HI5T UP TQi ATE, c§.§, Wl|l'i',8 •T IISJj-AMjjjE , SeCOND eDlKON . (SforngU Uniosrattg ffiihrarg arV12146 Whist up to date Cornell University Library 3 1924 031 245 644 olin.anx Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in tile Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924031245644 WHIST UP TO DATE REVISED, ENLARGED, AND EXPLAINED BEING A PRACTICAL, SIMPLE AND RELIABLE GUIDE TO THE GAME. SECOND EDITION BOSTON : Address C. S. S., 86 Beacon St., Boston, Mass. COPYRIGHT 1895, i8g7. BY C. S. S. PART I. THE Long-Suit game. To EMIL Y T. DA VIS, my dear friend and esteemed fellow craftsman, this part of tny book is affectionately dedicated. Charles Stuart Street, INTRODUCTION. This book is the result of many years' ex- perience in the teaching of whist. During this time the author has used, with such success, the plan of the game and the conventions herein set forth, that he now is led to offer them to the general whist-studying public. This is not a manual for advanced pla>-ers. It contains no abstruse mathematical calcula- tions ; it deals in no theories ; it propounds no hriWiant coups. It aims simply to be a practical exposition of the game, explained and so ar- ranged as to be not only methodical but easy to grasp and to remember. It presents a sys- tem which, when once thoroughly studied and fixed, equips the student with an intelligible alphabet wherewith to express the results of his deductions and inferences. WHIST UP TO DATE. The Manner of Play. You should sott your cards carefully and arrange each suit in numerical order. It is wise to arrange your suits alternately, first red and then black ; you may thus pre- vent possible mistakes. Count your cards ; if you can remember late in the hand that you had four spades originally and now see but one left, that fact will help you to remember how many rounds of the suit have been played. Do not lead until the other players are ready. A hasty lead is apt to hurry them and you do not care to win through your adversaries' con- fu.sion. If you are the dealer, place the turned-up trump in your hand just before playing to the first trick. Should you win the first trick on your side Whist Up To Date. it becomes your partner's duty to gather up that and all subsequent tricks which your side wins during that hand, and vice versa. If you are playing, duplicate whist, be sure that the arrow, or the hand, or the device used to indicate North's hand is pointing right, before you take up your cards. In order to facilitate scoring, place the cards in the tricks which your side wins so that they point length- wise towards you ; the others, sidewise. Each card should overlap the one before it. By this means an error in count is easily found and rectified. Many players seem to labor under the delu- sion that whist is a species of refined slap-jack and that the acme of good play consists in shooting their cards at the center of the table and then grabbing for the complete trick, as though manual dexterity in securing it were a title to its possession. Whist is a dignified game. The player who flings his cards, who snaps them down, or who grabs, is playing the wrong game ; he not only exposes his igno- rance of whist etiquette but he annoys the other players. Opening the Hand. CHAPTER I, Opening the Hand. The original lead is the keynote to the hand. From it your partner builds up his play ; to it your adver.'iaries adjust theirs. Were the object in whi.st to take as many tricks as pos.sible as soon as possible, it would be easy to lead one's taking cards in simple succession regardless of length of suits. This too frequently is done by a shallow player who holds, for example, two suits, one being Ace, King, and two small cards, the other, Knave, and four small. He opens the first, winning two tricks and probably establishing it for some other player. His hand is then, to all intents and purposes, dead, and thence springs his lack of all further interest in it. A wise player, on the other hand, opens the longer five-card suit ; he may lose the trick and not clear his suit but he regains the lead as soon as his Ace-King suit is led. He can now lead Whist Up To Date, his long suit the second time. Should this clear it, as in all likelihood it will, he has still his Ace left to re-enter the game with. In the first case he fires two shots and retires from the field ; in the second he remains an active force in the conflict until the middle of the hand, perhaps later. In the first case he can be of no possible assistance to his partner save where a signal has been played on his Ace and King ; in the second, he announces his suit, not only clears it probably, but alsp secures the lead several times during the hand, being thus ready to aid his partner in any plan of campaign he may have advanced. Too many players lead high cards in their short suits first ; then with exhausted hands, sit back and wait for a new deal which may bring them more high cards to meet with sim- lar treatment. The Original Lead. CHAPTER II. The Original L,ead. In opening the hand, lead first from your longest suit. Almost any suit containing at least five cards thus becomes a good one to open. With no five-card suit you can open a suit of four which contains one honor or more. Should your long suit, however, consist of but four cards with no honor, it is stronger whist to lead if possible a strengthening card in an- other suit. (See chapter on Forced Leads.) Such a lead now is not taken to be an an- nouncement that you have four trumps. It sa3's simply that you are unable at the start to open profitably your four-card suit. It may be because that suit is trumps, or because it is a suit of such little worth that it seems folly to risk upon it any high card your partner may have. Holding six trumps you should lead them. Holdingy?f^ trumps you should lead them, except in the one case where they do not con- 6 Whist Up To Date tain two honors and when you have no suit of four cards which can be estabHshed. Holding five trumps and a five-card suit, lead the trumps first. Should your partner help you, you can easily exhaust trumps and probably bring in your suit. Should the trump lead seem unprofitable to continue, you can use your remaining trumps to ruff with ; and this is something the adversaries, not knowing your change of plan, are apt to force you to do, with the idea of weakening your hand. Should you not lead five trumps for any rea- son, you must exercise care to signal for them upon your partner's showing a good suit. Holding /iiMr trumps and some other good five-card or four-card suit you would better lead and establish the plain suit before leading the trumps. It is rarely wise to lead your trumps as an original lead. But, after some suit has been established in your hand or your partner's, in the absence of a trump call from the other side, four trumps are apt to prove of enormous value. Holding four trumps and three three-card suits, do not lead trumps except when the other suits contain good taking cards. Without such good cards it is better to lead a weak suit headed by Knave or Ten or Nine. You will The Original Lead, 7 thus not commit the absurdity of exhausting trumps for some strong suit of your adver- saries. A player who leads trumps in the hope that his partner may prove strong in them, or because he thinks his partner ought to have some good suit, fails to remember that, with two adversaries and but one partner his chance is exactly one against two, a dangerous speculation. Holding fewer than four trumps you should lead them only with strength in all the other suits or with & postponed hand. (See chapter on Forced I,eads, last part.) On this ground the initial lead of a single trump — not neces- sarily the Ace — is often successful. Holding a singleton in a plain suit you should lead it only when holding great strength in trumps and desiring them led. As when King is turned to your right and you hold Ace, Queen, and four small in trumps. A singleton here may prove an excellent lead. Upon your trumping that suit the second round, the ad- versaries are very likely to make a dash at trumps only to their cost. The " Albany lead " — leading a weak suit originally with an honor turned to the right, to show trump strength — has been given up by most players. Whist Up To date, CHAPTER III. Analysis of Hands. Thirteen kinds of hands are here scheduled. S Cli O B' y. X X X X X x' 2 X gt X >< d ^ H W ■"■ X X r-' X o . o h M 1 — 1 ^M l!! W < H . X P (fi "!><><■><>< X >^ X J X ^ . X >< W X 1 (^ ^ d) >^ M o ^^ 1 y. r— 1 . X X '—I X K ><" X x ::dx X X' -■ O! ■ < < X ■ . X !^ -- ^ ^ X X X X X 1-^ X 01 7^vSS 1 — 1 X^M X llll 1— ] ^ ^ 'A -^ •" Pi K « .■ ^ « <1- « W " ^ w X X X 17 CHAPTER IX. Second Lead. It will be noticed, and must be remembered, that, having led a high card originally from your suit, and being obliged to continue with another high card, you are to choose, when holding two cards of equal value, the higher to show a short suit, the lower to sh6w a long suit. Hig-h and short ; low and long. This principle does not apply to the King lead as that shows a short suit in itself. Thus, having led Ace, you follow with Queen from a short suit and Knave from a long one. Having led Queen you follow with Ace from a short suit — exactly five — the minimum num- ber from which Queen can be led, and King from six or more. Having led Knave from Ace, King, Queen, Knave, and others, you follow with Ace from exactly five, the minimum number from which 18 WHIST Up To Date, Knave can be led, King from six, and Queen from seven. Having led Knave from King, Qiieen, Knave and others, again you show five exactly by following with King ; six or more by fol- lowing with Queen. Having led Ten from Queen, Knave, Ten, and others, again you show a short suit of four by following with the Queen, and a suit of five or more by following with the Knave. The Lead of Fourth Best, 19 CHAPTER X. The Lead of Fourth Best. Not holding any combination from which a • high card would be led properly, you must open your suit with a small card. In doing so you should count down and lead Xhe. fourth best from the top of your suit. Therefore holding King, lo, 9, 2, you should lead the 2, but holding King, 10, 9, 7, 2, you should lead the 7. When the fourth best is a high card like the 6, 7 or 8, you give very important information to your partner, namely, that you hold at least three cards higher than the card led, perhaps other lower ones. Also, if you open your suit with the 4 for example, you announce three cards higher : if then you follow with a 3 or 2, you must still hold j-our three higher cards and thus have shown an origiml Jive-card suit. So also, the 2 led shows a four-card suit as you have only three cards above and can have no card below. 20 Whist Up To Date. CHAPTER XL Drill Table. Many easily learn to lead correctly them- selves, yet do not readily credit their partners with both the right high cards and the proper number remaining in hand after two leads of a suit. For such, the following table has been prepared : it should be conned and mastered, when it will be found that the proper infer- ences soon become so mechanical as to demand little or no effort of memory or attention. Your partner's first and second leads are given in the first column : in the second are found the right cards and the number remaining in his hand : also what cards he can not properly have. He leads He has left Not A.— K. XXX (-I-). Q. A. — Q. Kn. X. lo A.— Kn. Q. X X (+). A.— ID. Q. Kn. Drill Table, 21 He leads He has left Not K.— A. X X. Q- K. — Q. (King wins). A. x. Kn. K.— Kn. " " A. Q. K.— Q. (King loses). x x. Kn. K.— Kn. " " Q. X. lO. K.— lO. " " Q. Kn. Q.— A. K. X X. Kn. Q. — K. (Queen wins). A. x x x (+). Kn. Q- — K. (Queen loses. ) x x x (+), Kn. Kn.— A. K. Q. x. Kn. — K. (Knave wins). A. Q. x x. Kn.— Q. " " A. K. X X X (+). Kn. — K. (Knave loses). Q. x x. Kn.— Q. " " K. xxx(+). lo — Q. Kn. X. 10 — Kn. Q- X X (+). 22 Whist Up To Date. CHAPTER XII. Forced IvEads. These are leads from three-card or two- card suits. When you have exhausted your own suit, or when circumstances forbid your con- tinuing it, you are often driven to lead a suit of but three or two cards. Or you may be obliged to lead a weak suit originally from one of the three following causes : 1. Your four-card suit may be trumps, in which case it is folly to lead them unless you have other high cards to make. 2. Your four-card suii may be Ace, Queen, and two low ones whereupon you would better wait for some other player to open it. 3. Your four-card suit may be ten high or nine high in which case it will profit you noth- ing to lead it. Note. — if driven to lead such a suit it is cer- tainly better for you to lead the highest card Forced Leads. 23 in it. Your partner, for the time being, may be deceived into the belief that you have but three. But such belief cannot harm him as much as the lead of a small card from such a suit, telling him as it does tell him that you are opening your strong suit and implying the promise of future tricks therefrom. In short for you to open a suit with a two or any such low card which shows four, should prom- ise your partner that in that suit you have one honor if not two. There are six combinations of three cards each which are led like four-card suits, as follows : Holding Lead A. Q. Kn. A. then Q. A. K. Q. K. then Q. A. K. X. K. then A. K. Q. Kn. K. then Kn. K. Q. X. (King wins). K. then X. Q. Kn. lo. 10 then Q. lu all these cases your partner can credit you with but one more card, a misapprehen- sion he is forced to labor under. 