Wichita eagle., 1890-02-25
OBSERVATIONS ON WHIST.
How Suit Can Re Blocked and . Game
Lost Through Ieatteation.

Lost Through I1attention.
The hands are as follows: A. K. a.
10, 6, hearts, 8 diamonds, On, Q, 81, clubs
kn spades. B-9, 5, 8 hearts, On, KIN, 10, 6,
diamonds, K, 6 clubs, s, 5. spades. C--S
hearts, a, Z, 4, 5 diamonds, a, clubs, /
q, 9, Z, 6 spades D-Kn. hearts, K, 9, {
diamonds, kn, 10, 5, 8 clubs, a, 10, 4, {
spades. Seven clubs turned up by A.
Round &c S, B 8 S, D 2 $. A In S. c
leads from his longest suit As it is headed
by and q, he leads in order to draw on:
if it is in opponents hand. a wants
trumps led, but as he only has the In spades
he viii not be able to give the signal
Round &C d, B 10 d, Dkd. Asd. C,
perceiving that A plays kn of spades on nis k,
and knowing that his partner has a, decides
to change the suit. as the probability IS that
A has 10 more spades, or is signaling for
trumps. plays the lowest OF a sequence
second hand. a is still not able to convey to
his partner that ne wants trumps led, as he
has but one diamond.
Round Sd 9 d, A 4 h, C a d, B d. Dre-
turns his partners lead. A, vino has not
more diamonds, passes the trick, as he does
not care to be forced, and he knows that this
wil also convey the information 10 B that he
is strong in trurnps.
Round &c S, B SIS, Das, Aoc. C i'm
mediateiy perceives that A wants trulnps led,
and consequently leads spades in order to
force AS hand.
Round 5-A7c, C4c, Ike, D SC. a
now has an opportunity to lead trumps,
which hepromptly avails himself of, although
he has been forced, for he knows that neither
of his opponents has more than four. G
passes the trick, although he might have
taken it with the ace. His reason for this Is
that he wants all the truups in BIS hand ex-
hauseed, so that be can force \ on the third
round. with the probability that 3 has no
more trumps. OF course, he is not absolutely
sure that two rounds will exhaust all the
trumps in BIS hand. He takes this chance.
Round 6-B &c. D 5 C, a &c, Cae. B.
returns his partners lead
Round &c qs, B IS, D 4 s, A Sc. c.
now accomphshes his purpose and breaks up
AS trumps.
Round s-A b, 9Th, BSh, D2h. A
now drops trumps and leads from his long
suit
Round "A On b, @ sh, B5h, knh.
Round 10-A b, G d, Bob, 10c.
Round I'D kn C, A &c, CID, B 3D.
Round I'D 10 8, A o b, C 6s, B kn d..
Round I'D 2 d, A 10 h, Cos, ON d.
Score-A, B, &; C, D,7
This is a very interesting game It shows
two very important points in whist-how a
trump suit can be broken up, and how a suit
can be blocked through carelessness. A
started out with n clear ifjaa of inst what ba
wanted TO do. He had heart suit headed
by the a, and q, and practically established
at the start. He also had good trump suit
His aim, therefore, was to exhaust trunps
and then bring in his hearts. But G was on
the alert, and after the third round clearly
perceived Ais plan. In the second round c.
did not dare to continue his spade lead. fos
he was not sure that A was strong in tr1Inlp;:
and as A had played the kn of spades, the in
dication was that he had no more unless be
was calling for trumps). C therefore changes
the suit to diamonds.
d returns this suit and when A passes it c.
feels sure that A must be strong in trumps
He therefore, in the next round continues
his spade suit and forces AS hand But the
mistake Of the whole game was made by d in
playing the four of spades in seventh round.
If he had played the ten instead he would
not have blocked his partners suit in twelfth
round and c and D would have made one
more trick. 1t may be urged by some that
D did not know but what B held the nine.
but if he had followed the game closely he
would have seen that opened from suit of
five and must have the two remaining spades.
Tom LANSING.