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How was a rubber won in traditional partnership whist?
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whist
Men playing whist, watercolour on paper by Mary Ellen Best, c. mid-19th century; in the York Art Gallery, England.
In traditional partnership whist, a rubber is won by the first partnership to win two games.1
In this classic format, a game consists of reaching a score of five points (in the British version) or seven points (in the American version). Points are earned by capturing "odd tricks"—tricks taken in excess of six—with one point awarded per odd trick. Additionally, partnerships can score points for holding a majority of the honours (the ace, king, queen, and jack of the trump suit), provided that doing so does not bring the side to the winning game score.1