Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-01-17
ESTIMATING GOOD
AND BAD PLAY
An Obstacle to Progress Often
Encountered by the
Whist Beginner.

One of the chief obstacles to progress
in the early stages of whist study and
practice is the difficulty of gaining just
estimate of his game which is invariably
experienced by the beginner in a greater
or less degree. 1t is one of the peculiari'
ties of whist that proficiency is neces-
sary to discrimination between good and
bad play. In the case OF most games
very little knowledge is needed to enable
one to recognize excellence. An ele-
mentary knowledge OF chess suffices fel
appreciation Of brilliant attack or a
clever defense. The veritable duffer at
billiards applauds the beauty OF the
masse or the complicated carom. and
realizes how far from his ability it 1s.
At whist, upon the other hand. man
may-and thousands do-play bumple-
puppy for years without suspecting IT.
The score is far from a safe criterion.
and as often as not stimulates the self
deception of the tyro
Measured by results there is a much
smaller difference between good and bad
players than is generally supposed. II
is probable that upon one hundred deals
played in the same direction, under SINH
lar conditions. by pair of experts and
a pair Of novices, the divergence in score
would not be great In the first place. a
at whist-certainly more than half-w1il
produce the same result by any ordinary
method Of play. That is to say. that In
majority of deals, the only difference
would be that one pairs cards might
he handled in an artistic and maSterful
manner; the other In the reverse style.
And this is precisely the difference which
the beginner fails to recognize. while he
lays great stress on the equality In score,
which may be of no significance. An
- til L. - ls0a ~ n Y.
tiers is the fact that bad play frequently
Yields more tricks than good, and so is
constantly offsetting the effect of the
latter.
Under such circumstances 1t is not
strange that the beginner Is quite UNI
his play. Two methods for attaining
knowledge and materially improving his
game are recommended. The most eff
fective. If practical, is undoubtedly that
of comparison. If the student can con-
tinue to have a hand played by himself
overplayed by a proficient in such a
way that he may overlook it. he will find
it a most interesting and profitable prac-
tice. The post mortem." If conducted
by capable player is an excellent aid
ways for the beginner to secure demon
stration of his faults. A very valuable
practice is the examination and analysis
of printed hands. such as are recorded,
WIFI cOlIl1ileHiS. III tie, WDlSt VI
various journals.
When a beginner thinks that he has
learned something about whist the best
thing he can do for himself is to set
about finding out how much or how
little he knows, and how much there Is
TO be learned. This is one of the most
important steps in whist education. and
if taken early may save vast amount
of after trouble.
What would you lead from the fol-
lowing hand. with the ace of clubs turned
at your right? Clubs-9. g. 6. 3; diamonds
A, j. 10. 8. 3; spades-S, Z, 2: hearts
j. The trumps and the spades may be
considered equally out of the question.
Would you open your fve-card tenace
suit of diamonds. or would you start
the singleton jack of hearts? And il
you choose to lead your long suit. how
will you open thigh or low? All three
of these possible openings were tried In
one of last seasons tournament games.
and the results are given in the follow
ing diagrams. Some interesting play
arose from the different developments.
and there was a swing of five tricks
between high and low score on the deal.
Trumps. ace of clubs. turned by Z: lead
err A. When A and B made eleven
tricks the play was as follows: