Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1898-02-27

strongest combinations Their play
ing is patterned upon the rules laid
down by Hamilton. J. D. Stanton is
one of the Nestors of the flock. Away
back in days of the Lincoln Club Mr..
Stanton stood in the front rank, and
any one tackling him now will find
that his hand has lost none of its cum
ming. He is a follower of the Foster
system. Charley List is a gentleman
who would stand at the top of the
heap if he would but drop his erratic
playing and put aside his propensity
for underplay, false cards, etc. His
style of play, from what | have seen,
seems to be based upon the New York
Suns common sense game. And Alex.
Uudegraff. Well, Aleck is naturally
the brightest player ] have ever met.
Always smiling, always good humor-
ed and always having his opponents
in a turmoil, he is one of thousand
and a prince of good fellows. His sys-
tenn of play, I have, after a careful
study, concluded to be combination
of all, with a number of variations
and frills of his own
Messrs. w. B. McMechen, Ed. Bowie,
A. H. Beach, B. S. Allison, George
Baird, w. E. Humes and Clarence
Laird are all first-class. players, and
firm believers in the Foster style of
play, the style followed by the great
majority Of Wheeling players; and
then there is Alex. Mitchell, who plays
the Suns common sense game, and
that eminent politician, Cal. Alex.
Campbell who is warm supporter
and advocate of short suit leads; and
our good-looking friend, Sam B. Har-
rison, who plays the Harrison system;
and Walter Rinehart, who considers a
variance from the regular long suit
leads and regulation plays a sacrilege;
and host Of other gentlemen too nu-
merous to mention, all distinguished
by different and characteristic styles
of play. AS to which is the best sys-
tenn, and which is the best player, |
will not attempt to decide. Just play
with them all. and decide for yourself.
In these days there is such a multi
tude of authorities and writer's. and
such a conflict of advice and opinion,
that the whist student is considerably
at sea. We have the long suit game
and the short suit game, and the com
mon sense game, and the invitation
game, the trump attack, AMI the shot
play.
One tells us with a long slit headed
by the ace and king, to lead The king,
while another says lead the ace. Again.
in the matter of discard. some say in
dictate your strong suit by your dis
card, while others tell us not to throw
away possible trick, but discard from
your weakest; and others again say
the rotary discard is superior to either.
One writer tells a third hand taking
his partners suit lead, and not desir-
ing trump to Immediately return the
suit; another to return it if he has
the master card: another to return his
ownsuit, and another to return his
own suit if he has a strong combina-
ton: and so it goes, you pays your
money and takes your choice. One
good feature about all this mixture is
that it saves the reputation and feel
ings of many players, for if one makes
a bad lead, or in fact. blunder of al
most any sort, and is taken to task
by his partner. he can refuse TO be
convicted and brazen it out by declar-
ing that he was following the system
of Smith. Jones or Brown, who advo-
Gated that particular play, and has
demonstrated fully and conclusively
that while it may lose occasionally, it
will always win in the long run.
There is one system or style of play
much written about, and known as "Wo-
mans Whist 1t is a wonderful game