card game in Dostoevsky's BOBOK

[Robert Chandler]

Dear experts in C19 card-games!

I am retranslating BOBOK and am hampered by my ignorance of the game
'preferans'.  Soon after the mertvetsy begin speaking, one of them says:
'Nel'zya... bez garantii nikak nel'zya.  Nado nepremenno s bolvanom, i chtob
byla odna tyomnaya sdacha.'

What is a 'tyomnaya sdacha'?  Gleb Struve translates it as 'you must have
... one deal in the dark', but that itself needs translating.

And should 'garantiya' simply be guarantee?

Thanks in advance,

Robert Chandler

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