Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1896-09-01
ReMARkAsLE WHIST HANDS.


|. One of the most remarkable hands In
the long annals of ''the royal game" was
held at the recent whist congress. The
hand contained no trumps and no card
higher than nine, but still took three
tricks.
1t has been figured that the odds
against holding such hand and taking
three tricks are 9 ISL, 00O, 900, 900 to l, so
that the players who participate In this
game might continue steadily at whist
until they were several times az old as
Methuselah without having the hand re-
cur.
The hand was what Is technically
known as a Marlborough, but 1t was not
an ordinary Marlborough either, for that
name Is applied to any hand that con-
tains no card higher than nine. The
chance OF holding Marlborough Is
trife less than In 1900, and the odds
against holding Marlborough without
trumps are Ia, 600 to l..
The Marlborough hand preserves the
fame Of certain whist-playing English
lord, who was once familiar figure In
the card rooms of the London clubs, who
might by this time have been forgotten
but for this one hobby which has con-
nected his name with certain combins
ton Of cards and from which he Is re-
puted to have obtained substantial re-
turns 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 standing offer 10 bet
$4,000 To 81 that such a hand would not
be- dealt. Proctor goes through calcu-
lstion TO show that this was perfectly
safe bet, as the odds against such hand
are 1927 TO |.
IL Is said that Lord Marlborough laid
his wager many thousand times and
that on only few occasions did he lose.
Though the Marlborough hand Is rare
| enough so that a man may very possibly
have played whist for many years with
out holding on, II Is by no means the
rarest hand at whist. As there are Gi5,-
0l3 559, 900 ways In which u whist hand
can be made, there Is opportunity for
some peculiar combinations.
one that the Young PLAYER frequently
signs for Is that which will give him all
the trumps When II is computed, how
ever, that the chance of all the trumps
| being In one hand Is In l5s, 153, 3s9, 300,
| the wish will sppear almost hopeless
Still IL IL testimony To the amount OF
whist playing that goes on In the world
that this hand has been held several
| times.
OF course, only the de der can hold this
hand, and the figures above represent
his chances. The odds against players
getting this hand when he sits down to
game are four times "a great.
One Instance l. related a. occurring at
the United Service club, Calcutta, Feh.
.. lSSS. when new pack OF cards wss
dealt and all the trumps fell To the
drsl-r. The same thing has been re-
ported AZ least twice since then. At the
| MontAuk club In Brooklyn, on the sec
ond deal with new pack the cards fell
| ia suits. The hands were framed and
are preserved In the club.
The lowest possible hand that can be
held. counting numerical strength. Is
made up OF twos, 1 threes. I fours and
| live. The chance Of holding this COM
binntinn j. also represented by the ratio
OF Ia ~, 1j3, $50, 900.
| Another peculiar arrangement Of the
cards l. that by which one pair OF
partners holds all the red cards and the
other pair holds all the black. An in
stance of this was reported from the
Westminster hospital in lSSS. II is told
tha, 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 il
the same players continued their game
every night except Sundays this situa-
ton would not recur until they had all
reached the ripe old age Of something
over 900 years.-New York sun.