64 



• KNOWLEDGE 



[JoNE 23, 1882 



(J?ur 2B\)i$t Column. 



By " Five ok Clubs." 



PLAY TUIRD IN IIANP, I'LAl.N SUITS (continued). 



WHEN, third in hniul, you liold Queen or Kimvo and others, 

 and a email card has been led which second player does 

 not cover with a card liij^her than your honour, you must in orer)- 

 case play the honour. But if ton is led, and not covered by Knave, 

 yoQ n-onld not play the Queen, but pass the ten ; for, as already 

 explained, you lu'ain nothing by plnying the Queen if the load is 

 from Kinp.Knave, ton, while, if the ten is a strengthening card, you 

 lose all command of the suit if you cover. If you hold Knave, nine, 

 and others, and eight is IcmI, you may line-'so the nine or i)as8 the 

 eight ; eight can hanlly be played as a strengthening card, nor from 

 a three-card suit, containing both Ace, King, or King Queen, for 

 from cither of these combinations the proper lead is the King. If 

 the eight is the lowest of a foor-card suit, the suit can be no other 

 than Ace, Queen, ten, eight. If the lead is from a three-card suit, 

 the eight being the lowest, the other cards may be Aco Queen, Ace 

 ten, King ten, or Queen ten. The ten can therefore only be to 

 your left in the single case of the lead being from Aco Queen eight 

 — which is an unlikely load anyhow, though, of course, jiossible, 

 since leader may hold besides four trumps, and two weak three- 

 card suits. Vou are therefore, in all probability, quite safe in 

 lineFsing the nine or passing the eight according as you may wish 

 the lead to lie (supposing the trick to fall to the eight or nine). 



When, ihird in hand; your best canl is small, yon play it, of 

 course, if it is higher than the card played on your right, or higher 

 than and not iu sequence with the card led. If you cannot cover, 

 and both the cards already played are small, remember that your 

 card tells both your ])artner and your adversaries of extreme weak- 

 ness, both in individual cards and numerically. In such eases the 

 question may arise sometimes whether it may bo better to deceive 

 the enemy or not by playing a false card. For instance, if your 

 partner leads four, second hand plays sis, and yon hold three and 

 five i if you jihiy the live, it will be thought that you do not holil any 

 other cajd in the suit. Cases may arise where it may be more im- 

 portant to cause the adversaries to suppose this erroneously, than 

 to leave them and your partner in doubt by playing the lower card. 

 It is worth your while in ever>- such case to consider which is likely 

 to be the more advantageous course. 



The play of third in hand, second ronnd of a suit, depends gene- 

 rally on the fall of the cards. As a rule, you know pretty well how 

 the cards lie at this round, whether the original lead wore your 

 partner's or your own. In the former case you have the indications 

 from the original load, as already explained ; those from the play 

 second and fourth in hand, those from the renewed lead, and play 

 second in hand second round, besides your own original hand. In the 

 latter, as the suit is presumably your longest, you have rather more 

 information in your own hand than in the other case, and rather 

 less from the play -, but if yon have been watchful you have usually 

 learned a gooil deal. Thus, suppose, having King and throe other 

 clobs 10, i, 3, yon lead the 3, and the cards fall thus, — 



C3 C8 CQ CG 

 you know that, apart from signalling for trumps, your partner must 

 hold the two and five, second player has nothing below the eight, 

 fourth player nothing below the six. N'ow, suppose that on the 

 return of the suit your partner lead.'< the two ; then, as this is not the 

 highest left in his hand, yon know that besides the five he has one 

 other, which is not the Ace, for if he ha/l had the Aco ho would have 

 led it. Xor can it be the Knave, for if he had had Qaeen Knave, ho 

 would have played the lower of the sequence. You hold the King your- 

 self, therefore his remaining card must be either the seven or the nine. 

 Yon know this Ijefore second hand has played to second round. You 

 know also that second hand has not the Ace, or he would not have 

 allowed the Queen to take the first trick. Suppose, now, second 

 hand plays the nine. Then the only card whose ]>osition remains 

 doubtful is the Knave ; it may Ije to your right or to your left. But 

 you can piny with as much confidence as if you knew whore it was. 

