The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1897-02-17
FOR LOVERS OF WHIST.
Classes OF Hands That Require Gam
bit Treatment.
The Fourth Class OF Gambit Hands
and Its Subdivisions.

OF hands from when tfufnps shoulu VIC ""
originally, several other distinct classes
from wl.ch the small card opening OF the
best plain suit Is demanded, and still an
other class from which the high card open
ing Is imperative, so there are several aus.
tinct classes Of hands that require gambit
treatment. These / shall at first outline
and then discuss in detail
In considering the trump attack and the
small card and high card openings we have
hitherto paid little attention 10 the weaker
elements of hands-the short suits that are
worthless for trick winning purposes
Trump strength, the best plain suit ana
means of re-entry have been the only char
acteristics of hand that we wanted TO ex.
anime. Now that we come TO the study of
the gambit, however, wo must take into
account weak suits as well as strong,
though the trick winning elements Oh the
hand are still of paramount Importance.
1t is by process Of exclusion that we
reason out every case of gambit opening.
Taking the more forward openings as
standards, we must study the gambit ny
comparison. Given "a hand To be opened,
we first ask, rs is good enough Tor tho
trump attack" II the answer Is mo,
then follows the question, "Is it adapted
To the long suit game, small card open
inpY', Or. Does IL call for the opening
of n hipb card seouenceY" IL the answer
Is still "No.n we resort to the gambit.
wish the student to bear this In mind
| clearly the gambit or short snit lead Is
not n thing that we look for first Of all, In
| determining how hand should be opened,
| but is n resource that we adopt only after
| considering and rejecting the idea OF
stronger opening. At the same time we
must not regard the gambit as an unfavor'
| able or hopeless resource, or ms dernier
resort Our theory Is, on the contrary,
that IL the hand does not contain the ele-
| ments of strength which justify the trump
attack or the long suit form Of strategy,
the gambit or short suit game Is the best
method Of handling il. Sometimes the
player's Judgment is sorely taxed to decide
between the long and the short" open
irQs. In which case the 'short" Is gener-
ally the safer In a word, II the hand
plainly indicates the trump attack or long
suit opening, so play it; but II there Is
reasonable doubt, don't
The easiest way to get at the classifica-
ton of gambit hands Is by taking trump
strength as the fundamental criterion.
Let us suppose, first, that the hand con-
tains great trump strength-fve or more,
or four very good ones-but no long plain
nit lat least four cards). Now, in our
study of the trump attack we agreed that
this sort of hand ought 10 be opened with
the trump II each plain suit is headed by
high or supporting card-ten or better
and il follows, If the high or supporting
card is absent from one or more OF the
plain suits, that the proper opening Is not
the trump, but the plain suit gambit. Fol
example, from hearts (trump), k,lO, z, o.
4: clubs, j, 3, a. diamonds, z, 4, q
spades, A, &, lead the G j. The first class
of gambi. is therefore from hands con
tanning trump strength but no long plair
suit, nor all round plain suit strength ol
support (see whist Openings, page 1859
Again, II, with fair trump strength
there arc n gCSd plain suit and means o
re-entry, VIC think the long suit game j
the most favorable form of strategy; bu
II the means Of re-entry are lacking, or !
the long plain suit is weak, we generall!
prefer the gambit--e. e., from heart
(trump), X, 10, z, 3; clubs, X, o, 8, o. !
diamonds, TO- 81 spades, o, 3, lead the !
10. because there Is no re-entry outside o
the long suit, and from hearts Grumpy, y
8. 6, 4; clubs, A, b, 4, 2; diamonds, h,
O.; spades, j, 10, lead the 5 j, because tn
long club suit Is so weak; hence the secon
tanning trump strength and one good plai
! suit, without NJ entry, and the third clas
from hands containing trump strength
: one weak long, plain suit, re entry In
second, and gambit card in the third.
All other gambit bands-namely, thos
which do not contain trump strength
may for the present be grouped In on
class, the fourth But we shall see tbs
subdivisions may be made, dcpcndin
chiefly on the character of the gambit su
: and presenting some strategic peculiaritio
Ii frequently happens that, after sclec
ing the gambit rs the proper opening froi
z hand the player has choice bctwee
4 two short suits. In this contingency IL
usually best TO lead the highest availab
supporting card The student will unde
stand, of course, that he must not RISK u
loss of "A possible trick winning card, sue
: as a queen twice guarded. We use u
J. queen as n Rambit card only when IL is n
. companied by the jack or by just one sino
card, or Is single. The king we thus OF
: Co sacrifice only when IL Is single, and sc
y dom then, and the ace and one small cal
we sometimes, but rarely, employ az
y gambit suit. Perhaps thu best of all gar
> bit combinations Is the jack and one sma
'e card, and the jack and two are pcrmis'
BILE We hardly ever go below the for
J. gambit opening, and we should never LEI
"short" SO small card that partner mi
le mistakeit II for IL long suit lead Cards
e sequence form the hest gambit suits, SUI
as q j, j 10, 10 ., etc.
Besides the strength-that Is, supportiI
stronghold the qambit suit, We shou
= also take into account its length. Wheth
a. or not suit of only two cards is better
& open than suit of three the strength
~ thc two suits being about the same, d
T. pcnds on the rest of the hand NO gener
rule on this point can be formulated.
: detailed examination Of various sorts
hands will bc necessary to correct unds
standing of the relative values OF yario
o sorts Of short saits. Our theory deals n
G SO much with individual suits in a hand
with the combination OF all the suits,
4 the hand as whole. H.. I. HOWELL
Boston Press Club, Boston.
2 CycIer Becker's Success.