American Whist 
 
 G-W-P 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, 
 
 ©litpGM- @twi# ^s.iz:x 
 
 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
 
 
 i o 1QQ^ 
 
AMERICAN OR STANDARD WHIST. 
 
AMERICAN 
 
 OR 
 
 STANDARD WHIST 
 
 BY 
 
 G. W. P. 
 
 ^^^ ^ ^Svis^o. 
 
 SIXTH EDITION, REVISED. 
 
 
 < 
 
 &L 
 
 JAM /r ,J 
 
 BOSTO 
 TICKNOR AND COMPANY. 
 1886. 
 
Copyright, 1880, by James* R. Osgood and Company, 
 
 AND 1886, BY TlCKNOR AND COMPANY. 
 
 All rights reserved. 
 
 ^niberstto Press: 
 John Wilson and Son, Cambridge. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 Introduction vii 
 
 Preface to Sixth Edition xiii 
 
 American Whist 1 
 
 Laws and Rules 10 
 
 Technical Terms 27 
 
 The Game . . ' 34 
 
 The Laws 35 
 
 The Lead ...... 41 
 
 Original Trump Lead 45 
 
 Original Lead in Plain Suits 49 
 
 Second Hand 66 
 
 Third Hand . . . '. 59 
 
 Fourth Hand 60 
 
 "Cavendish" XXV., English Play 65 
 
 1 'Cavendish" XXV., American Play 68 
 
 Inferences 72 
 
 Whist Theory 77 
 
 Whist Practice 91 
 
 Underplay 155 
 
 False Cards 156 
 
 The Eleventh 157 
 
 The Twelfth 158 
 
 The Thirteenth 159 
 
 Finesse 160 
 
 Trumps 107 
 
vi Contents. 
 
 Examples and Overplay 186 
 
 Game of " J. C." and Overplay 201 
 
 Hand I. of "Cavendish" . . 208 
 
 Hand of "Cavendish," Overplay 210 
 
 Hand XXXVIII., "Cavendish" 214 
 
 Hand XXXVIII., " Cavendish," Overplay . . 217 
 
 "Cavendish" 219 
 
 Laws and Principles of Whist 219 
 
 Examples at Close of Games 228 
 
 " Card Essays, Clay's Decisions, and Card Table 
 
 Talk 4 ' 235 
 
 "J. C." 23"8 
 
 Pole . 250 
 
 Walker 258 
 
 Drayson 263 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Whist is the best game of mingled skill aud 
 chance ever devised. All others, by comparison, 
 are within narrow bounds. Brief practice and 
 slight acquaintance with rules easily learned, will 
 enable men to play them. Whist is limitless. It 
 is always presenting new situations. It is a theme 
 for constant study. "Whist is a language, and 
 every card played an intelligible sentence " to 
 those who will work out its problems and under- 
 stand its regulations that are as guides to the 
 betrayal of its interesting possibilities. 
 
 Something of the extent of its great variety will 
 be apparent when we consider that, if we play ten 
 thousand games, no one of all the hands held is 
 like to any other, and that each is full of its own 
 suggestions and appeals to the exercise of our 
 observation and ingenuity. The smallest card of 
 a plain suit led at the commencement of a game 
 says : " This hand has not five trumps, nor has it 
 five cards of any suit. It has not an ace and king, 
 
viii Introduction. 
 
 nor a king and queen, nor a tierce to a queen or 
 knave." At another time, the same card says : 
 " There were five of this suit, of which one has 
 been played, and it is now strong for service." 
 And again it says : " Play a trump to this hand, 
 for it will take the responsibility of the game." 
 And yet again: "There were four trumps here 
 when you called, and two remain to help you." 
 Not one of all the fifty-two cards that has not 
 information to give, various but definite, in ac- 
 cordance with the occasion that demands its use. 
 
 To read this language; to thwart the thus ex- 
 pressed purpose of antagonists ; to advance his own 
 forces in conformity with most orderly tactics and 
 ingenious strategy, and to assist the plans of his 
 partner determined on victory, is the business of 
 the model whist-player, and it calls into action, 
 in a remarkable manner, his ascendency of mem- 
 ory, judgment, and skill. 
 
 The Game of Whist, as played about a century 
 since, was, in value of count, ten points, to be 
 gained by tricks taken and "honors" held. We 
 learn, from a treatise by a prominent member of 
 an existing club, why this count was changed in 
 England : " Lord Peterborough having one night 
 lost a large sum of money, the friends with whom 
 
Introduction. xi 
 
 as principle in play, repudiating acquaintance with 
 gambling and its attendant evils, for these would 
 harm their intellectual entertainment at the social 
 and the literary clubs and by their household 
 fires, 
 
PREFACE 
 
 TO THE SIXTH EDITION, 
 
 "American Whist" was originally planned and 
 written for the edification and use of a coterie of 
 fine players who loved the game for its own in- 
 trinsic merit. Of their own volition they had 
 thrown aside the rules which were applicable to 
 a hurried use of cards that did not demand con- 
 centration of thought so much as dependence upon 
 luck. They repudiated Short Whist, which was a 
 contraction of original Long Whist, and which re- 
 tained the " honors " at their full valuation. Long 
 Whist had been played in America without the 
 " honors " for many years, and the status of 
 the game was fixed at seven points ; but when the 
 seven points were made, the game was over. It 
 will be remembered that the old game in England 
 was one of ten points; and in one hand six of 
 these could be made by cards and four by honors. 
 At that time the deuces were not used in play. 
 These were afterward introduced, and the u odd 
 
xiv Preface to Sixth Edition. 
 
 card " became a matter of reckoning. The game 
 of Long Whist, without honors, in America was 
 made seven points, because in one hand a game 
 might be won by the taking of every trick. The 
 only difference in manner of count between this 
 Long Whist and the Long Whist, or American 
 Whist, of to-day is, that games, and not points, 
 were essential ; that is, the number of games won 
 or lost were named, while the actual number of 
 points that were made and lost in each rubber 
 played were not kept as the evidence of result. 
 In American Whist every card of every hand is 
 played. A and B may make six by cards in 
 one hand, and then six more, it may be, in the 
 next, and count twelve points to their credit, and 
 but one game. 
 
 "American Whist " was put into general circu- 
 lation by its publishers, and, as a text-book and 
 authority, five editions have been exhausted. 
 Since its publication, four years ago, whist has 
 made advances. One of the marked improve- 
 ments is the now universal practice of the lead 
 of the fourth card in the suit from the ace if the 
 lead of that suit is made the second time, the ace 
 having first been played. The English players 
 were very slow to adopt American leads, but they 
 have at last been obliged to do so. 
 
Preface to Sixth Edition. xv 
 
 Another improvement is the recognition of the 
 value of the 9, formerly a meaningless card when 
 led, but now the only one used as an original lead 
 which can have but a single meaning. Drayson, 
 of London, in a recent letter to the "Field/' claims 
 the credit of making the play of the fourth card 
 an original lead. The lead of the penultimate 
 under certain conditions of the hand held, and 
 the lead of the fourth card from the ace, the ace 
 having been first thrown, are of American origin, 
 and, like many other improvements in the play 
 of Whist which were discovered and adopted 
 here, have been forced upon the English prac- 
 tice. Drayson may as well claim the new and 
 excellent finesse, the third-hand play of the 10 
 when king and one or two small cards are held, 
 or the lead of the 9 when king and knave are 
 held. 
 
 Another improvement is the refusal of second 
 hand to play an honor, not a sure taking card, 
 upon an honor led. The English players were 
 very reluctant to obey this important regulation ; 
 but they have put in print, not that American 
 players have shown them their mistake, but that 
 "recent investigations have proved that queen 
 second, or king second, on knave led, is not the 
 best play." 
 
xvi Preface to Sixth Edition. 
 
 The best players, of course, desire to play Amer- 
 ican Whist; and the knowledge and practice of 
 that game is constantly on the increase. But 
 Whist without honors and for five points is 
 played at the clubs because at tables formed of 
 six players the rubbers of American Whist are 
 much too long. For the same reason the English 
 score is kept, the game closing at five points. To 
 this five-point game the leads and play and very 
 many of the rules of American Whist may be 
 applied, to the great advantage of the partici- 
 pants. It is only a question of time as to the 
 introduction into the English clubs of a new set of 
 laws. The Baldwin rules are outgrown, and were 
 ever of poor selection. Taken mainly from Des- 
 chapelles, but without due consideration of -their 
 bearing upon the French game, and separated 
 from the context, they have furnished opportu- 
 nity for " decisions " without number. But when 
 the code is newly made, it must be framed, as 
 now, for the benefit of men who play Whist, not 
 for the delight and recreation that the game itself 
 affords, but for the money that is staked upon its 
 result. 
 
 Attention is called to comments upon certain 
 parts of the text of this and former editions of 
 "American Whist." 
 
Preface, to Sixth Edition. xvii 
 
 A, p. 3. The fifteenth edition of u Cavendish " 
 is out, differing very slightly from those preceding 
 it. He has accepted American leads in his letters 
 to the " Field," in his lectures at the Whist-rooms, 
 and in a book that he has recently published ; but 
 in his last edition of his one informatory work 
 he refrains from a mention of " N. B. T.," of New 
 Orleans, to whom for many original ideas, not 
 only "Cavendish," but the Whist world, are so 
 greatly indebted. 
 
 B, p. 5. Five-point Whist has come into vogue 
 with many clubs for several reasons. First, a 
 great many players are not able as yet to play the 
 better game; second, the natural disposition to do 
 all things in a hurry will not be rebuked by ra- 
 tional enjoyment ; third, a fifth or a sixth player, 
 or both, wait to make up the new table; and, 
 fourth, the five-point game does not insist upon 
 silence, and so partakes somewhat of the free- 
 dom that is used at any game of cards with 
 which the players may be familiar. Add to this 
 the veneration of certain Americans for the 
 opinions of people on the other side of the 
 water, and the reasons are given for five points 
 that are Anglicized over seven points that are 
 Americanized. 
 
 C, p. 1G. The third reason above given is that 
 
 6 
 
xviii Preface to Sixth Edition. 
 
 most commonly in use by good players at the 
 clubs of the five-point game. These players do 
 not conform altogether to the English laws, but 
 adapt, as well as they can make them fit, the 
 regulations of Long Whist. Although they do not 
 play out all the cards, nor in any wise obtain from 
 the play of the last ones held the very best issues 
 of which Whist is capable, still they do not follow, 
 in certain positions of the game, the directions of 
 the Short Whist play. 
 
 D, p. 42. When three cards in all plain suits 
 and four trumps are held, the queen, the best of 
 any three, is a good lead. 
 
 E, p. 43. This, of course, in the absence of ace 
 and queen. 
 
 F, p. 50. Having thrown king and knave, the new 
 American play when you continue the suit is : Ace, 
 if you have no more of the suit below the knave ; 
 queen, if you have more. Your partner will un- 
 derstand the state of your hand by this play. 
 
 G, p. 52. From this double tenace, if it can 
 properly be avoided, no lead should be made, espe- 
 cially if there is reason to believe the suit will be 
 led on the left. If the ace is led, it determines 
 that trick; but if either queen or 10 is led, you 
 remain with a tenace which the ace lead, of course, 
 would break. 
 
Pre/act to Sixth Edition. xix 
 
 H, p. 53. The head, unless the ace, of any se- 
 quence is the best card to lead, and the lowest of 
 any sequence is the best card to follow. 
 
 I, p. 54. The 9, as an original lead in trumps 
 or plain suits, signifies king and knave. It is 
 perhaps the best lead that can be made from any 
 hand ; it makes its proclamation, and opens the 
 game at once for partner and opponent. The lead 
 of the lowest card from ace, knave, and two small 
 ones; of king when queen, 10, etc., are held; of 
 knave when king, queen, and two others are 
 held; and of queen at head of sequence, — are 
 all good openings. 
 
 J, p. 56. Consulting the score in American 
 Whist is of far less importance than in the Short, 
 or five-point, game, because you play for all that 
 you can make. There are times when the state 
 of the score may justify hazardous play. True, 
 you play for all the points; but the beauty of 
 good Whist consists in the manner of making 
 these, and you may risk a loss to make a gain 
 when the gain will turn a pretty evenly balanced 
 scale. 
 
 K, p. 72. The score is again alluded to, and 
 for the same reason as that given above. Al- 
 though the parties are playing for points first 
 of all, the game that makes the rubber finishes 
 
xx Preface to Sixth Edition. 
 
 that count, and there will be endeavor made to 
 get it. 
 
 L, p. 73. We have already explained the play 
 of ace, queen, and 10. The English play does not 
 admit of the 10 as the lead at the head of a se- 
 quence, but that card may be utterly hampered if 
 it cannot be so played. The 10 in Short Whist 
 may be led as lowest of a sequence. The 9 in 
 Short Whist is not considered of account ; it may 
 mean something or nothing. It is truly a card of 
 too much importance for us not to give it a proper 
 place. 
 
 M, p. 140. The practice of trump signalling is 
 not as much respected as it formerly was. 
 Many players have two good reasons to give why 
 they do not use it, — first, they can manage to get 
 in and lead trumps if they want them played; 
 second, they want to play higher cards second 
 hand than they would dare to do if a signal by 
 such play was to be suspected. Some very good 
 players have yet another reason. They intend to 
 give out by their play, not to be understood by 
 the opponents, if they care to have trumps led, — 
 for instance, through a king or queen turned on 
 the right ; and a good partner can so understand 
 good play. It is not at all because the play is a 
 signal, that it meets objection ; but because it is, 
 
Introduction, ix 
 
 he was playing proposed to make the game five 
 points instead of ten, in order to give the loser a 
 chance, at a quicker game, of recovering his loss. 
 The new game was found to be so lively, and 
 money changed hands with such increased rapid- 
 ity, that these gentlemen and their friends, all of 
 them leading members of the clubs of the day, 
 continued to play it." We are not informed how 
 Lord Peterborough personally was pleased with 
 the new game, since, because of the dimidiative 
 process, he might have been more speedily than 
 before deprived of his guineas ; but it matters not. 
 So that money changed liands rapidly, the English- 
 men were delighted. 
 
 The great English player, " J. C," when defend- 
 ing his system, made comparison : " French players 
 are dangerously addicted to false cards, and the 
 Americans rarely play the right card, if they have 
 one to play which is likely to deceive everybody." 
 His comments were only too true, and their sever- 
 ity was felt by the clubs, who took counsel and 
 determined no longer to deserve it. Players ap- 
 plied themselves to the learning of English and 
 French Whist, read what they could obtain of Des- 
 chapelles and his school, and became familiar with 
 the creeds of " J. C." and " Cavendish," as contrasted 
 with those of Hoyle and Matthews. They let 
 
x Introduction. 
 
 fall the dogmas once held in regard, and adopted 
 the choicest maxims of the English code. But 
 they had an undercurrent system of their own, 
 and in its working they placed confidence. Their 
 game was Long Whist, and they would not relin- 
 quish the satisfaction afforded by a well-fought 
 battle that might demand an hour of continuance. 
 They had not a monetary inducement to hasten 
 such a game. 
 
 Every English book upon Whist treats of betting 
 and gaming. Players in America, who had studied 
 the game and loved it for employ of intellectual 
 strength, were disgusted with this desecration, for 
 they knew that, if properly understood and played, 
 it would, by virtue of its intrinsic merit, take pre- 
 cedence of all description of genuine card amuse- 
 ment. They also saw, despite the well-planned 
 theories for fine play, that at times the English 
 game possessed the elements of finish before it 
 was begun, and decided that "honors," so-called, 
 should have no place in their reckoning, and that, 
 in order to win a game by playing of a single 
 hand, every trick must be taken. Giving all credit 
 to the master player and compiler, " Cavendish/' 
 for his exhaustive work, inventive and directive, 
 they accepted such instructions and adopted such 
 rules as were consistent with what they designated 
 
Preface to Sixth Edition. xxi 
 
 or may be, too plain to opponents who are watch- 
 ing for it, and because the making it may hinder 
 better play. All card-playing at Whist is signal- 
 ling. The king played, signals queen or ace; the 
 knave played, heralds the royal family; the ace 
 led. signals the highest of five; the deuce led, sig- 
 nals the lowest of four. The cards do all the talk- 
 ing, and. tl^ey talk incessantly. The business of 
 the players is to watch their signals ; he is a 
 shrewd observer who can see them all. 
 
 N, p. 163. The ordinary player, holding ace, 
 queen, always finesses queen third hand, and sel- 
 dom or never finesses anything else. The ace, 
 knave ; the king, 10 ; the queen, 9, or 8, etc., — are 
 tenaces that may be used for finesse when the 
 partner leads a small card of the suit. The new 
 finesse — if a recently established play may be so 
 termed of the 10 when king and others are held 
 — has met approval; and it is excellent play, 
 particularly if third-hand player is strong in 
 trumps. It is the practice of ordinary players to 
 avoid finesse upon the partner's play. Holding, 
 for instance, king, 10, 9, and another, they would 
 unhesitatingly throw king, no matter what small 
 cards formed the lead and follow, never thinking 
 that the lead may be from ace or queen or knave, 
 and that second hand may hold any one of those 
 
xx ii Preface to Sixth Edition. 
 
 cards, and also that ace may be drawn by the play 
 of the 9, and that ace on the left must take then 
 or afterward. When should third hand finesse if 
 not upon partner's lead ? Beside, one of the great 
 benefits that corne from a lost finesse is the throw- 
 ing of the lead. 
 
AMERICAN WHIST.* 
 
 American or Standard Whist is founded upon 
 English Short Whist, as that was founded upon 
 the methods of Hoyle and Deschapelles, and as 
 that generally accepted mode was rife with changes 
 of, and advantages over, its models, so is the more 
 perfect game an improvement upon the require- 
 ments of its immediate predecessor. It has come 
 to be a matter of slightest consequence how the 
 "Compleat Gamester" spelled its name, or how 
 any gamester spelled or spells the name of the 
 delightful pastime which has taken its place at the 
 head of all table amusements. 
 
 * The great game of whist is called American to distinguish 
 it from the French and English games, and, as it does away 
 with honors, it is also apart from the original "Long" Whist. 
 Some parties, not liking the designations, "Long" or "Short," 
 hope that the best society in France and England, when they 
 shall have become satisfied of its superiority, will play this game 
 of seven points, and propose to style it "Standard Whist." 
 
American Whist. 
 
 The superior accomplishment that is called 
 American Whist has small regard for the buried 
 past of card history. The books that have been 
 written and compiled upon whist are few in num- 
 ber. All that antedate " Cavendish " are set aside 
 because that able writer and excellent player has 
 introduced into his compendium the written opin- 
 ions of all earlier authors which were of service in 
 the organization of English Short Whist. We 
 have not therefore to go to the books to under- 
 stand that Whist is of ancient origin and that 
 Hoyle and Matthews gave laws observable some- 
 what later than their day, because what they or 
 their predecessors did or said concerning it, is of 
 little moment among the players of the present 
 authorized practical game. We have in kind re- 
 membrance the sayings of Mrs. Battle as recorded 
 by Charles Lamb, and the rebukes of Napoleon by 
 the king at Wiirtemburg when wilfully or other- 
 wise he committed errors. But the policy and 
 plan of their playing has all passed. It is to the 
 game of the present that Talleyrand's mot to one 
 who did not regret his own ignorance may most 
 happily apply : " Vous ne savez pas done le whiste, 
 jeune homme ? Quelle triste vieillesse vous vous 
 preparez ! " Setting aside, therefore, as obsolete 
 the old doctrines, and even repudiating the laws in 
 
American Whist, 
 
 part of the great player Deschapelles, we propose 
 to tell of the game as recognized since James Clay 
 published in 18G4 an essay entitled " Short Whist." 
 This was the first or of the first of treatises which 
 have appeared in*the interest of the game now 
 played in England. It was followed by a " Theory ; ' 
 by William Pole, and a book of questions and an- 
 swers by Captain A. C. Walker, entitled "The 
 Correct Card." " Cavendish on Whist " had already 
 appeared, and, at the date of Clay's publication, 
 had reached some few editions, but its recent Lon- 
 don issue in 1876 indicates as errors, statements 
 which the former issues approved, and is to-day 
 far eminence, the standard book on English Whist.* 
 We do not care to give reasons or make arguments 
 pro or con having reference to the game that once 
 was played, nor to make comparisons of modes, 
 save only of those which have their present advo- 
 cates, and which, after all, though extenuated to 
 license, do not greatly affect the manner of play 
 of a well-informed man concerning the Cavendish 
 method. 
 
 The first consideration why whist stauds de- 
 servedly at the head of all games of cards is, that 
 
 * Two editions have since been published, but they are i 
 
 identical with the eleventh. 1SS5. — Two more editions have 
 now been published. See Preface, A. 
 
American Whist. 
 
 each card, as it falls from the player's hand, con- 
 veys information. "With his own intelligence he 
 endows it, and it accurately fulfils its mission. This 
 statement will have a strange sound for the man 
 uneducated in the game * who flatters himself he 
 san play whist, while he cannot read the language 
 that is spoken by any of the cards as they fall 
 upon the table of the club. But it will be under- 
 stood by the lover and player of the true game, 
 whose interest centres upon the fact. 
 
 There are but two legitimate methods of count- 
 ing the game: first, English Short Whist, in which 
 honors are reckoned and five points make the 
 game ; second, American Whist, in which honors 
 
 * "Do you play whist, sir ? " inquired an individual of most 
 respectable appearance, who, cards in hand, approached a gen- 
 tleman enjoying his cigar at the rear of the smoking car. 
 "Certainly," was the reply. "All right. Will you join the 
 table ? We want one more." "Do you all play a good game ? " 
 asked the gentleman. "Oh, yes; they're all first-rate. We 
 always play on the train, sometimes all the way to New York." 
 " I would enjoy a good game," said the gentleman, "but allow me 
 to ask, as there is a difference of opinion upon these matters, do 
 you play the call and echo, and hold the twelfth and thirteenth 
 for a purpose?" "The what?" asked the puzzled applicant. 
 "Do you sometimes finesse ace, knave, or throw the lead to 
 save the tenace?" "The which ?" "Do you make your leads 
 from long suits and give special attention to the management of 
 trumps ? " " Oh ! yes, yes ! I understand now. We cut for 
 trump, and then chuck it into the pack and deal." 
 
A vt erica u Whist. 
 
 are not reckoned and seven points make the game.* 
 It libbers are a consequence in both cases. Indi- 
 vidual scores may be kept. The Cavendish rules 
 ID the main apply to each. The American game 
 gives more latitude for play, and insists on certain 
 leads not set down by the English method. 
 
 In either case no deviation is made in the rule 
 for the last card of the deal to act as trump and to 
 be turned, such innovations as the cutting the 
 trump from another pack or the hiding the trump 
 in the playing pack, being of course rejected. In 
 truth, each player forms more or less his plan of 
 play upon the card, no matter what its denomina- 
 tion, that is turned as trump. Much of the nicety 
 of calculation based upon the trump exhibit would 
 be lost by any mode other than that which allows 
 each dealer in turn to show and to hold the trump 
 card. 
 
 Lest it may seem to players of accord with the 
 English method that the term American Whist may 
 lack significance, it may be asserted that at many 
 of the literary and some of the social clubs, and by 
 very many devotees at sessions in their residences, 
 
 * Dummy Whist, single or double, is but a practice game ; the 
 five-point game without honors is but a bad imitation of English 
 Whist ; and the ten-point game with honors is nearly obsol 
 
 iE. — See Preface to Sixth Edition, B. 
 
American Whist. 
 
 the so-called American game has utter precedence. 
 One real reason for its adoption is, that one party 
 must take every trick, in order to win by a single 
 hand, in contra-distinction to the English game, in 
 which it frequently happens that a single player, 
 upon taking up his cards, could surely count four 
 honors and the odd trick. It is, therefore, not con- 
 ceded that a game is fully played which can be 
 foreshortened by frequent strokes of fortune. 
 
 " Honors" are neither counted nor named. There 
 are "high cards" the nine to the ace inclusive, and 
 "low cards," the eight to the deuce inclusive. The 
 management of trumps differs from that required 
 by English law, as in the longer game there is 
 much more room for display of skill in their use. 
 The " revoke " which can by English rule be prac- 
 tised with impunity even to its repetition in the 
 same hand is, if not positively accidental, a misde- 
 meanor by American law which will in no wise 
 compromise with deceit. American Whist assumes 
 at the outset and always, that whosoever takes 
 part in its play is incapable of ungentlemanly 
 deportment. We have no more necessity for a 
 written whist etiquette, than we have for a written 
 pulpit etiquette. Its order of leads is different 
 from the English plan, for experience has coun- 
 selled change. The lead of the nine is an Amer- 
 
American Whist. 
 
 ican invention, and we regard it as the most 
 important of all leads, and in its working it accom- 
 plishes most interesting results. We insist upon 
 playing the game in silence. This is among the 
 great gains that we claim over the English method. 
 Concerning it an eminent citizen writes, " I agree 
 with your correspondent that great good can be 
 done in this and in every community by the prop- 
 agation of such sentiments as are conveyed in the 
 rules for American whist, and it strikes me, an old 
 whist-player, so favorably that I want to know 
 more of and about it. I heartily approve those 
 golden words, ■ Whist is the game of silence.' My 
 plans and memories at the table have been all too 
 frequently disturbed or banished by the contemp- 
 tible calling of cards and silly quarrels about re- 
 vokes." 
 
 And a humorous professor in a neighboring uni- 
 versity who has thrown aside the English game 
 says : " One can no more play whist and talk, than 
 he can translate Ovid and turn somersaults at the 
 same time. Playing whist as I now play it is a 
 luxury." 
 
 American Whist eliminates the features of the 
 English game not recognizable here as of avail, the 
 counting of honors and the gambling propensity. 
 It deprecates the shouting at the table upon every 
 
8 American Whist. 
 
 occasion of misplay or accident. Its laws are few, 
 complete in themselves, and easily understood. 
 The "cases" that constantly give rise to misun- 
 derstandings and quarrel cannot occur. It recog- 
 nizes no injustice in motive or digression from 
 positive right in action. 
 
 It accepts all that has value for the best interest 
 of the game that is embodied in all the regulations 
 adopted by the English savants. It provides for 
 the misfortune attendant upon the deprivation of 
 high cards and many trumps in any one playing 
 hand, by the requirement that, as all the tricks 
 must be taken to make a complete game from the 
 start, a chance is, or chances are, afforded to the 
 party in arrears. It is the English game of whist 
 improved, very greatly improved. To those who 
 will study and analyze and compare the two sys- 
 tems, its great superiority over English Whist will 
 be undeniably apparent. 
 
 To play whist well requires good judgment, a 
 just memory, close observation, quick inference, 
 and a knowledge of the rules. Circumstances alter 
 cases, never so much in any game as in this. The 
 laws must be obeyed, but the directions for the 
 lead and follow are not arbitrary. The player fre- 
 quently accepts situations which no rule antici- 
 pates. Study of the books and of the cards is a 
 
American Whist. 
 
 necessity and will effect much, but the cards are 
 changed with each successive deal. Great players 
 are those who know the rules to practice them, and 
 also know when they are 
 
 M More honored in the breach than the observance." 
 
 Whist is not unlike politics. Thousands upon 
 thousands take part in the game. Complications 
 are constantly presented. Few of all the players 
 see the end from the beginning. All are ready to 
 give advice and assert opinions. The contestants 
 are many. The statesmen are few. 
 
LAWS AND RULES. 
 
 The laws and rules of Whist as per the English 
 method, are verbose and voluminous, in common 
 with all things English of a legal character. 
 American Whist simmers these down, as referees, 
 dispensing with technicalities, determine cases 
 upon their merits. The English code would seem 
 to be founded upon the broad principle that every 
 man must be closely watched, that he may take 
 advantage whenever and wherever he can do so, 
 and that, as disputes will constantly occur, strict 
 regulations to meet each supposable case must be 
 provided. We draw our inferences as to whether 
 it is for the love of the game, and in the light of 
 that love, that many of the laws are enacted, or 
 whether the passion for gaming * and the love of 
 the money 'that is lost or won induced them. If 
 
 * Betting, says a London correspondent, is the custom of the 
 country, and the business of the clubs. Bets are made upon all 
 subjects, and at all times. It would seem as if nothing goes 
 without a bet. Men bet upon the holding or playing of a given 
 card, upon the pace of a given horse, upon the length of a 
 friend's finger-nail, and the number of screws in his coffin. 
 
Laws and Rules. 1 1 
 
 but the high honor of the game was to be consid- 
 ered, what need for a counterfeit code of etiquette 
 to read : " A player who desires the cards to be 
 placed, or who demands to see the last trick, or 
 who asks what the trump suit is, should do so for 
 his own information only, and not in order to in- 
 vite the attention of his partner." " Until the 
 players have made such lets as they wish, bets 
 should not be made with bystanders." " No one 
 should look over the hand of a player against whom 
 he is betting" And if it is for whist and its tone 
 and credit that men play, what need of Eule 88? 
 " If a bystander make any remark which calls the 
 attention of a player or players to an oversight 
 affecting the score (of course between deals, or at 
 any time), he is liable to be called upon, by the 
 players only, to pay the stakes and all bets on that 
 game or rubber." 
 
 The difference between American Whist and the 
 manner of playing it and English Whist and the 
 manner of playing it seems to be, that we care- 
 fully and honestly play the cards for all that they 
 are worth, two of the players expecting and receiv- 
 ing at the hands of their opponents the fairest 
 treatment, while each party is striving, by the aid 
 of memory, judgment, and observation, to place his 
 almost animate messengers in advance of those of 
 
1 2 American Whist. 
 
 his adversary; while the English game declares 
 hostility between the players, constant expectancy 
 that something may be done that can challenge dis- 
 pute, and great satisfaction if cause exists for the 
 exaction of penalty. And so the inference to be 
 drawn from some of the rules of English clubs is, 
 that somebody is attempting to obtain undue 
 advantage, and his opponent must be on the per- 
 petual look-out for him. " The cards must not be 
 shuffled under the table." Eule 26. What fair- 
 minded man of sense ever thought of such a thing 
 as doing it ? The rule would be as kindly received 
 by us if it read, " The cards must not be shuffled 
 in the coal scuttle or in the back yard wood-bin." 
 
 " If the dealer take the trump card into his hand 
 before it is his turn to play, he may be desired to 
 lay it on the table; should he show a wrong card, 
 that card may be called, as also a second, a third, 
 until the trump card be produced." Eule 54. What 
 gentleman would show a wrong card, a second, and 
 a third ? 
 
 The current odds at Short Whist are given in 
 " J. C.'s " book that the " good players who," ac- 
 cording to Dr. Pole, "generally (in England) like 
 to play for stakes high enough to define well the 
 interest taken in the game " may understand how 
 to place their extra money. " Not for gain? says 
 
Laws "and Rules. 1 3 
 
 the conscientious Dr. Pole, " only high enough to 
 define well their interest' 1 Probably Lord Peter- 
 borough was anxious to attach a lofty definition to 
 his " interest in the game." 
 
 "Cavendish," in "Card Essays" tells us, with 
 admirable philosophy, where interest ends and 
 gambling begins : — 
 
 " As long as it is a matter of indifference to those 
 engaged whether they win or lose the amount staked, 
 having regard also to their expectation in a series, so 
 long are they without the pale of gambling. The 
 moment any anxiety is felt as to the result, the sooner 
 the stakes are reduced the better. It is clear that if 
 half-starved Arabs toss for coppers they are gambling. 
 It is equally clear that if two well-to-do friends toss 
 which of them shall pay for a split brandy and sc la, 
 they are not gambling. To pursue this still further : 
 If a clerk, earning a hundred a year, backs his fancy for 
 the Derby for ten pounds, he is gambling ; but if a 
 wealthy owner of race horses puts the same sum on his 
 favorite two-year-old, he is not gambling. To the one 
 ten pounds is an object ; to the other it is a mere trifle." 
 
 This pliant information, savoring of cockpit logic, 
 makes us all the time fearful that by some Peck- 
 sniffian legality we are to be overreached. Poor 
 little Tom, who cracks the lid of his brother's boot- 
 black case and says a naughty word, is swearing, 
 and must be called to strict account, but the burly 
 
14 A merican Whist. 
 
 baggage smasher may send forth his volley of oaths 
 over the wreck of the mammoth " Saratoga," and 
 he is not swearing. Little Tom can only affect 
 the atmosphere at the comer of the lane, but 
 brazen Ben can make the air blue on both sides 
 of the station. The double-bass is authorized to 
 launch curses and trunks promiscuously from car 
 to platform, while the moral responsibility of being 
 profane attaches only to the poor little contralto 
 who breaks a homely box. 
 
 Among the laws of Short Whist, framed by the 
 committee of the Portland and Arlington clubs, 
 and edited by John Loraine Baldwin, it is written : 
 "Should the players on loth sides subject them- 
 selves to the penalty of one or more revokes, neither 
 can win the game; each is punished at the dis- 
 cretion of his adversary." We have no comments 
 to offer upon this depravity by rule. 
 
 A revoke made among good and proper players 
 seldom happens, and whenever such an accident 
 occurs with us, the shame of the offender is hard 
 punishment. 
 
 What from the surroundings are we led to ex- 
 pect when it seems necessary to remind players in 
 what is called the etiquette of whist, that " no 
 intimation whatever by word or gesture should be 
 given by a player as to the state of his hand or of 
 
Laws a)id Rules. 15 
 
 the game"? It is proper to guard against and 
 take penalties for accidental errors, but in the mat- 
 ter of consistent courtesy, what gentleman requires 
 or would brook such reminder ? Laws and rules 
 are for instruction as to what is best for the game's 
 action ; the possession of the sense of moral recti- 
 tude should be conceded. 
 
 And inference gives place to information when 
 we read, " a card or cards torn or marked must be 
 either replaced by agreement or new cards called 
 at the expense of the table." Eule 90. Then " the 
 table " continues after ascertaining that cards have 
 been torn or marked. With the knowledge of the 
 fraud, " the table " plays with the perpetrator. 
 
 The fact is, the money is up, and the game is 
 diamond cut diamond. The English club players 
 (from their own written statements this conclusion 
 must be formed) play whist for money, or for the 
 enjoyment of the excitement of its exchange, not 
 for whist. They want a short game, in which six 
 persons in turn take part, upon which they can 
 place their stakes and make their bets. Six times 
 twenty guineas may change hands in all the sit- 
 ting. " Money changes hands witli such increased 
 rapidity " that they play the long game no more. 
 When Dr. Pole says, " Good players generally like 
 to play for stakes high enough to define well the 
 
1 6 A merican Whist. 
 
 interest taken in the game," he adds, to blunt the 
 edge of forced assertion, "but the idea of gain, 
 which is the essential feature of gambling, enters 
 as little into the mind of a whist as of a chess 
 player." Very likely, if the chess-player also 
 plays for " enough to define well his interest." If 
 a man puts up money on a game, or on any detail 
 of it, what does enter into his mind? The idea 
 of loss, perhaps. 
 
 Now, we do not choose to place a money value 
 upon our interest in the game which for itself we 
 prize, and so it does not follow that we show our 
 hands, as at poker, and pretend that we are playing 
 whist. Whist, with us, is an entertainment of the 
 brain. With the belief that the great game can be 
 played upon its merits, American Whist selects as 
 a part of its code of laws only those excellent ones 
 from the list of the authorized committee and 
 specified by " Cavendish," who is the best mouth- 
 piece of the law-givers, that affect its honesty and 
 glory. It applies these definitely to the seven- 
 point game, and in the adoption of it does away 
 with the swift opportunities of chance that "honors" 
 give. It plays seven points instead of five to make 
 it a necessity that every trick shall be taken, if in 
 a single hand a game is played.* 
 
 The laws of Short Whist are ninety-one in num- 
 
 * See Preface to Sixth Edition, C. 
 
Lazvs and Rules. 17 
 
 ber, as printed by Mr. Baldwin with a flourish of 
 names of committee-men, and copied into American 
 reprints of English ideation. In accordance with 
 the decision of fine American players for the proper 
 purposes of the best game of whist, less than one- 
 fifth that number meet all requirements. The 
 recent publication of " Card Essays " by Henry 
 Jones (" Cavendish ") is in good time for the con- 
 firmation of our statements respecting the value of 
 the English code. He says : — 
 
 The laws of whist, though very good in the princi- 
 ples on which they are based, are, it must be confessed, 
 loosely worded. It is to be hoped that some day the 
 drafting may be reconsidered. If this were done, with 
 the consent of the clubs that have adopted the laws 
 (which one would think could readily be obtained), a 
 boon would be conferred on whist-players. 
 
 I could give many instances of bad drafting, but, 
 as this is not the place for criticism on the laws of 
 whist, report only two, forwarded by a humorous friend, 
 
 S P , with a hope that the wording of our 
 
 whist code might be revised. 
 
 " I have been considerably irritated of late by a Mr. 
 Muff, a, practical joker, who, if he had only read the 
 instructions of ' Cavendish ' as carefully as he reads the 
 rules, might some day play one card of three correctly. 
 
 II It was only the other day Mr. Muff was dealing, 
 when his partner exclaimed: 'You have misdealt. 1 
 He replied : ' I am certain I have not ; ' and proceede J 
 
 2 
 
1 8 American Whist. 
 
 deliberately to count the cards remaining in his hand. 
 I exclaimed: 'Now, you have made a misdeal of it/ 
 ' No, I have not/ he replied ; ' fetch the rules ; ' and, 
 sure enough, he not being under the impression that he 
 had made a mistake (Law 44, par. 5) when he counted 
 the cards, I could not claim a misdeal, but could only 
 look severe and feel that I had been sold. 
 
 " I trusted that the dignified silence with which I 
 accepted his reading of the rules would have made 
 some impression on him. Vain hope! A few days 
 afterward he was again my opponent (the only piece 
 of luck I had had that day), when his partner called 
 attention to the trick by drawing his card toward him 
 before Mr. Muff had played. I required the latter to 
 play the highest of his suit. He played a small one, 
 and presently one higher. c Well/ said I, ' I shall 
 claim a revoke presently, if required.' 'You may 
 claim as much as you like/ said he, ' but you cannot 
 enforce it/ 'We shall see/ I rejoined. We won 
 the game on the hand, and> as they were at love, 
 there was no necessity for claiming the penalty ; but, 
 thinking that for once I knew the rules better than he, 
 I called for the code, and placed Eule 61 before him. 
 ' Can 't you read ? ' he said. \ I am not a player who 
 has rendered himself liable ; it was my partner who ren- 
 dered me liable to have my highest card called. You 
 have no penalty for my disobedience, save only that of 
 not playing with me again. But please don't do that, 
 for I have got one or two more sells for you, and in 
 time you 11 know the rules.' 
 
 " I was so vexed I almost revoked next hand, and 
 
Laws and Rules. 19 
 
 have ever since prayed that some Solon or Lycurgus 
 would arise and revise our whist laws." 
 
 Law 33 always amuses me hugely. It informs us 
 that 'Each player deals in his turn.' This looks like a 
 bit of dry humor, especially as the law continues, — 
 ' The right of dealing goes to the left, 1 reminding one of 
 the rule of the road — 
 
 * If you go to the left, you are sure to go right. 
 If you go to the right you go wrong.' 
 
 Law 84, limiting the power of consultation between 
 partners, gives rise to numerous arguments and queries. 
 After vainly endeavoring to make it clear to two friends, 
 B. and S., that they were at liberty to consult as to 
 which of them shall exact the penalty, but that they 
 must not consult as to which penalty it is advisable to 
 exact, B. said : 'I suppose I am very dense, but for the 
 life of me I cannot understand it now.' ' No more can 
 1/ said S. ; ' the laws of whist seem to me to have been 
 invented for the express purpose of puzzling people ! ' 
 
 Some of the laws certainly might be made more 
 clear, and I quite agree with S P , that revi- 
 sion at the hands of a modern Solon or Lycurgus is 
 desirable. 
 
 " Cavendish" does not recognize his chapter upon 
 card table talk as the proper place for criticism 
 on the laws of whist, and does but expose a small 
 part of the stupidity that characterizes this law- 
 yer's code of technicalities. How the incongruous 
 
2 o A merican Whist. 
 
 matter could have controlled the actions of respect- 
 able members of respectable clubs for the space of 
 fifteen years, is as strange as that it should be 
 adopted in this country by men competent to read 
 its fallacy. 
 
 Some one has said that there was no difficulty, 
 if an effort was made, in obtaining signatures to 
 a petition, no matter how unreasonable its intent. 
 Let but one well-known signature be had, and 
 none who were asked, refused. And also, that if 
 on the morrow a counter-petition was presented, 
 the same men, by force of habit, would sign that 
 also. It would seem as if Baldwin "made his 
 effort," obtaining the name of Bentinck, and, see- 
 ing that name, Bushe, Clay, and others followed. 
 What a pity that the counter-petition was not the 
 next day circulated ! 
 
 Or it may be that in a general committee of the 
 whole, each and all made suggestions that were 
 intended to cover special crises, and as these were 
 ventilated they were adopted as rules. Including 
 the "etiquette," there are about an hundred of 
 these, and to the strictures that " Cavendish " makes 
 concerning them, we add a few comments. Thir- 
 teen rules, with divisions and references elsewhere, 
 are required to inform of the nature of and pen- 
 alty for a revoke, and after all this verbiage upon 
 
Laws and Rules. 2 1 
 
 the merest self-evident proposition, we find, as an 
 extra clause of "etiquette/' this surprising para- 
 graph:— 
 
 "It is unfair to revoke purposely ; having made a 
 revoke, a player is not justified in making a second in 
 order to conceal the first." 
 
 This is certainly cool etiquette. "It is rather 
 wrong to cheat, and not quite right to cover up 
 a cheat by a second cheat." A revoke made pur- 
 posely at an American table will exclude the per- 
 petrator at once and finally. 
 
 The rules concerning a misdeal are seven, beside 
 seven specifications pro and con. In American 
 Whist a single rule covers the whole ground. 
 
 When laws are drawn with such nicety and 
 exactness of labored phraseology as to defy the 
 searcher for a flaw, and a dozen rules are made to 
 specify what one should represent, implicated par- 
 ties are always on the alert to find flaws, and they 
 generally succeed. The manner in which the in- 
 sipidity of the English code can be rebuked is 
 apparent in the two following illustrations : — 
 
 11 A player was dealing. He was watched by eagle- 
 eyed adversaries. He threw two cards at once. There 
 was a simultaneous ejaculation by two voices that would 
 have stopped a fire engine. He paused, took a card 
 
22 A merican Whist. 
 
 from the packet upon which he had just thrown two, 
 and dealt it to the next player's pile. 'That won't 
 do,' ' That was n't one of the cards,' ' Misdeal,' ' Cut 
 this pack,' &c. 'Bring the Eules,' said the dealer. 
 They were brought and gave the following illumina- 
 tion : ' Should the dealer deal two cards at once, . . . 
 if the dealer can by altering the position of one card 
 only, rectify such error, he may do so.' ' Does it say 
 which card % * shouted he triumphantly,' ' 
 
 " A dealer's partner separated his own card from one 
 of his adversary's, upon which, in dealing, it accident- 
 ally fell. The opponents seized their hands, looked 
 them over, and not liking them, called a misdeal. ' I 
 only moved my card to prevent a mistake,' said the 
 dealer's partner, ' and you have both of you looked at 
 your cards.' ' Bring the Rules,' shouted the opponent. 
 ' Eead 45. You interfered. Nothing said as to what 
 we may not do.' " 
 
 And we quote : — 
 
 " After the dealer has taken the trump card into his 
 hand it cannot be asked for : a player naming it at any 
 time during the play of that hand is liable to have his 
 highest or lowest trump called." Eule 53. "If the 
 dealer declare himself unable to recollect the trump 
 card, his highest or lowest trump may be called," &c. 
 Rule 55. 
 
 Now, if the trump card cannot he ashed for, why 
 should the dealer declare himself unable to recol- 
 lect it ? Or is he to be fined for talking to himself ? 
 
Laws and Rules. 23 
 
 English Short Whist does not require a Solon or 
 Lycurgus to " amend " its laws, but it would be 
 well to set aside the entire budget of infirmities, 
 and to adopt a new code of regulations. J. C. 
 says : " The best whist player is he who plays 
 the game in the simplest and most intelligible 
 way." Would not the simplest and most intelli- 
 gible laws be the best to guide such a player ? 
 
 The English writers are fond of telling how 
 simple whist is and should be, and all the while 
 stay its independent action by the cumbersome 
 machinery of litigiousness. The necessity for con- 
 stant " decisions " is induced by two causes: the 
 danger of loss of that which " defines w T ell the in- 
 terest taken in the game," and the liability to place 
 upon the sophistical rules any construction that 
 the interested party may choose. ' Matters that 
 we should settle on the instant, are presented, and 
 adjudged, and appealed as if the safety of a State 
 were at stake. In the matter of a misdeal, among 
 m Clay's Decisions " : — 
 
 " The dealer is alleged to have dealt two cards to one 
 hand, and the adversaries claim a misdeal. The dealer 
 denies having dealt two cards together, and as no one is 
 allowed to count the cards during a deal he continues 
 his deal. He then comes to a faced card and (to out- 
 wit the adversaries) claims a fresh deal." 
 
24 American Whist. 
 
 This case exhibits the fact that what contributes 
 " to the interest taken in the game," makes it in- 
 cumbent upon the opponents of a dealer to get the 
 deal away from him, and the amount which desig- 
 nates the interest that he has in the game, induces 
 him to fight for retaining it. The laws were so 
 mystical that by their light no " decision " could 
 be understood. The case was sent to Mr. Jones 
 (Cavendish). His ruling was not approved and 
 letters passed. It was argued that the deal was 
 " absolutely and ab initio void and not only void- 
 able." Mr. Jones sent to Mr. Clay, who pronounced 
 the case " curious ; " but the stunning letter could 
 not shake the great man's opinion, which agreed 
 with that of Mr. Jones, whose statement was ac- 
 counted to be (we have not the slightest doubt of 
 it) " perfect and lawyer like" 
 
 Now with us there would have been no claim 
 shouted. If the dealer had thrown two cards in 
 place of one,- the story would have been told when 
 the deal was made, and if he had met a faced card, 
 that too would have been evident. In either cases' 
 he would gather all together at once and pass to 
 his right-hand opponent to make up, while his left- 
 hand opponent dealt. Which code of laws is 
 " simplest" and best ? 
 
 Drayson has an example : — 
 
Laws and Rtdes. 25 
 
 A. played a club to a spade. His partuer asked him 
 if he did not hold a spade. " Spade led \ " said A. 
 " Oh ! yes, I have a spade." " Play your lowest 
 spade," said C. Whereupon A. played the three. " Is 
 that your lowest spade?" asked his partner. "Xo, I 
 have the two," replied A. He then wished to take up 
 the three and play the two, but C. argued that, by Eule 
 61, A. was liable to a penalty for a revoke by playing 
 his three, and his two was liable to be called, as he had 
 named it. 
 
 Here is a trouble indeed ! Probably the slight 
 amount that " defines the interest in the game " 
 promoted it. The argument was laborious and 
 immense. 
 
 Our settlement of the matter would have been 
 to let A. revoke and at the end of the hand be 
 punished for so doing, or if he had seen his errore- 
 ons play in season to save himself, he would have 
 exchanged his card and been fined as per Eule 14. 
 Which course corresponds with the " simplicity " 
 that J. C. recommends ? 
 
 Apart from the folly of the long argumental war 
 of words zealously carried on in the London clubs, 
 consider the damage to the game that is being 
 played. How are men to remember what has been 
 done, or to fix their attention upon what is to do, 
 while a wordy scuffle is being indulged in, ad libi- 
 
26 A merican Whist. 
 
 turn ? We can hardly understand why England 
 calls such an exhibition by the name of " Whist " 
 — Silence — but are glad she calls it " Short " 
 Whist ; the adjective serves to disassociate it from 
 our beautiful game. 
 
TECHNICAL TERMS IN AMERICAN 
 
 WHIST. 
 
 A. AND B. REPRESENT PARTNERS. C. AND D. THEIR OPPO- 
 NENT PARTNERS. A. IS GENERALLY REFERRED TO WHEN 
 THE TERM " YOU " IS USED WITH REFERENCE TO PLAY. IT 
 WILL BE NOTED THAT THE TERMS " HONORS, TREBLE, LOVE, 
 BLAM, RUFF, BUMPER," ETC., ETC., ARE NOT USED IN AMERI- 
 CAN WHIST. HIGH CARDS ARE THOSE IN EACH SUIT FROM 
 ACE TO NINE INCLUSIVE. LOW CARDS FROM TWO TO EIGHT 
 INCLUSIVE. 
 
 Bring In. To make the cards composing a suit 
 
 after trumps are out. 
 Call. See Signal. 
 Command. The winning cards over all that are in 
 
 play. 
 Conventional. A term applied to an established 
 
 usage, as the " conventional " discard of the 
 
 second best. 
 Coup. A French word anglicised, which means a 
 
 stroke that gains advantage ; a brilliant play. 
 Discard. The card of another suit than that led, 
 
 thrown away. 
 
28 A merican Whist 
 
 Echo. The play purposely of a card that does not 
 take, followed by the play of a lower card, 
 partner having called. 
 Eleventh. The master card of three in play, ten 
 
 having been played. 
 Establish. So to play that you gain command of a 
 
 suit. 
 False Card. One played contrary to conventional 
 
 rule. 
 Finesse. The play of a card lower than one that 
 you hold not in sequence with it, or the pass- 
 ing a card played by your partner when 
 you hold a higher card. A finesse can also be 
 made upon the card already thrown by the 
 opponent. Deschapelles has six classifica- 
 tions. 
 
 The finesse proper. 
 
 The returned finesse. 
 
 The finesse by trial. 
 
 The forced finesse. 
 
 The finesse by speculation. 
 
 The finesse on the partner. 
 Clay says the varieties of the finesse are in- 
 finite, but treats especially of the Finesse 
 Speculative, which means the play of a third 
 card holding first, but not second best, and 
 the Finesse Obligatory, which is the playing 
 
Technical Terms in American Whist. 29 
 
 of a card not your best that threatens to bring 
 down one much higher from the opponent, 
 you taking the risk of his holding a lowei 
 card, high enough, however, to take the card 
 you play. 
 
 Force. A winning card played to exact a trump 
 from the adversary, or a losing card to be 
 trumped by your partner. 
 
 Game. Seven points made by tricks. 
 
 Grand Coup. The throwing away of a superfluous 
 trump, or the taking by trumping of the part- 
 ner's trick, that the lead may be thrown back 
 to him, or the under-trumping a trick, whether 
 trumped by your partner or opponent, for the 
 purpose of throwing the lead. 
 
 Guarded. A high card is guarded when smaller 
 cards of the same suit are with it to be played 
 upon higher cards than itself. 
 
 Hand. The thirteen cards received from the 
 dealer. 
 
 High Cards. The nine to the ace inclusive. 
 
 Lead. The first card played of any round. 
 "ler. The first player in any round. 
 
 Leading through. Playing a card of a suit in 
 which the left-hand adversary is strong. 
 
 Leading up to. Playing a card of a suit in which a 
 high card is held by the right-hand adversary 
 
30 American Whist. 
 
 Long Cards. Those remaining in a hand when all 
 the rest of a suit have been played. 
 
 Long Suit. See Suit. 
 
 Long Trump. The thirteenth, twelve having been 
 played. 
 
 Low Cards. The eight to the deuce inclusive. 
 
 Make. To take a trick is to make it. 
 
 Master Card. The highest card not played. 
 
 Opening. The first lead in each hand of each 
 player. 
 
 Pass. You are said to pass when you, third hand, 
 holding a higher one, throw a smaller card of 
 the suit than some one that has been played. 
 It is, too, another word for finesse upon your 
 partner. 
 
 Plain Suits. See Suit. 
 
 Points. The number of tricks over six. Points 
 are sometimes kept as well as games and rub- 
 bers. In such case all that are made by each 
 side are counted. 
 
 Re-Entry. A card of re-entry is one that, winning 
 a trick not led by its holder, enables him to 
 bring in a suit or throw a lead to advantage. 
 
 Renouncing. Playing a card of another suit upon 
 a suit led. 
 
 Revoke. The play of a card of another suit while 
 holding one of the suit led. 
 
Technical Terms in American Whist. 31 
 
 Bound. Every four cards played in succession 
 after the turning of the trump card. 
 
 Rubber. The second consecutive game won by two 
 players, or the third game won by the same 
 players who won the first, the second having 
 been won by their opponents. 
 
 Saw. The play from partners to each other of 
 suits that are trumped third hand. 
 
 Score. The registry of points made upon the 
 game. 
 
 Second Hand. The elder hand, he who plays im- 
 mediately after the leader. 
 
 Sequence. Three cards or more that follow in 
 regular order. The ace, k., and qu. is a tierce 
 (sequence) to the ace, and when the k. and qu 
 have been played, ace, kn., and 10 form a 
 sequence. Tierce is a sequence of three 
 cards, quart of four, quint of five, sixieme of 
 six, septieme of seven. A head sequence is 
 the consecutive three or more of the largest 
 cards of the suit in your hand ; an intermediate 
 sequence is neither at the head nor foot of the 
 suit, and a subordinate sequence is one of 
 smaller cards than those that compose the 
 head sequence. 
 
 Shuffle. Change of the relative position of the 
 cards. 
 
32 American Whist. 
 
 Signal. The call ; the echo ; a request or reply- 
 made by the play. The play of the ace or 
 of the highest card in play of any plain suit 
 upon a lead of any other suit signals no more 
 of that suit, or the entire command of it. The 
 play of the second best card of a suit in play, 
 as a discard, signals no more of that suit. 
 The play of a card not as low as could have 
 been properly played, followed by the play of 
 one lower, is a signal or call for trumps. An 
 indication given by the cards that a certain 
 number of trumps are held, or that certain 
 cards help to form a suit, &c. Whist is con- 
 versational, that is, the cards speak, not the 
 players ; and so the game is full of signals. 
 
 Singleton. The one card only of a suit. 
 
 Spread. Distribution of the pack, backs upper- 
 most, that cards from any part of it may be 
 drawn. 
 
 Strengthening Play. Getting rid of high cards to 
 give value to lower ones, and so make strong 
 the partner's hand. 
 
 Suit. A series of cards whose modern names are 
 spades, hearts, clubs, and diamonds. A trump 
 suit is composed of the cards in each hand ■ 
 that are of the series, one of which is turned 
 by the dealer. The other three are plain 
 
Technical Terms in American Whist. 33 
 
 suits. A long suit is one of four cards or 
 
 more ; a short suit, one of three cards or less ; 
 
 a strong suit is one of high cards; a weak 
 
 suit, one of low cards, or a short suit of high 
 
 cards. 
 Tenace. The best and third best cards in play of a 
 
 suit is a major tenace ; the second and fourth 
 
 best, a minor tenace. 
 Third Sand. The partner of the leader. 
 Thirteenth. The card of any suit in hand after 
 
 twelve of that suit have been played. 
 Throwing the Lead. Playing a card that imposes 
 
 an obligation on the part of another player to 
 
 take the trick. 
 Trick The four cards played in a round, taken 
 
 and turned. 
 Trump. One of the suit of the trump card. 
 Trump Card. That turned at the right hand of 
 
 the dealer. 
 Twelfth. One of the two cards in play of a suit, 
 
 eleven having been played. 
 Underplay. Playing a low card, retaining a high 
 
 one of same suit. 
 Winning Cards. The highest in play of the suit 
 
THE GAME. 
 
 The game is played by four persons. At cer- 
 tain rooms it is customary for a gentleman to take 
 his seat at a table and invite a friend to sit oppo- 
 site. This is regarded as a challenge which two 
 other players may accept. Or a pack of cards, 
 having been shuffled, is " spread," and the players 
 draw to ascertain which shall be partners, when, 
 as in cutting, if that mode is chosen, the two taking 
 the highest and the two taking the lowest cards 
 play together. A player accidentally showing 
 more than one card, cuts or draws again. In cut- 
 ting the ace is lowest. In playing, two packs of 
 cards are used. The first dealer is he who has cut 
 or drawn the lowest card. He chooses the pack 
 with which he and his partner are to deal through- 
 out the game or rubber. The laws direct the early 
 and continuous management of the cards by all 
 the players. The game differs from all others in 
 one particular: it must he played in unbroken 
 silence. The calculations are so numerous, the 
 conversation of the cards so interesting, and the 
 tax upon the memory so constant, that closest 
 
The Game. 35 
 
 application, uninterrupted by verbal comment, be- 
 comes necessity. That is not whist playing in 
 its high estate which tolerates interference with 
 the mental plans of any player. It is customary, 
 in clubs in which there are many players, for four 
 persons to claim and hold a table (vacant when 
 they would begin to play), whose right to play 
 together out of six is obtained by cutting the low- 
 est cards; these four again cut, and the highest 
 and the lowest, respectively, are partners. When 
 a rubber has been played, if one or both the out- 
 siders desire to play, the five or the six cut again, 
 and the lowest four cards decide who shall play 
 the next rubber. 
 
 American Whist is not a gambling game ; will 
 not be played for money, nor will bets be made 
 upon results. It is an intellectual amusement 
 suited to those who will give to it much study. It 
 is an exercise of memory and observation, and the 
 better it is understood and the more rigorously it 
 is played in accordance with the laws, the greater 
 the gratification afforded. 
 
 The Laws. 
 
 1. The game consists of seven points. Each 
 trick above six counts as cne point. A rubber ig 
 the decisive game of three. 
 
2,6 American Whist. 
 
 2. The first dealer is he who of the four players 
 has cut or drawn the lowest card. The player on 
 his left shuffles the pack chosen by the dealer, and 
 the player on his right cuts, not leaving less than 
 four cards in each packet. The cut, when both 
 packets are on the table, is the packet nearest 
 the centre of the table. The trump card, which is 
 the under card of the cut, must not be known until 
 it is turned by the dealer. If, by accident, it should 
 be seen, or if any other card is exposed when cut- 
 ting, the pack must be cut again. While the 
 deal is being made, the dealer's partner shuffles the 
 other pack for his own right-hand opponent, who 
 is next to deal 
 
 3. Either pack may be shuffled by any one of 
 three players while the other pack is being dealt ; 
 but as a rule, the cards having been shuffled at the 
 beginning by any of the players will not again be 
 shuffled except as by Law 2. 
 
 4 The deal is lost if thirteen cards are not in 
 regular succession, beginning at the dealer's left, 
 received by each player, and if the last card is not 
 turned up at the dealer's right hand, if a card is 
 faced in the pack, or if a card is exposed while 
 dealing. 
 
 5. The trump card shall remain upon the table 
 until three players shall have played, or longer at 
 the dealer's option. 
 
The K Game. 37 
 
 6. No player will touch his cards until the 
 trump card is turned. 
 
 7. If a player throws two or more cards at once, 
 or exposes a card unless to play it, or fails to play 
 upon a trick, or plays out of turn, he suffers the 
 penalty of Law 14. 
 
 8. Every hand must be played out, unless, the 
 game being decided to the satisfaction of the losers, 
 one or both of them throw down their cards. If 
 the cards are so thrown down the game is at once 
 counted against them, and if points are being kept, 
 a point is taken by the winners for each card in 
 any one hand. 
 
 9. No cards can be called and no conversation 
 can take place during the play. Whist is the 
 
 GAME OF SILENCE. 
 
 10. If a player revoke, his partner must with 
 him share the fault and penalty, which is three 
 points taken from their score or three added to 
 their adversaries' score, at such adversaries' will, 
 the revoke to be decided by the examination of 
 the cards, if need be, at the close of the hand. 
 Each party has a right to make such examination 
 for any purpose. 
 
 11. If a player, having thrown a card that would 
 cause a revoke, can substitute the proper card for 
 that thrown before the trick is turned, he may do 
 
38 American Whist. 
 
 so, and suffer the penalty of Law 14 for having at 
 first thrown a wrong card. If, in the mean time, 
 other cards have been played, any or all of them 
 can be recalled. 
 
 12. A player whose next turn it is to play may 
 point to any card upon the table, and the player 
 of such caxd will draw it toward him to designate 
 that he played it in his turn. 
 
 13. When a trick is taken and turned it cannot 
 again be seen until the hand is played. 
 
 14. The penalty for the infringement of any Law 
 is the deduction of one point from the score of the 
 offender, or the addition of one point to the score 
 of the claimant, as the adversaries upon consulta- 
 tion at the close of the hand shall elect. 
 
 The lovers of whist play the game for itself, as 
 they read books or study problems. It is suppos- 
 able that parties who play whist properly are gen- 
 tlemen, and a gentleman requires but the plainest 
 rules concerning a game by which to be governed, 
 and does not contemplate dispute, prevarication, or 
 wrongdoing. Not a word is to be spoken at the 
 table from the time that the trump card is turned 
 until the last card of the hand is played. The in- 
 terruption that may be caused by asking a partner 
 if he has no card of the suit that is played, fearing 
 
T*he Game. 39 
 
 a revoke, can confuse the calculation of the players, 
 and if a man cannot or does not play his cards prop- 
 erly without reminder, he and his partner must 
 together accept the loss that stupidity or accident 
 necessitates. It certainly is not the fault of the 
 antagonists that the revoke occurs, and there is no 
 call for adding to the mischief, the interference with 
 their plans that conversation would make. It does 
 not come into the account that the question of the 
 partner, " Have you none of that suit ? " puts the 
 offender upon his guard, causes him to look once 
 more over his hand, and, perhaps, find a card that 
 before he did not see. What right has his partner 
 to remind him of a real or imaginary error ? Part- 
 ners must suffer for each other's mishaps. 
 
 " Should the third hand not have played, and the 
 fourth play before his partner, the latter may be called 
 upon to win or not to win the trick. " " Cavendish/ ' 
 Eule 68. 
 
 The revoke in due time is discovered, and, at the 
 end of the hand, the score is made to conform to 
 the legal requirement of the opponents. 
 
 A complete pack of cards numbers fifty-two. 
 If, after any deal, there is found to be less or more, 
 the dealer loses his deal; the cards should have 
 been counted before the play began, or before they 
 
40 American Whist 
 
 were shuffled for this deal. If, when dealing, a 
 card is found faced, it is the dealer's misfortune or 
 fault. He loses his deal. If he had question about 
 the disposition of the cards in the pack, he should 
 have run them over, backs uppermost, before he 
 passed them to his right-hand adversary to cut. 
 Each player will count his cards before he plays ; 
 if he has more or less than thirteen there must be 
 a new deal and by a new dealer. 
 
 Bystanders should be allowed to see but one hand 
 during the play. They should consider themselves 
 privileged if allowed to look over at all, unauthor- 
 ized in every particular to make comment concern- 
 ing the hand or the play. 
 
 Trumps should always be placed by a player in 
 the same relative position in his hand, perhaps at 
 the extreme right, or the second suit, as clubs on the 
 right, diamonds (trumps) second, spades third, 
 hearts on the left. Good players have enough to 
 do to attend to their own hands and to watch the 
 cards as they fall, and are not guilty of espionage. 
 Should it be the misfortune of such men to admit 
 an unprincipled player to an occasional game, they 
 must be on their guard against his trickery in all 
 particulars ; but it will be impossible for any player 
 to ascertain the rank of trumps in any other hand, 
 as they need not be disposed according to rank, or 
 
The Game. 41 
 
 to determine how many are held, as there is no 
 visible dividing line between the cards. In fact, 
 the assertion that number and value of trumps in a 
 given hand can be ascertained by any other player 
 finds its force in the gross carelessness of the player 
 who holds them. 
 
 There need be no necessity for arbitration or 
 outside interference. Bystanders should never be 
 called upon to act as judges upon any point. If 
 at any time it is thought proper by the players to 
 appeal from an opinion or a decision of one or more 
 of their number, an officer of the club may act as 
 referee, and his judgment must be accepted as final 
 in the case ; but those cases will be very rare con- 
 cerning which the players are not competent and 
 just adjudicators. 
 
 The Lead. 
 
 The " order of leads " is the same in general as 
 that advised by " Cavendish." He is admitted in 
 this respect to be the best of all authorities. Ameri- 
 can Whist does away with the greater part of his 
 laws, for they are useless to parties who do not 
 count honors, and who will not gamble. In his scale 
 of leads the " honors " are specially noticed, and all 
 below them have little treatment and no important 
 
42 American Whist. 
 
 part to play. With us the high cards are ace to 
 9 inclusive, and the 9 is the special informatory 
 one of two others, and constitutes the best open- 
 ing lead when king, knave, and others are held. 
 ISTor do we ever lead that card at first unless the 
 king and knave are in the suit, nor do we ever 
 lead any other card in that suit if we hold those. 
 Theje is no lead that so enlivens the game as 
 this. At once the partner is aware that he must 
 help make those cards, and the adversaries are 
 determined to prevent them from making. The 
 partner holding ace and queen only, takes with 
 the ace and generally plays a trump, holding four 
 or more. The adversary, unless with a long suit 
 of the 9 led, discards from it in preference to other 
 suits. 
 
 With ace, queen, 10, 9, we lead the ace, then 9 ; 
 with ace, knave, 10, 9, the ace, then 9. No leading 
 card but the 9 w 7 ill positively declare two other 
 cards. The queen led may signify, and generally 
 does, the holding of the knave and 10; but the 
 queen may be properly led when knave and 9 and 
 several more of the suit are held.* 
 
 In plain suits the ace led at the outset signifies 
 four or more cards, and not the king or queen ; or 
 that the queen and knave are held, or the king 
 alone. 
 
 * See Preface to Sixth Edition, D. 
 
The Game. 43 
 
 The king led, signifies the ace and others, or the 
 queen and others. 
 
 The queen led, signifies the knave and 10 ; or 
 the knave, 9, and three others, or queen and two 
 others. 
 
 The knave led, signifies the king, queen, and two 
 others ; the 10 and 9, or the best of any three cards. 
 
 The 10 led, signifies king, knave, and others, not 
 the 9 ; 9, 8, and others ; or ace, queen, and 9. 
 
 The 9 led, signifies king, knave, and others.* 
 
 The 8 led, signifies the best of a sequence, or 
 the penultimate card of a suit of five. 
 
 The 7, 6, 5, 4, 3 may, either of them led, be the 
 lowest of a four suit, or the penultimate of a five 
 suit. 
 
 The 2 led, must be the lowest of a four suit, 
 and argues weak trumps and no sure cards. [See 
 Original Leads in Plain Suits.] 
 
 When five trumps or more are held, a trump is 
 usually played upon the first lead. Whether it is 
 so played, and which one of the five or more 
 should be played, depends upon the state of the 
 game and the value of the hand in plain suits. 
 The player is to do his best to play his partner's 
 hand and his own, and purposeless to play trumps 
 merely because he has trumps may give his part- 
 ner to understand that he has reasons which do 
 not exist. The management of trumps is the 
 
 * See Preface to Sixth Edition, E. 
 
44 American Whist. 
 
 nicest feature in the correct playing of the game. 
 Generally it is best to lead from a strong trump 
 hand, five or more, but the score must be kept in 
 mind and the value of the trumps considered, since 
 it may be of the utmost importance that a lead 
 should come to you or through you before you an- 
 nounce your strength. Your lead must not deceive 
 your partner, and need not do so though you do 
 not proclaim your trump strength. You are, for 
 instance, playing for a point and know that you 
 can make it ; your partner can ask no more than 
 that you should make it. There are a great many 
 dry sayings among the Englishmen about impov- 
 erished people who, holding five trumps, did not 
 lead one, and numerous are the recorded instances 
 of bad play because trumps were not led. Despite 
 all this, judgment must be used in their disposition. 
 They cannot be treated like plain suits. " Caven- 
 dish " hand, No. XXV., which will be played else- 
 where by the rules of American Whist, is proof of 
 this. Generally lead trumps with five or more, 
 but regard your hand, the trump card, the score, 
 and all the chances, before you decide. 
 
The Game. 45 
 
 Original Trump Lead. 
 
 If because of the number of trumps you hold 
 and the make-up of your hand in plain suits you 
 deem it advisable to have the trumps out of the 
 adversaries' hands at the beginning of the play, the 
 proper lead from certain specified cards, a low 
 trump having been turned at your right, is as fol- 
 lows : — 
 
 Holding Ace and K., . . . play Ace then K. 
 
 Having but the two trumps and good plain suits 
 you secure at the outset two rounds of trumps. 
 The play is informatory to your opponent that 
 you have no more trumps, but it is also so to your 
 partner, and when you can give him the lead he 
 will probably bring down ' three more of the five 
 remaining. You may do no better service with 
 your ace and k. since if trumps are led, you have 
 but these to play. 
 
 Ace sequence .... play lowest of sequence. 
 Ace, K. Kn., and two or more . . . K. 
 
 Judge by the fall of the cards if you care to pur- 
 sue the lead ; if not, give your partner a chance to 
 take a trick and return a trump. You will then 
 know which to play, kn. or ace ; or it may be a 
 small one upon his qu. 
 
46 American Whist. 
 
 Ace, K. 10, and two others (not the 9), 
 play next to smallest. 
 
 The lowest card is sometimes led* in trumps 
 when, with the same number of cards in plain suit 
 next to lowest would be the only proper play, but 
 as the partner had best understand whether four 
 or five trumps were originally held and as by your 
 after play he will so understand, the penultimate 
 play when five are held is the best. 
 
 Ace, K. and four or more . . . K. then Ace. 
 
 King then ace means more of the suit. Ace 
 then k. means no more. 
 
 Ace, K. Kn, and one other . . . . K. 
 
 Probably the lead of the small card should fol- 
 low, but the ace may be next led or you may give 
 partner a lead of suit to take, that he may return 
 a trump. 
 
 Ace and jive or more Ace, or 
 
 the antepenultimate. 
 
 Ace and four the penultimate. 
 
 Ace and three the lowest. 
 
 King sequence lead K. 
 
 King, Q. or K. Kn., and three or four others, 
 
 one of the lowest. 
 
 ' King, Kn., 10, and others .... Kn. 
 King, Kn., 9, and- others 9. 
 
The Game. 47 
 
 Having king and knave and 9 in any hand of 
 tramps or plain suit, and not ace or qiL, the 9 is the 
 proper lead. It signifies k. and kn., and is the 
 only card that designates two others especially. 
 
 King and four or more, 
 
 one of the lowest (not the lowest). 
 King and three more . ... the lowest. 
 
 Queen sequence .... lead Qu. 
 Queen, Kn., 9, . and two others, 
 
 next to lowest. 
 
 Queen and five or more, 
 
 the antepenultimate. 
 
 Queen and four the penultimate. 
 
 Queen and three the lowest. 
 
 Knave sequence . . . lead Kn. 
 Knave and five or more, 
 
 the antepemdtimate. 
 Knave and four .... the penultimate. 
 Knave and three . ... the lowest. 
 
 10 or 9 and five or more, 
 
 the antepenultimate, 
 and four . . . the penultimate, 
 and three . . . the lowest. 
 
 These leads in trumps are based upon the facts 
 that you want trumps out, that ^ small card has 
 been turned, and that your high cards in plain 
 
48 American Whist. 
 
 suits justify the lead. \ If it is desirable for you to 
 play a trump at the outset with a high card turned 
 on your right, the lead must be carefully consid- 
 ered. Having five or more trumps and good suits 
 you would be justified in leading trumps. If the 
 ace is turned, you want that card played at once 
 and must bring it down at sacrifice of your own 
 or your partner's best card, if need be. If king is 
 turned and you hold ace and four or more, play 
 to have your partner force the king. If queen is 
 turned and you hold ace, k. and three others, play 
 k. then ace, for qu. may fall. If knave is turned 
 and you hold ace, qu. and others, play queen ; if it 
 takes, a small one. Whenever your partner calls for 
 trumps or leads trumps, obey the call and follow 
 up the lead. If he leads king and you hold ace 
 and small one only, take with ace and return small 
 one. If you have two beside ace, play lowest. If 
 he leads a small trump and you have three only, 
 take with the highest and return next highest even 
 if they be ace, k. and qu. If you have four, take 
 as cheaply as you can and return small one. If he 
 calls and you have but three, play the highest, 
 then the next highest ; if you have four, lead him 
 your smallest trump. If he calls or if he has led 
 and you have echoed, not having the chance to 
 lead, you may, when leading or following, play to 
 
The Game. 49 
 
 win, as he will understand that you held four and 
 are giving him the advantage of your hand. Do 
 not be anxious to lead trumps without good cause, 
 but, deeming it proper to lead them, do not be de- 
 terred from doing so by a high card at your right. 
 If a king is turned and you hold ace, qu. and oth- 
 ers, it would be well if you could have the lead 
 from your partner ; but remember if you are very 
 strong he is not likely to be, and that if you want 
 trumps out you must disregard your tenace and 
 lead a small trump, hoping the king may fall upon 
 some high caret of you^ partner's play. If the king 
 takes, your opponent must lead a suit and perhaps 
 to your partner, who can then return a trump. If 
 the king should be held and the kn. take, your 
 partner will, on getting the lead, give you a trump 
 and the king will be in danger. 
 
 Original Lead in Plain Suits. 
 
 Generally lead from your strongest or longest 
 suit. You want to inform your partner at the 
 start either that you will take the burden of the 
 game upon yourself, which you do, by leading 
 trumps, or that the best thing on which you have to 
 depend is the suit which you earliest play. Close 
 attention to the score, however, will determine a 
 
 4 
 
50 American Whist. 
 
 lead. Let no written rule get the better of your 
 judgment in the matter of managing either a 
 peculiar or a commanding hand. If you had best 
 surrender to your partner, do so as soon and as 
 positively as possible ; if you can play with him, 
 trusting to certain evidences for assistance, make 
 your plans to favor such co-operation, but if you 
 can do the work by having your own way, play for 
 your own hand, and let your partner do his best to 
 help you. 
 
 Holding Ace, K., Qu., Kn. . . . K.,thenKn. 
 
 Because your partner would understand situation 
 of qu.; he would know you would not lead k., then 
 kn. from any other suit than quart to ace.* 
 
 Ace, tierce K, then Qu. 
 
 Ace, K, Kn., and others K. 
 
 Then change the suit, perhaps to trumps, if you 
 have four and a high card in another suit ; cer- 
 tainly if you have five trumps. 
 
 Ace, K, and others K, then Ace. 
 
 Be careful to observe fall of the cards, they 
 determine the value of the rest that you hold, and 
 look out for your partner's or opponent's call. 
 
 Ace, K. . . m Ace, then K. 
 
 that your partner may understand you have no 
 
 * See Preface to Sixth Edition, F. 
 
The Game. 51 
 
 more of the suit. It is, of course, rarely that you 
 make this play at the outset, for it gives the con- 
 trol away, and you had best lead from a long suit, 
 even of low cards. Beside, you may want the 
 king and ace as cards of re-entry. But there are 
 exceptions to all rules, and this is one of them. 
 If the score is six to six, and you have four 
 trumps, not commanding ones, a plain suit of five 
 and one of two, and a high card turned on your 
 right, you had best lead ace, then k. If your 
 partner wants trumps he will inform you, and you 
 have helped rather than hindered him. If he does 
 not want them, he will know to make his queen of 
 the suit you have played, or not having it, to force 
 you (for by not playing trumps, you have signified 
 the readiness to be forced), no matter how few or 
 small his own trumps. Having made ace, k, play a 
 small card for him to take, if possible ; he will 
 understand how to use his cards to best advan- 
 tage. If he can get the lead, and has the queen of 
 your opening suit to play, you discard one of the 
 two suit, and unless the opponents have the 
 chance to rid you of trumps, with the assistance 
 your partner may be able to give, despite very 
 strong hands against you, you may win the game. 
 You are playing for the odd card, remember, and 
 not to please the books. Coups are the order now, 
 
52 A merican Whist. 
 
 and they are of various kinds. There is no better 
 kind than that one which gives you the card. If 
 you play from your long suit, your adversary per- 
 haps having good cards in it, may let his partner 
 throw away a card of your suit of ace and k. The 
 qu., if your partner held it, might then be of no 
 avail. If your adversaries have control of trumps, 
 and high cards in your suits, the game is theirs in 
 despite of your play ; but with chances somewhat 
 against you, you secure three or .four tricks at the 
 outset, and trusting to your partner's cards of 
 re-entry, or to a tenace that you may help him to 
 make, with your trumps to answer his forcing, you 
 may obtain the odd trick. Of course, with the 
 hand designated as yours, at the beginning of a 
 game, you lead the penultimate of the five suit. 
 
 Ace, Qu., Kn Ace, then Qu. 
 
 Ace, Qu., 10, and others . . . 10, or Ace.* 
 
 If two leads are desired, strength in trumps 
 determines the lead. 
 
 Ace, Qu., and three others . . Ace, then the 
 fourth card from Ace, inclusive. In trumps, 
 lead next to lowest. 
 
 Ace } Kn., 10, and others . . . Ace, then 10. 
 
 Ace and four or more . ... Ace. 
 
 Ace and three lowest. 
 
 Never lead a 9 in any suit in which ace is held. 
 * See Preface to Sixth Edition, G. 
 
The Game. 53 
 
 King, sequence K. 
 
 The argument for the lead of the kn. or the 10 
 is that the partner will put on the ace and return, 
 and so be out of your way in the suit. Also that 
 second hand may pass 10, holding ace, and give 
 you another lead. It has no strength. Play the 
 k., and let the ace fall at once upon it, if not held 
 by your partner; and if he has it and but one 
 more, he will take with ace, and return when 
 proper. He will take the k. as readily as he would 
 the 10, if it is best for him to do so. Beside, * 
 you deceive him by the lead of the 10, which may 
 be best of three cards, &c. Again, your partner 
 might trump a kn. or 10 led, but he would dis- 
 card upon a k. If the ace is against your suit, it 
 had best take, and leave you with command. The 
 only correct play is the head of sequence.* 
 
 K., Qu., and others .... K, then small one, 
 
 if you care to continue suit. 
 
 K., Qu., Kn., and two others Kn. 
 
 If second hand has ace he will probably play it, 
 at any rate your partner will know that you have 
 it not. If he holds it he will play it; if he re- 
 nounces and fourth hand makes it you have all 
 the rest, and will have shown your partner that 
 your lead was from five cards. If he has none of 
 
 * See Preface to Sixth Edition, H. 
 
54 A merican Whist. 
 
 this suit and only small trumps and of course two 
 long suits which his own trumps will not assist 
 him to make, he may trump the kn., doing you no 
 injury. 
 
 K, Qu., Kn., and another K. 
 
 K., Qu., K. 
 
 K, Kn., 10, and others (not the 9) . . .10. 
 K Kn, 9, with or without any or all 
 
 others, except Ace and Qu., 9. 
 
 The most absolute and the best of leads.* 
 
 K, Kn., and three others 'penultimate. 
 
 K, Kn., and one or two others . . lowest. 
 
 K. and four others ........ penultimate. 
 
 K. and three others lowest. 
 
 Qu., sequence Qu. 
 
 Qu., Kn., 9, and two others . . . Qu. 
 
 The next to the lowest is a proper play at the 
 early part of a game and with a good hand of 
 trumps. 
 
 Qu., Kn., and two others lowest. 
 
 Qu., Kn., and one Qu. 
 
 Qu. and four small ones penultimate. 
 
 Qu. and three lowest. 
 
 Never lead a 9 in any suit in which qu. is held. 
 * See Preface to Sixth Edition, I. 
 
The Game. 55 
 
 Knave sequence Kn. 
 
 Knave and four others penultimate. 
 
 Knave and three others lowest. 
 
 Knave and two others Kn. 
 
 10 sequence . . 10. 
 
 10 and four others penultimate. 
 
 10 and three lowest. 
 
 10 and two 10. 
 
 9 and four or more penultimate. 
 
 9 and three lowest. 
 
 * 
 
 Never lead the 9 at the head of a sequence. 
 
 From any low cards holding five, play next to 
 lowest; holding four, play lowest; holding three, 
 play highest. 
 
 After the first play, if you have the winning card 
 and do not care to lead trumps, play it, especially 
 if you hold next best, but if you have high cards 
 in other suits do not hesitate to change the suit. 
 It is cheap whist-playing that demands the regu- 
 lar running out of suits. 
 
 The original lead is oftentimes a most important 
 feature of the play. In general, let it be from the 
 longest suit. You are to play two hands as it 
 were, and want to give your partner's cards all 
 opportunity. But there are exceptions, and judg- 
 ment in play is loftier than book-rule. You must 
 
 * As an original lead. 
 
56 American Whist. 
 
 consult the score and play to it * A. and B. are six ; 
 their opponents, C. and D., are four. Diamonds 
 trumps, 8 turned. It is A.'s play and he holds 
 qu., kn., 8, 7, 5 clubs, ace, k., qu., hearts, ace 
 spades, k., kn., 9, 4 diamonds. His play is 9 of 
 diamonds and not the 7 of clubs. 
 
 Second Hand. 
 "Second Hand, Low? 
 
 The reasons for the play of a low card by you, 
 the immediate follow of the lead, when you can 
 play a higher card than the one thrown, are : first, 
 the leader has probably good cards or a long suit 
 and you may make efficient your high card in an 
 after-play should he finesse upon a return lead ; 
 second, third hand will play his best card if need- 
 ed, and if it takes your best you have played to no 
 purpose ; third, there are two players to follow 
 you, and your partner's play may strengthen your 
 position ; fourth, by the play of the low card on a 
 lead upon which your left-hand opponent will play 
 a high one, you on his lead of any suit become 
 last player. 
 
 Having a sequence, however, play the lowest of 
 it, no matter how high the card so it be higher than 
 the lead. If the nine is led and you hold ace, qu., 
 
 * See Preface to Sixth Edition, J. 
 
The" Game. 57 
 
 10, play 10 ; you hold the double tenace. If you 
 have either qu. or 10, and another, if 9 is led, 
 play qu. or 10, for you know k. and kn. are on 
 your right. But if kn. is led and you have qu. 
 and small ones it is useless to play qu. for neither 
 ace # nor k. is on your right while 10 and 9 may 
 be there. If you play qu.,* C. k, and B. ace, you 
 have gained the trick indeed, but you would have 
 had it if you had not sacrificed qu., and you have 
 established D.'s suit. If you hold k., qu., and oth- 
 ers you do not play qu. on kn., for D. has not ace 
 and either C. or B. will take the knave. If you 
 want trumps out you will call as early as you can 
 do so, and as you cannot call by your own lead and 
 perhaps prefer to have them led to you, your play 
 at second hand is available at once. 
 Play lowest of sequence. 
 
 Ace, K, and Kn., Kn. 
 
 Ace, K, and low ones K. 
 
 If strong in trumps, a low one next to 
 lowest, beginning of call. 
 
 iq% X Ace, Qu., Kn., Kn. 
 
 Ace, Qu., 10 Qu. 
 
 unless 9 is led, then 10. 
 
 if Kn. is led Ace. 
 
 * In illustrations of games C. is always A.'s left-hand, L. 
 always his right-hand opponent. 
 
58 American Whist. 
 
 Ace, Kn., 10, and others 10. 
 
 Ace arid others low one. 
 
 K., Qu., and others Qu. 
 
 or a low one according to the card led and 
 strength in trumps. Do not play Qu. on Knave 
 led. 
 
 K., Kn., and others low one. 
 
 K. and another in trumps . • K. 
 
 K. and another in plain suits the low one. 
 
 Qu., Kn., Kn. 
 
 Qu. and others a low one. 
 
 Kn. and others a low one. 
 
 10 or 9, and low ones . a low one. 
 
 Holding but two cards of a suit, the largest not 
 an ace or k. and larger than the card led, play it, 
 if your hand in trumps warrants a lead of trumps 
 to it. Holding ace and any others below qu., the 
 general order is, play a low card second hand, for if 
 you have ace, kn., and others, and a low card is 
 led, you know the leader has not k. and qu., so that 
 your kn. may be of no avail. The leader had prob- 
 ably four of the suit ; there may be but four more 
 in both the hands that follow you. If you have 
 trumps, this suit for you is in excellent condition 
 if you pass it by playing second hand low. In the 
 second round of a suit pains must be taken with 
 your play, for if you have winning cards and 
 
The" Game. 50 
 
 trumps, by passing the second time you may see 
 cards fall to the advantage of what you hold. Sup- 
 pose you have ace, 8, 5, 3, and the 4 is led, you 
 play the 3, C. kn., B. qu. Now you know C. 
 has neither k. nor 10. If D. by and by leads 
 the 6 of that suit you play the 5, C. 9, B. 10. 
 Now you know D. has k. and 7, and C. or B. has 
 the 2 ; whenever that 2 is led, you have the tenace 
 and have made four tricks on D.'s long suit. 
 
 Third Hand. 
 
 " Third Hand, High:' 
 
 The significant order means that you should 
 usually play the highest card to your partner's 
 lead. It is his best or longest suit, and of it 
 he probably has some good cards, not, perhaps, 
 the highest, and those in other hands that are the 
 highest he wants should be played to make room 
 for his suit. If he leads higher cards than those 
 you hold, you do but follow as the rest of the players 
 must, remembering your opportunity for the call. 
 The exceptions to your throwing your highest card, 
 if third player, are when you have a speculative 
 finesse, and when the card or cards already played 
 are as good or better than your own. Do not 
 play queen upon 10 led, unless knave has been 
 
60 American Whist. 
 
 played second. On a small card led, holding ace, 
 queen, play queen, then ace; holding ace, queen, 
 knave, play knave. Do not play king upon part- 
 ner's knave, unless queen is played second or you 
 hold ace also, and want the lead. There are rea- 
 sons sometimes for deep finesse, but they are not 
 applicable to early play in the hand. A study of 
 many hands played through is necessary to appre- 
 ciate the resources of the game. 
 
 Fourth Hand. 
 
 The last player takes the trick not already taken 
 by his partner, if he can. Near the close of a hand 
 the taking of the trick may be refused by last 
 player, who, by such refusal, thinks to make two 
 tricks by losing one. Holding ace, 10, 7, when his 
 left-hand opponent has king, queen, 9, and plays 
 king. If fourth hand takes with ace, he has no 
 other trick. If he allows king to make, he has 
 the other two. 
 
 This general opening, given somewhat in detail, 
 is essential to be understood, but each game differs 
 from every other, and not merely study of the 
 books, but practice with the cards to the ascertain- 
 ing of what to do when situations are urgent, is 
 obligatory upon all who would become good whist- 
 
The Game. 61 
 
 players. You can never play well, unless you 
 kno.w how to cope with opportunities that are 
 liable to occur in each and every hand, and it is 
 not until you know how to play well that you can 
 understand the fascination of the game. 
 
 Short Whist adopts to the fullest extent possible 
 the mutual co-operation plan between partners. It 
 is essential to the proper playing of that game. It 
 is a game of haste and " honors." To get through 
 with the play is an essential matter. To ascertain 
 where " honors " lie is another. We expect much 
 more manifestation of our partner's ingenuity than 
 the London players do. They propose to be very 
 strict in the following of certain leads and ways, 
 which makes their game monotonous. They think 
 it is better to be too strict in obeyal of set plans 
 than to be too careless in rejection of them ; that a 
 man who follows book rule exactly, though he is 
 not very talented, makes a choicer partner than 
 one who does not object to the play of false cards. 
 We shall not care to sift the comparison between 
 two characters, neither of whom, in their extrava- 
 gance, interests us. It may be that a dumb man 
 could better show us over the Art Museum than a 
 blind one, but our preference, when making choice 
 of a guide, would be in favor of one who could 
 both see and explain. 
 
62 A merican Whist. 
 
 The best way to begin and to continue to play 
 whist is to begin and continue to play the right 
 game and to play it right. You want to under- 
 stand the laws, and always obey them. Then 
 understand the rules which are for general use in 
 play. The principles upon which the American 
 game is conducted never change. The manner of 
 play, which the rules endeavor to direct, must 
 depend, oftentime, upon contingencies that regu- 
 lations cannot anticipate. Whenever you hold 
 three cards, each of three suits, and four of another, 
 the rules can guide you safely, for they explain 
 what is to be done under such circumstances. 
 When you have five of one suit, three of two 
 others, and two of a fourth, they can compass the 
 play of such a hand and inform what had best be 
 led ; but when you hold seven of one suit and six 
 of another, or even six of a certain suit, five of a 
 second, and two of a third, all talk of combination 
 with your partner's hand and leading from your 
 longest suit is superfluous. Your judgment as to 
 the lead and your observation of the score, and 
 what you require, and what you can do with many 
 cards of one suit, quite distinct* it may be in 
 denomination, come into service and must be 
 proved in practice. Dr. Pole tells you that the 
 "fundamental theory" of Short Whist is (and a 
 
The Game. 63 
 
 fundamental theory must support all principle of 
 action) that the two hands, yours and your part- 
 ner's, shall be combined and treated as one, and 
 that the long-suit lead (which means the longest) 
 is the basis of the play. He also tells you that, 
 having five trumps, you must lead one of them. 
 Now, suppose the hand above indicated is- made 
 up of ace, kn., 7, 5, 4, 2, hearts, ace, qu., 8, 6, 3, 
 clubs (trumps), kn. turned on your right, and 10 
 and 8 of spades. Only the odd card is wanted by 
 either party. What card will you play to agree 
 with Dr. Pole's " theory " ? What card should you 
 play to make sure, so far as in your power, of the 
 odd trick ? The fact remains that your own hand 
 is most important to you, and it is that hand which 
 you personally play. With its cards you are famil- 
 iar at the outset, and not with those of your part- 
 ner. Your plans must be laid with reference to 
 what you yourself hold, and your lead, instead of 
 being ordered by book rule, must depend upon 
 combinations so infinite in variety that books can 
 only hint at their existence. Do not mistake the 
 tenor of this advice. We do not say, "Never 
 mind your partner; play for yourself." On the 
 contrary, generally speaking, follow the order of 
 the leads. They are planned to be the best, all 
 things considered. But when you take up a hand 
 
64 American Whist. 
 
 which has in it the elements of success, if played 
 in a certain manner, do not forfeit your judgment 
 by thinking, " While I suppose that I ought, for 
 my hand, to lead the 5 of hearts, yet the rule bids 
 me play, to inform partner, the queen of clubs and 
 risk the consequences." Study the score, and play 
 to win. Be prudent and conservative when you 
 must ; be brilliant and courageous when you can. 
 
 There is a game played by " Cavendish," num- 
 bered XXV. in his book, in which he seeks by illus- 
 tration to show the value, on the part of the players 
 on the defensive, of leading from weakest suits. 
 A., who leads the strong suit, plays the plodding 
 book-rule, and is complimented by "Cavendish" 
 as having " played well throughout, but he cannot 
 prevent the result." It only happens that as we 
 play whist, we win with the same cards with which 
 the English players cannot win. 
 
 Instead of throwing away the game to please 
 book regimen, we choose to make it by the exer- 
 cise of our common sense. We call especial atten- 
 tion to this game, and ask experts to play it over 
 carefully by both methods, and to read the argu- 
 ments made, because this is a fair illustration on 
 the one side, of the book method that demands a 
 trump lead right or wrong, and on the other, of the 
 judgment and consequent independent play of a 
 
The Game. 65 
 
 first-class American player, who, at once, upon tak- 
 ing up his hand, saw the folly of obeying a rule 
 that, followed, would compromise his strength. 
 The hands are as follows : — 
 
 A. k. of spades ; k. and 4 of hearts ; k, 10, 9, 8, 
 7, 6, and 2 of clubs ; k., kn., and 9 of diamonds. 
 
 C. kn., 8 and 5 of spades; ace, 5 and 2 of 
 hearts ; qu., 4 and 3 of clubs ; ace, qu., 10 and 2 of 
 diamonds. 
 
 B. qu. and 9 of spades ; kn., 10, 9, 8, and 7 of 
 hearts ; ace and kn. of clubs ; 7, 6, 4, and 3 of dia- 
 monds. 
 
 D. ace, 10, 7, 6, 4, 3 and 2 of spades ; qu., 6 and 
 3 of hearts ; 5 of clubs ; 8 and 5 of diamonds. 
 
 Clubs trumps ; 5 turned. 
 
 The English score A. B. 3, Y. Z. 4, we will sup- 
 pose to correspond with the American A. B. 5, 
 C. D. 6. 
 
