The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-02-16
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Il was the dealers duty to declare clubs,
but this met with such contemptuous con-
domination from your correspondent Ace
of Spades hat | determined to carry out
an experimental investigation into its
merits.
Leaving the dealers hand as above
! dealt the remaining thirty-nine cards
into three hands and gave dummy each
OF these in turn, maintaining the order
Of the hands as they were dealt, Each
distribution thus furnished three games.
Each OF the three practicable courses
open 10 the dealer was then tested In turn;
a club declaration by hin self, a spade
declaration by himself, and passing the
make to his partner. Twenty-Five dis
tributions of the cards In all were made,
yielding seventv-fye hands. each OF which
was PLAYED in each Of the three ways, so
tuat Us games n al were played. these
were the results
The orig ma club declaration won PIC
points and lost 53i. Net less, ?2s trick
points aud 1876 honor points.
The original spade make won 81 trick
points and lost S0l, won 81 by hCnors and
lost 1872. Net loss. 72 trick points and
eoJ hJnors.
Passing the make TO the dummy won
1873 trick points and lost l,iO4; wen 554 in
honors and lost udi. Net loss, 1850 trick
points and 10 in honors.
Total loss on original club make, 1904.
lOltl loss ON OIlkllldI hDdtt Illdht, l,Sb<.
"TCtal loss on passed make, l.416.
Average loss On each hand Clubs. g.;
spades, 10 ?. and pass, 1872, for trick points
only The average total loss on each hand:
Clubs, SO; spades, 1875; and pass ng, 1915.
The club call lost the game once only,
cult 10 make four by tricks against six
trumps In one hand. Passing the deClara-
ton lost ii seventeen times.
Twenty points or upward Involving
A -V.-N - r
lost next hand were scored six times against
clubs twenty times against spades and thirty
times against the pass. The dealer never
scored the game but he made the odd trick
or more t~hirty-two times in clubs as against
nine in spades and fourteen In the pass.
The dealers club was double thirteen
times mot always with success) and SPADE
forty-eight times. When the declaration
was passed dummy declared no trumps
twenty-nine times, hearts thirteen, dia-
monds eleven, spades nineteen, and clubs
three times This is very much what IA
would expect.
SHOULD II be objected that a series OF
twenty-five distributions Is too small to
AFFORD a sound basis for generalization,
| would reply that It was my originallnten-
ton 10 carry the experiment further. but
the net results OF each distribution were
so m~onotonously uniform, and were more
over so consistent with a prior probability,
that II did not seem worth while to prolong
IL TUT NHt IfNls 4 utfl OIiN - " NIdN III
PLAYING the hands | did my best 10 favor
the declarations which ! did not approve
The first comment that an American
PLAYER would make on these figures would
proablv be that the dummy must have
made some very questionable declarations
70 lose an average Of nearly twenty points
a hand.
The gentleman who conducted the ex-
pertinent referred 20 in the Times OF India,
further explains his theory In the following
letter to the London Field:
Il do not know what may be the prin-
ciples adopted in English card PLAYING
circles regarding the ~prophylactic d~eclara-
ton. but here In India, where bridge -four
ishes with the g~reastet vigor. We ave
quite cast aside the dogmas Of the text
books. and have developed a system OF our
own based on a PRIOR common-snnse con-
s~iderations. The hand and declaration
which formed the subject Of the expert
meri furnish an example OF the svsten.
According n all the authorities the
ealer should declare spsdos on such a
hand but the almost universal pr ctice
In India, at least among those who tako
the trouble TO think for themselves, 10 20
declare clubs. and that even on a hand rela-
tivelv weaker in that suit and stronger in
spades. The argument is obvious, and IL il
difficult 10 gainsny.
.The probability Of the spade declarstioa