The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1893-03-30
DUPLICATE WHIST.
A Novel Tourney Opened
Last Night.
Forty Simultaneous Contests to De-
eide on the Delegation for the.
Worlds Fair Tournament.

duplicate whist tourney, the first of its
kind ever played in this city, opened at the
quarters of the San Francisco Whist Club
in the Mercantile Library last night.
The affair was what is known as an over
play contest and was played by forty teams
of two, arranged by the contest committee,
Messrs P. j. Toomey and S. Dulliver.
Duplicate whist is an innovation that has
evidently come to stay. 1t is easy enough to
understand after watching few games, and
| as a time-sayug device it is beyond COM
pare.
Last night all the tables were occupied
and the general impression was that of n
game of progressive euchre, only there was
no moving of players from one table to the
other. Also there was no dealing or
shutting of the cards; no cut Tor partners /;
no complaints of bad" hands or boasts of
lucky players that they ''held all the four
hands that time" Duplicate whist does
away with all these fondly cherished
memories OF the past, and it also dispenses
with rubbsrs and odd tricks" The vet
eran whist-player will be apt to ask if it
hasn't dispensed with everything that made
whist delightful and life endursble.
Apparently the forty players last night,
young and old, ladies and gentlemen, were
not of this opinion. They seemed to enjoy
the game thoroughly, and sweet sixteen wed
with sedate sixty in enthusiasm when a
small trump knocked an adverse ace out of
time.
The essential feature of the new game is
the elimiD alton of luck and the increase of
skill as factor to the extent of 80 per cent.
Under the old regime skillful player
might struggle in vain for a whole evening
against a run of luck on the part of an in
experienced player on his left who, time
after time had five trumps aud the leading
cards in other suits.
In duplicate whist the science OF the play
ers is fully developed. and the player who
holds bad hand for awhile is consoled by
the certainty that a good one must come to
him some time in the evening as the result
OF what Is known as the everyday, or the
change in the app0rtonment Of the card
trays.
The dealing is all done beforehand and a
certain suit is declared trump for each and
ali the tables. Last night hearts was the
trump suit. and will remain so during the
six weeks OF the tourney. All the points
| of fine play. ''fnessing," leading through"
"dlseardlng, "over-trumBing," signal
| ing" and "echoing" are permissible and the
usual penalties for "Feyoking" or exposing
a card are RICHLY exacted.
The tourney last night was only the
opening of serias of Journeys to last five
successive Wednesdays, the object being to
select by the survival of the fittest one team
out OF the forty to represent the club in The
contest for the Hamilton prize in the
! Worlds FAIR tournament at Chicago.
lie Hamilton prize Is of the value of
| $500. and is offered by Dr. Forrest OF the
| Hamilton Whist Club. Philadelphia
The method pursued is what is known as
the Kalamazoo duplicate system. The cards
at each table are identical, and ara arrayed
| on tray according to the points of the COM
pass-N. L. w. S. After twenty hands the
trays are changed so that the player who
was first in the original becomes the last
| in the duplicate or everyday, and in fact all
| hands are changed as thoroughly as the
most rigid shuffling and dealing could do.
Counting is done by withdrawing a coun-
ter from the pile in the center whenever
trick is won, instead of stacking up the
tricks as in the old game So. there being
thirteen counters in the center at the start,
If one team gets eight ana the other five
counters the winning team is credited with
three points
On the fifth Wednesday the wedding out
takes place, the lowest scores dropping out.
Eight players will then contest, and another
dropping out will reduce the number to
four. The surviving or winning pair will
constitute the clubs representative team at
Chicago