Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1900-02-12
THE WHIST TABLE.
No Absolute Rule Yet Disclosed for
the Discard,

the Discaro.
One of the things which will prob
ably never be settled by any amount of
analysis and investigation. even II car
ried through with 10000 deals. Is the
question Of finding an absolute rule for
the discard. So far as the analysis Of
these deals has gone. 1t has been found
impossible to arrive at any workable
rule which will apply to all cases,
chiefly because the circumstances un-
der which the necessity for discarding
arise are so various.
There is probably no point in whist
strategy which has given rise to so
much discussion as this same one Ct
discards, and certainly there is none
which is still so far from being agreed
upon by our authorities. The old
masters early recognized its difficulties,
and modern players agree that there
is probably nothing by which expel ts
lose SO many tricks as bad discarding.
Bridge players have had the import
ance of the discard forced upon their
attention even more strongly than
whist players. but they have not been
able to establish any definite principles
which are equally applicable to all
hands: neither have they been able to
formulate any rules which would be of
much value to the whist player.
There are several kinds of discards.
some Of which are very easy and some
extremely difficult. The easiest of all
are discards Of losing cards which are
made when your partner leads winning
cards Of his own for the express pur-
pose of giving you discards. she most
difficult are those which are forced, and
which leave you guessing as to which
of two suits 1t will be better to pro-
tect for the end game.
There is no other branch of whist up
on which the student can get SO little
satisfaction from writer's on the game
as that of discarding. as will be seen
from the following selections from the
best-known textbooks on the game:
Fisher Ames says: THE first dis
card is the most important. and the in
formation given by It must be carefully
noted" This is an assumption that the
discard always Is, or always can be
made informatory. and also that 1t is
advisable to make II 80; both grave
errors. as Fisher Ames has found out
since he wrote that paragraph.
Mathews says: ''If weak in trumps,
keep guard on your adversaries' suits;
IL strong, throw away from them"
This assumes that you have guards to
keep, and know what your adversaries'
suits are.
Fenollosa says: "When the adver-
saries have declared strength in
trumps, my discard and my partners
should convey no definite information"
A nice partner for Fisher Ames!
~in ri
indicates your shortest suit II trump
strength Is not declared against you;
your longest suit IL IT is. Subsequent
discards have no such Significance"
This is an absurd rule. Suppose the
short suit is A x q, or A K, or a king
guarded; are you keep five cards to
the in preferenC. BY the time Proc
tor could enumerate the exceptions to
this rule the rule itself would be for
gotten.
whist Strategy" says: "The mod
ern theory Of the discard is: In at
tack, or when playing forward game,
preserve your own and your partners
suits, letting everything else go, even
unguarding honors and leaving aces
blank. In defence, discard from your
own and your partners suits, keeping
guard on those Of the adversary. The
player must be particularly on his
guard against drawing too rigid in
ferences from discards. 1t must be re-
membered that the false discard Is too
often a statagem to mask a weli-placed
tenace."
Take your choice from this advi e.
but choose one plan and stick to it or
you will deceive your partner.