The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1896-11-11
A WHIST REVOLUTION.
E. c. Howell, the Short Suit Expert,
Talks OF the New Play.
A Short Chapter on Original Leads
The Obligations of Partnership.

A revolution Is on foot in the whist
world. At the head Of tho established
government Cavendish stands. His dis
ciples call him master. Hamilton, Ames
Coffin, Work, Strect--these are but apos-
ties and missionaries Their books are TO
the masters as a volume of sermons Is
to the Holy Scriptures themselves The
comparison is not irreyerent To the mass
OF whist players Cavendish Is, in fact, "a
religion.
But their faith Is disturbed. The "short
emit heresy" gains adherents every day.
Foster and Howell are the chief scditionists.
II Is the belief of the advocates of the
new whist that il has como TO stay; that
it Is not a heresy, but gospels that while
10 Is now compelled TO accept the narrow
designation OF "the short suit game. it
will speedily earn the right 60 be known
simply as whist, without qualification or
question.
What is there in "the royal game" that
gives such zest TO the allegiance OF it's sub
lectss In some respects It Is the simplest
OF card games. And yet men study 10 rs
they study science and art; write articles
and books about it, until it's photography
Is astonishingly great; talk about it, dis
cuss, argue, wax warm; teach IL 10 classes
OF pupils, as other professors teach music
and the modern languages, and still never
exhaust nor even fathom its possibilities.
All the players have 60 do at whist Is Co
get as many tricks as they can out Of their
hands, but how to do this Ii the question.
The raw recruit picks up kis hand and
guosses what TO leau. IL he does any rea-
soning mt all, it is sure TO bo crude, un-
principled and wrong. The choice Of tho
best card with which TO open given hand
Is far from easy. 1t requires a comprehen-
sion OF the principles of the game, some
knowledge of probabilities and mutual
understanding between partners. Whist
Is IA partnership game. The original lead
or should do what seems TO be best for his
hand and at the same time should show
his partner, SO far as no can by n single
card, what the possibilities of his hand are,
how far he can be of service TO partner and
how far he expects partners assistance.
Let us plunge in medias res. Suppose
/ have this hand dealt 10 me: Hearts
(trump)-K, q, 10; clubs--A, j, o, 8;
diamonds-Q, z, D, 2; spades-S, 9. The
dealer has turned the of hearts. What
shall be the original lead from the given
handS Shall 1 start the trumpsy No, be-
cause there i5 not much plain suit strength
In the hand, and one suit--the spades-is
quite defenseess. And the clubs--shall /
lead from them9 NGVbecause with tho
tenace-A, J-at tho head of the suit, 1
am more likely to win two tricks with the
ace and jack II some one else leads IL than
II lend 1t myself The diamondsg No,
because the very best 1 can do with them
IL to win trick with the queen, and
must wait for that And, finally, the
spadesp Yes. / will lead tho of spades,
because It's loss cannot injure my hand,
and this suit, being my weakest, Is proba-
bly, partners strongest. He will under
stand that the 8 Is the best spade have;
that l have only two or three Of them and
may ruff the suit soon; that my other suits
are not very strong, and in order to get
the most out of them we must do some
careful manouvering. IL his spades are
strong, 1 help him by rhe lead II his
spades are weak, IL Is just as well for us
both to know about this weakness early
The hand is an exmaple from actual prac-
tice. 1t was played thus:
(Hearts 8 turned by west north leads
to the first trick; the winning card In each
trick is underlined, and the one under 10
1ad