24 Whist Up To Date, Holding a suit of three cards containing two honors not in sequence, or any single honor except Knave, lead low. Holding a suit of three, with no card higher than Knave, lead the highest ; also if com- pelled to lead again, lead the next highest. Exception : Holding Queen, Knave and one low, lead Queen. Holding a suit of two cards only, with neither Ace nor King, lead the higher of the two. The reason for leading your best card in the last cases of three and two cards respectively is as follows : Holding Ace and two small, you lead low as Ace is good at any time. Holding King and two small, again you lead low as you have two leads in which to draw the Ace. Holding Queen and two small, again you lead low, having again two leads in which to draw King and Ace, thus establish- ing your Queen. But with Knave and two small the case is far different. Here you have passed the limit. You cannot in two low leads exhaust Ace, King and Queen unless your partner has one of them. If he has nothing in that suit you cannot possibly make your Knave. If he has high cards or a high card. Forced Leads, 25 you would better assist him and lead him your best card. What is true of the Knave is true of any lower card at the head of a three-card suit. So with Ace and one small or King and one small, you lead low, but with Queen and one small, yon cannot win a trick unless your part- ner has Ace or King, therefore again you give him your best card. This you do in all two- card suits when you hold neither Ace nor King. Having led the top of a weak suit of three cards you must be careful also, not only to lead the higher of the two remaining cards should you lead the suit again, but also to follow with the higher upon some one's else lead. Thus, holding Knave, 7, 2, if you lead the Knave, and it is won by an adversary and that suit is led again you should play the 7, not the 2. Your partner, missing the small card can count it in your hand. To play the 2 next after the Knave would mark you with no more. So also when you have led the top of a four-card suit with no honor in it, do not play your low- est card until last. Possibly there might occur a case where, having led 10 from 10, 9, 4, 2, or from 10, 9, 8, 2, there would seem to be a chance of clearing the 9 or 8, in which case 26 Whist Up To Date, the lowest card may be played to protect the suit. But the usual supposition is that the play of the smallest card you can hold in that suit, marks you with no more. Avoid if possible opening any weak suit with a card lower than the nine. FORCED LEADS IN TRUMPS. In two cases an original weak lead of trumps is good 1 . When holding strength in all the other suits. 2. When holding a /'(75^/i(7«^i^hand. By a post- poned hand is meant a hand in which you will probably not win tricks in the differ- ent suits until the third or fourth round of those suits. Thus, with Q. x x., Q. x x X., Kn. XXX., and two trumps, the trump is usually the better play. So also with Q. X X X., K. X x x., lo, x x x., and the lo of trumps you should lead the trump. Therefore an original we^ak lead of trumps proclaims either that you have a generally strong hand, or that the tricks you can take will be on the later rounds of the various suits. Second Hand Play. 27 CHAPTER XIII. Second Hand Play. There is no position at the whist table that requires more careful attention than that of second hand player ; if weak in the suit led, he must advantage himself of the information conveyed by the leader's card to make his high cards if possible. If strong, he must play not only to win every possible trick but also to block the leader in his purpose of clearing the suit. The respectable rule of second hand low is open to numerous exceptions whereby the careful player can secure many tricks. These are the five cardinal principles : 1. Play Ace on an honor led. 2. Holding any combination from WHICH you would LEAD HIGH, PLAY HIGH second hand. 3. Holding but two cards, cover a CARD led higher THAN THE 8. 4. Holding, three cards, cover an honor with an honor. 5. Holding any number of cards and THE 10, cover an honor LED. 28 Whist Up To date. In detail. I. Play Ace on an honor led. Except : Holding A. Kn. x, or A. Kn. x x, it is often better to pass King (not Queen) led ; the leader will next lead a low card, placing Ace with his partner ; this you win with your Knave, still holding command of the suit and securing the lead. Or : Holding Ace and others, Knave led. If the leader has already led another suit, this lead shovild be from weakness and you should pass. 2. Holding any strong combination from which you would lead high, play high second hand. You do not necessarily play the same card that you would lead. Simply decide whether you would lead high ; if so, then play to win the trick as cheaply as possible. Holding a weak suit such as Kn. x x, or Q x, you do not play high second in hand although you would lead high. Therefore on a low card led. Holding Play second in hand A. x X X X X ( + ). A. A. K. ( + ). K. A. K. Q. ( + ). Q- K. Q. (t). Q. A. Q. Kn. ( + ). Kn. Q. Kn. io[^)\ lO. Second Hand Play, 29 Although a low card is now led from K. Kn. lo, X, ( + ), the lo is the better play second in hand. Conversely, unless you would lead a high card, do not play one second in hand. Thus from a suit consisting of A. Kn. lo, x, you would lead low, therefore you should play low second in hand. A moment's reflection will show you that the leader cannot have both King and Queen ; therefore one is beyond you ; therefore as a trick-winner your lo is valueless except to save a possible high card in your partner's hand. But that is the very card you wish played whereupon you will probably win the remaining tricks in that suit. There is one suit of peculiar formation and value: ' this is A. Q. lo ( + ). It is called the double major tenace. Although a low card would properly be led from such a suit — unless hold- ing six — yet it is better here to play high sec- ond in hand. When strong in trumps play lo. When weak in trumps, play Queen. Holding strength in trumps you can afford to take more chances. Holding A. K. x x, or K. Q. x x, play low if holding four or more trumps. Also : with Q. Kn. x, or Kn. lo, x, or lo, 9, x, play the lower of the two high cards second in hand. ,3. Holding but two cards, cover a card led higher than the 8. Do not play Ace on 10 or 9. Play King on 8. 30 WHIST Up To Date. 4. HOIvDING THREE CARDS, COVER AN HONOR LED. Thus with K. x x, or Q. x x, cover the Knave led. Or with K. x x, cover Queeii ; do not cover here however, if leader is one who leads Queen from the old lead of Queen, Knave, 10 ( + ). Many do not cover the Knave with the King, holding King and two others. Yet it can easily be demonstrated to be the correct play. It is first fair to infer that that suit is distrib- uted nearly equally. Should your partner hold doih Ace and Queen it makes no difference whether you cover the Knave or not. If your partner holds either Ace or Queen it makes little difference whether you cover the Knave or not. But should third hand hold both Ace and Queen you will lose all three tricks in that suit by not covering. If you cover, on the contrary, the Knave, King and Ace fall to the first trick, Queen should win the second, and the 10, the third. To be sure if the adversaries hold the zo they will win the third trick ; but this would have been theirs had you not cov- ered. If your partner holds the 10, he will wiu the third trick — a gain of one for your side. With Queen and two low, the Knave led, the reasoning is nearly similar, save that third hand is likely to play King, holding Ace and King and being weak in trumps. With King and two low. Queen led, it is just as important to cover. Queen should here be led from weakness ; if from Queen, Knave and one Second Hand Play, 31 low, your King is lost anyway if Ace is third in hand. If from Queen and one low, you, by not covering, lose the chance of making a possible Knave in your partner's hand. Al,WAYS COVER AN HONOR IF YOU HOLD THE lO, WITH ANY NUMBER OP CARDS. If you lose the first trick you then hold the lo as second best card guarded and have begun to clear or establish that suit. FOURCHETTES : If you hold the cards above and below the card led it is generally wise to cover. Thus holding King, lo, 8, 6, 3 play 8, not 3, on 7 led. Or with Ace, Knave, 9, 4, play Knave on ID led. The fall of the low card later does not make a trump call. Ace, Queen and others : Play low on any card not an honor. Play Ace on Knave led. This is frequently misplayed. Knave must be led from weakness. Should your partner hold King, your play makes no difference. Should third hand hold King, and you play low the ad- versaries must win the first and the third tricks. To cover with the Queen is a waste of ammu- nition. By playing the Ace you win the first and the third tricks, as they make then only the King. 32 Whist Up To Date. Appendix to Second Hand Pi,ay. As the lead of a strengthening card is com- ing more and more into prominence, it has seemed best to append here some additional cases where it pays to cover second in hand on a Queen, Knave, lo, or 9 led. These are cases which it is hard to classify under rules and the list is meant more for reference than for abso- lute memorizing. In these cases you cover simply to advance the rank and power of certain other cards you hold ; possibly to develop a tenace, and at the same time to prevent third hand from passing the card led on the princi- ple of a finesse. By covering here is meant playing the card which you hold next above the card led. You should cover on 1 . Queen led WithK. 9, 8, (-I-). 2. Knave led WithK. 9, 8, X, ( + ). Q. 9, 8, X, ( + ). Appendix to Second Hand Play. 33 3. Ten led With A. Q. 9( + ). A. Kn. 9( + ). A. Kn. 8, 7 ( + ). K. Kn. 9( + ). K. Kn. 8, 7 ( + ). Q. Kn. XX ( + ). Q-9. x( + ). Kn. 9, X ( + ). Kn. 8, 7 (+). 4. Nine led With A. Q. 10 ( + ). A. Kn. 10 (+). A. Kn 8, 7(+). A. 10, 8 (+•). K. Kn. 8 ( + ). K. 10, X ( + ). Q. Kn. 8, X ( + ). Q. 10, x(+). Q- 8, 7 ( + )■ Kn. 8, 7( + ). 10, 8, X ( + ), 34 Whist Up To, Date. CHAPTER XIV. Rule of Eleven. Second hand player can often tell by the card led, it being the leader's fourth best, ex- actly what high cards remain in the leader's hand. To- facilitate this calculation the Rule of Eleven has been formulated as follows : Deduct the value of the card led from eleven, and the remainder will tell you the exact number of cards outside THE LEADER'S HAND WHICH ARE. HIGHER THAN THE CARD LED. Thus, if the 8 is led, 8 from ii leaves 3, there must be then three cards higher than the 8 not in the leader's hand. Should you hold them all, King, Knave, 9 and others for ex- ample, your 9 should win the trick. Or if the seven is led and you hold Ace, King, 10, 8, your 8 should win the trick, and the King, the proper play on a small card, be held in reserve. Although absolute on a fourth best lead, this rule will fail if leader opens a three-card suit. One of its greatest advantages lies in enabling Rule of Eleven. 35 you, at second hand, to detect a three-card suit. Should 7 be led and you hold Ace, King, Knave, 9, 8, the 7 must be from a weak suit ; there should be hnt /our cards out above the 7 and you hold Jive. Or, a different case, if 8 is led and you hold Ace, Knave, 9 and others, it seems at first that ypu should win the trick with the 9. But again you can detect a three- card suit if you consider a moment. If you hold all the cards of that suit outside the lead- er's hand above the 8, he naturally must hold the rest ; but that would give him both King and Queen, and holding these, he should prop- erly have led one of them ; thus you can place him with but a three-card suit. Similarly if you hold Queen, Knave, 9 and the 8 is led, it must be from three. In applying this rule, you must re- member THAT YOU CANNOT HOLD ALL THE CARDS OUTSIDE THE LEADER'S HAND, HIGHER THAN THE CARD LED, UNLESS YOU HOLD KING OR QUEEN. 36 Whist Up To Date. CHAPTER XV. Third Hand Play. Third Hand is supposed to play to help his partner as much as possible ; to give up his own strength in the suit led (save in rare cases), and not to finesse except with certain recog- nized combinations. Your partner calls for your best card and this you should usually play ; but holding, On a Low Card Led, 1. A. K. x.(+). Play King and return Ace at once unless intend- ing to lead trumps. 2. A. K. Q. (+). Play Queen and return King at once unless in- tending to lead trumps. Partner must mark Ace with you and is saved a third round of his suit. 3- A. Q. (+). Play Queen and return Ace at once unless in- tending to lead trumps. 4. A. Q. Kn. (+). Play Knave and return Ace as in case (21. Third Hand Play. 37 5. A. Ka. X, or A. Kn. x x. Play Knave if partner leads a four-card suit. If he leads the 2, or if he leads the 3 and the 2 falls, or if he leads the 4 and the 2 falls and you hold the 3, he can have but four cards and you can finesse the Knave in comparative safety. Your reason i.s this : he has not both King and Queen. You are temporarily the stronger hand and by finessing may establish the suit on the first round. Having won the trick with Knave, do not return Ace but wait for your partner to lead the suit again. 6. K. Q. X (+). Play Queen and return King at once.. 1 7. K. Ku. X (+). Play King. The Knave here is usually a wretched finesse. 8. Ace, King alone, or King and Queen alone. Win with the higher card and return the other. This marks no more in your hand and is not a trump signal. ' On a High Card Led. When your partner leads a high card, it is incumbent upon you, holding high cards, to get out of his way and avoid blocking his suit. It is therefore frequently necessary for you to take a trick apparently already his ; but you must remember that. You MUST NOT TAKE AWAY YOUR PART- NER'S SURE TRICK UNLESS YOU ARE PRAC- 38 Whist Up To Date TICALIvY CERTAIN THAT HE CAN TAKE AI,I, THE REMAINING TRICKS IN THAT SUIT. This rule applies to either the first or the second. round..; Should the second round mark him with an original four-card suit, the other two tricks must be surely marked in his hand to allow yoii to win the trick on the second round if it, is ali-eady his. Therefore, On KING led : Holding A. Kn. alone, play A. and return Kn. at once. Holding A. x, play x. Holding A. X X (-(-), play x ; if leader next leads Kn. again play low ; lie has Q. x left. Holding A. x x x, play x ; if leader next leads ID, play A. ; he must have Q. Kn. left On QUEEN led : Holding A. Kn. alone, play A. , return Knave at once. Holding A. x, play x. Holding A. x x ( + ), play x. On KNAVE led : Holding- A. x : play A. Should Knave be led from a five-card suit with King and Queen you must get out of your partner's way, whereupon he can probably take the remaining tricks in that suit save in case of a very uneven distribution of the cards; Third Hand Play, 39 this is a chance you are forced to take. Should Knave be from weakness, you can probably win but one trick in that suit, play it as you will. Holding A. X X : play x on Knave and win his next lead of King or Queen with Ace. You thus reserve a small card to put him in with later. Holding A. x x x : play third best on first lead, and second best on his second lead of King or Queen. This marks Ace guarded in your hand. Holding A. K. x { + ): play low if strong in trumps. Otherwise play King. Holding A. Q. x ( + ): play low. The Knave will either win or clear your suit. On TEN led : Holding A. X X ( + ), play low. Holding A. X X X X (+), play Ace. Holding K. or Q., with more than one low, play low. Holding A. or K. or Q. with but a single guard play high. Holding A K. alone play A. return K. Holding A. K. x ( + ), play K. return A. Holding A. Q. alone play Q. Holding A. Q X ( + ), play Q. Holding A. Kn. x (+) play x. Holding K. Kn. x ( + ) play x. Holding K. Q. X ( + ) play Q. In the last five cases lo must be led from but a three-card suit. 40 WHIST UP TO Date, The Rule of Eleven can often be applied successfully third in hand. Should your part- ner, for example, lead the 8 and you hold Ace, Queen, lo, 4, the suit is practically established and you can win with the Queen, and, being strong in trumps, lead them. Or again, he leads the 8 and you hold Ace, Queen, 5, 3. You win with Queen and return Ace on which trick an adversary plays 10 or Knave. Again the three cards outstanding against your partner's 8 are accounted for and you should start trumps, holding four or more, for his now established suit. Unblocking. 41 CHAPTER XVI. Unbi,ocking. When you hold exactly yiiM^ cards in a suit from which your partner leads a card which may be from a suit oi five or more, (therefore not King or 2) you should play your lowest ■card last, treating the remaining three cards as an original three-card suit. Therefore if you hold 10, 9, 8, 2, and part- ner leads Ace, play the 8 third in hand ; next play the 9 ; then 10 ; and last of all the 2. After playing the 8 in such a suit, if obliged to re- turn it, you should lead back the 10. You must consider temporarily that the 2 is not in your hand. The extreme case occurs when Ace is led and you, at third hand hold King, Queen, Knave, and one low. On the Ace you should play Knave ; should second hand trump on the next lead you should nev- ertheless play Queen ; also if now obliged to discard from the remaining cards you should discard the King. 42 Whist Up To Date: Should your partner lead a suit on which, in order to unblock, you play your third best, and which is later proven to be but a four-card suit, you must next play your second best, else you will call for trumps. But the low card falling the third round is not a call. Holding four exactly of your part- ner's SUIT, PLAY your LOWEST CARD LAST SAVE WHERE HE LEADS THE KiNG OR THE 2 OR IS OTHERWISE MARKED WITH ONLY A FOUR CARD SUIT. Fourth Hand Play. 43 CHAPTER XVII. Fourth Hand Play. While fourth hand is apparently the easiest position of all to play correctly, yet there are frequent opportunities for profitable plays, several examples of which are here given. 1. The leader leads King from K. Q. x x ; second hand, your partner plays 8 ; third hand low, and you holding A. x x, or A. x x x, refuse to win the trick. On the second round leader, placing Ace with his partner, leads low. Your partner may win the trick with Knave or lo thus saving your Ace, or he may be calling for trumps in which case you can win the trick with the Ace and lead them. 2. Again on the lead of King, you at fourth hand with A. Kn x, or A. Kn. x x, may pass the first trick, win the second with the Knave and still hold command of the suit while securing the lead. 3. Should your partner play a card that might be the beginning ot a trump signal, second in hand, you holding three trumps and three or four intermediate cards of the suit led should play your next to lowest card. If your part- ner completes his signal you can now echo on the same trick. Otherwise play higher than at first. The small card falling later is not a call. 44 Whist Up To Date. CHAPTER XVIII. Returning Partner's Lead. Always remember that you should not lead your partner's suit after there have been two rounds of it until trumps have been accounted for. Of course, exceptional circumstances arise where such a lead becomes a good play, as when you are forcing a strong adversary ; but almost always your partner should be the one to lead the third round of his suit, not you. You may, however, lead the second round at any time you deem advantageous. After your partner has led his suit once, and it comes your turn to lead, you must consider carefully whether it will profit you more to continue his suit or to open your own. As the ideal hand at whist is one in which the trumps are exhausted and a long suit brought in, so the combined eflforts of the two partners should be directed towards the discov- ering and establishing of their best suit and that as soon as possible. Returning Partner's Lead 45 If, therefore, your partner leads spades and you win the trick, or, losing it, secure the lead on the next suit led, you should continue his spades except when holding a suit you are nearly sure is stronger, i. e. longer or easier to clear than his. Thus if he leads a 2, showing a four- card suit, you might better open a five- card suit of your own. Or again should he lead low from a probable five-card suit, as shown by the drop of the cards, you would still better change if you hold a good suit which is easy to clear. Thus, your partner leads a 3 ; you win and the 2 does not fall. He probably has a five-card suit unless an ad- versary is calling. You, however, would now better change to a suit like K. Q. Kn. x or K. Q. Kn. x X, or A. Q. Kn. x (+); or even to K.Kn. 10, X x, or Q. Kn. 10 x x, as any of these except perhaps the two last mentioned is easy to establish. But if you have the command of your part- ner's suit, you should return it at once unless you wish to lead trumps : this you should do before showing your own great suit. Or if you have an honor in his suit you should return it even if it is at the head of three or even four remaining. In this case, holding some great suit of your own, it may 46 Whist Up To date, be preferable to start that, reserving the honor in his suit to lead him later, or to regain the lead with. Still, unless having some cogent reason, it is usually better to return the honor, announce that you have done the best you can do for him and then turn your attention to your own strong suit. Even when holding neither the command nor an honor it is better to return your part- ner's suit when it is your long suit also. If that is his best suit, and yours likewise you would surely better cling to what you have in preference to opening some other weaker suit or making a forced lead, thereby assisting the adversaries in clearing what must be their suit. Should you be very long in your partner's suit it will probably soon be trumped : but that is often an advantage to you. If you are not strong enough to draw trumps now, you may be after you have forced one or two. Always remember that the one who is verj' short of the first suit led is probably long in trumps. If, therefore, you deprive him of a trump at the beginning of the hand he may not have four to lead when his suit is established. It is also better to continue your partner's suit although having but two small cards left rather than open some suit of your own such Returning Partner's Lead. 47 as K. Q. X X, or K. X X x, or Q. x x x ; in fact any such weak four-card suit. If you ire- turn his suit in such a case, leading the higher of the two cards, you may clear it for him or perhaps he may win a trick in it and, leading it again, clear it for himself. On the other hand, by opening a weak four-card suit of your own, you may deprive him of, and perhaps sacrifice, a card of re-entry important for him to retain. This is a possible result not justified by your suit. You mu.st remember that it will undoubtedly help your partner's hand more for you to re- turn his suit rather than for him to lead it again himself, even if, on the first round, you played only the 9 or lo third in hand, and even if fourth hand won that trick with the Knave; yet fourth hand may also hold the Ace : this he will be compelled to play upon your return lead. Were your partner to lead his own suit again, fourth hand might save his Ace, win- ning with a smaller card. It is frequently quoted that you are not to return your partner's suit when you win the first trick cheaply, perhaps with Queen or Knave. This is a silly and fallacious idea. Pray from whom is your partner to get a second lead of his suit if not from you ? The player 48 Whist Up To Date. who was second in hand to his lead will hardly be simple enough to lead it up to him. It is embarrassing when fourth hand leads through him. And it is surely better for you to return it to him than for him to lead it again himself. If you return it he at least knows six cards in that suit before he plays his second card. He also knows whether to expect any more assist- ance from you, and from the card led back to him can determine the length of your suit : he can then finesse to his best advantage. (See Finesse.) Also, with weak trumps, and having held but two originally of your partner's suit, it is often wise to return the one remaining, stand- ing ready to trump the third round when he again leads the suit. The superficial player imagines, when his partner returns a low card in his suit at once, that he has no more ; whereupon he immedi- ately leads it again and is correspondingly de- jected or indignant when his partner follows suit to the third round. The fault lies with himself. He wishes to establish the arbitrary convention that the return of a low card at once, signifies no more. This he considers to absolve him from all inference to be gained by the drop of the cards. He frequently says : Returning Partner's Lead. 49 " I wouldn't have led that the third time if I had not thought you would trump it. ' ' Yet what better could he do than lead it again ? If it is the best suit you and he together have, if you have no other good suit to open, if it is established against him, in all these cases he surely would better lead it again rather than open another suit. If the adversaries hold the best card in his suit they are bound to win with it. Why not make them play it while having the opportunity ? In short by returning your partner's lead you tell him that you think it more profitable to continue his suit, using your suits to assist his. To change from his suit and lead your own tells him that you consider yours better than his, and invites his assistance on that. Thousands of hands are wasted and lost through a vague idea that one must show his own suit. Reverence for this ancient supersti- tion impels B., his partner A. having led him spades, to open a four-card diamond suit with King or Queen at the head. X. and Y., their adversaries, perhaps now secure the lead and establish the remaining suit by judiciously leading it back and forth two or three times. Then X. or Y. starts trumps from four, having a suit established. Now even if A. or B. has 50 Whist Up To Date. four trumps and secures the lead with the last trump, neither one has an established suit to bring in and in leading either suit again it falls to the adversary who is thus enabled to make his good cards. Establish one suit. Don't leave two suits in a half-cleared condition. The hand is too short, a chance to lead too valuable, and the modern adversary too skillful, to admit of any delay on your part or your partner's in estab- lishing your best suit while you have the chance. Therefore You return your partner's suit, 1. Holding the command. 2. Holding an honor, generally. 3. When you are long of it. 4. When you cannot open a new suit advantageously . 5. Holding but the one and being weak in trumps. Trumps, 51 CHAPTER XIX. Trumps. I. The Leads. Holding any three honors, lead as in plain suits. Holding any two face-cards (not Ace) and the 10, lead as in plain .suits. Otherwise lead low except in a suit of six or more cards. In detail. Holding Lead A. K. Q. Kn. X (+). Kn. A. K. Kn. X X (+). A. A. Q. Kn. X (+). A. K. Q. Kn. X X (+). Kn. K. Q. ID, X X (+). Q. K. Q. lo, X. K. Q_. Kn. ID, X ( + ). ID. A. X X X X X. 4th best. A. K. X X X.. K. Kn. 10, X (+). 52 Whist Up To Date. Holding Lead A. K. X X. 4th best K. Q. X X X. 4( K. Q. X X. t ( A. X X X X X X (+)• A. A. K. X X X X (+)• A. K. Q. X X X X (+)• Q- The forced leads in trumps are practically the same as in plain suits. When leading a suit of two, however, always lead the higher even with Ace or King. 2. Second Hand. Here a more backward game is played. There is not that great necessity for playing your high cards early in the hand as they will win on their merits. Therefore on a small card led, Holding Play A. K. X. X. A. K. X X. X. A. K. X X X. X. A. Q. Kn. X. X. A. Q. Kn. X X (+). Kn. A. Q. 10 (+). 10. K. Q. X. Q. Trumps. 53 Holding Play K. Q. X X (+). X. K. Kn. lo (+). lo. Q. Kn. lo (+). lo. The rules for covering in two-card or three- card suits are practically the same as in plain suits except : Holding any high card — not the Ace — singly guarded, play the higher, not only on any card above the 8, but also on any low card led unless the trump lead is made in answer to a call. j>. Third Hand. Holding any number of trumps except three exactly, the play is the same as in plain suits save with A. K. alone or K. Q. alone, which in trumps are played in their natural order, the lower card first. Holding exactly three trumps including Ace and King, you play Ace and return King. While in plain suits this play shows no more, in trump it proclaims ex- actly three originally. So with King and Queen in a suit of three play King and return Qiieen. With Ace, King, Queen, alone, play King and return Queen. With Ace and King, or King and Queen in a suit of more than three, play as in plain suits. 54 Whist Up To Date. With Ace, Queen and ^ one or more small, play Queen and return Ace. With Ace and Queen alone, play Ace and return Queen. Having played an honor third in hand, in cases not mentioned before, return the higher of two remaining trumps, the lowest of three or more. Here it is essential to show number rather than some high card remaining, such as Knave for instance. When your partner leads a high trump, or when (upon his lead) such a high one is played second in hand that you cannot play higher, you should play your low cards as follows : 1. With exactly two, play the lower. 2. With exactly three, play first the in- termediate, then the lowest. 3. With more than three, play the lowest. Therefore if you play first a small trump and then a higher one, you can not have had exactly three originally : you must have now, either no more or two more. This problem your partner can usually solve by the drop of the cards. Trumps, 55 ^. Trumping In. When weak in trumps — three or fewer — you shoui/d at once trump in on a doubtful trick. If you pass such a trick in the hope that your partner can win it, you tell him definitely you are strong in trumps. With four or more you pass a doubt- ful TRICE. Thereby you treat yourself to a discard ; you show your partner a weak suit ; you place the lead beyond you ; and you proclaim strength in trumps. You should not, how- ever, pass a trick surely against you unless wishing such an action to be construed as a trump signal. Holding but three trumps you naturally trump with the lowest. Holding four or more it is better to trump with the third best. The fall of your low trump later informs your part- ner that you have two more higher than your first one. Thus, holding K. Kn, 4, 2, trump first with the 4 and then with the 2. Or holding K, 9, 5, 4, 2, use first the 5, then play 4, then 2, showing five origi- nally. The only objection to such play is that it informs your adversaries of your trump strength. But here your whist judgment must be brought to bear. If an 56 Whist Up To Date. adversary is calling, has shown strength in trumps or has a powerful hand, you will do better not to dis- close your strength. But if your partner is forcing you, or has the strong hand you would better give him such information. Again where the gap between the third best and the fourth best is too great, it is unwise to use the third best to trump in with. While correct to play it holding K. 8, 5, 3, or 10, 9, S, 6, or A. Q. Kn. 10, it is not wise holding A. K. 10, 4, or K. Kn. 9, 3. In the two last cases the 9 and 10 are too powerful cards to be wasted. When the adversaries lead trumps, after you have trumped with your third best, you would better play your second best if it is not too valuable, rather than disclose your strength by dropping to the low card at once. Such a play often prevents the adversaries from count- ing trumps accurately, and may stop their lead. J. The Tfump Signal. A trump signal can be played in three ways : (a) By playing an unnecessarily high card fol- lowed \>y a lower one of the same suit. (b) By discarding from an unopened suit, a 9 or higher. (c) By refusing to trump a trick surely against you. In detail, (a) By playing first an unnecessarily high card followed by a lower one of the same suit. Trumps, 57 This is an inversion of the ordinay play and constitutes a call for trumps. But the first card must have been proven unnecessarily high. An 8 played on a 7 or 6 led and a low one dropped later would not be a trump call. Had the 8 and lower one been played on the King and Ace, it would have been one. So the 10 played first followed by a low card is not proven to be a call. The 10 might have been played properly second in hand from several combi- nations. (b) By discarding from an unopened suit a 9 or higher. Strength in trumps is here a normal inference : the player discarding is very short of one suit, and discards such a card that he ought to have but few remaining in the discarded suit. The balance of his hand is made up of the third suit and trumps, with probable strength in both. A trump lead in such cases has proved so val- uable that the rule has been derived. It is not an arbitrary convention but a perfectly natural inference. (c) By refusing to trump a trick surely against you. This is frequently a good play. You certainly reap a three-fold advantage You give a signal; place the lead beyond you and discard a weak card. Before deciding upon this play, con- sider whether you may not have to discard several times as when the adversaries can con- tinue that suit with taking cards. If so, it is 58 Whist Up To Date. rarely worth while ; you would better adjust your hand to circumstances and accept the force. Although holding such trumps that you would lead them were it your lead, it is not always necessary to signal for them. If your partner shows some suit you would better call. On the adversaries' suits it is often much wiser to keep your strength in trumps temporarily hidden. Your adversaries may thus be led into rashly leading them themselves. At any time when winning cards are marked in your part- ner's hand you, holding five or more trumps, should call for his benefit. 6. The Echo. The Echo is but a trump signal played in either a plain suit or trumps after joux partner has called and at the first opportunity : It signi- fies that )'ou hold exactly three trumps. As one is so much more apt to have three trumps than to have four, when one's partner leads them, it has been found advisable to abandon the old rule of echoing with four and to confine the echo to exactly three trumps. It can be played third in hand when holding Ace, King, and one low, or King, Queen and one low, by playing first the higher, then the lower of the two high cards. The echo is of great value as it frequently Trumps. 59 obviates the necessity of a third round and allows you and yonr partner to make your trumps separately. 7. The Sub-Echo. The Sub-Echo shows more than three trumps. It is often of the greatest importance to your partner to know that you have a fourth trump remaining after you have shown three. The Sub-Echo is given by refusing to echo upon your first opportunity and then echoing upon your second. For example : Some suit is led upon which your partner signals for trumps. Should the adversaries now lead another suit in which you hold 8, 6, 2, you should, with three trumps, play first the 6 then the 2 making the simple echo. But in this same case, should you hold four trumps, you should play first the 6, refusing your first chance to echo, and then make your sub-echo with the 8 and the 2. Or again : You win your partner's lead of trumps with the King and having the 7, 6, 2 remaining, lead back the 2 ; should some other suit now be led you should give the sub- echo to proclaim your four trumps. Should your partner lead high trumps and should you have four low ones, you must play your next to lowest first : by next playing a higher trump you tell not three exactly, and the missing low card being marked in your hand, counts you for four originally. 60 Whist Up To Date To ECHO AFTER HAVING ONCE REFUSED TO, MARKS YOU WITH FOUR OR MORE TRUMPS ORIGINAI,I,Y. 8. Response to a Signal. Holding but two trumps lead the higher. Holding three trumps lead the highest. Holding four or more lead the lowest. Except ; With A. XXX ( + ) lead Ace then lowest. With A. K. X X ( + ) lead King then Ace. With K. Q. X X ( + ) lead Queen then King. You must remember that to go down in trumps after having led them once, shows but three as you lead the highest of three. On the contrary to go up shows four or more. Therefore to lead King and go up to Ace, or to lead Queen and go up to King, shows strength in trumps. Remember that in these cases you lead in answer to a signal exactly as you would play third in hand. Having had four trumps such as King, 8, 4, 2, orig- inally and having already trumped in with the 4, lead the 2 in answer to a call. But with Ace, 8, 4, 2, hav- ing trumped with 4, lead first Ace then 2. p. Continuing Truvips. The question frequently arises whether or not you should continue trumps when your partner has called for them or is leading them and one of the adversaries has none. Your Trumps. 61 partner is usually entitled to three rounds of trumps. If, however, when you lead the sec- ond round, the player on your left gives out, you would better wait and let your partner continue if he wishes. Should the player on your right give out, you should generally lead the third trump as your partner is in the more advantageous position, playing last to the trick. 10. Value of Four Trumps. A player who has four trumps is in a posi- tion to accomplish much for himself and his partner. Should some adversary hold even five and attempt to exhaust them, his four, ju- diciously played may prove a serious obstacle. With four in some one's else hand it becomes a trial of skill as to who shall first succeed in clearing a suit and drawing trumps. With three in every one's else hand, you with four are superior at the outset. Holding four trumps you usually should lead them as soon as a suit is established in either your hand or your partner's. This of course you will not do when an adversary has led or signalled for trumps. You must remem- ber that the one who opens a suit of four trumps unless with three honors in it does so at a disadvantage. He may sacrifice a card of 62 Whist Up To Date. his partner's which would otherwise make, or he may allow his adversaries to win a trick which never would have been theirs had they themselves led trumps. Therefore you should not assume such a disadvantage without the compensation of an established suit. Do not lead from four trumps without a rea- son : the best reason is because in your hand or your partner' s there are certain cards with which you should win tricks, trumps having been exhausted. Having led from four trumps for an estab- lished suit you must be wary about winning the second trick. It is often of benefit to re- tain your winning trump and allow the adver- saries to win that trick. For example, spades are established in your parliier's hand ; no adversary has shown trump strength so you open a suit of four trumps, hearts, holding Ace, 9, 6, 3. Should your partner win your lead of the 3 with King and return so low a card that you can count him with two remaining, probably, you should here play your Ace. If he has two left and you remain with two after eight have been played, the Queen is the one missing card, and this you should force with your estab- lished suit, hoping to make your trumps and your partner's separately. But should he return a. card which can be at the best but the higher of two, as the 8 or 7 (prob- Trumps. 63 ably) you should not play your Ace. If yon do, you must either lead trumps again and perhaps allow an adversary, who also had four trumps originally, to win that trick and draw your other trump, or you must abandon your trump lead having drawn but eight. On such a return from your partner you should pass and allow the adversaries to win that trick. Your partner may now have another trump to ruff with ; or he may secure the lead in some other suit and lead trumps again, or you may secure the lead yourself and can then lead the winning card and force any remaining trump with your established suit. 64 WHIST Up To Date. CHAPTER XX. IvE;ading Through. This is returning the lead of a suit led by your left-hand adversary and frequently proves beneficial : you and your partner both know that third hand has played his best card and therefore you can lead, and he can finesse, with this in mind. I. With more than two remaining. Here it is usually disadvantageous to lead the suit until after trumps have been played or are accounted for. The original leader is too apt to win your return lead, and lead again for his partner to trump, while you are helpless and must follow suit. It is a great temptation to return a lead from your left when you have won the first trick cheaply and when you can lead through the strong hand up to weakness ; yet if you are long in that suit it is apt to re- sult in disaster. After trumps are accounted for, it becomes a good lead to lead through the leader's hand with three or even more. Here, holding the command you would better lead low ; your partner may win a cheap trick. Leading Through. 