The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-05-03
AROUND THE WHIST TABLE.
IRRANo EM ron the CONGRESS
PRACTICILLY COMPLETE.

The "Lose-and-drop-out system Not 60
he Esed-Every Team Will riav - Ger
tain Number NJ Hands with Evcry Other
Team, Analysis or Gnmes-Ciub Noter.
The committee in charge OF the arrangements
for the next congress are doing everything IN
their power to make the various contests AZ so
clable as possible and 10 arrange matters 40 that
there will be many opportunities for players to
meet one another at tire card tables. This will
be a distinct gain over all previous meetings.
and II will do not q little to increase the popu-
larity OF the management of Messrs. Weems,
Baker, and Mitchell II the entries can be so ar
ranged that some NJ tho lesser lights can have
an opportunity of playing against the star teams
even for a few hands. This Is the object tho
have III view, and II will attract not
q few entries.
Many players will be glad to learn that the
solitary confinement system of playing the i'm
portant matches will be entirely abandoned.
All the preliminary play will take place in one
OF the largest and ARREST rooms In the Oriental
Hotel. where the contestants will have the full
benefit of the sea breezes all day long. The
system" has been given up,
and every club will have to play q certain num-
Der Of hands against every other club In the
trial heats. In the Hamilton trophy contest. for
instance. during the first three days every club
entered will play against every other club on
pTtClbNl u HhInB bySltm tuhb Who ubtu III tuo
i~nter-city tournament In Brooklyn. Should the
entries be too numerous to allow time for each
club to play two hands against every other dur
ing the sitting. the contestants will be divided
into sections. The four clubs having the high
est score for game points, not for tricks, will
qualify for the semi-flnals on the fourth day.
The pairing on that day will be decided by lot.
and the two survivors will play the final round
on Saturday.
nj ~, --z-.
satisfactory than anything yet proposed for
trophy matches, because there will be no byes,
and no luck in the matter Of which club meets
which in the first rounds. Every club will have
to play afternoon and evening for three days.
and will have to take its chance against all
styles OF play and players. The only element OF
luck will be tho unavoidable one that the strong
clubs mag have piano hands at critical times.
which will give them no opportunity to display
their skill against one another. or no opportun-
iy to test the value of their pet systems OF play.
II two hands are played between every pair of
clubs each afternoon and evening for three
days. the match will DO equal to twelve hands,
which should be n fair test among 90 many.
THE SUPPORTING CARD.
Although the principle of leading supporting
cards is very old. it is only recently that 1t has
been properly understood. During the past
thirty years little or no attention has been paid
to ar ythine but establishing the small end OF
nothing. unlocking impossible suits, and giving
the adversaries information by American leads.
In tho old days the supporting card had one
fatal DEFECT, II was always the top OF a suit, IL
not the best card In the hand, and tho original
leader of such a card could BIO finessod
against with safety. Foster was the first
to see the remedy for this defect in the
lead OF the intermediate card. This can be led
fr,yn on ynnnu banda ~ xvhfrh tlA hinhaat nv
the lowest OF the suit would be either disadvan-
tageous to the leader or deceptive to his partner.
There are 20 many suits in which the highest
card would look like one OF a winning combina-
tion: the lowest like a strong suit, with good
cards back of II. The intermediate card 10
chiefly one of warning. IL SAYS to the partner:
~ have no ~lons-srit game to play for this hand.
II you have a good fnesse in this suit take It,
but do not lead the suit back"
The third hand should pass all strengthening
cards not covered by second hand, unless he
holds both ace and king. There is no use put
ting an ace on a z, J, 10, or o; and It is simply
throwing away a possible trick to play a king or
queen third hand on a supporting card. II third
hard holds only king and one other. OF course
the king must be played. as 1t Is tho only chance
for 1t, unless a queen is led. With two guards
to the king it is best to pass. and to force the
last player to open a fresh suit, which will
usually be to his disad vantage.
In last sundays article 1t was shown that the
probabilities were in favor Of the third hand
holding winning cards In the suit in which the
origin al leader was short. Many persons cannot
see the difference between the leader and the
third hand holding the high cards in n suit.
although it is very marked. 1t ia fundamental
principle of whist that the more cards there are
played to q trick before the holder OF a high card
plays, the more valuable his card becomes.
II you hold any honors In a suit, not includ-
Ing the ace, II must be obvious that the last play
on any trick Is a great advantage, because 4
the ace Is not played you may win the trick. II
The next best thing to being last player on a
trick is 10 be third player, because there Is only
one player to follow you, and 1t 10 two to one
against his having any named card. Now, there
is no way in which the original leader can place
his partner in u letter position than by making
him third hand w!tha good fnesse, and securing
him the further advantage OF being fourth hand
on the next trick, which is the best thing i1r
him II he has any strength at all. This is the
whist. The lead Is II positive DISADVANTAGE, ex-
cept to the strong hand, WHICH can use 1t for
Is tile last play on any trick high cards or small
trumps are never wasted there.
Had the system Of leading supporting cards
been adopted in the 3hS hands which have been
HuiiyZCd In these articles, the gains TO the
original leader and his partner would have been
very great. and they will be tai ulated, in full,
showing the proportion of hands in which the
partner and the adversarirs held the majority
was OF the greater nd vantage.
As an example OF this method OF sacrificing
1 por,i i,tn" cards ,I .n helpe "f IS SnnI / No .ea", oFs t hum Man Ian.
haitian Cnion League mHtcn. in which Hawkins
gives MS partner the only two piatr-suit cards
In his hand which can be Of any use to him. At
one table II Will he seen that tho Manhattans
made four tricks in trumps and four more in
Leagues do not MAKE a single trick outside of
trumpS. Alb are partners against w. dealt
ard turned the heart \. The underlined card
wins The trick, and the card under it is the next
one led.