The evening tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 189?-190?, 1897-02-13
FOR LOVERS Of WHIST.
Two Things to Be Considered
In Opening a Hand.
LONG SUIT PLAY is SIMPLEST.


The Pole e-Cavendish- -Trist Theory Unsound.
More Light on Strategic and Informs.
tory Play-what the Gsmbit Opening
Means to Partner.
In opening hand at whist there are
two subjects for oonsideration-what may
be called the strategic, on the one hand,
and, on the other, the informatory. BY
the strategic consideration mean that
which concerns the plan of play, which in.
wolves the question, "What opening Ia
probably the best from my hand, provided
the play thereafter Is corrcct'" BY the In
formatory consideration I mean: "What
will partner think of my leadp Will he
understand Its purpose and be correctly
ations all systems of play are based.
OF all systems of play the simplest is
that of Pole and Cavendilh and Trist, be-
cause in this system the Strategic and the
informatory features arc virtually iden-
tical. Here the strategic consideration Is
reduced to a single proposition, "Open the
longest suit" and by an easy process
the inforlnatory consideration becomes,
suit by the card you lead" If simplicity
were the supreme virtue, this system would
be ecstatic. The trouble Is that the strN-
tegic foundation of the Pole -Cavendish-
Trist theory Is unsound. It L. not always
best to open the longest suit. The truth Of
this statement Is now almost universally
acknowledged by strong players. Hence
the Pole -Cavendish- Trist structure falls 10
the ground. ,.
But II we reject the fundamental sts~.
tegic consideration of the old game and open
q hand sometimes with card from short
suit we must reject also the old informs-
tory consideration, because we no longn
say, by the original lead, Partner, this h
the correct number showing card Of my
longest suit We must, indeed, cast about
for an entirely new set of considerations,
both strategic and informatory.
Such was the purpose Of the present
writer in whist Openings'-to point out
the different foras of whist strategy, to
group all whist hands In classes according
to the strategic treatment demanded by
each class, and, at the same time, to define
each opening SO that 1t might be correctly
informatOry. An effort was made to have
the informatory features Of the system
spring naturally and logically from the
strategic. Arbitrary information giving
oonventionalities were as far as possible
avoided. The results of the authors effort
as conflrmed-or in some cases, modified
by experience, have been given, up to
certain point In this series of articles.
The player has been told from what va
rieties Of hands the original trump opening
OR trump attack-seemed to be advis
able. This was the strategic consideration
In one of its phases. The corresponding
informatory consideration was inevitable
IN each case. For instance, we lead trumpi
"short''-that Is, from less than four--u
we have all round plain suit strength; pu
contra, since we lead trumps "short, -
partner necessarily infcrs that our plain
suits are strong all round, as we would not
otherwise undertake the trump attack
without numerical trump strength. Again.
with one very good plain suit, re-entry
and four trumps, we lead trumps, showing
four by the American or Trist lead, and
accordingly, seeing the four trumps, part
ner infers the very good plain suit and the
re-entry, because this Is the only sort OF
hand justifying the trump attack with four
trumps-cxcept the rare case Of the four
trumps accompanying all round strength
In the other nine cards, which degree Of
strength will take care of itself without
regard to partners differences. Finally,
with five or more trumps and support (ten
or better) in every plain suit, we betn
with the trump attack, and partner, from
the number showing lead seeing the five
or more trumps, infers the character OF
the rest Of the hand beyond any doubt
save the slight one that with the long
trumps we may have a very good plain
suit, as in the foregoing case.
In the same way the small card and high
card openings from plain suits have been
presented. With long trumps (generally
five or more) and long and weak plain
suit, with re-entry, our strategic consider
alton is that the best opening is the small
est card Of the long plain suit. We 30 open
the hand, and partner infers our trump
strength just as soon as he discovers the
weakness Of the plain suit lead. With good
trumps, but not many (generally less than
four), and good plain suit, with reentry,
our strategic consideration again points to
the small card opening from the plain suit,
and partner, when he perceives the quality
OF the suit, infers the character Of the
trump holding.
1t will be observed that the informatory
features Of our openings 30 far are general;
each opening, depending on the general
character Of the hapd, also shows partner
its general character. In this respect, more
than any other, do the informatory fea.
lures of the old and the new systems differ.
The Pole -Cavendish- Trist idea was to show
by tho original lead all about the longest
suit and nothing else. Our idea Is to show
all we can about the whole hand, because
1t Is the whole hand and not the longest
suit alone that we consider In the choice
Of nm opening.
have gone thus into details, with some
repetition, concerning the strategic and
informatory considerations OF the new
whist, In order to exhibit, IL 1 can, the
spirit OF tho system. Mechanical whist,
whist by rulo Of thumb, wooden whist, Is
a banc. Any system, however, no matter
how logical and sensible Is may be, must
appear mechanical to the student who does
not understand it's PRINCIPLES and enter In.