The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-07-03
lRoUNDTnE WHIST


n DenIs DcmonstrAted-ThinER
nssunr",', Nm, u, the observation-disclosures
-, Actual Play or the Principle
ur-..,,,r the second Round or TrnuinH.
domination and sorting Of THE SUN's
Inc .nds has proved an extremely interest
lNVVVI,,h n rather tedious task. In going
ms H'.,rbutIons from eighty different persons
eV" All, natural that quito a number OF
" "" .hn,id be found, and 1t Is fortunate that
e'- law lnstances we're they of sufficient
mVp. b pcccssitato the rejection OF the deals.
bn1..,,. n, tho supposed clearncss OF the direc-
,lot accompanied the blanks for recording
~ ao,,s there were several persons who did
wv ~. S.,,ow Them, and consequently had their
-. In vain. One dealt out tho cards without
s-.u,nc any trump and then turned up tho
80 and recorded them. picking out tho hoart
ID Tor trumps in each case ard selecting any
80, In rs hand for the trump. giving him ono
80. mad none. Upon INVESTIGATING these deals
,r,s found that in all fifty Of them tho dealer
"a M more trumps than any other player at
~. ,ohle, which proved conclusivoly that the
80 vvcre worthless for the purpose for which
- wer, intended. Some persons neglected
~ nut tho trump suit In the first posi-
,Ior in every instance, which added so
.rch to the labor OF sorting the hands that 1t
"a. found necessary 10 reject such deals alto
thor sometimes it was found TINT the sumo
,hIrt.cn cards had been copied twice in the
anna deal. giving then, to different players, and
a., II WAS impossible to tell to which player they
u,onprlv belonged, all such deals had to BIO
,hrown out. Some persons recorded the suits
,ometimes in ono order: a X j 4. and some
,,mcs in the reverse order: 3 4 j Il a. Ihis
x.s found so confusing in the process OF sorting
that all such deals had to be rejected. Quito n
number forgot to put down the trump card. ana
othcrs forgot the trump suit, while some COW
srod the blanks with all sorts OF remarks about
the hands,
All these little points had to DO examined as
the deals were numbered, and those rejected
ware replaced by some OF the hands sent in after
Tho 5000 we're complete. Quite "A difference
vas observable in the style and cloarness Of the
rocords, some being so neatly done that they
were a pleasure to handle, while others were so
uleRible that they needed a second glance TO tell
aoueen from a deuce or q jack from II nine. The
preat majority, however. were marvcls of neat
meas. and their freedom from error was remark
able, All those sent in by NJ. c. lsbel were type
written, and those sent by J. I. Wyer, Jr.. were
evidently the work of n mechanical draughts,
man. every letter and figure looking as il 1t had
been intended for a Government map. Tn LOO
deals recorded by d. NJ. johnson we're models OF
elearness and accuracy, not u single error being
found In any Of them.
The first result of the classification OF these
10000 hands has been to show that the most
common distribution OF the cards is to give the
origlnalleader q hand in which his longest plain
suit 10 one of four or Ave cards. Nearly half oil
these four-card suits contain two or more
honorS. counting the ten as one, while three
iourthS of the hve-card suits contain two OIL
moro honors. Tho exact number of times il
10000 In which the longest plain suit in thu
original leaders hand consists Of a certair
umbo Of cards 10 shown in tho following
table: