Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-11-29
WHIST IS POPULAR
ON ACCOUNT OF LUCK
Long-Suit View of Forced
Leads and Their Proper
Use,

Whist as played today in America IS
very much less affected by chance than
ii was fifteen or twenty years ago. ne
element Of luck has undergone a process
of reduction, commencing with the aboi-
ton of the count for honors. The intro
duC.tion of duplicate play. however, mas
done more than any other factor toward
the elimination of luck. That the process
is still in operation is manifest from the
various new match plans which have re-
Gently been suggested These include
schemes for the transportations of the
suits and the playing of each player with
and against each other engaged, while
the last proposition Of this sort adds
provision for the rejection Of all abnormal
or freak" deals.
In this movement toward placing whist
upon the basis of exact science we
perceive q great danger to its popularity.
Much of the charm Of any game depends
upon the attractive feature of chance,
which we term luck" good or bad. &C
Cording to whether it is favorable or
otherwise. A certain amount of luck is
Necessary to the popularity of any game
even among the most intellectual players.
There Is something in the composition OF
all human beings which Is appealed 10
strongly by an uncertainty. Our atten-
ton Is Immediately arrested by the sight
Of man running to catch train, or
a small boy pegging stones at lamp
post The result is of no consequence,
nor even OF any interest to us. except in
so far as it satisfies that mysterious love
ot seeing a questionable event concluded.
This feeling is no doubt the outcome Of
the spirit of gambling inherent in tine
majority of mankind, and which. next to
Indulgence. finds the greatest pleasure in
watching fate play cup-and-baSl with 9TH
ers. Perhaps the attractivenesS OF bridge
IL, I,
bling feature pure and simple 1t may be
that its greater variety and the more ex-
tended scope 1t affords for the operation
OF luck will account for its successful
competition with whist for the favor of
so many good players.
Element of Luck.
Luck is practically absent from
chess. and for that reason probably it
Is the least popular of pastimes. 1t is
no refutation OF our contention to
state that chess is a difficult game to
play. Bad chess is easy of accom-
plishment as bad whist. How. then,
will you account for the fact that men
who could never attain to a more than
mediocre achievement at either game
seldom persist in playing chess, while
thousands of them maintain an interest
i'm whist for a lifetime. The explana-
tion must lie in the fact that in the
ton for their lack of skill in the ele-
ment of chance. If whist were to be
brought to the condition of chess as
contest of almost pure skill, it's adj
vancement as an intellectual pastime
would mark its decadence as popular
game.
We believe that the admixture of
luck and skill is found in very salts
factory proportions in our present
method of playing duplicate. and that
the reduction of the former has al
ready reached a point which ought to
he it's limit. If the plan of transposing
suits and throwing out extraordinary
hands were to be applied to the con-
tests for the challenge trophy. we ven
ture to say that the challenges would
he restricted to a few crack teams. 1t
is quite unlikely that the little fish
would pit Themselves against men
greatly their s4feriors under such con-
difions. The records of trophy con-
tests reveal the fact that the majority
OF big swings are made by the weaker
side. Obviate the possibility OF chance
gains and the only inducement you can
offer to weak teams to enter into con-
test with their superiors is that Of
making a "holy show" Of themselves
for the edification Of the winners
Lennard Leigh.
Experts Fall Down.
The above article is timely one.
and. although many will be apt to dis
agree with the writer's conclusions,
still there is an undeniable substratum
of truth in what he says. The propo-
sitions to which he refers, however.
are not Intended to affect the popu-
larity of the game with the masses.
bur to offer more decisive test in
match play between experts. From