Evening star., 1909-03-14
TWO IMPORTANT
POINTS IN WHIST
Revoking Almost a Crime and
Discarding as a Guide
to Partner.

A few years ago it was considered a
deep disgrace to revoke and one not in
frequently heard players boasting that
| they had never in their lives been guilty
OF such an error. It is an incontroverti-
quent occurrence. This may in part be
due to the increase in the number of
players. but even that will neither ac-
count for nor excuse the fact that en-
tirely too many revokes are now made
Without doubt duplicate whist or the
use of trays has made players remiss
about counting their cards, they taking
It for granted that the correct number
of cards will be found In each packet.
Players there are who are careless about
sorting their cards. who do not alter
nate the suits, or If they do take this
precaution, do not make sure that a
stray club is not among their spades.
There are others who evidently think
it a sign OF skill not to sort their hands
at al. The greatest cause of many re-
vokes is haste either in playing the
hand or before the pay begins. 1t is a
sine qua non that each suit should be
counted before a card is played, as il is
as much a part of the conduct of the
hand to know that one has two short
suits of certain number Of cards each
as it is necessary TO know that one has
four five cards In the longest suit.
Another thing that is responsible for
revoking Is that the player will have
some more important matter In his
mind than following suit. Sometimes a
player will think ahead two OR three
tricks, and in the carrying out of some
brilliant plan will forget or neglect to
follow suit That the player who does
this has no idea OF taking an unfair
advantage is evidenced from the fact
that he will generally. If he takes the
trick, at once lead the suit he has-re-
nounced.
The winning or losing Of tricks by re-
vokes is most unsatisfactory to all con-
cerned. When a number Of players are
engaged in a tournament a revoke often
causes a loss to players at other tables
on account of the method employed In
determining the result, and it seems al
most impossible to devise fair rule to
apply to such cases. Some good players
seem to have a fatal tendency to revoke
at almost regular intervals of time. The
best players are liable to revoke at any
time. The best way to correct the habit
is by careful arrangement of the hands
and a little mental schooling in taking
pictures of them. This will not only tend
TO prevent revokes but will also strength
en- ones card memory.
Although much has been written on
the subject of the discard this. as one
of the most important points Of the
oil otf
ton. Hands constantly recur where in
iudicious discarding causes the loss of
tricks. During the past year much has
been done in the way of investigation
and experiment. Yet so far no perfect
system Of discarding has been discoV-
lack of ability on the part Of the stu
dents Of the game as to the intrinsic
difficulty OF the question.
Reference here is, OF course, made more
particularly to the original discard
tunity to show his suit by leading. Until
comparatively recently the rule laid
down by nearly all writer's and almost
universally accepted by all players was
where there had been no declaration OF
trump strength on the part OF the ad-
versaries either by lead or call the first
discard should be from ones weakest
suit the suit in which one Is least
likely to take a trick. II, however. the
enemy had previously leu UT CdlleQ LOT
tr,lrnps the original discard should then
be from the best protected suit, the
theory for this being that when trumps
are declared against the discarder a de-
fensive game should be played. and what
strength he has in weak suits (Which
are likely to be the adversaries) should
be guarded, not weakened, by discard
ing from them. To the first part Of this
rule requiring discard from strength
on the enemy's trump lead or call many
weighty objections have been made in
recent years. of which the most impor-
tant are: First. that although hands
frequently occur where trumps are led
by the adversary, the partner of the dis
carding player will prove strong enough
either by leading or forcing to exhaust
the adverse trumps and be thus enabled
to establish strong suit of the discard
err In this situation a discard from the
strong suit will almost invariably lose one
or two tricks. Second, that although the
discard gives positive information to the
partner, 1t gives the same information to
the enemy, who. being in the lead. is the
better able to take advantage of it.
These, among other, reasons are re-
sponsible for the fact that the book sys-
tenn OF discarding has been abandoned
by many of the most expert players. A
system Of discarding that was greatly
in vogue at one time was to discard from
the suit from which you could best
spare a card, leaving the partner to
guess at the meaning of the discard from
the development and from the fall Of the
cards With n partner who can ba de-