366 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



[October 1, 1886. 



ILLUSTRATIVE WHIST HAND. 



(Obiginally Published in the " Australasian.") 



.<! 5 play against Y and Z. Score: — ABlwo; I'xflove. 



The Hands. 

 D fH. (triimj?.':). — Kii, 10, 7. 

 -"is.— 7. 



C— Q, 7, 4.3, 2.\ 

 D.— K, 9, 7, 2. J 



rl 



h. (t/is).—e, i. 



C— Kn, 10, 5. 

 ") D.— 10, 5, 3. 

 tS.— 3, 4, 5, 10, ] 



/H {trmn/is).- 

 IS.— Kn, 6. 



10 



11 



z 



Tr. H. g. 

 A leads. 



a— 8, K. I 



D.-6, Q. I ■ 



S.— 2, 8, 9, Q, A. J 



-A, 9, S, 3. 



C- 

 D.- 



-A, 9, 

 -A, K 



6. 1 



n, 8, i. f 



— 1— 



4- 4- 4-^4' 



^ 4. 4. 4. 4. 



—2— 





 0% 



<9 p 



♦ ♦ 



o 

 o 



NOTES ON THE PLAY. 



Card underlined wins trick ; card 

 underneath leading nest. 



and A B score three by cards 

 and the game. 



Trick 2. i? is a player who sets 

 his face against penultimates and 

 American leads. 



Trick 3. B does not cover Club 

 Ten. For the Club King is cer- 

 tainly not in A's hand, and the 

 probability is that it is not with 

 r. Again, the fall of the Clubs 

 Eight, Nine, Ten shows that Z 

 must either hold King sole, or 

 else King Knave. Hence B has 

 no choice but to pass l''s Club 

 Ten. 



[Z appears also to object to 

 the American leads, according to 

 which (as distinguished in this 

 case from the penultimate) he 

 would here have led the S.] 



Trick 7. A having Ace and 

 three other trumps, with Diamond 

 strength in his own hand, and 

 Club strength in his partner's, 

 ventures on a trump lead. [Be- 

 sides, it is clear that by leading 

 trumps he will put Z, who has no 

 Clubs or Diamonds, into a diffi- 

 culty, if he wins the trick, or 

 probably get the Ten-Ace over 

 the Queen if B holds the King.] 

 Z ought to have won this trick 

 with the Queen, not with the 

 King. Why should he have gone 

 out of his way to make it easy 

 for A to count the trumps .' [May 

 not Z have intended by this in- 

 dication of length to warn I" 

 against forcing him ?] 



Tricks. Z is in a difficulty. He 

 must lead either a Spade or a 

 Heart, and of the two the Spade 

 looks the better lead. [I must 

 confess I differ here from the 

 whist editor of the AuMriilasian. 

 A Spade lead would probably en- 

 able B to ruff, and thus force Z, 

 which is what Z wants most to 

 avoid, A's play of the Eight is 

 good. If B has any other trump 

 it must be the Knave (thanks to 

 Z for showing this) ; and if B has 

 no other trump, the game cannot 

 be won by any play.] Neverthe- 

 less, even the Spade lead will not 

 save the game, as is shown by the 

 following two possible variations 

 of the play : — 



Trick 8. 

 „ 9. 

 „ 10. 

 „ 11. 

 „ 1-'. 

 „ 13. 



Trick 8. 

 „ 9. 

 „ 10. 

 „ 11. 

 „ 12. 

 „ 13. 



It is clear also that, if at trick 9 of the first of these variations, 

 Z trump with the Heart Queen, instead of the Heart Two, he will 

 lose all the remaining four tricks. 



The whist editor of the Australasiini also forwards me a discussion 

 of the question whether honours can be counted, if not claimed, 

 before the trump is turned to a completed misdeal. Such points 

 are interesting as matters of curious discussion, though I think real 

 lovers of whist are apt to regard the laws as of interest only for 

 those who think more of the stakes than of the game. The paper 

 opens thus : — 



A DIFFICULT POINT OF WHIST LAW. 



By the Whist Editor of the "Australasian." 



I was recently asked to decide whether honours could or could 

 not be scored after a completed misdeal. After careful considera- 

 tion of the points involved, I ruled in the negative ; and, at the 

 same time, I gave the reasons on which I based my conclusion. 

 Shortly afterwards one of the best whist-players in Melbourne 

 intimated to me that he " dissented entirely " from my view. He 

 wrote to me in the following terms : — " The club code is distinct. 

 Rule 6 is that ' Honours, unless claimed before the trump card of 

 the following deal is turned up, cannot be scored,' I contend that 

 honours can be claimed before the completion of the deal following 

 the misdeal— first, because a misdeal is not a deal ; and secondly, 

 because they are claimed before the trump card of the following " 

 [valid] " deal is turned up, inasmuch as there cannot be a trump in 

 a misdeal. I fully agree with your remarks as to the desirability of 

 a settlement of the score before the cards are cut for the following 

 deal. So long, however, as the present code governs the game of 

 whist, we should not depart from a clearly worded law, whatever 

 the original intention may have been." I am in entire accord with 

 the views expressed in the concluding sentences of the preceding 

 note. It is my invariable practice to base my whist rulings, if 

 possible, on the very letter of the club code; and I never hesitate 

 about refusing to be bound by the decisions of referees who have 

 allowed themselves a wider latitude. But at the same time it 

 must be borne in mind that the framers of the club code have not 

 defined many of the technical terms which enter into the 

 nomenclature of the game ; and that they have even used 

 some of these terms in more than one sense. Hence, it frequently 

 happens that in deciding a whist case, the first business of the 

 referee is to make up his mind in regard to the exact meaning, 

 as distinguished from the popular interpretation, of one or more of 

 the whist laws. In the case under consideration I had satisfied 

 myself that the phrase " following deal," which occurs in Law 6, 



» Would B go on with Clubs at the risk of forcing the trump 

 leader unfavourably ? Not knowing l''s weakness in trumps, it 

 seems to mc B would here go on with Diamonds ; in which case Z 

 would make his Heart Two, and, forcing ,4 with a Spade, would 

 make another trick with his guarded Queen, and save the game. 



