250 



KNOWLEDGE 



[Maech 20, 1885. 



(0ur mUn^t Column* 



By Five of Clubs. 



OPENING T K E PLAY.* 



THERE is a noteworthy difference between the views which 

 the Whist-player, the player of home Whist, and -the player 

 of Bnnablepnppy take respecting their hands as they arrange them 

 after the deal. In the earliest stage of practice the player looks 

 on the Aces in his hand as so many almost certain tricks; he 

 expects to make his Kings ; and he hopes for his Qneens. His 

 small cards he regards as worthless, as cards, which he simply has 

 to throw awav to the enemy's winning cards. If he has a two- 

 card suit, and still better if he has a singleton, then his small 

 tmmps will serve him in mffing — the only nse for small cards 

 known to him. He has little anxiety lest his trumps shonld be 

 drawn ; for an early trump lead is nnheard of in this innocent inci- 

 pient (and insipiect) Whist. Therefore he plays his Aces first : his 

 Kings after the enemy (equally childlike in their play) have gotten 

 rid of their Aces ; and later his Queens. If he has a singleton, he 

 plays that immediately after his Aces have been utilised. He 

 expects his partner to return his lead at once. If the enemy have 

 led a suit of which he has the best card or cards, he hastens to make 

 these, having no idea of keeping command of his opponents' suits. 

 When he has to discard he always chooses his longest suit, as 

 being the one from which he has most small cards to play. When 

 every one at the table plays this game, the result is about as 

 amusing as any game of pure chance can be. This game is not 

 Bumblepuppy, but the ancient form of home Whist, a dreary and 

 monotonous pursuit, the chief interest of which seems to reside in 

 the idea of those engaged in it that they are playing a highly 

 sciei;tific game. Very little scolding goes on at this dull game — 

 ttnless the players are naturally ill-tempered— the only mistake one 

 can make in it being the revoke. 



Bumblepuppy is a more pretentious game altogether. In it the 

 players are possessed with the idea that they know something 

 about Whist. They smile at home Whist, which is innocent com- 

 pared with their noxious system. The Bumblepuppist imagines he 

 is a brilliant player. He rejects conventional rules as not bind- 

 ing on a Whist genius such as he supposes himself to be. Thus he 

 views his hand neither like the true Whist-jjlayer nor like the 

 player of home Whist. It is true he always leads a singleton if he 

 has one— no Whist duffer can escape that. But he often leads 

 trumps early — especially if he has only one or two. His smile of 

 triumph at the enemy when, on the return of the suit by his partner, 

 two tramps fall for one is worth noticing. Nor does it disappear if 

 (as commonly happens in such cases) the enemy are left, one with 

 established trumps, the other with odd trumps for ruffing. This 

 he regards as a mere accident. The cases, though only one-third 

 of the total number, in which his partner turns out to have the 

 longest trump-hand, he regards as the normal ones, and his own 

 brilliancy as throwing into his partner's hand the power of using 

 such trump strength. The Bumblepuppist is also verv- fond of 

 signalling, and very indignant when his partner, having learned his 

 ways, pays no attention to his signals. The Bumblepuppist does 

 not lead out Aces, as the home Whist-player does. He is, indeed, 

 apt to keep them back rather too long. But, like the player of 

 domestic Whist, he has no notion whatever of the necessity of 

 keeping command of his opponents' suits. 



The Whist-player takes a very different view of his hand, and 

 of the way to utilise such elements of strength as it may possess. 

 In the first place, he considers whether the hand promises to take 

 the leading part in the play, — that is, whether he can safely suggest 

 to his partner the propriety of playing chiefly in his support. If 

 he has good strength in trumps, a long and strong suit and a good 

 card or two in the other suits, the chances are that he will do well 

 to play a forward game. If he has good strength in tramps, but 

 no good plain suit, he may still have to take a leading part, by 

 endeavouring to get command in trumps, and then helping all he 

 can to bring in a strong suit of his partner's. But for this he must 

 wait until he has had evidence that his partner has a strong and 

 long suit. If he has neither strength in trumps nor a good suit, 

 he may have such command in the plain suits as to be able to sus- 

 tain a strong defensive game against the enemy, and perhaps to 

 help his partner effectively to take the lead. Even though he have 

 good cards in but one plain suit, and that not a long suit, still the 

 whole game may turn on his defence of that suit against the 

 enemy. Lastly, if he has utter weakness, insomuch that he can 

 barely make a single tiick, or may even fail to make a trick, he 

 may yet by careful play escape the disastrous results which must 



* From a series of articles on Whist, in the Netv York Tribure. 



follow — in such a case — from suffering the enemy to imagine his 

 weakness. 



