The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-06-20
APPROVE CHANGES
IN ROYAL AUCTION
Correspondents Indorse Action
Of Committee in Regard
to New Rules.
ACTION ABROAD URGED

The general opinion Of the carr play
ers Of the country with regard to the
rev laws OF auction bridge. published In
THE Sun last Sunday. IL probably ac-
curately reflected In the following ex-
tract from a letter addressed to THE
Sun by a prominent member Of TIE
Players Club. which Ia noted for its
'evot'on &c auction
That was an exr .ilcnt article In y''
terday's u summarizing the new laws
.,ons and reflections. The committee
has done splendid work. fNr wnic, sll
lovers OF the game should thank them.
I cannot spot . single change that I per-
sonally regret"
At a luncheon Of the d. A. r. which
was held at the New Haven Country
Club last MONDAY some 200 women
were presen:. every n Of whom was
probably more or less interested in auc-
ton. They had all read THE SUNDAY
Sun. and smons the many expressions
Of hearty approval there seemsd to be
only eus Sigh OF regret. which was from
. woman who almost shed tesrs beoause
the committee had pronounced the Lui,o
Jficiaily dead.
Upon inauirins why Ter friends ala
not appear to snare her sorrow Il trans
pired that the lady vas an adept in
he game Of skat. thoroughly understood
the nulio and had been lining her pock-
cts with the pronts Of her sure-'or
knowledge for the past two years. II
was exactly this tremendous advantage
Of superior skill In playing that pa.t,cu-
ar declaration that led the committee
to reject II.
Several letters have already come 20
hand congratulating THE Sun on the
compliment paid II by the committee in
adopting the rule which THE SUN has
been lighting for ever since the new
code was suggested. and that Is abel
lshing tho mental arithmetic and unin-
territorial unfairness in giving info-me-
ton which seemed to be the unavoida-
hle accompaniment Of insufficient bids
Although no vote was asked for on this
particular point in the oficial bulletin.
apart from an accompanying change In
suit values which would have upset
everything. the demand for some remedy
for the evil was obvious too obvious to
be longer neglected. n the committee
wisely seized the opportunity TO correct
II In the new code.
There are now ninety-Seven lawn IN
the code and eleven short hints in the
Etiquette" These are now ready.
printed in large n readable type
| neatly bound. and may be a from the
secretary Of The Whist Club, Is West
'rhirty-sixth street. New York. and here
Is every indication that as fast as copies
are obtained by the various cluos
throughout the country they will be i'm
mediately adopted az the official ;Jte,
Ind we shall once more have n uniform
game wherever auction is played.
The committee has wisely refrained
for the present from publishing any
laws for duplicate. A great deal more
experience with that variety OF the
game Is needed before II is possible to
frame n code of laws for II which would
meet every situation as completely and
cs fairly as tae bHs OF duplicate Wills;
meet the relu'r6intrtt OF that sani"
and II took tn. Aiae' can Whist League
ten years to Set ,1en in SHAPE.
/. II has always been the hope that ths
new code OF laws about to he issued
by The Whist Club would be adopted
abroad. so that there should be q uni
form system OF bidding and scoring
throughout the world. The writer has
taken occasion 10 sound some Of the
more prominent English players upor
the subject. with the result that there
seems to be little chance that any ac-
ton will be taken In England for SOM
time TO come.
Here Is one OF tho letters received
In reply to inquiries. II Is from Fred
eric Jessel, author OF The Encyclope'
dia OF Cards and Gaming" who is
member of all the leading card clubs ir
London:
There Is very little auction playct
in London low. We are all too en-
crossed with the war, and at this juno
ture no one would even discuss new
were no war. our code has been so re
Gently reconstructed that We should he
unwilling to make any changes. We
do not like the American custom OF con
stantly tinkering with the laws.
Nobody In England plays nullos. no
do they approve Of any fancy bids lik
Tiger clubs, Some suit has got to be thu
lowest. and II a PLAYER has nothing bet
ter than clubs he must be satisfied with
what fate has sent him; Just as people
who cannot live In palaces must he con
tent with fats.
I'VE find The game will only ont
value for the spade suit infinitely bet
ter than when we had n multitude OF
spade calls. but the really good game
II people would only try 1t, Is the one
advocated by THE suH some time ago
auction whist"
The game here designated as auctio'
whist is really the Russian game o
yint, in which there Is no dummy, bu
.ha, CANA will hardly ever he pODulaf
on account of the complications of the
honor counts. Straight whist, with the
privilege of bidding for the trump, is at
t~ractive to whist players only. Thos'
who never became absorbed In dupl!
cate whist prefer the dummy hand ex'
posed.
A correspondent in Toronto. Vlctol
Norris. writes TO say that the player
up there heartily agree with THE SUM
theory that nothing short OF game /
worth going for, except TO save I'M
game. He asks why II would not be
good idea to make the scores such tina
the game would be the only thing e
play for. Here is his letter:
LAS common sense and experience in
dictate, and as repeatedly pointed OIL
by THE sun. II In not worth while e
play the hand unless there Is a possible
game in IL. A simple change would
bring back one OF the most interesting
features Of the old bridge. playing Il
the score. Make game worth 10 points
and increase the value OF the rubber
instead of the 30 for game We hav'
now.
This would eliminate a good deal o
the present flag flying, As the game
has developed il has become the fashion
to ovsrbid all the hands so as to sav
the game. hut that system is fundamen