The morning call., 1891-03-15
n...... W.T.. LILI 8 ! !.

This shows an unbroken series Of vic
tories, 70 in number and extending over six
years. a total gain Of 1927 tricks in the
play of duplicate hands is a great perform
ance.
While the tournament playing will OF
course be 4 prominent feature al the con-
gross, 1t will not be the only business on
hand. The Milwaukee club will appoint a
committee to draw up code of laws more
suited to the peculiarities of the American
game than the English code now in use.
n y. Trist OF New Orleans, well-knOwn
writer on the game and the inventor of the
system of S0-called American leads, has
been named as one, Il. f. Foster as another,
and the third will probably be I. Schwartz
of Chicago. The new code will be acted on
by the delegates from all the clubs, and will
probably he the future authority for
America. This will settle the difficulty now
experienced by so many various WAYS of
PLAYING the game throughout the country.
In the East they usually count the rubber
points, giving three p 'ints for score OF
to O; two points if the advprsaries are
not half way, and only ore II they are
three or four points up, always adding two
points for winning the third or rubber game.
In New England many count right ahead,
which is the universal way on the trains,
where rubber IS iudulged in to pass the
time while travelling. The odd tricks are
counted up indefinitely, until the play
aases. and then those having the
he West the common way is TO
for definite length Of time-per-
tom s until 11-and on the tap
bell the side that has made the
tricks wins. This is manifeStly
slow player may have only
enty hands in that time, but won
rage of a trick hand, while the
Il players have played sixty hands and
ave not won half a trick hand, but are
I still the winners. At the Commonwealth
T,,l -, +,- I,a.r h.,.. ado
unique way OF scoring. The game is five
points, but they play every hand out and
the total number Of tricks are credited
This is to prevent the frequent occurrence
OF a line hand, capable OF winning perhaps
six odd tricks, coming in when only one
point is needed to win the game, and thus
being lost to the players who should have
the credit of five extra tricks. Another
point of difference is the manner of de-
terminlng the trump. At the Milwaukee
Whist Club, and in many others in the
West the trump Is cut from the still. pack,
two packs being used IN play. Most play
ers objects to this, as il spOls some of the
fine points in the game When Cavendish
was asked for his opinion OF 1t two years
ago lie did not think the matter worthy OF
| serious attention, the old way being 50
much the best; yet Mr. j. RheiGart of the
Milwaukee Club is a strong advocate for
cutting the trump from the still pack, and
his opinion ought TO have some weight, as
lH WAS TIE man OF all DlUeIS tudL Tue great
Deschapelles fancied for lis partner in I'M
portant matches. He always took Rheinart
for partner when he played for thousand
francs game, and on his careful play
Deschap-lles IS said to have based many of
his most brilliant cOupS, which would have
been impossible but for the accuracy OF the
information that Rheinart always gave OF
the exact contents Of his hand
Another point that will come up at the
congress Will be the merits Of the new syS-
tenn OF leading to show the exact number of
small cards in the suit. Writers on this
subject are very fond of claiming that all
the best players" now adopt these loads. In
an article in the March Harper this claim is
made. Nothing can be further from the
truth. None Of the strongest players or
clubs have adopted them, and all the evil
dence addured by those who favor them is
purely ex-parte. The Hamilton club tried
them for several months, and found them a
sure trick-losng game. Their weakness,
according to Mr.. Foster, who has studied
the matter pretty thoroughly, lies 10 the
fact that they never overlook the real OBJ
iect of leading suits in particular way,
which is to inform your partner when the
suit is established. The new loads suEsti-
tute for this a lot Of often entirely useless
information about the number OF small
cards in the suit and hold back until the
second or third round the really important
matter, the fact that the suit is established.
This is particularly noticeable in the erratic
Queen leads, which may mean almost any