Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1900-01-07
WHIST
Current waist Literature From our
Exchanges-New Bon Mots-rhe
Initial Lead--An Attractive bnt
Dangerous Play.

Exchanges-New Bon Mots-The
Initial Lead--An Attractive bnt
Dangerous Play.
mamma, won't you buy me a dog?"
perhaps. What would you like, a
fox terrier or a pug?"
mo, no; get me n of those bum
ble-puppies papa talks SO much
about."-Exchange.
The great strength Of the expert lies
in his ability to draw correct infer
ences from tho fall of the cards. and
to adapt his play to the circumstances.
Foster.
Bon Mots From Whist Opinion.
The British are doing some pretty
deep finessing in South Africa.
Whist Is a very lopsided affair. The
mistakes are all committed upon the
other side Of the table.
Nowadays the man who could say
that he had never led a Singleton"
would be placed upon a pedestal beside
the hero of the cherry tree episode.
Don't be o~ver-elated at your defeat
of a superior pair of players. Luck is
a potent factor in whist, and bad play
sometimes secures the highest score.
The Initial Lead.
There Is only one advantage in hold
ing the opening hand of a deal, and
that is that you can develop the game
in any direction you may select NO
sooner does the play begin than infor-
nation is at once conveyed as to the
contents of the various hands, by means
of the fall of the cards. One has said
that the opening lead forms the rock
upon which the greatest number OF
whist players break asunder or part
company. There is only n common
ground upon which all meet in unity,
and that is with overwhelming strength
In trumps one should lead them. Next
to this the largest majority OF players
would lead their longest suit, especially
# of the old school-followers of How
ell. Foster, Baker or Starnes would
vary. Those of the Howell persuasion
would open the shortest; the admirers
Of Val. Starnes, anything that did not
contain a tenace, while the disciples OF
Foster and Baker would turn over the
cud Of common ems and not be lels-
urely about 1t either, and consider the
opening from every possible point OF
view, shewdly choosing the one that
seems the most lucrative in point OF
tricks. Really it Is remarkable that
such illiberality exists among the I'm
est Of our whist players. They are as
narrow in their pre5udices and as con-
servative in their methods as a low
church deacon or a New England farm
er. We all believe that the long-suit
game of whist is the ideal game, yet
there may be radical long-suiters as
well as radical short-suiters. While
the long-suit game consists In leading
from and bringing in the long-suits, its
strongest advocates admit that deals
frequently appear from which it would
be advisable to lead from the short
suit instead of from the long. Herein
lies the difference between the long
suffers and the s~hort-suiter. They
both believe in the infallible doctrine
Of bringing in a long suit; the liberal
l~ong-suiter will as discretion directs,
sometimes prefer to open a short suit,
and the liberal short-suiter will not al
WAYS open a singleton or sub-sneak.
Between the two extremes there are
players who take into consideration
their hand first, and then apply what
ever leads. long or short, they think
best adapted to it.-Detroit Free Press.
An Attractive but Dangerous Play.
A very attractive device at the whist
table is to play on the declared suit OF
the enemy. 1t is a dangerous practice,
and cannot be used with too great eau
ton. II you have won cheaply fourth
in hand q trick in the opponents suit,
it may be very enticing to lead
through" the original opener, and thus
give the partner a chance to make a
trick. Practical experiences, however,
has proven that this highly attractive
device ia quite likely to prove expen-
sive. An important thing to bear in
mind is that in a deal of thirteen cards