65 The objection to leading through when long, in a plain suit, does not obtain in trumps, where it is frequently a good play, especially when trumps are led late in hand and third hand is proven weak. With but two remaining. Here it is often profitable to lead through the original leader. If he holds the master card, he is forced to play it ; not holding it he is placed at a great disadvantage. In leading through, holding but two, lead the higher. However, Do not lead the best card. Do not lead, holding the second best guarded. With but one remaining. In this case, leading through is frequently a suc- cessful play, especially when you are weak in trumps and want to trump in. There is no objection to this lead at any time when you cannot continue your own or your partner's suit, or are unable to open a fresh suit to ad- vantage. The second best is almost always a good play as it may save the command in your partner's hand. Do not lead the best card. 66 Whist Up To Date. CHAPTER XXI. Leading Up To. This is leading the suit that has already- been led on your right. It is usually a disas- trous thing to do if you held but two, three, or even four originally. When you are very long of it, however, the chances are that third hand and your partner have not many. In such a case therefore you may continue it, but only with the idea of giving your partner a chance to ruff: should your left-hand adver- sary trump, your partner will probably over- trump. Holding the second best and one or more others it is rarely good for you to continue that .suit. If you wait for the leader to lead again, you will remain in command. But when you hold a great suit such as Ace, King, and three others, or Ace, King, Queen and one or two, it is often advantageous, after winning second in hand with the King or Queen, to continue the suit first with the Ace, and then with Leading Up To. 67 •either the King, or a low one for your partner to ruff. It is a good play to lead the second best un- guarded. Should your partner hold the com- mand, your card will save it in his hand ; if the adversaries hold the command, your card is doomed. 68 Whist Up To Date. CHAPTER XXII. Management of Your Suit. You should remember that your purpose should be, not only to take tricks in your own suit as you lead it, but also so to lead and clear it that, should trumps be exhausted and you secure the lead, you would have good cards to- play. After two rounds therefore, if your suit is not established in either your hand or your partner's, you should generally lead it again. However, You should not lead it, 1. When second hand holds the balance of the suit and you must lead a losing card : here you sacrifice to fourth hand any trump your partner may play. 2. When one adversary will discard and the other will trump. 3. When an adversary whose partner has called for trumps is likely to trump in : you are here forcing the wrong hand. Management of Your Suit. 69 If, after two rounds, your suit is established in your hand or your partner's and it looks as though an adversary would trump the third round, you should not continue it unless abso- lutely obliged to. If you have four trumps you should now lead them. Not holding four, you should try to give your partner the lead, so that he, holding four may lead them for your benefit. You, therefore, may make any one of the four following leads : 1. Trumps, when holding four or more. Rarely with three : only when strength in another suit is marked in your hand or your partner's. 2. Through the left-hand adversary. Only when holding but one or two remaining in his suit : and not then with the second best guarded. 3. Your partner's suit. Only if there has been but one round of it pre- viously. 4. Another suit which you can open WITH A strengthening CARD. Thus you can lead a Queen (rom Q. x, or from Q. Kn. X, or a Knave or a lo or a 9 at the head of a suit of two or three. Such a weak suit you should open rather than to open a three- card or four-card suit with a lone King or Queen or Knave in it. Do not open a weak 70 Whist Up To Date. suit here or elsewhere with a card under the 9 if you possibly can avoid it. If unable to make any one of these four plays, you would better continue your own suit even if an adversary does trump it. Do not lead weak trumps or open an un- protected suit like King or Queen and two or three low. While it is a fairly well accepted principle of whist that you must not force your partner if you are weak in trumps, yet you must re- member that there is a sharp distinction be- tween deliberately leading a card of some suit, not your own, which you know he must trump to win, and continuing your own suit in order to clear it. The first you generally should not do without some very good reason : you must also remember that such a play, if you do make it, entitles your partner to credit you at once, and correctly with at least four trumps. The second you are not only at liberty to do, but usually should do : if your partner does not wish to trump, he is at liberty to pass the trick, to discard, and to allow your suit to clear. Of course these rules are but general guides and must be disregarded, ofttimes as circum- stances dictate. After establishing your suit, even if you hold four trumps, it may be wise Management of Your Suit. 71 to lead your suit a third time if you can thereby force a calling adversary to ruff it and weaken his hand. You may branch off from your suit to a short weak suit in the hope of making a small trump, if the hand developes in such a way as to make that plan seem profit- able. Or you may lead similarly your part- ner's suit the third round if you are thus able to force an adversary who is strong in trumps. No rule obtains always or is so rigid that it cannot be judiciously broken; but >ou must be pretty sure that you have found the right occasion to break it before so doing. 72 Whist Up To Date. CHAPTER XXIII. Finesse. Finesse in whist, means trying to win a trick with a card lower than, and not in se- quence to, another card which you can play. 1. In your partner's suit. Holding Ace and Queen, alone or with others, play Queen. Holding Ace, Queen and Knave, alone or with others, play Knave. Holding Ace and Knave with one or two small, play Knave when your partner is marked with but a four-card suit. Do not finesse Knave from King and Knave, alone or with others. 2. In your right-hand adversary's suit. On the first round, play according to rules for second-hand play. On the second round let your play be governed by the card which third hand played to the first trick. If he played Knave which your partner won with the Queen, you, holding Ace and 9, on the second round should play 9, not Ace. But unless fairly sure that you can win Finesse. 73 the trick witli another card, you should play the command in the right-hand adversary's suit upon the second round 3. In your left-hand adversary's suit. If the second round of this suit is returned through you, you, holding the command, should play it. 4. In your own suit. It is usually wise to finesse against one card upon the return of your suit. For example ; You lead the 2 from Ace, Knave, 6, 2 ; your partner wins with King and returns the 8 ; you should here finesse Knave except with a hand otherwise very weak. If, however, your partner wins with Queen and returns the 8, there is no finesse, King must be beyond you and you must play Ace. Similarly having led from King, Knave, and others, and the Ace having been played, you should usually finesse Knave upon return of that suit. On the return of your own suit by your partner, if the best card is marked beyond you, you should generally not play your best card. For example : you lead 3 from King, 10, 6, 3 ; your partner wins with Queen and returns the 8 ; the Ace must be beyond you, so you play 10 not King. Should your right-hand adver- sary, however, have played Knave on this trick, you should play King, as, if 3'onr King lo,ses to Ace, your 10 is teft in command. This same principle of not playing your best card upon the return of your suit, when the win- 74 Whist Up To Date ning card is marked beyond you, should gov- ern your play even when second hand has al- ready won the trick, i. e. you lead the 3 from Queen, 8, 6, 3 ; your partner wins with King and returns the 9 ; on this, your right-hand adversary plays 10 whereupon you must play low, not Queen. This is the reasoning : Ace must be beyond you in fourth hand, and your Queen is lost if you play it. In addition to this your partner evidently has not Knave, so that the adversaries will win not only your Queen but the next trick also. If Ace and Knave are both beyond you they will both win regardless of your play. Your sole chance is that Ace alone lies in that hand and must fall. In trumps you can finesse more deeply and take more chances. 5. In general. Never attempt to finesse at third hand, when sec- ond hand has not followed suit. Always play your best card or one equal in value to it. Any finesse you may try to make at third hand is aimed at the subsequent capture of some card which second hand may hold. If second hand fails to follow suit, you have no reason for not playing your best card. Discard. 75 CHAPTER XXIV. Discard. The one great principle of discard is that you should throw away the card you can spare best from the hand. Until a short time ago the general rule was that you should discard from your weakest suit in all cases except when trump strength was declared against you, but then you should dis- card from your strongest suit on the ground that you would not be able to bring in the en- tire suit with adverse trump strength. To the part of this rule which orders the discard of your weakest suit, trumps not being declared, ■ there is no objection ; to the latter part of it however which compels you to throw from your strong suit, with trumps declared against you, there are three objections. Under the old rule I. You HELP THE ADVERSARIES. Upon the adversaries' lead of spades — trumps — 76 Whist Up To Date. should you discard a heart they will be simple indeed to lead that suit up to your declared strength. Rather by a careful avoidance of the hearts and by generous finessing in their own suits will they try to shut out your suit, so that you may fail to win in it even one trick. Surely such direct information to the adver- saries does not pay. 2. You FREQUENTLY DECEIVE YOUR PART- NER. Should the adversaries be leading spades — trumps — upon which you discard a heart, and should your partner secure the lead, having no great suit of his own, he must lead you a heart : and having but two or three he must lead his top card to your declared suit. Now should you hold a wondrous strong suit with many honors, such a play is pretty and effect- ive : but this is a minority case. Should your suit be long but headed by the Knave, lo, or 9, and should your partner lead King or Queen at the head of two or three, a trick vanishes with no compensation. At the end of such a hand — alas ! even sometimes in the middle — your partner complains that you have misin- formed him, whereupon you spread out your hand and ask what better you could have done. Close inspection revealing no other play possi- ble under this obligatory rule, you conclude that the lost trick was an offering on the altar of science and the game continues. That trick should have been saved and a rule which per- Discard. 77 mits and encourages such blind sacrifices needs revision. 3. You WEAKEN YOUR OWN SUIT. To be forced to show your partner your suit by discarding from what is at best but slender strength, often loses one trick, perhaps more. To be obliged to throw away one of a good five-card suit may cheat you out of a trick should you ever establish it : to discard once from a five-card suit may so unguard it that it becomes of little or no value. It SO often happens that the one leading trumps is experimenting, that he is deceived as to his or his partner's strength, or that he has been misled by a false card ! Many times the balance of power is so nicely adjusted that the possession of a single high card may turn the scale your way. Surely in such cases you want, you must have every ounce of strength, every card which may win a trick. A rule showing so many and such defects can surely be bettered. A new rule must rem- edy these faults ; it must not force you defi- nitely to tell the adversaries wherein lies your strength when they lead trumps ; it must not m.isinform your partner enticing him to the wanton risk of a high card ; it must guard all the strength you may possibly need in your best 78 Whist UP To Date. suit. Such a rule has been formulated and has been in use for nearly a year. It neither assists the wily adversary nor bewilders an attentive partner : it precipitates no mistaken sacrifices nor encroaches upon one's treasured strong suit. This rule is Your first discard should be from THE suit which YOU DO NOT WISH YOUR PARTNER TO I,EAD ; AND THIS NO MATTER WITH WHOM TRUMP STRENGTH IS DECLARED. This discard does not mark you with abso- lute weakness. You may discard from A. K. X, or A. X X, or K. X X x, or Q. x x x, or any such suit. Should the adversaries judge you weak in such a suit and lead up to your hand you may make a doubtful card. If your partner, searching for your suit, leads the wrong one of the other two suits, you will probably have some strength there and you have kept your own suit intact. Once accept and play by this rule and all confusion disappears. You no longer have two discards but one permanent and definite one. The question of what you shall discard upon your partner's continuing the adversaries' trump lead no longer vexes you. Your play Discard, 79 is ready to your hand and calls for no effort from either you or your partner. Inferences Derived From Discards. (Spades are trumps.) 