The Saint Paul globe., 1896-07-31
REMARKABLE WHIST HANDS.
Stories Recalled by the Yarborough
of the Recent Match.
New York Sun


One OF the most remarkable hands in the
long annals of 1.-The royal game" was held
at the recent whist congress- described in
this issue of the Sun. The hand contained
no trumps and no card higher than nine
but still took three tricks 1t has been fig
ured that the odds against holding such a
hand and taking three tricks are 6,2S4 0OO.-
OOo 900 to l. so that the players who partici-
pated IN this game might continue steadily
at whist until they were several times as
old as Methuselah without having the hand
recur.
The hand was what is technically known
as Marlborough, but it was not an ordinary
Marlborough, either, for that name is applied
to any hand that contains no card higher
than nine. The chances of holding a Var
borough is triae less than / in 1S0O and
the odds against holding a Marlborough with
out trumps are IA, 900 to /. The Marlborough
hand preserves the fame Of a certain whist
playing English lord, who once a fa-
miliar figure in the card rooms Of the Lon
don clubs but who might by this time have
been forgotten but for his one hobby which
has connected his name with a certain COM
bination of cards, and from which he is re-
puted to have obtained substantial returns
during his lifetime.
Proctor says that Lord Yarborough's name
was given to any hand that held nothing
higher than nine, because that gentleman
had a standing offer to bet FL 900 to Fl that
such a hand would not be dealt. Proctor
goes through a calculation to show that this
was a perfectly safe bet, as the odds against
such hand are 1927 to l. 1t is said that
Lord Marlborough laid his wager many thou
sand times, and that on only few occasions
did he lose. One writer has figured out that
If this noble devotee of the game made his
bet with each member of whist party on
ninety-one ninety-two evenings out of a
year for ten years, he should, on the theory
of probabilities, have lost twenty times. His
total losses would therefore have been f20,
900; but during the same period he would
have won f36 800, which would have left him
the very respectable margin Of f16500, or
FL, $50 per year.
To the inexperienced player the Yarbor-
ough hand seems about as bad as one could
possibly hold, but when properly handled it
may become very effective, as shown by
the illustration given here Although there
seems to be no recorded instance of a Var
borough without trumps as successful as
this one, nearly every writer on whist has
been able to cite one or more cases where
the holder of a Yarborough has been sue.
the game into his partners hands,. and in
taking one trick.
One Of the most famous games in which
the Marlborough hand figured was played
in Calcutta. An English duke, renowned
for his high play, was sitting In the game
and offered to layf25,O00 against $4,000 that
his hand would take a majority of the
tricks. The cards ON which he offered the
bet made up a magnificent hand, including
the command in trumps, but through the
poverty of his partners hand and the skill
full management of the Marlborough held by
one of his opponents the ducal gambler lost
his f25, ,OO0
Though the Marlborough hand is rare
enough, so that q man may very possibly
have played whist for many years without
holding one it is by means the rarest
hand in whist. AS there 635,, ola, ,559, 800
ways in which a whist hand can be made
there is opportunity for some peculiar com
binations. One that the young player fire.
quently sighs for is that which will give him
all the trumps. When it is computed, how
ever, that the chance of all the trumps being
in one hand is one in 158 1853, ,369, ,900 the wish
will appear almost hopeless. Still, it is tes-
timony to the amount of whist playing that
goes in the world that this hand has been
held several times. OF course, only the
dealer hold this hand, and the figures
above represents his chances. The odds
against players getting this hand when he
sits down to game are four times great
One instance is related occurring at the
United Service club, Calcutta Feb. g. 1885,
when new pack of cards was dealt, and all
the trumps fell to the dealer. The same thing
has been reported at least twice since then
At the Montauk club, in Brooklyn on the
second deal with new pack the cards fell in
suits. The hands were framed, and are pre-
served in the club.
The lowest possible hand that can be held,
counting numerical strength, is made up Of
four twos, four threes, four fours and one five.
The chance of holding this combination is also
represented by the ratio Of one to 15S 753, ,389 :
900
Another peculiar arrangement of the cards
is that by which one pair OF partners holds
all the red cars and the other pair all the
black. An instance of this was reported from
the Westminster Hospital in 1888. It Is told
that four players, sitting down to a game in
London, drew for partners, and each man drew
an ace. An ingenious mathematician, with
nothing better to do, has figured that If the
same players continued their game every
night except Sundays this situation would not
Tecur until they had reached the ripe old age
n