 The English Play. 
 
 1. 
 
 
 
 
 2. 
 
 A. 6 c. 
 
 
 
 
 B. Kn. c. 
 
 C. 3. 
 
 
 
 
 D. 2 s. 
 
 B. Ace. 
 
 
 
 
 A. K. c. 
 
 D. 5. 
 
 A. 
 
 B. 
 
 1. 
 
 C. 4 c. A B. 2. 
 
 
 C. 
 
 D. 0. 
 
 C. D. 0. 
 
66 American Whist. 
 
 3. 
 
 
 
 
 4. 
 
 A. 2 c. 
 
 
 
 
 C. Kn.s. 
 
 C. Qu. 
 
 
 
 
 B. Qu. 
 
 B. 3 d. 
 
 
 
 
 D. Ace. 
 
 D. 3 s. 
 
 A. 
 
 B. 
 
 2. 
 
 A. K A. B. 2. 
 
 
 C. 
 
 D. 
 
 1. 
 
 C. D. 2. 
 
 Remark. Trick 3. Ey the first discard D. shows 
 his strong suit to be spades. In an ordinary hand D. 
 might afterward throw a diamond. But here C. must 
 be strong in diamonds to save the game, and it is 
 important for D. to keep the power of leading that suit 
 more than once. 
 
 5. 
 
 
 
 
 6. 
 
 
 D. 8 d 
 
 
 
 
 0. 8 s. 
 
 
 A. 9 " 
 
 
 
 
 B. 9. 
 
 
 C. 10" 
 
 
 
 
 D. 10. 
 
 
 B. 4 " 
 
 A. 
 
 B. 
 
 2. 
 
 A. 7 c. 
 
 A. B. 3 
 
 ♦ 
 
 C. 
 
 D. 
 
 3. 
 
 
 C. D. 3 
 
 7. 
 
 
 
 
 8. 
 
 
 A K.h. 
 
 
 
 
 C. 5 s. 
 
 
 C. Ace. 
 
 
 
 
 B. 6 d. 
 
 
 B. 7. 
 
 
 
 
 D. 6 s. 
 
 
 D. 3. 
 
 A. 
 
 B. 
 
 3. 
 
 A. 8 c. 
 
 A. B. 4. 
 
 
 C. 
 
 D. 
 
 4. 
 
 
 C. D. 4. 
 
The Game. 67 
 
 9. 
 
 
 
 
 10. 
 
 
 A. 4 h. 
 
 
 
 
 D. 7 s. 
 
 
 C. 2. 
 
 
 
 
 A. 9 c. 
 
 
 B. 8. 
 
 
 
 
 C. 5 h. 
 
 
 D. Qu. 
 
 A. 
 
 B. 
 
 4 
 
 B. Kn.h. 
 
 A. B. 5. 
 
 
 C. 
 
 D. 
 
 5. 
 
 
 C. D. 5. 
 
 Tricks 1 1 to 1 3. A. with the lead remains with the 
 last trump, and k., kn. of diamonds. He (trick 11) 
 plays the trump ; but whatever he plays 
 
 C. I). vrin the odd triclc. 
 
 A. plays well throughout, hut he cannot prevent the 
 result. His lead of the trump at trick 3 to show his 
 strength, and to tell his partner to make one trick cer- 
 tain if he has the chance, is unlucky, as it puts the 
 adversaries on the only tack for saving the game. — 
 "Cavendish," "Laws and Principles of Whist" p. 212. 
 
 We are not to know what would become of a 
 man who, in an English club, holding seven trumps 
 did not lead one. But we know that in an Amer- 
 ican club, a prime player considers his hand, the 
 score, and the probabilities, before he blindly fol- 
 lows a general rule. 
 
 In the hand under consideration, the odd card 
 for the opponents makes their game. A. has not 
 a certain trick in his hand, except in trumps, and 
 not the command of those. Holding seven he can 
 
68 American WhisL 
 
 assign to his partner but two, and certainly not 
 two of the highest. His partner must make his 
 own trumps if he has any, or two tricks at least in 
 plain suits, and he, A., must be led up to, or the 
 game is lost. To draw the trumps, if they were 
 equally divided, would be of no avail unless his 
 partner held the highest cards, and to play trump 
 against either of the opponents holding three or 
 four, were suicidal. A. should lead the 9 of dia- 
 monds. It signifies k. and kn., informs partner 
 and the table of one suit (of all that he cares for 
 them to know), and waits results. 
 
 The American Play. 
 
 1. 
 
 
 
 
 2. 
 
 194 
 
 
 
 
 C. Kn. sp. 
 
 C. 10. 
 
 
 
 
 B. 9. 
 
 B. 3. 
 
 
 
 
 D. Ace. 
 
 D. 5. 
 
 A. 
 
 B. 
 
 0. 
 
 A. K A. B. 0. 
 
 
 C. 
 
 D. 
 
 1. 
 
 C. D. 2. 
 
 C. can safely play the 10 (trick 1) for he holds 
 the double tenace ; if he does not know how to play 
 whist and holding 10 throws qu. upon a 9, A. and 
 B. make another trick. As diamonds are under- 
 stood by C. to be A/s best suit, he, of course, will 
 
The Game. 69 
 
 keep command of it, and plays the best card of his 
 three suit. 
 
 3. 
 
 
 
 4. 
 
 D. 8 d. 
 
 
 
 C. Ace d. 
 
 A. Kn. 
 
 
 
 B. 6; 
 
 C. Qu. 
 
 
 
 D. 2 s. 
 
 B. 4. A. 
 
 B. 
 
 0. 
 
 A. K. d. A. B. 0. 
 
 C. 
 
 D. 
 
 3. 
 
 C. D. 4. 
 
 D. leads through the strong hand of diamonds 
 (trick 3), as spades will be trumped, and (trick 4) 
 discards from his long suit of spades, keeping qu. 
 of h. guarded. 
 
 5. 
 
 
 
 
 6. 
 
 
 C. 8 s. 
 
 
 
 
 B. 7 d. 
 
 
 B. Qu. 
 
 
 
 
 D. 5 c. 
 
 
 D. 3. 
 
 
 
 
 A. 7 c. 
 
 
 A. 4 h. 
 
 A. 
 
 B. 
 
 1. 
 
 C. 2 d. 
 
 A B. 2. 
 
 
 C. 
 
 D. 
 
 4. 
 
 
 C. D. 4. 
 
 B. understands that A. has no diamonds and no 
 spades, and must have five trumps at least, for he 
 did not have five hearts and lead from three dia- 
 monds. But A. did not lead trumps and has not 
 called for them as he has had a chance to do. The 
 2 of diamonds is in C.'s hand, and the 7 is B.'s proper 
 play. If D. trumps, A. will probably overtrump. 
 
7<3 American Whist. 
 
 If A. does not overtrump, B. has the last play upon 
 D/s probable spade lead. B. is right in holding 
 his ace, knave, for an emergency. But his play of 
 the diamond makes the odd card, and A.'s shrewd 
 analysis of the game saved it from the beginning. 
 
 If B. had played qu. of spades on kn. (trick 2), 
 and the 9 on trick 5, A. would have taken with 7 
 of clubs and played k. of hearts. The lead thus 
 thrown into C.'s hand would require the lead of 
 another spade, which B. would take with kn. clubs; 
 or of the 2 of diamonds, which D. would trump 
 and A. would take. 
 
 I chose this example to show that such a hand 
 as A.'s at such a stage of the game was the excep- 
 tion, and that he must play to win. He had noth- 
 ing in plain suits but which, as the " Cavendish " 
 play shows, he must sacrifice ; he had no desire to 
 call for trumps, and it was evidently wrong to lead 
 them with his hand, when he had a proper desig- 
 natory card to throw. 
 
 With the nine best trumps but one, seven in one 
 hand, the English player, determined on following 
 book-rule, loses the game. The mistake that the 
 book men make is, that the book knows more than 
 the man. The man should know when and how 
 to use the book. Brilliant play may begin at the 
 beginning of a hand, but brilliant play means de- 
 
The Game. 71 
 
 fiance of written rule. Had B. in the game just 
 given played qu. second on the second trick, and 
 A. had afterward trumped the spade lead of C, A.'s 
 play of k. of hearts would have been as fine a coup 
 as was ever made by Deschapelles. The book can- 
 not imagine a case in detail like any one of ten 
 that may occur in a single evening's play. The 
 book says, play your partner's hand as well as your 
 own. Certainly, when it is advisable to do so; 
 when it is not, play your own. A man at the 
 
 G Club held nine trumps, three queens, and an 
 
 8. He was playing Short Whist. The score stood 
 4 to 4, or, as they style it, " four-all." The books 
 could not inform him how to help his partner, nor 
 how to obtain help, nor how to play those cards, 
 except that he must lead a trump. He dealt, 
 played a queen on first trick, trumped the next, 
 led a trump, and lost the odd card. The same 
 hand properly managed with his partner would 
 have won against the adversaries, no matter how 
 they led or followed. 
 
 A. took up a septieme of hearts to the ace, four 
 clubs (the 9 turned on the right), and two spades. 
 Score, A. B. 2, C. D. 6. The books would have 
 had him play the k. of hearts, and then the kn. 
 He played his lowest trump, found his partner with 
 ace, qu., and another. The kn. fell upon his k., and 
 
72 
 
 American Whist. 
 
 he made eleven tricks and the game, the spades 
 and diamonds all held against him. He might 
 have made or lost the odd card in usual course, 
 but the hand warranted departure from it, the 
 score being considered.* 
 
 Inferences. 
 
 The chances for drawing inferences belong to 
 every hand played. The necessity for close atten- 
 tion to the business of the game is enforced by 
 this consideration. 
 
 If the leader plays 
 ace of trumps, 
 
 Any trump but the 
 ace, 
 
 Ace, plain suit, 
 
 King, 
 
 Queen, 
 
 the inference is: he has 
 the king and no more, and 
 good cards in other suits, 
 
 has five or more, and good 
 cards in plain suits. 
 
 has king only, or qu. and 
 kn., or kn., 10, and others, 
 or four or more low cards. 
 
 has ace and queen, or ace 
 and others, or qu. and 
 others. 
 
 has not ace or k., but has 
 kn. 10, or kn., and three 
 others, or only two more. 
 
 * See Preface to Sixth Edition, K. 
 
The Game. 73 
 
 Knave, has k., qu., and two others, 
 
 or 10, 9 and others, or is 
 best of three cards. 
 
 10, has k., kn. or ace, qu., and 
 
 others, or plays head of 
 sequence* 
 
 9, has k., kn., and others. 
 
 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, or 3, has four or five cards in 
 
 the suit, of which this is 
 lowest, or next to lowest, 
 and represents the best suit 
 of the hand. 
 
 2, has not five trumps, nor 
 
 ace and k., nor k. and 
 qu. of any suit; has not 
 tierce to knave ; may have 
 a high card of the suit led. 
 
 Second Hand. * 
 
 Ace, excepting on has no more, 
 k., qu., or kn. led, 
 
 King on trump led, has but one more. 
 
 King on plain suit, has ace, or no more. 
 
 Queen, has k. or ace and 10, or 
 
 no more. 
 
 * See Preface to Sixth Edition, L. 
 
74 
 
 American Whist. 
 
 Knave, 
 
 has qu. and ace, or is low- 
 
 
 est of sequence, or has qu. 
 
 
 and one other, or no more. 
 
 10, 
 
 has kn. and one small 
 
 
 card, or no more. 
 
 9, 
 
 is lowest of sequence, or 
 
 
 second to some high card, 
 
 
 or no more. 
 
 Any other* card, 
 
 has none lower, or is be- 
 
 
 ginning to call. 
 
 Trumps a doubtful 
 
 has not more than three 
 
 trick, 
 
 trumps. 
 
 Does not trump a 
 
 has four or more trumps. 
 
 doubtful trick, 
 
 
 Third Hand. 
 
 Ace, 
 
 has not k. or qu. 
 
 King, 
 
 has not qu. 
 
 Queen, 
 
 may have ace or k, but 
 
 
 has not kn. 
 
 Any other card, 
 
 is the highest he has of 
 
 the suit led, unless the 
 lowest of a sequence, or 
 unless he cannot play 
 higher than a card on the 
 table. 
 
The Game. 75 
 
 Fourth Hand. 
 
 Wins the trick, 
 
 has no card which would 
 
 
 take, lower than that he 
 
 
 plays. 
 
 Does not win the 
 
 has no higher card than 
 
 trick not already 
 
 one played, or desires the 
 
 his partner's, 
 
 lead to remain with 
 
 
 another player. 
 
 Any card played, 
 
 does not hold the card 
 
 
 next below it, unless call- 
 
 
 ing. 
 
 is strong in trumps, and 
 wants them led to him. 
 
 Second, Third, or Fourth Player, 
 
 Kefuses to trump a 
 trick certainly 
 against him, 
 
 Any discard made is of the weakest suit held, 
 upon partners 
 play, 
 
 Any discard made is of a strong suit, 
 upon opponent's 
 play, 
 
 Discards the best has next best and entire 
 of any suit, command. 
 
76 American Whist. 
 
 Discards second best, has no more. 
 
 Discards or plays, demands trump lead, 
 when not trying 
 to take a trick, 
 at any time dur- 
 ing the hand, a 
 card of a suit, 
 then one lower, 
 
 Plays any card, has not the one next lower. 
 
WHIST THEORY. 
 
 William Pole, F.RS., of London, who calls 
 Short Whist the " modern scientific game," says in 
 the introduction to his book : " There has been a 
 great defect in the manner of teaching this system." 
 And he proposes to remedy the defect utterly by 
 the construction and instruction of a " fundamental 
 theory," which, after an exceedingly well written 
 defence of the long-suit system, is announced to 
 be : " That the hands of the two partners shall not 
 be played singly and independently, but shall be 
 combined and treated as one ; and that in order to 
 carry out most effectively this principle of combi- 
 nation, each partner shall adopt the long-suit sys- 
 tem as the general basis of his play." 
 
 In the main the counsel is wise that advises the 
 fellowship of the hands, and the adoption of the 
 long-suit lead. But the brilliancy of whist is 
 manifest in its independent play. One of the 
 most accredited plays of Deschapelles consisted 
 in trumping his partner's trick, and sending him 
 
78 American Whist. 
 
 back a card to take at highest cost. Another spec- 
 ulative play, to which his own name was giver., 
 was made for the purpose of throwing the lead 
 with the highest card of a suit to be taken by an 
 opponent with one still higher. But the great 
 player did not violate principle in the least. It 
 may be said in reply that he combined the interest 
 of his partners hand and his own for the most 
 favorable results. So he did, but it was by the 
 performance of a deliberate, venturesome act, for 
 which a " theory " that proposes to regulate play, 
 furnishes no explanation. 
 