It will be manifest from a consideration of the different positions 

 here suggested that the original lead is only an advantage \vith a 

 strong hand, when even though partner be weak a forward game 

 may stiU be played. With a weak hand it is an advantage to be 

 second or fourth in hand, where the play of a low card does not 

 necessarily indicate abject weakness. 



But while the lead is a disadvantage to the holder of a weak hand, 

 I do not think that any difficulty ought as a rule to be experienced 

 as to the original lead even from the weakest hand. In the case of 

 the first lead of any other player but the original leader, there is 

 often room for much doubt, because such a player already knows 

 something of the strength of the various hands. If he is weak and 

 has seen reason to think that his partner is also weak, he ought at 

 once, in my opinion, to give up the idea of leading from his longest 

 suit merely because it is long. With very great weakness he ought 

 even, as double-dummy play repeatedly shows, to give up the idea 

 of retaining the command of his opponents' suits. By so doing he 

 is likely to lose the chance of making the tricks necessary to save 

 the game. How often do we see a commanding card kept back in 

 subservience to the rule (usually excellent) that command should 

 be kept over the enemy's suits, then played when it can be ruffed, 

 and the command falling after all to the enemy while a trick has 

 been lost in the attempt to retain it. 



But while Y, B, and Z may often with advantage disobey the 

 rule of leading from the longest suit, it very seldom happens that 

 A should do so. Supposing even such an extreme case as that A 

 holds Ace, King, Queen in each of the plain suits, and 2, 3, 4, 5 in 

 the third, with three small trumps, what does he lose by leading 

 from his extremely weak long suit or gain by leading from one or 

 other, necessarily chosen at random, of the two tierces major ? He 

 may seriously compromise the game by leading out the three cards 

 of either strong short suit ; for he may leave one of the enemy with 

 several long cards of the suit, to bo perhaps brought in by a re- 

 entering card in the long weak suit. Now, by leading from this 

 weak suit you give your partner a fair chance of making a trick 

 in your suit, and showing his, in which you can give him good 

 support, showing him by so doing that your own suit is too weak to 

 be worth continuing. The real doubt would be whether the best 

 trump should not be led ; and in so extreme a case, with such utter 

 weakness in the long suit, and such strong command of the other 

 plain suits, this would doubtless be the best course. 



I lay down as a sound general principle that the original first 

 lead should be almost always from the longest suit — unless that suit 

 be trumps, when the best of the strong suits should be opened if an 

 original trump lead is unsuitable. But note that if you lead from 

 a long, weak suit with weak trumps, and no re-entering cards in 

 the other plain suits, yon do this merely because such a course is 

 least likely to hurt your partner. Ton are simply powerless to 

 make anything out of your own hand. When you are not original 

 leader, it is generally better in such a case to lead the suit which 

 seems most likely to help your partner. 



'• I may note down as a remarkable fact, that th:3 evening 

 (Oct. 31, 1850) I played ten rubbers of Whist and lost them all, 

 and, moreover, never once cut to win the deal. In all, have lost 

 since I came here 197 points." — Mr. Grecille's Diary, p. 365. 



OONTEKTS OP No. 176. 



PiGE 



The Kalevala. TU. By Edward 



Clodd 207 



How to Trifect an Angle. {Illus.) 



By A. Jukes Allen 208 



Life in Other Worlds. By B. A. 



Proctor 210 



Thought and Langnsge. V. By 



Adas. Ballin 211 



The Workshop at Home. (lUua.) 



By a Working Man 213 



Eambles with a Hammer. By W. 



Jerome Harrison 213 



Rain. By E. A. Proctor 2U 



Mcdem Domestic Economy. (JIU.) 215 



Meteoric Stones. By James B. 



Grfgory 216 



The Inter-Oceanic Ship Bailway. 



{nim.) 217 



Editorial Gossip 219 



EcTiews 220 



Face of the Sky. ByF.B.A.S 221 



Th? Faith-healing Cases 221 



Misce lanea 222 



Correspondence : Hylo - Idealism — 

 >"e^ Chromatics — Mean-time Sun- 

 dials— Lnnar Glow, ie 223 



Our Inventors' Column 227 



Qui Chess Colnmn 228 



NOTICES. 



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