Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1900-12-16
THE WHIST TABLE
WHAT AN EXPERT Whistler SAYS
ABOUT FaNESSING-ALS0 ABOUT
THE FINESsE TRIAL-vALUA-
BILE SUGGESTIONS TO Ex-
PERgENCED PLAYERS
AS WELL As BEGIN
NERS.

In dealings with opponents suits 1t
| should first be noted that q marked diff
| ference exists between plain suits and
| t-umps, for reasons most obvious. The
| master trump must always make. so
! that to postpone its play until later
| trick, unless for some reason the trump
| lead must be interrupted Immediately.
cannot lcse, and may gain. Not SO with
plain suits, unless trumps have ali been
| exhausted, in which case they may be
| played as backwardly as trumps.
!, Ripe Judgment is required TO decide
when the master card of an adverse
| plain suit may be safely held up until
| the third round, and this includes both
| ability to read the situation from the
! fall of the cards and sure knowledge
o. the methods being used by oppon-
/ ents. Assume the position of second
! hand TO the return of four-eard suit
/ originally opened on your left, in which
! you hold king and two small Suppose
| the ace played by your right-hand OPP
| poIent to have won the first trick, and
! that the size of the card returned in
| dicates his original holding TO have
/ been three. Here you could refuse 10
! play the king with a tolerable amount
| OF safety, as the suit would seem to be
| one that will go around three times,
! and the original opener, unless his
| holding be headed by two cards in Sc
| quence, such as queen and jack, is piac-
| ed in the position OF being compelled
to take the tinesse obligatory, and your
| partner may be permitted 10 win the
| trick with the third or fourth best
7 vi aH 1hN .-e CT Of
| third round / have otlen been second
hand to the return under such cir
! cimstances, holding king and jack, and,
I upon playing the latter, had good
Z minister's refuse to beat it with the
! queen third hand on the assumption
/ that it was a phase of tnesse oOnga-
| tory, and that the king lay behind. II
! the suit under consideration be trunps,
/ any nice calculation Of its chances 10
so around three times would be uu-
/ necessary, and it is almost always
/ proper to play low, trusting 10 third
hands making a mistake. The ability
to win the next trip in al probability
I and to then lead out tlree rounds OF
/ tIumps is often justification ior re-
! fpsiIg TO pay the master card of an
adverse plain suit second, hand, al
| though tEcre is always an cement OF
! luck about such plays, as there usually
/ is where any question OF tinesse arises.
! A much better known io:.n o. sec
! ond-Aand tinesse in oppon }.".s' sun j.
/ what is generally telAed The mess"
/ by trial. 1niS occurs most frequently
/ where the adversary on your rignt is
! leading the second round OF MS Sllt
OF which you held tnt master card,
, the first round having been woI Citd@r
I by his partner or yod.S with what WAS
/ then the third or touith blSt card
/ thereof. Like all Other Illnesses this Is
/ a play OF a speculative na,lre and re-
Qulres skill and good judgment. The
principle involved may be best under
! stood by the following Illustration.
I North leads:
North. East. South. West
| Trick 1...........o = 90 .
The suit is not returned and srbse-
1 quently North Is cOmpelcd To lead 1t
| again. When East is Gained upon to
! pay to the second round ne has re-
! naming the ace and six OF spades.
! lie Illnesses the SIX, specializing that
\ North is probably leading from suit
7 heaued by the King. north cannot
I hold the jack also, else he would have
/ led one OF his sequences, and SouLn
/ has denied the jack by playing the
I queen to the first round Then the
play goes something like this:
North East. South. West
! Trick 5...........S 50 40 j.
Occasion for this fnesse is presented
! more frequently than may oe thought
| and is often less often taken adyan-
! tage OF than any other. The same
| preeaution is TO De exercised in max
! ing this hnesse in plain suits as was
| advised above, that the suit will either
| go around three times or thai you
! can win the next trick and extract
| trumps whether the. finesse wins or
loses, the principal Justification for
the play always being strength in
trumps
The most familiar example Of fourth
hand finesse or underplay in oppo-
nents suits is that which goes un0er
| the name OF the bath coup and con-
sists in refusing king or queen led
| by adversary on the left, when the
| fourth hand holds ace, Jack and small
OF the suit led. The principle involv-
ed-that of reducing what was only
| q pOIeH'ldl LeudCb 70 dl ACTUAL mayor
tenace-may be applied with advan-
tage in many more complicated situa-
tons, particularly in the play or the
| trump suit, where opportunities for
| it's application occur with astonisn-
ing frequency. Let the theory once
be mastered and the occasions for put
ting it into practice will not be lack
ing. Close counting of the small
cards is important herein fact, it is
the sine qua non. A play quite SINH
lar in the bath coup often practiced
with success against the unwaTy is
that of fourth hand holding up the
ace from ace, ten and small, when
the jack is led, upon the theory that
the leader, supposing his partner to
| have the ace, may next lead a low
card instead OF continuing with one
of his sequence. The play ought never
! to succeed, though. as the leaders
proper continuation when the jack
holds is either the king or the queen,
according to whether the suit is OF
| five or six cards. When the king is
led, fourth hand, with the same or a
| similar holding, may sometimes induce
a trump lead by staying on the first
| trick. retaining his card OF recently at
| the same time.
Another favorite hold-up device TO
| coax a trump lead is that CT the jack