1 . Partner discards a heart. Of the other two suits lead the one best suited to your hand. 2. Partner discards first a heart, then a diamond. I When you are marked with all the remain- ing cards of a suit, each has the value of a thirteenth card and, when led, should be treated as such. Exceptional Leads, 87 CHAPTER XXVIII. Exceptional Leads. There are certain constantly recurring occa- sions when it is better not to make the conven- tional leads ; when you can often gain a trick or two by first testing your partner's hand and inviting his co-operation in your scheme. Sev- eral such cases are given. I. Holding A. K. Kn. or A. K. Kn. x. Here it is better to lead King and then change suit so that, upon partner's return of first suit, you may finesse Knave. 2. Holding A. K. x x. Here it is often better to lead King and then change suit as in the case above. Your part- ner may be able to return Knave or Ten for you to finesse. 3. Holding A. K. x x, or A. K. x x x, or A. X X X X X. When opening such a suit late in hand, and hold- ing the last trump or trumps, lead a low card ; it will best clear your suit. 4. Holding A. Kn. lo, x, or A. Kn. lo, x x. l,ate in the hand after trumps are all played or ■88 Whist Up To Date. when but one remains in, the Knave is often a successful lead. It tempts second hand to cover and thus clears the suit. 5. lycading partner's probable suit. If, from the adversaries' play or your partner's discard you can determine your partner's suit, you should lead to beneiit his hand as follows : Holding two cards, lead the higher. Holding three cards, lead the highest. Holding four, including Ace or any two honors, lead high : with a single horlor, not the Ace, generally lead low. 6. Leading for the possible tricks. At the end of the hand, a situation like this often occurs : each player remains with four cards and the last two trumps are marked in some one player's hand. As but two tricks are left to be played for, therefore, in opening a suit, you should lead it as if it were a two-card suit. Thus, from Queen and three small you should lead Queen as if from Queen and one small. Logical Inferences, 89 CHAPTER XXIX. IvOGiCAL Inferences. The failure of many players to count cor- rectly their partners' hands, is due largely to their not making the correct inferences at the proper time. Attention is here invited to many simple inferences too frequently overlooked. It is ia.it to infer, 1 . That if your partner opens the hand with a four-card suit, he has no five-card suit, save possibly trumps. 2. That if he does not continue his suit after the second round of it, it is probably estab- lished. 3. That if he ruffs a doubtful trick, he prob- ably has but two trumps remaining. 4. That the player holding but one or two of the first suit led, is likely to hold four trumps. 5. That a player who opens the hand with 90 Whist Up To Date. a weak suit has no good suit and is playing a waiting game. 6. That in the last case his four-card suit may be trumps, it may be all low cards, or it may contain a tenace or a single high card from which he deems it unwise to lead. 7. That, if you open a suit with a winning card, and the two does not fall, some one is- calling or your partner may be unblocking. 8. That, in the last case, if two small cards- are missing, two players are calling, or one is calling and your partner is unblocking. 9. That if your partner returns your suit before opening his own, he considers yours the best to continue with. ID. That, if your partner leads trumps from weakness, he must be strong in all the other suits or must hold a postponed hand. Don't. 91 CHAPTER XXX. Don't. 1. Don't change suit without a very good reason : if the adversaries have the winning cards in your suit they are usually bound to make them. 2. Don't lead trumps without a purpose just because you don't know what else to do. 3. Don't lead your partner's suit for the third round until after trumps have been ac- counted for. 4. Don't "lead through" when long of a suit until after trumps have been accounted for. 5. Don't " lead through " when holding the second best card once guarded. \ 6. Don't "lead up to" unless willing to force partner. 7. Don't blank an Ace or ungr.ard a King or Queen. 8. Don't finesse if second hand does not fol- low suit. 92 Whist Up To Date. 9. Don't be so absorbed in leading trumps or your established suit that you fail to note the discards : they are most important. 10. Don't retain the Ace of trumps if your partner wishes 5'ou to ruff with it. It is not a permanent investment and can win but one trick. 11. Don't be diverted from your suit because an adversary plays a high card upon your first lead of an honor. If he has no more, whether he trumps or discards upon your second lead, the card he plays will be an index to his hand. 12. Don't be .=.tubborn. If you propose a certain scheme of the game by your play, and your partner deliberately disregards it and ad- vances another, you would better yield to him, he has the latest advices. 13. Don't be always trying for brilliant coups, and don't play to the unusual. Be satisfied with a close observance of rules made by play- ers who have devoted their time to patient study of the game. It is the close, conven- tional, conservative player who wins in the long run, and is popular as a partner. WHIST UP TO DATE. PART II. PART II. The Modified game. To my partners^ CHARLES S. KNO WLES, CHARTON L. BECKER, and WILLIAM DONALD, in appreciation of their study and advice during the inception and subsequent tests of this game, I gratefully dedicate Part II of this book. Charles Stuart Street. April, 1897, Verbum sat sapienti. The player who, having something good to do, does it, and having noth- ing good to do, does no harm, plays sound whist. INTRODUCTION. It is only after much hesitation that the author now presents, complete for the first time, the system of whist known as the Modi- fied Game. While growing- out of the long- suit game it differs from it so in essence and structure that it must be played in its entirety or not at all. Therefore do not study it with the idea of engrafting any point which pleases you, upon your own long-suit game. Do not undertake it half-heartedly, play it apologeti- cally, and then cast it aside declaring it worth- less after a casual trial If you are an inexperienced player not well versed in the long-suit game and its conven- tions, if you are but a student, if you are a beginner, leave this game alone ; for such a method of play is exacting and demands a skilled mind ; it is a two-edged sword power- fully arming the adept but leading the novice to suicide. CHAPTER L Argument in Behai,f of This Game. The system of play known as "Modified Whist " is not a mechanical system of sudden birth or arbitrary arrangement. It has not sprung Athene-like from the head of any King of whist. Only alter long trial has it been pa- tiently compiled from the long-suit and the short-suit games. It aims to embody the good points of each and to remedy the weaknesses of both. To THE Long-Suiter. If you, disdaining that mushroom growth the short-suiter with his too often provokingly successful leads, have faithfully played the long-suit game, you must have noticed in it certain flaws ; you must have seen vanish tricks which you vaguely felt could have been saved had your system allowed you a different course of action ; nay, rather, you often must have seen hands in which the reckless short- suiter has reaped a plenteous harvest by lead- 100. The Modified Game. ing his weak suit first, not his strong one. But consoled with the idea that in the long run you will win, you have kept on with your con- scientious routine game, you have spurned short leads and have played your fourth best from useless suits because you have known of nothing better upon which to rely. The corner-stone of the long-suit game is this : ' ' Your first lead should be from your longest suit." Under this banner men have fought and died in the faith ; hands have been righteously opened and hopelessly wrecked ;, proud Kings and reluctant Queens have been torn from partner's hand only to be slain by the adversary ; alluring singletons and savory short suits have been alike powerless to divert the long-suiter from playing his long suit first regardless of what it consists. For instance, have you yourself not often opened with a fourth best a five-card suit, nine high or ten high, and caused your partner to lose a King or Queen third hand upon it ? Do you think it was sufficient compensation to him for such a loss to know that you had three or four more in that suit although you proba- bly failed to win a trick with any one of them? Or have you not opened a four- card suit of K. Q. X X, or A. Q. x x, or A. Kn. x x, or Argument in behalf of This Game. 101 K. Kn. X X, and found all the strength of that suit against you and made but one trick, pos- sibly none, in it ? If you had waited for some one else to open that suit, would you not have fared much better ? Or again, have you not opened a four-card suit with a single King, or Queen, or Knave in it and found all the strength of that suit against you and seen your high card fail to win a trick ? If you had let some other player open that suit might not your court card have won ? In short are you not obeying the letter and not the spirit of the law ? Are you not trying to establish, as in the first instance, suits which in the great majority of cases can never be established, or to bring in, as in the other cases, suits in which there is nothing to bring in ? To THE Short-Suiter. If you, pitying the pathetic efforts of the wooden long-suit player as he blindly tries to cast all hands, be they large or small, round triangular or oval, in his one little square mould, if you, I repeat, have led singletons and short suits and later have eagerly trumped those suits, you must have noticed certain flaws in your system ; you frequently must have shaken your partner's confidence in you. 102 THE Modified Game, by calling upon him to play sometimes upon a lead from length, other times upon a short lead, he could not tell which, being absolutely in the dark as to what you held in your hand. Have you not often led a low card singleton or else a low two-card suit and caused your partner to play third in hand a King or a Queen which was lost to the adversary's Ace ? Do you think that such loss was compensated for by the chance you thereby gained to trump that suit if indeed the adversaries did not first draw your trumps ? To AivL Whist Players. You must realize that there is one, great, important point in whist which is so great that it transcends all others. That point is this : The player who opens a suit with a SMALL card does SO AT A GREAT COST ; THIS COST HE SHOULD INCUR ONLY WHEN HE IS FAIRLY SURE THAT HE CAN RE-IM- BURSE HIMSELF AND HIS PARTNER BY A SUBSEQUENT GAIN IN THE HAND. Forgetful of this the long-suiter errs in his low leads from useless five-card suits and in his ruthless exposure of single court cards and tenaces in four-card suits ; and the short-suiter errs in his lead of a low singleton or a low two- card suit. Argument in Behalf of This Game, 103 The Modified Whist player, however, comes to the fore with this principle firmly in mind and outlines his game as follows : while he leads from almost any five-card suit with two or more honors in it, while he even leads a low card in true orthodox way from any five-card suit with but one honor in it, he halts there. "While he leads any four-card suit with three honors he is wary about suits of this length when they contain two honors forming a real or possible tenace, or when they contain but one honor, or none ; while he leads short suits and even singletons he refuses to do so when they are low cards demanding high third hand play. In short then if you are to become a Modi- fied Whist player you must build your game upon these five prohibitions. (Throughout this part of the book by a small card is meant a card under the nine.) I Do NOT LEAD A SMALL CARD FROM A SUIT WHICH YOU ARE UNLIKELY TO ESTAB- LISH OR AT LEAST TO PROTECT. 2. Do NOT LEAD A SMALL CARD FROM A FOUR-CARD SUIT NOT CONTAINING AN HONOR. 3. Do NOT LEAD A LOW CARD AS A SIN- GLETON OR IN A TWO-CARD SUIT. 104 The Modified Game. 4. Uni^ess compei,led to, avoid leading four-card suits containing k. q., a. q., A. Kn., K. Kn., OR A SINGLE KiNG OR Queen. 