Solo 66 At the start of the game, the dealer shuffles the cards and offers them to be cut, he then deals six cards to each player. The remaining two cards are placed face-down in the middle of the table as the talon. The soloist is determined through a bidding process or auction. The player who bids the highest suit as trumps wins the auction. The suits rank, from highest to lowest, in the order: Clubs , Spades , Hearts and Diamonds . In the auction the player to the left of the dealer (forehand) is the first to bid or pass.
Canapé (bridge) suit is held. Thus, eight-card or longer major suit fits are found right away and some otherwise difficult to bid hands are handled easily. If no major suit exists, the partnership can play in the opener's longest suit. Opening four-card majors frequently has a preemptive value because takeout doubles are less effective in cases where the opponents have not opened their longest suit. When four-card majors were popular in the United States, even the most adamant proponents of "natural" bidding opened four-card majors ahead of five-card minors on hands that presented rebid problems. The following examples apply to some canapé