The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1896-06-07

%eBook whist-players' is the name that
is generally applied to whist students A
physician of considerable prominence, In
the presence of number of whist Students
made the following remarkable statement,
which struck me at the time would be
good subject for few lines in our whist
column. He said: 81 nave played whist
for twenty five years; | am no book
player and have no use for that KIND OF
a game. Ny style of a game is based on
what 1 can good common.sense, and L
don't want to know any more about 1t
than 1 do now"
Such remark coming from gentleman
supposed to be educated in bis own pro-
fession was surprising, to put it mildly. II
he practices his profession as he plays at
the game of whist, without any "book
knowledge >" as he calls it, what fearful
mess he must make of It'll 1t puts me in
mind of little incident that occurred IN
connection with a small launch we have
in Sausalito A while ago we hired man
to take charge of and run 1t. We taught
him how to start the engine and how to do
one or two other necessary things. He
soon got so he could navigate the boat
very well and in couple of weeks we felt
a little more comfortable with him in
charge. At the end of month l brought
him q book which gave in detail every At-
tle obstacle that was liable to come up and
how to overcome it, in the working OF the
engine. etc. / asked him to read 1t, and in
about five minutes he returned it to- me
saying, Them DOCKS can teacn me noun
ing"
So in our whist experiences we find peo-
pie every day that are training" with
wooden guns loaded, and with what?
Men constituted with. such peculiar men
tai faculties are those we hope to reach
and point out the value of a little applica-
ton and study, or what they term book
knowledge" 1t is hardly possible that
these people will say that Trist Cavendish,
Dravson. Pole, Ames. Work, Hamilton and
Others are not men of wonderful whist
knowledge and ability, men who have. de-
voted wears of time and study to the scien-
ti6c principles oil this beautiful game. No
one will doubt but what they were as
sisted IN their researches by the writings
of learned men quite as able as themselves
that lived years before they did.
Does it not stand to reason, if all these
great writer's agree on the essential points
and fundamental principles of the game of
whist. that if you follow their advice you
are doing about the right thing? In all
instructions that you get from the great
whist authorities the object you wish to
attain, or the end IN view, is to learn how
to make the most out of every hand you
nod: in other words, to understand how
to win where others lose. When the great
mathematician, Sir William Pole, tells, in
his PHILOSOPHY of Whist, that once in
SO many deals you will hold one, two,
three, four, or thirteen trumps, you are
not going to be foolish enough to sit down
and try to figure it out yourself. Neither
would you be foolish. enough to go
a hundred school children were let loose
and stripped the vines. Why not profit
by the experience and years of hard study
Of others? You. don't have to follow
bIindly any teachings; the game of whist
is of such infinite variety that 1t is impos-
'sible to do more than give you general
idea of what you should do. Like the
charts that guide the mariner in navigat-
ing the seas, like the buovs ana beacon
lights that keep the ships pilot in the
enamel and off the rocks, so whist books
and whist authorities point the way you
should go to reach the goal. 1t is left to
your own sweet will to follow their advice
or NOPE on blindly in the dark.