The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-10-22
AROUND THE WHIST TABLE.
,,ovJsE OF ANINTERESTING WINTER
FOB THE CITY CLUBS.

S,.tem without Conventions-Dihsran
Results from the Same Theories of whist.
rh. whist season Is now in full swing at all tho
DIV clubs and in spite OF the rival attractions OF
.sdss there seems to be no decline In the interest
=. Lu,lcnte although straight whist appears to
=. thing Of the past The New York Whist the
v,,ct.rbocker the Brooklyn Whist and all the
-a,rep's clubs have started tho season with large
.uuhers OF players, and everything points TO an
Interesting winter
s,x challenges have been received for tho A.W.
+, ,rophy--all from Western clubs-and the ofhcial
.,d,r o, play drawn by lot, Is as follows:
l. Duluth Wi ist lab.
4, Minneapolis heas and Whist CUB
a Chicago whist Club.
. Chicago Duplicate Whist Club.
a HYDE Park VIII tCluo OF Chicago.
A oaks Club OF Austin. Ill.
rh, 6, Paul Chess and Whist Club being the
holder from the last congress, the first match
,,u., bs played at st. Paul II Is improbable
.,., any of the Eastern clubs will challenge for
Al, trophy until 1t is time for 1t TO come to this part
:, ,hs country after the midwintcr meeting Of tho
League in January
rb. tr.yeling trophy OF tho Women's Whist
LEAGUE ia now an accomplished fact Its very
handsome oblong casket of silver, surmounted
no winged figure OF Victory in sitting posture
ho,d;np A wreath in one hand and palm branch
In the other The trophy Is the gift OF the hon
or,,v male members Of the league, +. Leroy
Smith. W H. Barney j. S. Nef. NJ Z. work,
". A Hawley and T. II. Andrews Jr. The trophy
4. A, present in Washington and II will remain
among the Eastern clubs for four months, after
which IL goes West for the remaining four months
OF the season
A COMPARISON OF sYsTEMs
Come industrious correspondent OF the official
o,v.n has been so much impressed with the i'm
roy,,nce of getting at q solution Of the vexed
ou.a,ion of the merits OF the long and the short
emit games that he has been at the pains to deal
mt and play over 100 hands at whist, analyzing
them with the aid Of an assistant Each hand
yas opened In three different ways and the leader
and his partner followed a different system In each
c.se tho text books used as a model being Ham
u,on's Scientific Modern Whist, "Howell's Whist
on.nInes. and Foster q Common Sense in Whist"
Tho results are interesting II not conclusive.
The long suit Hamilton game fell behind like
the Shamrock the Howell system beating II seven
teen tricks while the common sense game beat II
twenty-five Strange to say the analysts finally
came 10 the conclusion that the best trick winning
game was one absolutely without conventions,
but they warn tho beginner against attempting to
play such q system on account Of Its difficulty
.
Of novice The following Is a concise statement
Of the system which made the most tricks in these
experiments. and which is decidedly interesting
as definite scheme Of play that has been found
better than any other to date:
AS a rule the conventionless player opens a
long suit originally only where no secs a fair
chance 10 establish II, where partner Is likely
10 b injurously deceived into thinking that the
short suit Is long one. The original lead Of the
convonuonless game Is a matter of careful pre-
Judgment Of probabilities, and depends upon the
entire hand and the turned trump. At every
trick whist shrewdness and thorough knowl-
edge Of the adversarios' system take the place Of
signals and echoes. The convenuonless player
keeps q constant lookout for opportunities TO
fnosse He hopes for gain from that source and
from the raking Of small trumps by ruling.
Whenever the development shows that the COM
bined strength Of the two hands Is insufficient
70 Justify an attempt to bring in long suit or
whenever, at the Threshold, tho probabilities
are strongly that way.
He Is not unmindiul however Of the impor-
tanoe OF leading long sui. for defensive purposes
even when there Is no hope Of bringing Il in. He
dlshkes 70 Open and prefers that other player
should open, suits consisting Of: tao Acc and one
or two small cards; (O King Queen and one oil
moro small cards; (c) two honors not in Sc
quence and ono or more small cards: I'D Kinf
and ono or moro small cards; (e) Queen and a
least two small cards. as all these combination
are likely to result in gain if opened by anothe
player, especially II opened by ones lefthand ad
versary. Where three suits in a hand belong Il
these Objectionable categores he inclines to opeI
the fourth suit; and where two plain suits belonf
to this important list he inclnes to open the thrc
plain suit All suits are opened from the bottom
or the top. Fourth. bests and intermediate card.
are not used, unless the lead OF King to show tn,
A'e may be called the lead of an intermediate
card Tho Ace is seldom led originally from ,
long suit The King led from long suit show,
Ace or Queen, Jack, or Queen, 10; Queen show:
Jack, 10; Jack shows 10, or 10, o, and all Other
long suits are opened from the bottom. unless 4
Is desired that partner should fnesse.
This results in practice in making partner
presume that the lead Of q 3. 4 or s is from the
bottom Of a long suit. and calls for third hand
high, and that the lead Of a 8 or higher is prob
ably the highest card held in the suit Card.
as high as a 8 are literally fnessed by partner
led as singletons, or at the head of wocard suits
and demand special treatment depending upon al
the suits in partners hand. Sometimes he plays
when his hand is poor he leaves the lead will
the second hand If he can,
Long suits headed by King, Queen, withou
Jack or 10, are opened from tho bottom, unles,
there is no hope OF making more than one tricl
IN the suit, should the Ace be adverse. A long
plain suit is worth opening originally when it con
tains Ace and King. or three cards higher thar
40 and is accompanied by an Ace or twice guarded
King in another suit, or by four trumps. Ace
King suits, without Queen, are led from tn,
bottom when there Is hope for three tricks In tbs
suit -Four card suits are seldom worth opening
originally unless very strong. The best shor
suits are twocard suits headed by a 8. 10 or Jack
King, Queen unguarded, and Queen, Jack un
guarded. are also good short suits Three-carc
suits, and short suits headed by Queen, excep
Queen, Jack unguarded are not so good.
The discard Is from the suit which partne
should not lead. and is usually from weakness.
OF a tenace suit. and Is OF course subject to thu
usual caution not TO unguard an honor or dis
gard singleton carly in the play Of the hant
The discard is occasionally false, especially whcI
The edversaries are strong in trumps
=, lrumps are led when either partner has four
II an established suit and a re entry card are II
the combined hands. Often a tentative lead from
ehort trumps is made where moro than two card
were held originally in each plain suit Partne
returns or refuses " return the trump lead, accord
ing u his view OF the situation.
When one PLAYER has suit established earl,
IN the hand, he leads the lowest card OF his re
entry suit thereby saying: Have you four trumps
partner have not, and this ia my reentry suit.
H. In the same situation he leads a strengthens
80, 10, Jack or Queen, at the head OF a shor
SUIT he SAYS 4 have no re-entry card.
IL might be supposed that this system ouRh
not TO be called conventionless, but il is merely
NJ ell IN m