Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1889-09-22
OBSERVATIONS ON WHIST.
Difficulty OF Attaining Great Skill in the
Game-The Power to Finesse.

Difficulty OF Attaining Great Skill in the
C8me-The Power to Finessc.
Learning to play whist is good deal like
learning to write shorthand. Almost any
one By practice can learn to write one hun
dred words a minute, or possibly may get up
20 one hundred and twenty-five, but beyond
that very few writer's go, although almost
every shorthand writer claims that he can.
So in whist It is easy to get Up to certain
point, but beyond that few can 90. Any one
who has mastered the rules of the game may
be able to play it for some time perfectly;
but every once in 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 master, and which is ez-
plained in every good whist book. But gem
er,tily speaking the test Of a good whist
player is IN his power to ttnesse.
/ remember, az q recent game which I sat
in, / Eeld the a and kn Of spades Ny part
ner played a small spade, and knowing By
the fall OF the cards tIat the llu was good l
played it third hand, reserviug my ace TO
capture the king If possible. 1t would Of
course have been bad play to have dropped
the ace. \ stranger VINO was watching nay
hand, when he saw me put on the jack and
knowing Just enough about the game to
have learned the rule third hand high, " said
after the hand was played: lymph! Don't
you know that it 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 Nedes and Persiaus. Learn them
first and then NIX them up with common
sense. Some people claim that you are often
apt to deceive your partner, but you won't
if he knows what he is about
1t would be impossible in a short article to
give all the rules about finessing, and indeed
it is not necessary. Once the principle IS
understood, it VIII apply itself to every. case.
Suppose for instance, that you have the X,
l,n and & s and the player on your right
leads originally the S. We are, Of course,
Supp0SinE that he plays from his fourth best
Now, an instsnts thought viii show you at
once that he has in his hand the a, and 10,
because he must have three cards above the 5,
and You have the others. Now, the proper
play, ordinarily second hand, would be the u,
but You know that the 9 IN this case VIII take
the trick. and yOu play II. This won't de-
ceive your partner, because he viii be on the
lookout for just such play, and be VIII know
that when you play the aIterwaTd YOU
were net signaling for trUmps. The rule
about the trump signal Is not 10 play a high
card before low one, but 70 play bisy IA card
unnecessarily before a low one.
The instance given above can be applied to
your partners play. Suppose he he'd the a,
0, 10 and 5 5, aad should pay the g. As you
hold the 1, IN, 9 and c. hzs ;. Of course, would
be perfectly good barring truIpzl, and you
would pass It, unless Ior some other reason
YOU desired the iesd. IL Is q common rue
with a ana Q 70 play q third hand. bat a stu
-
this principle can &c applied 20 . vast number
Of other cases Ton LASsIsG.