Evening star., 1909-01-31
SECOND HAND UPON
SUPPORTING CARD
Three Questions of Position,
Re-Entry and Promoting
in Whist.

One of the most embarrassing situa-
tions at the whist table is that of second
hand upon the lead of a supporting card
1t Is possible 10 frame reliable rules
for the guidance of second hand in the
matter of covering or not covering an
honor led when the lead is regular: but
when the lead Is forced or irregular so
many considerations must be taken into
account and many influences make
themselves felt In every question OF COW
erinS that each situation. as il arises,
is really law unto itself, and no gen
eral rule that will satisfactorily meet
even a majority of the demands made
upon il can be formulated. An exposi-
tion Of some of the principles involved
may be helpful however. and if the stu
Dent Will master these the proper method
OF applying them Will grow easy with
experience.
When the supporting card is opened at
random the theories upon which second
hand bases his cover are briefly fol-
lows:
First-The yielding up Of the weak hand
to the presumably stronger.
Second-Thc preservation of tenace pos
siblities in the hand that can make best
of them
Third-The ''bottling" of any good card
In the suit held by the leaders part
ton from the opponents to himself and
partner
Fourh-The promotion OF card or
cards i'll partners hand ny parting. in
The first instance. with an honor which
would he ultimately caught anyway thus
making a virtue of necessity and pos
sibly wrestling trick out of a situation
that would become hopeless by the next
round.
When the supporting lead is made 10
third hand'S declared suit only the last
or the above theories applies, and the
covering play is not so apt to result
prohtabiy. Second hands course in such
cases will be determined by the size of
the supporting card and whether it can
lie expected that third hand will fnesse
H. Whether the lead is in plain suit
messing in the latter is sure to be much
holder. which renders the necessity of
covering more imperative. The support
ing return III a suit originally opened
low on second hands left must be
treated Just as though it were an original
lead to third hands declared suit but
here the fall to the first trick-the num-
Der in suit shown by the opener and the
size of partners card-assst materially.
The only circumstances under which the
covering play would seem to promise
wei on supporting return are in the
trump suit and when the opener has
SHOWN holding of exactly four. You
may feel sure here that the supporting
return will be fnessed by the opener.
and the only chance for a trick Is to
cover at once, forcing him to do the
same and thus possibly promote card
of partners to winning position.
We come next TO those occasions when
II Is necessary for second hand to cover
a high card led whatever the number
of his holding. This may be either (a)
to make good q card in his own hand:
tb, TO avoid losing the master card of
the suit. or t) To prevent underplay.
Under the first head always cover with
perfect fourchette-that is holding the
card Immediately above and that next
below the one led. The reason for this
Is SO obvious that 1t need not be dwelt
upon. So, holding the card above the
ono led and that next to the i'm
mediately below it, you cover. that being
your best chance of winning a trick in
the suit the second or third round.
For instance. holding king. 10 and an
other cover the queen or J:ck led. and
whatever third hand holds your 10 is
made good on the third round. And so
with all imperfect fourchetteS, hold
ings of the latter description are termed
Under the second head are included all
cases where the extreme length of your
holding in the suit led justifies you in
fearing that your maSter-card may die
under an adverse trump unless put up
at once; also where your holding con-
sists of ace queen and one or more
others and Jack is led 1t is always
right to play the ace on the Jack from
this holding-seldom from any other. The
most familiar example of covering to
prevent underplay occurs late in the
deal. Here the leader. holding only ace
and queen of an unopened suit. will usual
~ try to run the latter through the king
at second hand. as the only chance of
taking both tricks. The second hand
must be on the alert To prevent In the
trump suit more especially. the holder
of the best and third best will often en-
deavor to underplay the second best
when it is known to be in second hand
with a guard by leading the third-best
trump through. If second hand does
not cover his second best is picked up
on the next round by the master card.
One of the most important considera--
tons to be taken into account by see
md hand when in doubt about covering
4 high card led is whether the cover
lrg card s his only card OF re-entry.
and If So would it be more advan-
tageous for him to obtain the lead at
tuat particular stage OF the deal. in case
partner also holds a high card OF the suit
led or later. In other words. he must
often take into account whether he de-
Sires to lead or not. If 1t seems wise
that partner should obtain the lead al
20 time when opportunity for covering
pay arises. pass the trick up 20 him.
On the other hand. be OIL the alert to
save partners re-eHtry by covering any
Ting that mig 1T draw it when he holds
the established suit and the time is not
20: ripe for bringing # in.
Covering DlaS on supporting cards led
pr returned must then be referred to
thrcc principal considerations. viz. the
question of position. the question Of re-
entry aud last but not least the qucs-
tton ~ promoting cards for partner when
TIE covering card is certainly bottled
ard sure 10 be finessed against. Give
heed Ia these. whist players. and Your
s".nnd hand work will be relieved of
nrGch Of its difficulty.
Illustrative of one phase of second
bands duties in the covering way, and
pointing a moral thereto was "A deal
paycd between teams representing the
Minneapolis and Chicago whist clubs in
one of the challenge trophy contests of
The present season. u dealt and turned
the three Of clubs. A led. The play
at table /, where Wheeler and Hemphill
Of Minnea polls were and e: Bronson
sud Metcalf of Chicago and H. was as
follows: