Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1899-03-04
UTILITY OF SIGNALS.
Fine Points Which the Whist
Player Must Decide.
WHAT uyGH.Low PLAYS NAY MEAN
Logical Character Of the Call For
Trumps-Other signals Matter Of
AGREEMENT -variOus Views Of
Their PrOpriety.


Their PrOpriety.
The basis of ali whist conventionalities
of an arbitrary character is the "signal.
! It consists of the play of an unnecessarily
hioh card followed by lower one. For
example, if the adversary leads the king
| and the ace of a suit, of which you hold
the :. S and 3, and if you play the and
then the :, you are said to be signaling.
Your natural play is the and then the S,
and by the reversal Of the cards you indi-
cate something. What it is that you indi-
cate is purely a matter of agreement be-
tween yourself and your partner. I have
already pointed out in discussing the or
ipin Of the trump call that from your I'M
usual play your partner may reasonably
s,lppose your purpose to he to attract his
attention to an unusual condition of af
fairs. and he is justified in taking an ex
treme view of the situatiOn-that is, he
says to himself MY partner wishes me
to do something bold and to do it quick.
The boldest thing I can do is to lead
trumps, and shall do SO at the earliest
opportunity" repeat that / believe this
| inference to be logical and without great
| difficulty deducible from the high-low
play. "a
This high-low play Is primarily and cs-
sentially the call for trumps, the 'bluc
| Peter" as it used to be dubbed; the
"shout," as some players Of the present
day have christencd it. l want to say
| right here that consider the trump call a
| logical convention, and, if am wrong,
| the only arbitrary convention of any ac-
| count besides the trump echo, which is
| merely, as the term suggests, a "me, too, !"
| to the call.
| In this article shall hardly have space
| to proceed beyond the bare outlines Of
| the uses of the signal. However, let us
have the ouSines.
| First let us suppose that the signal is
made in n plain suit The student will do
well to look at the matter Objectively, as
Stunning that his partner or one of the adj
vcrsarics commits the crime" call it a
crime out Of Difference to my friend Eos
ter, who, I fancy, would as lief kick his
partner under the table as hang out the
"bluc Peter" Foster thinks that in sig
mailing player stultifies not only himself,
but his partner.
Suppose that ON two rounds of n plain
suit your partner plays first the five and
then the three of the same suit. Then his
signal may mean, according to circum-
these things:
l. The call for trumps.
2. The trump echo.
8. Strength in the suit led.
4. No moro of tho suit.
g. Change tho suit.
If one Of the other players discartis high
low OH the suit led-that is, having mono
of this suit, makes n signal in another
-1Na hat hn Il .1os1
is:
6. His strongest.
Z. His weakest
Or any one Of the meanings before men
toned
If the signal is made in the trump suit,
he may mean an echo, or else if, in max
ing the signal. he first rufus and then
leads or follows suit with q smaller trumps
he designs to indicate:
s. The number of his trump holding.
Let us examine the different meanings
Of the "signaf'in detail: L. The call for
trumps. This is an artifice employed by
almost all players. 1t may he made either
on partner or on adversary's lead though
the disciple Of modified" whist resorts
to it only on partners lead, in suits led
by the adversaries practicing one of the
conventions which have above numbered
3 and 4. To this Specification of the sig
nal shall refer later. 1t is part of the
"Street attachment, which seems to be I.
handicap on the players who practice it.
Borrowing the Street attachment, if a
player signals in a suit led by his partner
or one of the adversaries, no call for
trumps having previously been given nor
trumps led, he wishes to have trumps led
to him. If trumps have been led, or If
somebody has ''called' for them, the sig
nal may mean an echo e or 81. In brief,
the signal means a call for trumps when
ever it does not clearly apply to other con-
ditions. I cannot in few words make
this statement entirely clear without illus
tration. There arc two uses of the signal
which occasionally produce confusion.
They are the ''call" (D and the signal to
show strength in suit (6 or y. 1t is gem
orally quite easy to decide between the
trump call and the signal to show strength
or weakness in suit.
1t is customary to employ the trump
call if you thoroughly believe in it when.
ever the number of trumps in hand ex-
cccds four, with good side suit or when
tho hand would justify trump lead.
E. c. HOWELL,
Selects Success.
Nr. 1,,r l,a11 oO,,l