The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-07-31
AROUND THE WHIST TABLE.
LEMONS TO BE DRAWN FROM THE BOG-
TOW WHIST C0NGHESa.

rious Hands and How They were ktAyed-
Notes of the Blubs, and Problems.
1its ali previous congresses. the one at Bos-
1on had its lessons. from which future meetings
Iii undoubtedly profit. The principal change
tron previous tournaments was In the matter
q, scoring the result Of each hand a. q match
won or lost. instead Of creditinE the players
withthe actual nun Der Of tricks in the Swing"
There was quito a difference OF opinion as to
the merits Of this system OF match scoring.
can't Bouva. whose team won the champion
shIp for 1898, thought that scoring the hands as
matches was n decided improvement on the
trick score. because It made men. play careful
steadv whist. and placed the 80 to 1
obot players at q decided disadvantage.
Others thought It only fair that the
PLAYERS should have credit for all the tricks
thew rained. and laid great stress on the fact
that some Of the most brilliant hands ever
rlayed at the whist table have been those In
which a player has schemod to bring In several
cards Of q long suit by risking the loss Of q sim
gle trick. Under the match system there Is no
Indureraut for any one to make a brilliant
stroke, to Put IL 10 tho touch, TO win-or lose
Il ALL" because q swing OF Ave tricks would
oplv he q single match won, ard would be COM
pletelv offset by the loss of a single trick in
tome other hand whom II could not be helped.
when the match system was first proposed
one OF the chief arguments for It was that Il
was lust as fair as the trick score. because In
all the matches played for the A. W.. L. trophy,
for instance. It was found that the match and
trick scores were alike in favor OF the winners.
The same was true In Boston, for the winners
were ahead in both tricks and matches In every
instance. Instead Of this being an argument
for q change to the match system Of scoring.
however. it would seem to be rather an sreu-
Ik hnaoraa 40 tha nhan1a rnaHaa
no difference. why should IL be necessary 20
make it? With the great mass of players the
match score Is evidently unpopular, especially
in the compass games when only q few hands
ere played. In a hand in which the average is
A., for Instance. It is often dependent entirely
on the adversaries' play whether you get 4 or 5
on It, but 4 will lose the match. while 5 viii win
II. On other hands the difference Of o trick
might not affect the match score at all. or only
half point. The match system was tried in
our local clubs all last winter. and was so dull
and uninteresting that It will certainly not be
easy to revive it. There is something In o thing
being equally popular apart from its being
equally fair.
Quite a number Of persons were Inclined to
make hasty and unjust comparisons between
the time taken to post the scores at Put-in-Bay
and In Boston. The seventh congress- beat all
records in this respect, but while due credit
must be given to the indefatigable p ]. Tor
mey for his excellent management, II must not
be forgotten that he had no such difficulties to
contend with as those which confronted the
committee in Boston. The most intricate score
that was handled at Put-in-Bay was the sched-
ue for fours on the Howell system. the new
system Of averaging by fractions being then
unknown. At Boston they had the fractions.
they had the matches. they had Safford's
complicated comparisons OF the n and 8 and
Eiand " hands in groups they had to get the
averages on every hand in the match games
and then to 60 over each individual score and
make out the loss and gain on every deal. At
Put-in-Bay all the events were run OF in one
heat, while in Boston all but the frst Of the
open events were divided into two or three sec
tons, and some Of them into i've. the scores for
zach Of which had to be made up separately.
While there were no reversed deals ct the
congress. there seem to have been several 20
Sersed scores. and It Ia very evident that the
Committee on Laws will have In mako some
very strict regulations for the manner in which
such errors shall be treated In the future, tt
printed Avs Of the congress stated that when
ever an error had been made in recording the
score. and it was discovered before the match
was awarded by the Tournament Committee.
the error should be corrected by the umpire or
by the committee. If possible. and consistent
with justice TO all parties to do So"
This is a very loose kind Of a law. because II
does not specify who is to do the discovering
nor how he is to know 1t Ia an error. neither
does it specify the exact formula by which the
Tournament Committee shall award the match.
and SO Put ~! disputes at an end. The law
should be made so that on no account should
any scorer be allowed to tamper with the slips
TO enter them up Just as he gets them and with
then i; laid before the Tournament Commit;
should ask II there have been any protests from
the players. II not and ii everything seems to
be correct, the Chairman Of the committee
should sign the score sheet. after which It
shoniI stand, no matter what errors may after
The scorers at Boston seem to have taken
npou themselves TO make q. good many correc-
lions. some Of which were discovered and pro-
The Tournament Committee never signed the
score sheets. and there never was a time when
ettempts to set things right Without consulting
the parties Interested the scorers got q good
many things wrong. In one hand In which the
down 2, and the scorers gave the s to the wrong
pan, i'!st because he had made three tricks
very dangerous thing to alter a score lust be-
cause II looks wrong. but there seems, TO have
S9e eR, : sot OF that done. In the match on Friday
.,sht Aere was ahand In which most OF the y
s%d y P Patr had a. a 10 cef Fl 4 s SR' to one the e
49, 'ISy 'iNA lili'lt !. IL StOTeTS Cuu-
suited only thr parties who had apparently got
me worst OF II and they Of course claimed a re-
verse score, and without any authority the
scorers took upon themselves the responsibility
.! changing N" score sheet without even con-
tnltlnE the players who had a certificate for
sieVen tTElcks. and SO deprivinR them Of the
nateh; 10 put II mildly. this Is a pretty high
n ns5m na way Of doing things, aud tho players
prompuy protested against II. Although tho
ErOtest was IN writing the committee totally
ignored II. or at least they said nothing to the
protesting parties about It.
IN the matches for the Minneapolis trophy
the After Ego Club Of Chelsea made ten tricks
~ h hand against the Baltimore Whist Clubs
ssHRTnee' IB ;9 sides put down three on the score
smnpS without submitting the matter to the
chelsea PLAYERS at al the scorers gave the Bal
.,ahore par the, ten tricks, When w, A. .Grau-
nreIn on the Chelsea pair discovered this he
We Wbsnt 70 the Baitirnore, players. who pdmitted
tm pui"o put declined 70 go behind the re-
r5otest Win the umpire, but. the score was not
thSnken' and When, the results were posted on
sne bulletin board it was seen that almost
ssNety pair but Chelsea had made ten tricks on
Intt hand while they had made three only.
S Hsrts = tHs congress vas all over TIE Sun repre-
On the official score sheets when they were be-