first side to 7 points wins.
Play WhistThe objective
Win tricks with your partner, first to 7 points
Whist is played with a standard 52-card deck by four players in two partnerships. You sit South and play with North, across the table, against West and East. A hand is 13 tricks: each player plays one card to a trick, and the best card wins it for their side.
After each hand, the side that took more than six tricks scores one point for every trick above six. The first partnership to reach 7 points wins. There is no bidding — trump is set by the dealer's last card — so every decision is about which card to play and when.
The game is free, runs in the browser, and needs no account. Open the table when you want to play.
The deal
13 cards each, and the last card is trump
The dealer shuffles and deals one card at a time, clockwise, starting with the player on their left, until every player holds 13. The dealer receives the last card of the deck, and it is turned face up: its suit is trump for the hand. Cards rank from Ace (high) down to 2.
The deal rotates clockwise each hand, so trump changes every time. In this game your hand is sorted with trump first and the other suits alternating colours, and the trump suit is always shown in the toolbar.
Controls
Click, tap, or use the keyboard
Every method plays the same cards. Pick whichever fits the device in your hand.
Everywhere
Click or tap a card
On desktop, click a card in your hand to play it. On a touchscreen, tap once to lift the card and tap it again to play it, so a stray finger never throws the wrong card. Cards you cannot legally play are dimmed.
Desktop
Keyboard
Use the left and right arrow keys (or Home and End) to move along your hand, and Enter or Space to play the focused card. H shows a hint, U undoes your last card, N starts a new game, and M mutes the sound.
Toolbar
Hint and undo
Hint highlights the card the computer would play from your seat. Undo takes back your last card and everything the computers played after it, so you can test a line of play. Both are free and unlimited.
The loop
Four ideas you repeat all game
- 01
Meet your partner
Four players sit at the table in two fixed partnerships. You (South) play with your partner across the table (North) against West and East. Every player is dealt 13 cards from a standard 52-card deck, and Aces are high.
- 02
Trump is the last card
The deal goes around the table one card at a time and the dealer gets the very last card. That card is turned face up and its suit is trump for the whole hand. Dealing rotates clockwise each hand, so trump changes every time.
- 03
Follow suit, win the trick
The player left of the dealer leads any card. Everyone else must follow the led suit if they can; with none of it they may play anything, including a trump. The highest trump wins the trick, or if no trump was played, the highest card of the led suit. The winner leads next.
- 04
Score above the book
A hand is 13 tricks. Your partnership's first six tricks — the book — score nothing; every trick after that is worth one point. Reach 7 points before the other side does and you win the game.
Rules & scoring
Every rule that decides a play
The objective
Be the first partnership to score 7 game points. Points come from tricks: after each 13-trick hand, the side that took more than six tricks scores one point for each trick above six. Only one side can score in a hand.
Dealing and trump
Cards are dealt one at a time, clockwise, starting with the player left of the dealer, until each player holds 13. The dealer's last card is shown and its suit is trump for that hand. The deal passes clockwise after every hand.
Leading and following
The player left of the dealer leads the first trick; after that, the winner of a trick leads the next. You may lead any card, trump included. Every other player must follow suit if they hold a card of the led suit. A player with none of that suit can play any card.
Winning a trick
If any trump was played, the highest trump wins. Otherwise the highest card of the led suit wins. A card of a third suit, discarded, can never win. Rank runs from 2 (low) up to Ace (high).
Scoring and the book
Six tricks make the book and score nothing, so a 7–6 split of tricks earns one point, 8–5 earns two, and a clean sweep of all 13 tricks earns seven — enough to win the game on its own. With six tricks each, nobody scores.
Winning the game
The first partnership to reach 7 points wins the game. This version does not score honours (the trump Ace, King, Queen, and Jack), which older rulebooks used to add; tricks alone decide every game.
Scoring example
How 13 tricks become points
Suppose your side takes 9 tricks and the opponents take 4. Your six-trick book scores nothing; the three tricks above it score 3 points. Next hand, the opponents win 8 tricks to your 5 and score 2. The game score is now Us 3, Them 2.
Because only tricks beyond the book count, a hand that splits 7–6 is worth exactly one point, and a hand that splits 6–7 gives the opponents one. Swings are small unless a side dominates — a 13–0 sweep scores 7 points and wins the game on the spot.
Common mistakes
What costs beginners tricks
Over-taking your partner
Playing a high card on a trick your partner is already winning wastes it. Unless an opponent could still overtake them, play your lowest legal card.
Leading trump too soon
Drawing trumps helps when you hold most of them. Without the strength, leading trump spends your best cards and clears the way for your rivals' side suits.
Breaking a strong suit
Leading away from an Ace-King combination hands the opponents a free finesse. Cash the top cards, then continue the suit.
Forgetting who is left
Whist is a game of memory. Once the Ace and King of a suit are gone, your Queen is the master card of that suit — but only if you noticed.
Ignoring undo
Undo is unlimited and free here. Treat a questionable card as an experiment: play it, see how the computers respond, and roll it back if you regret it.
Quick tips
Habits that win more games
- Lead your longest side suit: long suits eventually become winners once the opponents run out.
- Cash Aces and Kings early, before an opponent can trump them.
- Count trumps. There are 13 in every hand — if you have seen 10 played, you know how many are still out.
- Follow low when your partner is already winning the trick. Save your high cards for tricks that need them.
- Play third hand high: if you are third to play and the trick is still open, go up to beat the opponent.
- Trump a suit you are void in only when it wins the trick and the opponents cannot over-trump it behind you.
- Use hints to learn. The hint button shows the card the computer would play from your seat — study why.
- Watch what the opponents discard. Their throw-aways show which suits they are short in.
For the longer version, read the whist strategy guide.
Devices
Play on any screen
Desktop browsers
Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Safari all run the game with no plugin. Click cards to play them, or steer the whole hand with the arrow keys and Enter.
Phones and tablets
The layout is touch-first. Your 13 cards fan across the bottom of the screen with the table above, all on one screen in portrait. Tap a card to lift it and tap again to play. A new game is one tap.
Progress on this device
Games won, win rate, streaks, hands won, and your best winning margin live in local browser storage. They stay until you reset them or clear site data, and they do not sync between devices.