How do you play "White Boy Bob"?
"White Boy Bob" is a game that is played with three people, usually because a fourth person is nowhere to be found, and the white boy becomes the "dummy" hand. The dealer shuffles the deck sufficiently, then deals 13 cards to each player, making sure that a card goes to WBB as well. After the deck has been dealt, each person should hold 13 cards and WBB should also have 13.
The game proceeds like a regular game of Hearts. The three people examine their hands and pass three cards to the right. No one looks at WBB's hand until all three players have passed three cards and placed their new cards in their hand. After passing has been completed, WBB's hand is placed face-up on the table and grouped according to suit. WBB does not pass his cards at all. He must play with the hand he has been dealt. The game proceeds according to the regular trick-taking pattern, with a few exceptions:
- WBB's strategy is to never take any tricks. If faced with a choice between taking a trick and undercutting the highest card played, he will always undercut.
- WBB can not "shoot the moon," for the same reason as above. "Shooting it" involves trick-taking and WBB does his best to never take tricks. However, if WBB happens to accidentally fall into the position that he cannot help but shoot the moon, he must play his hand out. If he succeeds in shooting it, his score will be zero for that round and everyone else gets 26 as well as the satisfaction of knowing that they were beaten by someone like WBB.
There is a lot of satisfaction to be obtained by playing WBB. You know automatically where 26 of the playing cards are, those in your hand and those in the hand of WBB. This makes it much easier to strategize. I highly recommend the game to players who have only recently begun playing Hearts because it teaches them some finer point of strategy they would not otherwise pick up, such as "smoking out" the Queen of Spades, "fishing" for the Jack of Diamonds and "voiding" oneself in Clubs, as well as the difficult maneuvering required if one is to try to "shoot the moon."
Also, there's the bonus of picking on WBB for his hand if it's really poor, and besting him if it's really good. Verbally bashing WBB is also a wonderful way to relieve stress! So please, give it a try and let me know how you liked it.
If you do not know how to play Hearts, here is a good link that will give you complete instructions:
Alan Hoyle's Hearts Page
And if you enjoyed Out of Sight as much as I did, here's another page you might be interested in:
The Official OUT OF SIGHT Website
WHITE BOY BOB