5. do not lead from five trumps just because you have them with nothing else to make. To build a permanent structure upon such a foundation requires new plans and a new style of architecture. Most of the high-card, num- ber-showing leads must be abandoned ; so too must go the fourth best lead with its trivial information often so advantageous to the op- ponent. In short you must begin with a clean score and allot to each card of the thirteen, or to each set of cards, a certain definite and un- changing meaning which shall announce far more than the long-suiter's cry, "This is my long-suit in which I may or may not take tricks ; be content with this, of the rest of my hand I am powerless to speak : ' ' far more than the short-suiter's cry, " Of this suit I have a scarcity ; return it early and often so that I may shelter my trumps ere these Philistines extract them ! ' ' And yet the moment it is proposed to divide the cards into groups, giving each group a cer- tain, definite meaning, the long-suiter wags Argument in Behalf of This Game, 105 liis solemn head and croaks, "artificial sys- tem" or "arbitrary conventions." This he does forgetful that his own game — nay, that any system of whist for that matter, is clad in a panoply of such conventions. Why should the lead of a King in the long- suit game show but four in the suit ? Is there any deductive reasoning in such a rule ? If not, what is it but an arbitrary convention? Why does Ace when followed by Queen show four and when followed by Knave, five or more ? An arbitrary convention. What is a signal for trumps but the result of an agree- ment so to consider the play of a higher and later a lower card ? An arbitrary convention. What is the corner stone of the long-suit game, the lead, of the longest suit first ? An arbitrary convention. No ! Sir Long-suiter, don't accuse this system of founding itself upon arbitrary conventions — j'^our game is rid- dled with them. The only difference existing between your conventions and those upon which this game stands, lies in the fact that these are more clear, more comprehensive, more useful. No system can exist without conventions ; some known platform must be agreed upon else the playing of two hands in successful union is impossible, and the game. 106 The Modified Game. as far as intellectual effort is concerned, ranks on a par with blind-man's-buff. Therefore, as some conventions are necessary, all you have to do is to accept the few and eas- ily learned conventions of this system of Mod- ified Whist and you are able at once to tell your partner by your original lead not only whether you are on the attack or on the de- fense, but also exactly what particular set of tactics you deem best suited to your hand. The Original Lead. 107 The Original Lead. The modified game recognizes six ways of opening a hand. These are divided equally into the Attack and the Defense. Under the Attack we have, 1. The I,ead of Strong Trumps. 2. The Lead of Weak Trumps. 3. The Lead of the 2, 3, 4, or 5. Under the Defense we have, 1. The Lead of Ace, King, and rarely Knave. 2. The Lead of a strengthening card, i. e. Queen, Knave, Ten or Nine. 3. The Lead of the 6, 7, or 8. 108 The Modified Game CHAPTER II. The Attack. I. The Lead of Strong Trumps. By strong trumps a suit of four or more is meant. With six trumps it nearly always pays to lead them, certainly if they contain high cards. In certain rare cases where an honor is turned to your right and you have no suit or no good cards to make, you may prefer to lead a strength- ening card in a weak suit ; you may thus pro- voke a trump lead from the adversaries. Still in the long run you are more likely to win tlian to lose by leading from six trumps at once. With five trumps containing three honors you should generally lead them at once : with two honors, one honor, or none, and no good suit to bring in, it is better to lead a strength- ening card from a weak suit Having a good suit, however, you would better lead trumps The Attack. 109 first unless from the general composition of your hand you prefer to play the plan of game outlined beyond in Chapter IV. With /owr trumps including three honors and any other strength, the trump is the best lead. Without three honors do not lead trumps orig- inally unless with very good cards to make in the other suits. The lead of the fourth best is retained in trumps. The Strong Trump Leads. ACE is led either from great length or from the Ace, Queen, Knave and others. Never when it occurs with King ; as when holding 1. A. X X X X X ( + ). 2. A. Q. Kn. X (+). In detail, Holding Lead I. A. X X X X X (+). A. then lowest. 2. A. Q. Ku. X. A. then Q. A. Q. Kn. X X (+). A, then Kn. KING is led from suits of six or more in which it occurs with either Ace or Queen ; no The Modified Game. or from suits of any length wherein it occurs with any two honors or with the Queen and Ten : as when holding, A. K. X X X X (+). K. Q. xxxx (+). A. K. Q. X (+). A. K. Kn. X (+). K. Q. Kn. X (+). K. Q. ID, X (+). In detail, Holding Lead A. K. X X X X (+). K. then A. 2. K. Q. X XX X (+). K. 3. A. K. Q. X (+). K. then Q. A. K. Q. Kn. (+). K. then Kn. A. K. Q. Kn. 10 (+). K. then 10. 4. A. K. Kn. X (+). K. Here it is better, to stop and wait for your part- ner to return the lead that you may finesse Kn. 5. K. Q. Kn. X (+). K. then Kn. K. Q. Kn. ID, (+). K. then 10. 6. K. Q. 10, X (+). K. If your King loses to the Ace, you would better wait for a finesse as in case (4). The Attack, HI QUEEN is led from any number of cards wherein it occurs with both Knave and lo : as when holding, I. Q. Kn. ID, X {+). In detail, Holding, Lead I. Q. Kn. lo, X. Q. then Kn. Q. Kn. ID, X X (+). Q. then lo. KNAVE is led from Kn. lo, 9, x (+). Knave may also be led as an intermediate lead from either A. Kn. 10, x (+), or from K. Kn. 10, X ( + ). This lead is apt to coax second hand into covering and tends to clear up the trumps faster than if a low card were led. TEN is led from 10, 9, 8, x (+). Any card lower than the Ten is led as a fourth best. It will thus be seen that in trumps the high- est of the sequence is always led save in the one case of Ace and King, where the King led, immediately proclaims the Ace. 112 The Modified Game. CHAPTER III. The Attack (continued). 2. The Lead of Weak Trumps. By weak trumps a suit of three or fewer is meant. The lead of three trumps, two trumps or even a single trump is advantageous in three cases. (a) Holding a great suit practically established with guards in the other suits. (b) Holding strength in all the other suits. (c) Holding a. posiponed hand. (See page 26). The Weak Trump Leads. Holding A. Q. x, A. Kn. x, K. Kn. x, A. X X, K. X X, or Q. x x, lead low. Holding three trumps containing two hon- ors in sequence, lead the highest. Holding no card above the Knave, lead the highest. Holding any two trumps, lead the higher. The Attack, 113 CHAPTER IV. The Attack (continued). J. The Lead of the 2, j, 4., or ^. Than this, there has been devised in whist no lead more important, more informatory, more useful. It not only announces a suit worth trying for, usually of five or more cards, but it proclaims a certain degree of trump strength and usually a certain card of re-entry in a side suit. As such a lead invites, indeed almost orders, a trump lead from one's partner it can be risked from suits like A. K. x x x, or K. Q. X X X. It acts as a trump call through an honor turned, allows the original leader to finesse judiciously upon his partner's trump lead, and really assumes control of the hand. An immediate lead of trumps from one's partner is the natural sequence of such an opening. Should partner not lead trumps it must be because his hand is very weak not only in trumps but in the suit originally led. This lead is of especial benefit in hands where one has a fair five-card suit, possibly 114 The Modified Game, with two honors, four trumps, and an Ace or guarded King in a side suit. The usual method of play with such a hand is to lead and estab- lish the long suit first and then lead trumps. But the mischief of such play lies in the fact that the re-entry Ace or King often must be played before one can start the trumps, thus greatly diminishing the chances of bringing in the suit. According to the plan here outlined, if partner has any strength, he will lead trumps at once and the gain resulting from such for- ward play is obvious. So potent a lead must be used sparingly and only in hands where success seems probable. The Defence. 115 CHAPTER V. The Defense. I. The Lead of Ace or King — rarely Knave. The Ace is led from suits of six or more ; also from suits wherein it occurs with the ■Queen and the Knave in which latter case it is followed by the Queen from suits of four and the Knave from five or more. It is also led from suits of exactly five when the hand is otherwise very weak. The Ace led followed by King shows a hand of little value, and informs partner that you are simply making your good cards while you have the chance aud that he must expect little or no aid from you. The Ace led followed bv Queen, Knave or a small card shows simply that you deem it wise to make your Ace, and are trying to clear the suit so that you may use it to harass the adversaries with or to win tricks with as occa- sion may present. 116 THE Modified Game. The King led followed by Ace, means that there are further possibilities in the hand ; that you think it best to take in those two tricks at once, but also that you will be heard from again, later in the hand. In short it implies some reserved strength. The King led los- ing to the Ace shows the Queen and a long suit ; or the Queen and the Knave in a suit of any length ; or the Queen and the Ten in a suit of any length. There should be some strength back of this lead either in length or other high cards, as it is not led from King, Queen, and one or two others. The Knave may be led from a suit of any length in which it occurs with one other honor and the Ten. Thus it is led from A. Kn. lo, (+), from K. Kn. lo, (+), or from Q. Kn. ID (+). It may be led as the top of a weak suit but this can generally be detected. In any event the lead of the Knave is a good one to return. If from a strong suit, your return lead will probably clear it ; if from a weak suit the adversaries, holding the high cards, must make them and j-our return lead will do no harm. It is certainly better, therefore, to return a suit opened by your partner with Knave than The Defense. 117 to open anything but a good strong suit of your own. Just as in the long-suit game, the Knave shows either extreme strength or ex- treme weakness and is a doubtful card, so in the Modified Game the same is true. 118 The Modified Game, CHAPTER VI. Thb Defense. 2. The Lead of a Strengthening Card. Nowhere does the Modified Game differ more from the strict long-suit game than in the constant use made of the lead of a strengthen- ing card. In the play of a hand containing either strong trumps, or a suit of five or more cards, the two systems are at one ; but given a hand wherein the longest suit is of but four cards and the systems are at once opposed. For, while the strict long-suiter leads King from K. Q. x X, or low from A. Q. x x, K. Kn. x x or X X X X, the player of the Modified Game re- fuses so to do, deeming such leads contrary to his idea of sound whist. With a four-card suit in such condition that he cannot open it he casts around him for some other lead. Or rather he decides that here is a hand in which the opening lead is apt to prove a detriment rather than a benefit, and so he aims to trans- fer that lead to an adversary with the knowl- The Defense. 119 edge that eventually his own best suit will, in all likelihood, be opened by some one else more advantageously to him than if he should open it himself. The strict long-suiter is here spoken of, for dissension stalks abroad in the long-suit camp and many otherwise sound long-suit players have profited by bitter experience and have already adopted this much of the enemy's tactics ; so that the player who leads the 2 from 7, 6, 4, 2, is happily becoming rare with the prospect of soon merging, like the Dodo, into a historic past. It is often argued that a strengthening card is led to assist one's partner and that with two adversaries and but one partner the chances of success are adverse. A different view of the lead of a strengthening card is here suggested. The Modified Whist player leads it, not because it is frequently a short lead and he is playing for a ruff; not because he thinks it will greatly benefit his partner though this is what he hopes for ; but because he has no good plan of action which will tend to make tricks for him and so he places the lead elsewhere. In fact, this lead is often of the greatest benefit when the adversaries hold all the high cards of the suit so led. A player holding the Ace and the 120 The Modified Game. King of a suit will probably make them both. If you lead a ten and compel him to play his King, what do you do? You simply allow him to win with a card he was sure to win with thereby depriving him of a re-entry card; and you compel him either to continue that suit or to lead some other in which you hope to win tricks. He cannot continue his suit forever and after exhausting it must lead some- thing else. He may not wish to, he may dis- tinctly prefer not to, but like yourself he must lead, and so your suit is often opened up to you as you had hoped and longed for. The lead of a strengthening card is perhaps the most common of the six openings ; it tells your partner that you have no plan of cam- paign to advance and that any trick you may take will come later. It leaves him free to propose any set of tactics and many times ma- terially assists him bj^ its demoralizing effects on the opponents ; for they are uncertain whether you have led holding a weak hand or with four trumps ; they hesitate to open any suit up to you as they fear your concealed strength in tenaces or single court cards. In short this lead rarely hurts and often aids your partner ; it costs you nothing to make it ; and it often draws from an adversary a re-entry The Defense. 