, 1889-09-17
OBSERVATIONS ON WHIST.
Difficulty OF Attaining Great Skill In tn
Gnme-The Power to FInesse.

Difficulty OF Attaining Great Skill In the
Game-The Power to Finesse.
Learning to play whist is n good deal like
learning to write shorthand. Almost any
one by practice can learn to write one hum
dred words a minute, or possibly may get up
to one hundred and twenty-five, but beyond
that very few writers go, although almost
every shorthand writer claims that he can.
So In whist 1t is easy to get up to a certain
point, but beyond that few can go. Any one
who has mastered the rules of the game may
be able to play 1t for some time perfectly;
but every once in a while the occasion arises
which only the really great whist player can
meet One OF the greatest and most difficult
of plays is the grand coup OF which Deschap-
peles was such a master, and which Is ex-
planned In every good whist book. But gen.
orally speaking the test of a good whist
player is in his power to flnesse.
] remember, at a recent game which l sat
in, / held the a and KIN Of spades. My part
ner played n small spade, and knowing by
the fall OF the cards that the KIN was good l
played it third hand, reserving my ace to
capture the king IL possible. 1t would OF
course have been bad play to nave dropped
the ace. A stranger who was watching my
hand, when he saw me put on the jack and
knowing just enough about the game to
ave learned the rule third hand high said
after the hand was played: "Umphl Don't
you know that 1t is the rule to play third
hand high. OF course | knew what the rule
was, but rules in whist are not like the laws
Of the Modes and Persians Learn them
first and then mix them up with common
sense. Some people claim that you are often
apt to deceive your partner, but you won't
II he knows what he is about
1t would be impossible in a short article to
-{u,, III a.. ralas about GpoSafnv and fplaaI
It is not necessary. Once the principle is
understood, It will apply itself to every casa.
Suppose, for instance, that you have the X,
KIN, o and o s, and the player on your right
leads originally the IS. We are, of course,
supposing that he plays from his fourth best
Now, an ~nstants thought will show you at
once that he has in his hand the a, 3 and 10,
because he must nave three cards above the 8,
and you have the others. Now, the proper
play, ordinarily second hand, would be the q,
but you know that the 9 in this case win a k
the trick, and you play it. This won't de-
ceive your partner, because he will be on the
lookout for Just such play, and he will know
that when you play the o afterward you
were not signaling for trumps. The rule
about the trump signal Is not to play a high
card beforea low one, but to play a high card
unnecessarily before a low one.
The instance given above can be applied to
your partners play. Suppose he held the a,
q, 10 and 8 s, and should play the s. As you
hold the X, KIN, . and q, his 8, OF course, would
be perfectly good Barring ~trumps), and you
would pass IL, unless for some other reason
you desired the lead. 1t is a common rule
with a and q to play q third hand, but a stu
dent OF the gnme will readily perceive that
this principle can be applied 70 a vast number
Of other cases Tom LANSING.