The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1897-01-04
HOWELL ON WHIST.
q Revolution In tho Game and How Is
Came About.


a revolution is on foot in the whist
weird. At the head of the established gov
ernmont Cayendish stands His disciples
call him master. Hamilton, Arnes. Cofin.
"ork, Ssrees-theso are but apostles and
missionaries Their books are to the mas
ger as volume of sermons is to the Holy
scriptures themselves. Tho comparison is
not irrevorent. To the mass of whist rlay-
crS Cavendish is, in fact, o religion.
But their faith is disturbed The "short
snae hcresy gains adherents every day.
Foster and Howell are the chief sedition-
lists.
Tt is the belief of tho advocates of the
new whist that it has come to STAY: that
it is not hercsy, but gossip: that while
it is now compelled to accept the narrow
designation Of ''the short suit game il
Will speedily earn the right to be known
simply as whist, without qualification or
question.
What is there in 1.-THE royal game that
gives such eest to the allegiance of its sub
Jects? In some respects it is the simplest
OF card games And yet men study it as
they study scierco ard art write articles
and books about it, until its photography
is astonishingly great; talk about it, dis
cuss, argue, wax warm; teach it to classes
OF pupils, as other professors teach music
and the modern languages, and still never
exhaust nor even fathon it's possibilities
All the players have to do at whist is to
get as many ticks as they out of their
hands, but how to do this is the question
Tho raw recruit picks up his hand and
guesses what to lead. If he does any rea-
soning at all, it is sure to be crude, unprin-
cipled and wrong. The choice of the best
card with which to open given hand is
far from easy. 1t requires conprehen-
sion Of the principles of the game, some
knowledge of probabilities and mutual
understanding between partners. Whist is
a partnership game. The original leader
should do what seems to be best for his
hand and ut the same time should snow
his partner, SO far as he can by single
card, what the possibilities of his hand
are, how far he can be of service to partner
and how far he expects partner S assist
ance
Let US plunge in Inedias res. Suppose
I have this hand dealt to me: Hearts
(tfunp)-K, @, 10; clubs-A, J, 8, 8; dia-
1nonds--Q, Z, 5, 2; spades-s, g. The deal
Ell has turned the OF hearts. What shall
be the original lead from the given hand:
Shall start the trumps? No, because
thcre is not much plain suit strength in
she hand, and one suit-the spades-is
quite Clefenselcss. And the clubs-shail
lead from them? No, because with the
tenace-A, J-at the head of the suit,
am moro likely to win two tricks with the
ace and jack ifs some one else leads it than
If lead it myself. The diamonds? No.
because the very best I can do with them
is to win trick with the queen, and
must wait for that. And, finally, the
spades? Yes 1 will lead the 8 of spades,
because its loss cannot iniure my hand,
and this suit being my weakest is prob
ably partners strongest. He will under
stand that the is the best spade I have;
that 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 SONS
careful mnneuvering. II his spades ars
strong, 1 help him by the lead. If his
spades are weak, it is just well for
both to know about this weakness carly.
Tho hand is an example from actual prac-
tice. 1t was played thus (hearts turned
by West North leads to tho first trick, the
winning card in each trick is underlined,
and tho ono under it is led next):