121 card he would much prefer to retain. Having led a strengthening card and having again re- gained the lead, continue with the same suit unless you have learned from the drop of the cards that another would be better for your partner. Lead Queen, only from Q. x. Knave, from Kn. x, K. x x, Kn. lo, x x (+), Q. Kn. X. Ten from lo x, lo x x, lo, x x x, lo, 9, x x(+). Nine, from 9, x, 9, x x, 9, x x x, 9, 8, x x (+)• Remember that the strengthening leads end with the nine. A weak suit not containing a card as high as the nine should never be led. 122 The Modified Game, CHAPTER VII. The Defense. J. The Lead of the 6, 7, or 8. Just as the lead of the 2, 3, 4, or 5 shows a long suit which you promise to control and which you declare worth playing for, so the lead of the 6, 7, or 8 announces a similar long suit which you hope to control and which you can at least protect. But the trump strength and card of re-entry which the lead of one of the four .small cards heralds is here lacking. In short the 6, 7, or 8 tells your partner that this is your long suit, nearly always of five or more, that it does not contain any three hon- ors, or A. K. or K. Q. and that the rest of your hand is so weak or uncertain that you dare not risk an attack at present but will clear this suit first if possible. In response to such a lead your partner .should play to clear your suit and establish it in your hand. With trump strength and other cards of re-entry, he may prefer to lead trumps at once trusting you to guard this suit and perhaps bring it in. Summary and Practice Hands, 123 CHAPTER VIII. Summary and Practice Hands. It will doubtless be urged by one who has read thus far, that this system is " interesting" and "reads well," but "suppose you haven't the right one of these informatory cards to lead, what will you do then?" Of course hands will occur which baffle any system. If your long suit is K. 9, 8, 7, 6, and you want trumps led up to you, you cannot lead the in- formatory 2, 3, 4 or 5 because you haven't one of them. You simply are unable to use, in this rare case, the great lead suited to the hand, and are compelled to fall back on the old sys- tem of establishing your suit first. The use of a little mathematics will readily prove to you that such a hand is indeed rare and that the chances of your having one of the four small cards are about nine out of ten. Hardly a hand can be selected where some good lead according to this system cannot be found. When such a one occurs, it should be tried, not only according to this, but according to any- other system and the results noted. 124 The Modified Game. For the benefit of the student, twenty-five hands are herewith given wherein he should first use the knowledge he has thus far gained of the game, to select the proper lead, and then assure himself of the correctness of his judg- ment by referring to the Key printed after the list of hands. Spades are trumps. What would you lead, holding. Spades. Hearts. Clubs. Diamonds. i.-K. ID, 8, 2.-IO, 3.-A. Q. 4. 3.-8, 7, 5. 2.-Kn. lo.-Q. 7, 5.-Q. 10, 4, 2.-K. 8, 6, 3. 3.-A. K. Q. 9, 7.-9, .5.-K. 7, 2.-6, 4, 3. 4.-Kn. 4, 2.-7, 6, 4.-K. Q. 5, 3.-K. 8, 2. 5.-A. Kn. 6, 5.-4, 3.-K. Q. 9, 7, 3.-A. 5. 6.-8, 6, 2.-Q. 7, 5.-K. Kn. 8, 5, 3.-9, 3. 7.-9, 5.-A. Kn. 10, 7, 6.-Q. 8, 5, 4, 2.-7. 8.-Q. 10, 7.-7, 3, 2.-A. K. 6, 4.-8, 5, 4. 9.-A. 6, 4, 3.-K. 9, 3.-A. Q. 7, 2.-6, 4. lo.-A. K. 7, 6, 4, 2.-Q. 5.-4, 3.-6, 4, 2. ii.-A. Q. Kn. 7, 3. -10, 7, 3, 2.-K. Q 5. 4. J2.-K. ID, 3.-Kn. 8, 5, 4.-Q. 7, 3.-A. 4, 2. 13-9. 7. 2. -A. 5, 2. -A. K. Q. 9, 7. -10, 4. 14.-4.-K. 10, 3.-K. Q. Kn. 8, 7, 5.-Kn. 7, 6. iS.-K. Q. 7, 4.-7, 3.-A. K. 8, 7, 3.-K. 4. 16.-A. Q. 10, 7.-Q. ID, 7.-A. Q. 4, 2.-K. 3. 17.-10, 2.-K. Kn. 7, 3.-A. Q. 8, 2.-6, 5, 2. 18.-K. 4.-K. Kn. 7, 3.-A. Q. 8, 2.-6, 5, 2. Summary and Practice Hands. 125 19. -Q. 10, 7, 5.-Kn. 9, 2.-Kn. Kn. lo, 4, 3. -10. 20.-9, 8, 6, 4. -A. Q. 4.-K. 6, 3, 2. -10, 2. 21. -A. 7, 2.-K. 8, 4.-K. Kn. 7, 2. -10, 7, 3. .22.-9, 8, 2. -10, 7, 4.-A. 10, 7, 6, 3.-8, 6. 23.-K. 8, 2.-Q. 7, 4.-A. 10, 7, 6, 3.-8, 6. 24.-K. Q. 4, 3.-A. 5.-A. 9, 7, 6, 4, 3.-7. .25.-8, 7, 6.-10, 8, 7, 5.-A. K. 7, 4, 2.-9. Key to the lyeads. I. — 10 of Hearts. Wait for some one else to open the clubs. — Kn. of Trumps. A possible trick in every suit. — K. of Trumps, then Q. Watch the. dis- cards. — Kn. of Trumps. Best thing to do. You cannot open any one of the other suits. — 3 of Clubs. Shows a long suit and calls for trumps. — 8 of Clubs. Play Defense 3. — Kn. of hearts. — K. ot Clubs. — 3 of Trumps. You cnnnot open Hearts or Clubs, and Diamonds are too weak. — Q. of Hearts. You can call for trumps if you want them on partner's lead. — A. of Trumps. — 3 of Trumps. Open this to protect your hand. 4 6 7 S 9 10 II 12 126 The Modified Game. 13.— K. of Clubs. 14. — 4 of Trumps. 15. — 3 of Clubs. Play Attack 3. 16. — 2 of Clubs. As you have to make a bad lead, you would better call for trumps to be led up to your major tenace. 17. — 10 of Trumps. You can open nothing; else. 18. — 8 of Clubs. Don't waste your trump King by leading it. Play Defense 3. 19. — -Kn.'of Clubs. 20. — 10 of Diamonds. You must wait for Clubs and Hearts. 21. — 10 of Diamonds. 22. — A. of Clubs. Take your one trick and be thankful. 23. — 6 of Clubs. With other strength you can lead low. 24. — 3 of Clubs. 25. —A. then K. of Clubs, and then 9 of Dia- monds. Second Lead and Following Plays. 127 CHAPTER IX. Second Lead, Second Hand Play, Third Hand Play, and Unblocking. Second Lead. If, after opening a weak suit, you regain the lead, it is usually better to continue with your original lead. If the adversaries have all the strength in such a suit they are usually sure to make their high cards. Second Hand Play. The play of Second hand in the Modified Game is the same as given in the long-suit ^ame, pages 27-33. Third Hand Play. Third hand should be most careful to note partner's lead, and accepting the information given by it, fit his own hand thereto. Thus upon your partner's lead of high, strong trumps, you should discard so as to show wherein your strength lies ; your partner may have simply a host of trumps and be 128 THE Modified Game. searching for some indication of a strong suit in your hand. Upon your partner's opening weak trumps, you should help him to exhaust them, leading them yourself at every chance. The one pos- sible time when you might hold back would be when holding the second best once guarded ; here it is often better to wait and let your part- ner lead again. In all other cases, follow his lead and draw trumps, playing him for good cards or a good card in every suit. Thus if your partner opens the nine of trumps and sec- ond hand wins it and leads low from a plain suit in which you hold A. K. x, you can play low as your partner should have some strength in that suit, probably Knave or Queen. When your partner leads the 2, 3, 4 or 5 you should nearly always lead your best trumps. Surely if you have an honor in your hand in trumps. The one case where you might refuse to do so would be when weak in his suit and very weak in trumps ; or possibly when holding a singleton or two-card suit which you prefer to ruff. To return trumps to him is to accept his game ; to return his suit, is to show weak trumps or none, thus al- lowing him to decide whether he is strong enough to exhaust them alone ; to lead another suit, is to ask him to return it for a ruff. Second Lead and Following Plays. 129 When your partner leads Ace or King in a plain suit, you have no responsibility, save to call for trumps holding five, or four good ones. When he leads Knave you must be on the alert, for this is the one doubtful card. It is a good lead to return as he may have considera- ble strength in such a suit. Here you must watch the cards keenly and again protect the second best once guarded. Thus when partner leads Knave, and fourth hand wins with Queen, you, holding K. x, left in your hand, should not return that lead. Wait, and let partner lead it again. When your partner leads a sure strengthen- ing card, remember it is to help you. He has no good plan of action and is playing a wait- ing game. You are free to do as you please ; he stands ready to assist you. Therefore don't hasten to return such a lead unless you dis- tinctly wish to, as you are not returning his suit and he has nothing to establish. On the ten led you would better pass at third hand ex- cept with A. K. X, (+) or K. Q. x, (+) and an otherwise weak hand. Upon his lead of the 6, 7, or 8, if 3'our hand contains nothing good, continue and develop his suit. Holding other strength, however, and fair trumps, you can trust him for this suit and play an attacking game. 130 The Modified Game. Remember that late in the hand the strength originally vested in the small-card leads, has ebbed ; their tale must be told early in the hand- or else their added meaning no longer exists. Thus after you have led a weak suit, the lead of a 3 later on in the hand means nothing more than any low lead in the ordi- nary or garden variety of whist. Unblocking. The general principle of unblocking with a suit of four exactly is observed in Modified Whist exactly as in the long-suit game, except that it is applied to Ace, King and Knave alone of the high-card leads and to all leads under the nine. It is well to begin to unblock npon your partner's lead of Knave ; should the lead prove to have been from weakness you can play your small card upon the third round of the suit. Leading Through and Up To, Trumps. 131 CHAPTER X. Xeading Through and Up To, Trumps, Discard. Leading Through and Up To. The rules for these plays are in no way dif- ferent from the ones which obtain in the long- -suit game. Those will be found on pages 64- 67 and should be carefully studied and' ob- served. Trumps. You never call for trumps on the opponent's leads. Such a call has been found to be use- less. It rarely pays and so often proves disas- trous that it has been given up. Upon part- ner's lead, however, a trump call is so often of ■such great benefit, that it has been retained and is played in the usual way. With four or more trumps you should ruiF with your third best unless too valuable ; you ■should echo with three exactly and give a sub- ■echo with four or more. These plays have been explained fully in the long-suit game. 132 THE MODIFIED Game. Discard. The rule for discard, in this system is the one which is now used in the long-suit game, and which is explained on pages 75-80. It is i Your first discard should bb from the suit which you do not wish your partner to lead ; and this no matter with whom trump strength is declared. The reverse discard shows strength in the suit thus discarded from. The Street Attachment, 133 CHAPTER XI. Tun Street Attachment. While it is now a simple matter to inform your partner correctly as to the probable value of the suit you open and while you can tell him more about your hand by one lead than you have ever been able to before, yet when the hand is opened by the adversaries, or when a suit is led by them, the ordinary play offers you no means of informing your partner by your play at second hand or fourth hand how many of that suit you hold. Such information the ' ' Street Attachment ' ' enables you to give. As you do not call for trumps on the adversa- ries' suits, you can use the play of a higher followed *by a lower card for a far different pur- pose, namely to show no more of that suit. Therefore holding two exactly, you play first the higher and then the lower card. Holding three but no honor, you play first the middle card, then the highest and then the lowest. 134 The Modified Game. Holding three, one of which is an honor, or holding four or more, you play the lowest card first. As the result of this rule, it is evident that, the instant your partner plays higher on the second round of the adversaries' suit than he played on the first, he must have a third card left in that suit. Therefore it is useless to lead that suit for him to ruflF, and should you remain with the command after the second round you can easily decide upon the advisa- bility of leading it, knowing that he must fol- low suit. As examples of playing the attach- ment : Holding Pla}' 7, 2. 7 then 2. 9, 7, 2. 7 then 9. Q. 7, 2. 2. 8, 6, 4, 3, 3. Note. — If the higher of two cards is A. K. or Q. you play low. As examples of reading correctly your part- ner's playing, of this attachment the following will suffice : Upon the adversary's lead of Ace, your part- ner plays the 6 ; when the King is led next partner plays the 3. He has no more and has therefore eleven cards to be apportioned among three suits. The Street attachment. 135 Or upon the adversary's lead of King, your partner plays the 5 ; upon the Ace led next he plays the 7. He must have another card in that suit. Or again, the adversary leads the Ace and your partner plays the 2. Upon the King led next, partner plays the 4. He must have either an honor or at least two more. The play of the higher and then the lower card in the adversary's suit is not a command to your partner to lead that suit for you to ruff. It simply allows him to count the rest of your hand more accurately than he other- wise could. While sometimes the play of the attachment seems to help the adversary yet often it leaves him in dire perplexity. For instance, he opens a five-card suit with Ace and King upon which you, at fourth hand, play first 4 and then 2. Although he knows you will ruff the third round, yet he cannot lead trumps as his suit is not now in as good condition as it was origi- nally. The play of the attachment often serves to indicate a tenace suit which you wish led up to you. Should you open a weak suit and later show but two of the adversaries' suit, your partner must be driven to consider that 136 The Modified Game, what strength you have must lie in the third suit. The attachment is not an essential part of the game. It can be played or not as players agree beforehand. The author believes, how- ever, that it is a trick-winner and that two skillful players by using it can keep each other more clearly and more directly informed as re- gards the composition of their hands and the value of their different suits than by any other known method of play. Conclusion, 137 CHAPTER XII. CONCI