The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-10-28
AROUND THE WHIST TABLE:
BEGINNING or THE BUSY SEASON ~
THE WHIST WORLD.

IHb Ubfbf VOHbts
Plans Of the Clubs In New York and Its
Vicinity for the winter m OF Indi-
yIdual Superiority The New York system
Of Play Gaining In Favor steadily.
This Is the beginning Of the busy season In
the whist world. when all the clubs are starting
their compa,- game, the A. ". L. trophy con-
te.ts are getting undor wav, teams arc being
pick I'D ont for the i~ntercity conte'tS and local
org lni2ltlon' are hunting for one another'S
scalps. Most Of the local clubs begin their
computation NJ the individual scores from the
middle Of October, 80 that whist Is no longer an
amusement, but a very serious business to those
who have any reputation ut stake, The knIck-
erbockers. the New Yorks and the Brook ma
have all started their annual tournaments and
the price the, offer have been posted.
The Pre- idcnt Of the Whist Club Of New York,
Thatcher Adams, has presented 20 the Board "
Managers the most valu able trophy ever offered
for competition in a whist club. 1t Is a solid
silver vase, and Is to he held by the memb
making the beat average score during tho
season from October to Ma, At this club the
scores are computed on the Howell system OF
average. and there are no easy seat', y and )
or T. and ". a. every pair must play against
every othor pair In the room. The club night
for duplicate Is "wednesday, and member are
allowed to bring their friend to the game.
which Is one Of the stife,t In the country and
one Of the hardest in which to get n top score.
At the Knickerbocker Whist Club. the ever
popular Tues lay night games for visitors will
be continue :. the top scores taking the buttons
home with them as trophies. Prizes are offered
for the best score ma e In each month on
condition that the winner shall play every
Tues iay In the month. The attendance at
this club Ia now the largest OF any In the metrop-
oils. the Brooklyn players having fallen back
since they left their old quarters, They have
a peculiar way Of arranging the players at the
Knickerbocker. 80 Us 10 bring those In the lead
against one another al much as possible and
give the weaker players a chance TO catch up.
No names are put on the boari until both part
ners are In the room, and then the records are
c~onsultei TO find the aggregate plus or minus
Of tho two partners. II Jones is IS plus and
plays with Smith, who Is "a plus, they are put
down as % plus as a pair. If Brown IS Is plus
an plays with White, who is 20 minus, the pair
are put down as . minus. The pair with the
best average plus take the y and S seats at
| table No. |; those next best come y and 5 at
table No. ?, M so on until all the \ and S seats
are hllot. Then the L and W seats are filed
up. starting at table No. l again, This pits all
the strongest players against one another on
the y AMI S hands. and allows them TO eat each
other up. while tho weaker players have a
chance to take home an occasional button by
picking up the tricks dropped by the big fellows
In their fight over first honors.
The women are not b ehlnd the men In the
matter Of making things in!eresIias FOR the
Brooklyn holds its meetings at the Germanis
on Wednesday, az ~. and the Long Island
street on Tuesdays at2. There are two PRINCIPAL
games for mixed pairs during the week. The
lHb9 En- IS6S IsiSn5 S Ct Ss sSr f fS5E 3,ieT nlsh,s. W tSs
PARLIAMENTARY Sw ddaSs feIt he I Rroas n s a ne second
and fourth. The Brooklyn Whist Club has a
game for women on Friday evenings. The
women are doing all in their POWER TO, make
things interesting for, their members and their
| rivals and have spared no pains to attract MEM
bers The Long Island Club, which Ia nothl q IL
not, enterprisine, he's ANNOUNCED That beg inning
a series Of short talks on whist for its members,
which will be given BY prominent teachers and
The New Jersey players are also getting In
shape for the coming season by pulling their
teams together and arranging dates and sehed;
contests, which lead UP TO the state champion
ship at n end Of the season The principal
E S,SISsiS ga "a hand gt ~ PcTS oDtInyp Ge Il H tne lEN]2 s%s4k
New Jersey has always been celebrated for the
srrength Of its large teams, and Is probable
New York, Brooklyn, Staten Island and Jersey
as the contestants. twelve or sixteen men in a
With all these opportunities for distinguishing
oneself. the question Of individual superiority
IS naturally an important. one and every club
will have a good partner and make a good
score every time be plays Nothing attracts
S S6%pass s .o q man and hx TRe S0V q p SITEFes s mSGe Is
In getting a good average plus he Il pretty
sure Of being asked TO go upon some OF the lead
Three things seem TO be essential to success
In this particular lire Of compass whist: natural
ss9tntg; EPRS ssI pa y pesSe snS d b g'V ey syS'e amc the
matter Of course. Whoever heard Of n whist
player who did not ! fsrb Ro+,6 a 9yrong sa'DiGio93
ttSSa an q h. TIE luck %sa is .s asa 1aa ffEI @, tha tfpS al. sni
On whose quality depends so much Of your
chance for success. are broucht 10 you chiefly
by that success. because You can heye your
any man 60 10 any good club and make the top
any man in New York for a partner for the ask
| Inc
| persons the most important OF all, Is tho system.
II is a matter Of individual choice and much
depends on the temperament Of the person
selecting it, some being better fitted to handle
certain systems than others. The truly great
minds affect to look down upon all systems
as s,o aH." e ,ba ywS Snd . s0Ts oil s,c {as rs s fSs soc,n IN.
of the long suffers. even go so Tar IS To revIle
the game they play themselves The poetess
| describes inc SN SNell bHt iAuh ldltlN dutIlRl
rs "A game OF no intelligence and one played
by people Of no whist ability. being devoid
a whist tactics and without any element of
whist strategy" True genius Is always modest
There are two principal requisites In a good
system, II must be founded on sound prin-
ciples and Il must be sufficiently simple to bs
eac'iy learned and easily handled by the average
run Of partners 1t Is also very important
that II should be open and above board. 40 "a
10 be above any suspicion Of coming under
the classification Of private conventions.
The system which seems to be gaining favor
steadily every day In this part Of tho world
and which bids fair TO be the standard of the
East at east Is what Is generally known as
the New York game, which, IS the outgrowth
Of the theories Of Elwsll. Taylor and Ward
There are many minor details and variations,
but In the main the essential parts OF tho sys-
TEN are as follows:
THE NEW YORK SYSTEM.
Hands In which there Is a chance to make
or bring In q long suit should be distinguished
from those IN which there I, no such chance,
and the indication Of this distinction should
be given to the partner by the opening lead
or as early as possible after that, II the player
Is not the original leader Hands In which IL
Is probable that a long suit may be made are
those which contain at least two Of the three
recognized elements az success In PLAYING