 For if it lies to your left along with the Ace, which certainly lies 

 there, yon lose nothing by finessing the ten ; and if it lies to your 

 right yon gain n trick — apart from rulKng. 



Take again the following case, — 



Yoor hand being Q, Kn, 5, 2 of Hearts (trumps), the first 

 round is — 



A. Y. II. Z. 



H 2 n 9 UK II G 



Second ronnd, to second in hand, 

 is let OS say— U 8 U 7 



Yon know certainly that either four, or three, and ten lie with Y, 

 and no more. Kor three and four arc certainly not both with li, or 



he would have returned his lowest. Neither four nor throe lie with 

 X ; thcroforo, one of these cards lies with S, who has, therefore, led 

 the beat of two. Y'ou can thus place every card, assumiug always 

 that all are playing according to the customary rules for good play. 

 B has cither the three or four left. 1' has ten, and either four or 

 three. Z has the Ace, and is holding it back for some purpose con- 

 nected with the strategy of his hand. Y'ou therefore play Knave 

 thii-d in hand ; whereas, had you not attended to the fall of the 

 eardr, you might have thought it a fair linesso — only ton ami Ace 

 being against you, and the Aco probably in fourth hand — to [lass 

 the eight, so as to make sure of taking tho last round in trumps. 

 As it is, you know that, after your Knave has taken tho second 

 round, your third lead of tho five will draw both tho Aco and ten, 

 leaving you with tho long trumi>. 



A BiMPEH .IT Whist. — A correspondent, " Hazard," nsks how 

 to di'termine the odds against a bumper at H'/ii.v(.' The problem i.'» 

 a very difficult ono. in fact, it is )irnctically insoluble. Our 

 correspondent remarks that there are nine ways of winning a 

 rubber of two games, meaning, wo suppose, that each game may 

 be won, oitlior by five or more points, alono ; by three or more 

 points and two by honours ; or by ono jjoint or more and four by 

 honouis; and therefore tho pair of games in 3x3 different 

 ways. But, in reality, there are many more ways than 

 three in which a game can be won, even if we only 

 consider tho points obtained, and tho honours marked. 

 And to determine tlip tiuo cliaiices we must consider more 

 than this. Wo bIuiuM li.iv.- (u ilrlcrmino tho number of com- 

 binations of hands l.y wli.li wiili tho best piny, or with good play 

 on both sides, or witli iri...|.iiii(. pliiy met by bad play, or with good 

 play met by atrocious liliiTuleriii^.', and so forth, a game might bo 

 made in a single round j in how many ways it might bo made under 

 correspondingly varying conditions in two rounds, in throo rounds, 

 in four, and in five. The same would have to bo done for the second 

 game. Tho numbers thus obtained would have to bo multiplied 

 together, or rather tho number scpiared. Then tho total number 

 of combinations for 'all cases of ono round, two rounds, Ac, for 

 each game would have to be determined. The chance of a bumper 

 would be tho ratio of tho former number to tho latter. Bat no ono 

 could possibly work out tho problem in this way. — Editor. 



The Gr. 



Contents of Knowledge ^o. 33. 



FiOS. 1 PJI 



r OsUcry" 33 EnulUh Spositlo Ilcalth-Kcaorls. By 



II. the Pharaoh of 

 the Oppre»8ion? By Amelia B. 

 Kdwards. II.— Joseph's Placi- in 

 Uislory 



The Amateur Electrician — Elec- 

 tric Generators {Itluttrated) 



How to Get Stronc 



A HtudT of Minute Life. By Henry 

 ■ ■•■ " F.K.Mri. 



nd Duty ;)8 | Our Chess Co 



Alfred Httviland . 



Homo Cures for Poisons 4<V 



.Tune Flowers 41 



The History of Tuborclo ii 



On Some Critii-s « 



COBKESPONDIiNCK ■!■» 



Answers to Correspondents ■!.» 



Our Mathemulioal Column 4^ 



Our Whist Column 47 



4S 



Ic^tlered 



number 

 delaj 



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