The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-06-11
AROUND THE WHIST TABLE.
THE IMPORTANCE OF KILLING OFF
RE-ESTRY CARDS OVERLOOKED.

Tho Books Avoid tho Subject. Yet 1t IL
of Interest and Value to Modern
PIayer-ForcinR Your Avdersnries-Anhl-
Uses of Games-Club Notes and News.
One OF the most difficult things that the stu
dent OF whist strategy has to worry over 10 to
decide between the advantages Of not chang
ing suits and the disadvantages OF playing the
alversaries' game When plain suit Is opened
originally and the second or fourth hand wins
the trick IL is often q nice question to decide
whether to lead the same suit again or to shift.
and players decision must usually be based
on the pecuiarties of his own hand and the
situation his knowledge OF his adversares
and his confidence In his partner: not on any
hard and fast rules from the text books.
The play OF the third hand. after winning the
first trick. was very simple affair ten years
ago. but 1t is 30 no longer. In the Manual
we find every possible case covered by four
simple rules. the player being supposed to
adopt the one that first nts his case. Leading
trumps has the first preference II the hand is
strong enough to justify 1t. making due allow
ance for partners indication OF strength In the
suit first opened. II he does not feel just-
fled In leading trumps. the next thing Is
to return the master card OF the suit first
led If third hand holds It, such as the
ace after having fnessed the queen. II
he will not lead trunps and does not
hold the master card Of his partners suit the
next thing for third hand to do is to lead his
own suit IL he has one in which he thinks he
can accomplish anything. or II he thinks 1t pos
sibly better than the one first opened. II he
cannot do any Of these three things the only
resource Is for the third hand to return his
partners original lead. playing tho higher Of
two only remaining or the lowest OF three or
more. Holding both second and third best.
however. the higher OF those cards should al
ways be returned.
As the French say. we have changed all that.
Any person who would follow those simple
rules to-day would stamp himself as a begin
ner who had still a great deal to learn. Our
views OF the game are broader now and we see
things in different light. The good old rules
for the third hand were made to 1T a system Of
openings which is no longer practiced by the
first hand. They were based on the assump-
ton that the player invariably opened his long
est suit. and the mere fact that he led a plain
suit at all absolutely denied any possibility OF
his having more than four trumps. The long
suit having been opened. it was mani
festly to the advantage Of the partners
to get as many rounds of it as were necessary
to establish it before any OF the accompany
ing re-entry cards or trumps were taken out OF
tho hand. This being so. it was easy to see
that the best thing the third hand could do II
lie WOl tue llTSI IOuuu Vi ilt sun anu ulu
wish to lead trumps. was to have another
round OF the suit first opened. although some
seemed to think this doubtful when the first
trick was won as cheaply as with the queen
and third hand held no higher card.
If the second or fourth hand won the first
trick and led the same suit again they were
apparently helping the adversaries' game by
giving them another round OF their suit. and it
was therefore considered bad play to do
unless such 4 return Of the suit placed the
leaders OF it at a manifest disadvantage with
regard to position But If the adversuries did
notlcad the same suit they had to open another
and all authorities are agreed that opening
new suits is always risky business unless
you are strong in them. 1t therefore
looked like q good scheme to go on
with the same suit and so force the
original leaders to do tho shifting. IL
there was any shifting to be done. Some Of the
old masters, notably Mathews, called attention
to the fact that when one side quit a suit there
wcro frequently good reasons why the other
side should make them 60 on with It. AS an
instance he mentions the lead Of king from
X J. Immediately shifting the suit so as to get
the nnesSe on the return. Mathews says the
best way to defeat this coup if fourth hand has
the queen. is for him to lead tho suit through
the original opener. upon which he will usually
give NJ the tlncssp. believing it useless.
Tho trouble with making rules for the third
hand Of the present day and generation is that
he is no longer called upon to base his tactics
upon the lnvariabl" opening OF the longest or
strongest suit in the leaders hand. The duties
OF the third hand now require him to mako an
exhaustive study Of the art and science OF pass
ine supporting cards and ducking weak leads
The old rule that conf ellcd him always to re-
turn the master card OF his partners suit if he
trump. was often OF great value IN telling tn"
original leader that III" command Of his suit
was against him and on which side OF him it
lay, But tn" modern third hand cannot be de-
PENDED ON to return such card. because it
may appear to him valuable as a re-entry
or he may think that by Keeping it unit! his
partner eads that suit again he may kill some
Tho Old rule about showing your own suit
instead, OF returning your partners is quite
dead. 40 modern player would think OF onen-
had shown strength in another suit, because il
the first suit opened needs no further develop:
suit in the ,comhlnation To support 1t would
suggest an immediate lead OF trumps. regard
less Of numn"r:, II The first sui, opened is
on with it instead Of starting the whole
loh. Over ngan WITH a second suit
are not opened by experts nowadays except as
defensive leads. and when one has been started
it Is just as well to keep uuI"t about any other
good ones YOU may hav" back Of il. When
only one suit is shown and the adversnrcs are
not warned of the strength in the second, they
often rr"sum" on the situation and play too
forward "A game.
When the ndversaries win the first round OF
the suit OPENED they often have quite Il nice
Iniut to decide about the best continuation. a.
between the d Disadvantage ofOp"niug anew suit
and tn" Disadvantage of playing the enemy's
gam" hv continuing his suit for him. All our
authorities condemn opening new suits as
losing game. but they don't say what We are to
do if We don't open a new suit when We win the
first round of ~" adNnr>arics. Cam, in his
What to Lead, says: " 1t is less misc hi-vous.
generally. to- lead certain losing card than to
TrmbrdGo saws: 1T is a common d"lusion
to fancy that when II suit l., declared
against you you can rreycnt its making by
the evil day and do mischief in the interval"
Milton Work says he believes the greatest fail
ure in the AVcrag" whist player Is the desire to
change suits. He thinks that every time YOU
open new suit you place yourself at a disad-
vantage unless tho suit is headed by a Sc
quonce of three cards. on" the queen.
This forcing the adverse ri"s to open new
suits is one q the strong points in the short
suit game, he original opening ts Il gAmbit
making the adyersarcS an immediate present
Of the lead, They nr"now compelled to open
uau. SIIit n n MAY their alVprSnrieS "