534 



KNOVS^LEDGE ♦ 



[Dec. 2G, 1884. 



#ur asafii'sft Column. 



By Five of Clubs. 



THE following singular game was played recently in America. 

 It is hardly necessary to say that A-B only win because of 

 T-Z'a very bad play. A case is on record, which we may present 

 in our next, where Mr. Clay saved a game in a similar way. But 

 he only got two leads, through the enemy's trump strength, hero 

 three had to be obtained : — 



The Hands. 

 ( C. 10. H. K, Q, Kn, 10, 5, 4, 2. •) 



[d. Q,Kn. S. K, 9, 7. i 



JS 



• C. Q. 



D. 10, 9, 8, 7. 



S. A, 8, 3. 

 . H. S, 8, 7, 6, 3. 



r 



K, 9, 7, 5, 4, 2. 

 A, K, C, 4, 2. 

 B Z 



10 



11 



13 



3, 6, 8, Kn, A. C. ■) 



3,5. B.U 

 2,6,10, Kd,Q. S.l^ 



A. H.; 



H. None. ") 



S. 5, 4. i 



THE PLAY. 

 Card underlined wins trick. 



1. A leads lowest but two, the 

 ante-penultimate, to show he holds 

 six. The fall of the cards shows 

 that Y and B (observe trump card) 

 have no more. Y-Z are two by 

 honours, and A-B must make five 

 by tricks to save the game. The 

 case looks hopeless ; and indeed 

 only bad play on the part of Y-Z 

 can give A-B a chance. Observe 

 that A after this round holds best 

 3rd, 5th, 7th, and an odd trump, Z 

 holding 2nd best, 4th, 6th, and 8th. 

 This both A and Z knows. 



2. Z holds Spade Knave and Ten, 

 a rock ahead in that suit. 



3. Of course A ruffs. 



4. It is al-most certain that A-B 

 lose if A leads in the usual way 

 from his long and strong Diamond 

 suit. Suppose the 4th and 5th 

 suits to fall to him, and the 6th to 

 B'b Queen (F holding two and Z 

 three), and that then the 7th trick 

 fell as tho 5th in the actual play, 

 A must then lead a Spade, or give 

 Z a ruff. Now even if B holds the 

 Space Ace, and leads a winning 

 Heart, through Z's trumps (making 

 trick 9 like trick 7 in the actual 

 game), .4 must then either lead 

 from his tenace in trumps, in 

 which case Z must make two 

 tricks (whether best or lowest 

 trump is led) or a Diamond, which 

 Z would ruff, forcing A with Spade 

 Knave, but making no more tricks. 

 In this last case alone A-B would 

 make their five tricks. All the 

 chances are against this happen- 

 ing, and as the cards actually lay 

 Y-Z would not only have made the 

 necessary three tricks but four 

 certain, and five if Z had declined 

 the force. Without going through 

 all this ])rocess of reasoning, A 

 feels that the only good chance 

 he and B have of making five by 

 cards is by forcing Z with winning 

 cards of B'a. If B does not hold 

 Diam Qn the game is lost anyway. 

 Therefore A leads a small Diam. 



5. B leads his winning Heart, 

 which Z unwisely ruffs. B rightly 

 leads the Queen instead of the Ten, 

 the usual card as second lead from 

 that suit; for his object is to 

 tempt Z to ruff, and Z would pro- 

 bably have passed the Ten. 



6. A again leads a small Diamond, and 



7. B leads the winning Heart, which Z again unwisely rnffs. 



8. ^ knows that the lead must go to 1' or li ; either way, the 

 Spade lead is safer than the Diamond, which Z would probably ruff, 

 leading then a Spade and making the third trick. 



9. Y plays very badly here, — in fact atrociously. He can coant 

 (or he could count if he had played with any attention) every suit. 

 He ought to know his partner has no Diamonds, and therefore 

 would ruff that suit and win. He ought to know his partner has 

 the winning Spades, and that a .Spade lead would force A and give 

 Y-Z the third trick wanted for victory. But " because A had the 

 winning Diamond," and '• because A could truiiip Spades," (these 

 were the reasons he gave afterwards) he leads from his head 

 sequence in Hearts (" I expected one of them would make "). But 

 even now, by letting tho Ten make, Z would have saved the game. 

 Whether B led a Heart or a Spade, A must have ruffed, and the one 

 trick necessary to win the game would have been made by Y-Z. 



10. 11, 12, 13. The rest of the game plays itself; .4-8 make five 

 by cards and win. 



A Little Whist Problem. — I have seen reference made of late to 

 a whist problem examined by Mr. Pole, whose book on short 

 whist is known to all whist players. (It is an excellent work 

 except for the pestilent doctrine that the learner should always 

 signal for trumps if he holds five — whereas the learner ought never 

 to signal at all, and no good player would think of signalling merely 

 because he held five trumps.) The problem is, what is the chance 

 when you hold originally foul' of a suit that the suit will go round 

 three times ? I have examined the problem (in fact I had done so 

 several years ago) with the following result ; the numbers men- 

 tioned in which will probably surprise those who notice the matter 

 for the first time. When you hold four of a suit you may have 

 obtained those four cards in any one of 423,314,340,020 different 

 ways ; and in 66,905,856,160 of those, tho three other players will 

 each have received three cards of those suits. The chances, then, 

 that the suit will go round thrice, are about 6,690 in 42,331, or say 

 67 in 424, not far from 3 in 19. The odds are 16 to 3, or more 

 than 5 to 1, against the suit proving " honest." — R. A. Proctor in 

 "Newcastle Weekly Chronicle." 



From the Iron Trade Circular of Messrs. Boiling & Lowe we learn 

 that the total quantity and value of exports of British iron and 

 steel were, during the first eleven months of 1882, 4,062,215 tons 

 (£29,301,039); of 1883, 3,765,192 tons (£26,517,163); of 1884, 

 3,267,490 tons (£22,707,708). 



Contents op No. 164. 



Tho Chemistry of Cookery. XLIX. 



ByW. Mattieu Williams 495 



Chats OD Geometrical Measurement : 



The Conic SeclioDS. (Illus.) By 



E. A. Proctor 495 



The Entomology of a Pond, {lllm.} 



By E. A. Butler 40" 



Political Life in America. By K. A. 



Proctor 499 



A Marvellous Little Stream 49y 



Earth's Shape and Motions, {lltus.) 



By R. A. Proctor 500 



Electroplalin? : Preparing the Bath, 



&c. ByW. Slingo 602 



Automatic Arctic Exploration 60S 



Zodiacal Maps. By B. A. Proctor 604 

 A Sheen Destroyer. (/Uuj.) By 



John E. Coryell 604 



Chapters on Modem Domestic 



Economy 6C& 



The Tricycle in 1884. By John 



Browning 507 



Beriews ; Custom and Mrtb 606 



Face of the Sky. ByE.E.A.S 610 



Miscellanea 611 



Correspondence 511 



Our Inventors' CoUunn 513 



Oar Chese Coliunn 514 



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