 An individual theory upon any subject-matter 
 may be advanced. It is Mr. A.'s or Mr. B.'s 
 opinion: each man may have his own; it is his 
 privilege of speculation. The modus operandi, or 
 " theory," as it is called, of some principle as 
 exerted in a certain direction may be named as in 
 accordance with or opposed to action taken by 
 agreeing or discordant " theories." But the theory 
 of a science, an art, a creed, or a game, means, if it 
 means anything, an embodiment and exposition 
 of all the laws and principles which direct and 
 govern its practical administration. The theory 
 embraces maximum information. When we tell 
 of the theory of a subject, we mean its underlying 
 principles and all the wealth of its understanding, 
 
Whist Theory. 79 
 
 its value morally, religiously, intrinsically as an 
 art, belief, or science. It is an easy matter to con- 
 struct a so-called " theory ; " easiest, when there is 
 little opposition to recognized assumptions. A 
 man may be at much painstaking to transmute 
 accepted regulations into discriminating state- 
 ments, and call the result a " theory." " But a 
 person who uses an imperfect theory, with the con- 
 fidence due only to a perfect one, will naturally 
 fall into an abundance of mistakes; his predic- 
 tions will be crossed by disturbing circumstances, 
 of which his theory is not able to take account, 
 and his credit will be lowered by the failure." Dr. 
 Pole's " theory " declares that two hands shall be 
 combined and treated as one, but as practically 
 that is impossible, unless the individual plays a 
 dummy game, the positive declaration is not im- 
 portant. The nearest approach to dual tactics that 
 fact will allow, is in the gradual revealing of the 
 situation of unplayed cards. Again, this " theory," 
 trenching upon practice, may insist that the lead 
 shall always be from the longest suit, in order to 
 aid the theoretic idea of combination, but the in- 
 genious player, choosing to reserve his strength, 
 may win by practical management of which such 
 " theory " does not dream. 
 
 The " fundamental theory " of music is found in 
 
80 American Whist. 
 
 the knowledge of harmony and melody, not in the 
 employment of a certain scale, upon whose octaves 
 all order of expression must be written. Heat is 
 convertible into mechanical energy, but the manner 
 of conversion is not the theory. Steam in theory 
 is elastic, but the available plans for its use by 
 Watts were but the elicitation of theory. The 
 theory of life does not consist in giving instruc- 
 tions how to live, but in presenting the principles 
 upon which instructions are to be founded. The in- 
 structions may at times be incorrectly drawn, and 
 are susceptible of change, but the theory is im- 
 mortal. 
 
 Dr. Pole's " theory" in extenso makes compro- 
 mise with the poor player and indorses modifica- 
 tion of the "theory" itself. The plea that the poor 
 player breaks the compact goes for nothing, for if 
 Dr. Pole changes his own course of play to accom- 
 modate another course of play he continues to 
 play, as he understands it, the game of whist, but 
 does not obey his own " theory." 
 
 Of course we are aware that excuses must be 
 offered for non-submission to this " theory," as in 
 the event of having a poor partner, or when some 
 special play is to be made, but the excuses and the 
 necessity for making them, or for any disobeyal 
 whatever of principle declared, prove the objec- 
 
Whist Theory. 81 
 
 tions to calling an active, practical rule, a "theory/ 1 
 For a theory is in no wise to be changed by prac- 
 tice. The " theory of play " or what is better, the 
 theory of rule of play, is quite another matter. If 
 it be argued that the attempt shall always be made 
 on the part of each player to play his partner's 
 hand as best he may in common with his own, and 
 that, in order to a mutual understanding, the long- 
 suit lead is proper, that is A.'s or B.'s plan to 
 insure the most tricks and is a regulation for the 
 game in practice. If this were all, if this was 
 the "fundamental theory" of the game of whist, 
 wherein shall we have brilliant play that may at 
 any moment sacrifice partner and rule ? What 
 need of laws for practice-honoring principles, if 
 theory is satisfied by the obeyal of but one ? Is 
 not theory the sum of principles to be applied, and 
 practice the manner of application ? 
 
 The misapprehension of terms is shown by an 
 anecdote of a financier, who explained to certain 
 capitalists that in a contemplated venture they 
 could not make money beyond the expenditure. 
 "That is all well enough theoretically," said one 
 of the parties, " but how is it practically ? " 
 
 "Practice is the exercise of an art or the ap- 
 plication of a science in life, which application is 
 itself an art, for it is not every one who is able to 
 
 6 
 
82 American WhisL 
 
 apply all he knows, there being required over and 
 above knowledge a certain dexterity and skill. 
 Theory, on the contrary, is mere knowledge or sci- 
 ence. There is a distinction but no opposition 
 between theory and practice ; each to a certain ex- 
 tent supposes the other. On the one hand, theory 
 is dependent upon practice ; practice must have 
 preceded theory, for theory being only a general- 
 ization of the principles on which practice is 
 founded, these must originally have been taken 
 out of, or abstracted from practice. On the other 
 hand, this is true only to a certain extent, for there 
 is no practice without a theory. Theory is simply 
 a knowledge of the principles by which practice 
 accomplishes its end." 
 
 Dr. Pole's "theory" may be said to be his 
 " theory " for playing his game, but we do not ac- 
 cept a rule of practice as the theory of the game 
 of whist. We cannot consent to that definition 
 of the words "principles of whist" which only 
 conveys a direction as to the advisability of adopt- 
 ing a regulation. 
 
 Suppose, for instance, that it were demonstrated 
 that any plan which has yet been proposed for the 
 play of Whist by routine, was not as scientific 
 or interesting as one that forced each individual 
 player to regard his own manner for making tricks, 
 
Whist Theory. 83 
 
 apart from what any other one might do to frus- 
 trate or assist, and that each, made so dependent 
 upon his own memory and skill, forced from part- 
 ner or opponent such following as should benefit 
 his own particular plan, he to be in turn compelled 
 to yield to others* manner of play ; if the game was 
 played honestly, harmoniously, and silently, the 
 theory of whist would not be changed, but the 
 practice only. 
 
 The question that is sometimes put : What is 
 the theory of American or Standard Whist ? is not 
 improper or unexpected. Whist is a partnership 
 game at cards played in silence, in which, more 
 than in any other, intellectual acumen and the use 
 of memory are demanded. When converse during 
 the play is denied ; judgment exercised as to what 
 course of play will win the largest number of 
 tricks ; skill shown in determining how best to act 
 when written regulations, not laws, are disregarded, 
 as well as how to act in conformity to rule ; ob- 
 servance made of routine and departure from it ; 
 inference drawn from, and reasons assigned for, the 
 player's action; and honorable conduct assumed 
 throughout ; the theory of whist is expressed in 
 practice. When it is stated that these principles 
 and the decrees that govern practice must be 
 obeyed, that partners shall enjoy their interests 
 
84 American Whist. 
 
 in common and agree to conditions that are just, 
 its theory of law is written. All minor exposi- 
 tion of principle in play is recital of its deeds. 
 Whist is eminently practical, following intellectual 
 guidance, but not submitting to autocratic rules. 
 Whist theory announces the existence and knowl- 
 edge of a game whose value by mental application 
 can be ascertained, and the fundamental principles 
 upon which the management of that game is to be 
 conducted, to which the players must conform, and 
 not the regulations for its play which, though gen- 
 erally adhered to, may at times be disregarded. 
 The rules are not a part of the theory, since that 
 can admit of no modification. The theory, the 
 principles, the laws, must not err in any particular. 
 The rules that are for practical use are at the 
 mercy of the judgment of the player. 
 
 "In the first place," says "Cavendish" of Clay, "what 
 particularly struck me was the extreme brilliancy of his 
 game." Of this the following coup played by him is a 
 beautiful illustration : The cards lie thus : Clay has 
 knave, 8, 4, clubs (trumps), ace, king, and two small 
 diamonds. Diamonds have not been led. Three other 
 trumps in, 9, 6, 3, and they are all in the hand at 
 Clay's right. This is certain, as the other players have 
 not followed suit in trumps. Clay has the lead, and 
 
Whist Theory. 
 
 85 
 
 requires every trick to save the game. It is clear that, 
 if his right-hand adversary plays properly, that play- 
 er must eventually make a trick in trumps. It is 
 also demonstrable that, if Clay makes the usual lead 
 of king, then ace, of diamonds, right-hand adversary 
 must make a trick. In this position I venture to say 
 that ninety-nine players, and good players, out of an 
 hundred, would lead king of diamonds, which is the 
 book play. Not so Clay. He observes that his only 
 chance is to depart from rule. He must put the lead 
 into his partner's hand, find him with a forcing card, 
 and the right-hand adversary must make the mistake 
 of trumping it. Clay, therefore, throws rule (not theory) 
 altogether aside, and leads a small diamond. His part- 
 ner wins with knave and leads the best spade, which is 
 trumped. Clay over-trumps, and leads another small 
 diamond to endeavor to put the lead again into his 
 partner's hand. His partner wins this trick also, and 
 leads a winning card, which the adversary trumps, is 
 over-trumped, has his last trump drawn, and the king 
 and ace of diamonds make. The hands are subjoined, 
 as it is not easy to appreciate the coup from mere de- 
 scription : — 
 
 A. 
 
 C. 
 
 Kn. 8, 4, c. 
 
 5, 4 s. 
 
 Ace, K, 5, 2 d. 
 
 6, 5 h. 
 
 
 8, 7, 4 d. 
 
 B. 
 
 D. 
 
 10, 9, 6 s. 
 
 9, 6, 3 c. 
 
 Qu., Kn., 6, 3 d. 
 
 Qu., 3 h. 
 
 
 10, 9 d, 
 
 Dr. Pole's " theory " is utterly discarded in this 
 exhibition of superior play, for Clay's design was 
 
86 American Whist. 
 
 to himself alone apparent. His partner could play 
 no otherwise than as forced to do, and neither the 
 rule for combination nor for book-direction play 
 from long-suit came into the account. 
 
 " Let me give an example," says " Cavendish," " of 
 how whist ought to be played. I led from five trumps. 
 After two rounds the fall of the cards showed that all 
 the remaining trumps were with my partner and myself, 
 two in his hand and three in mine. One other suit 
 had been played and was exhausted from our hands. I 
 now had three trumps, iucluding the winning trump, 
 and three cards in each of the unplayed suits. Not 
 liking to open a suit of three cards, and having no in- 
 dication of my partner's suit, I led a losing trump that 
 my partner might get the lead and open his strong suit. 
 He could have won the trick, but played a lower trump. 
 I knew from his not winning the trick that he also had 
 three cards in each of the unplayed suits, as he would 
 have penetrated my design, and if he had a four-card 
 suit would have won the trick. At the end of the hand 
 I said, i When you did not win my third trump I knew 
 we could do no good, as you must hold three cards in 
 each of the unplayed suits/ 6 Yes, I saw that very 
 well when you led a losing trump, for you must hold 
 three cards in each of the other suits. , Thus we each 
 counted the number of cards the other held in two suits, 
 neither of which had been played. This is whist." 
 
 Yes, this is whist, whist in strict accord with the 
 judgment which theory demands of practice, and 
 
Whist Theory. 87 
 
 in no wise amenable to written rule. If it be said 
 that the partners understood each other's hands, 
 and combination was thereby preserved, we answer 
 that such knowledge was not induced by any play 
 made in agreement with book-rule, or foreshadowed 
 by Dr. Pole's " theory." 
 
 "J. C.'s" "Treatise" is practical throughout, 
 making no reference to theory. Drayson, too, is 
 concerned with the playing of the game, for he is 
 logical enough to know that theory is expressive 
 of principle, to the consideration of which a differ- 
 ent order of thinking and writing must be applied. 
 " Cavendish " sees a proper dissimilitude between 
 theory and practice, and says : — 
 
 " In order thoroughly to investigate the theory and 
 to arrive at the principles of whist, mathematics and 
 careful reasoning have to be employed. The theory may 
 now indeed be learned readily enough from books, but 
 the practice, to be of the first order, involves a great 
 variety of accomplishments. To apply the theory of 
 whist successfully, the player must note the peculiarities 
 of partners and of opponents, that is, he must study 
 human nature. He must use observation, memory, in- 
 ference, and judgment in such a way as to enable him 
 to trace appearances to their true origin." 
 
 If he pays an intentional compliment to Dr. 
 Pole when he says, "the theory may now be 
 
88 American Whist. 
 
 learned from books," he does not see, or does not 
 care to see, that he has virtually disarmed the 
 compliment of truth. 
 
 It requires no argument to show that if a theory- 
 is correct, practice must conform to it ; and there 
 is no necessity for argument to prove that theory is 
 not a rule of practice, but the knowledge and prin- 
 ciple upon which the rules are based. If whist 
 is a great game of wondrous combinations and 
 results, demanding a high order of intelligence to 
 interpret its manifold problems, it is ill satisfied 
 to have an accepted rule of performance considered 
 as its theory, whose principles warrant other modes 
 of illustration at times as politic as that which sets 
 up a claim of exclusiveness. 
 
 It is at once evident to every player of American 
 Whist that as we discard "honors" and "five 
 points," together with all attempt at information 
 by partners talking to each other, and all interrup- 
 tions, we cannot transact the business of the game in 
 similar manner to that practiced by the players of 
 Short Whist. In that game, if the parties have one 
 point each, one player who holds four "honors" 
 holds the game. His opponents may ever so skil- 
 fully make three by cards, but their good play goes 
 
Whist Theory. 89 
 
 for nothing : his luck counts. It is as a straight 
 flush in poker. 
 
 It has already been said that American Whist is 
 founded upon the foreign game. We gladly accept 
 the rules that the excellent players of that game 
 have given us. We hold that the rule which Dr. 
 Pole asserts as his " fundamental theory/' is one of 
 the best that was ever practiced by " Cavendish," 
 "J. C."and others, before Pole wrote upon and deified 
 it. We only claim the right to act in accordance with 
 it or to disobey it, without in any wise affecting our 
 loyalty to the theory of whist ; as in the latitude of 
 our game we have the extended opportunity of 
 making the most tricks, and in the most acceptable 
 manner. In our game, as in theirs, the practice of 
 this rule is of great moment. We believe in know- 
 ing of our partner's hand at the earliest opportu- 
 nity, and of playing our own in harmony with it. 
 We believe that in order to give and obtain that 
 information the long-suit lead is the best, and we 
 constantly practice it. But we have seven points 
 to make, and not five only, and care nothing for 
 the knowledge that our partner holds pictures, 
 unless he takes tricks with them. If one or more 
 of them is taken by one or more that rank as 
 better, we look for the game to us to come from the 
 scientific play of other or of lower cards. We do 
 
90 American Whist. 
 
 not therefore lead to ascertain if our partner has 
 an "honor," that circumstance to determine our 
 success. Now we draw the lines between princi- 
 ple and rule, between theory and practice. Our 
 practice shall at all times honor our theory, while 
 distinct from it. Our principle must remain invio- 
 late, but our rule for general, not especial use, may 
 be broken on occasion. 
 
 We adopt from the foreign codes the best rules 
 that they embody, and reject the rest. We add 
 such rules as seem proper to us, to be in the gen- 
 eral obeyed. We hope always to have good reason 
 for our action when we do not follow them. 
 
WHIST PRACTICE. 
 
 Study and become familiar with the laws and 
 leads. Play printed games, with the cards before 
 you. Understand the reason for each play. Play 
 practice games with good players. They will not 
 deceive you by false play, but will always be at 
 their best, as if you were an expert. Make close 
 inquiry concerning any play that you do not com- 
 prehend. Determine, whenever you take a seat at 
 a whist table, whether for the regular or the prac- 
 tice game, to play in the most correct manner 
 every card that you may hold. Never know of 
 good hands, or of poor ones. It will not happen 
 in the course of the play of any hand which 
 may be dealt you, that there is no opportunity of 
 making a particularly correct play, the nature or 
 effect of which, a careless player would not appre- 
 ciate. The credit lies in playing each hand prop- 
 erly. Eemember, in the regular game, that whist is 
 the game of silence that none may break, and of 
 calculation that none may disturb. Consider that 
 
92 A merican Whist. 
 
 you are one of four who are about to play, to the 
 best of their ability, the most intellectual game in 
 the world. When the trump card is turned, take 
 up your hand, sort it quickly, place the trumps 
 always in the same relative position, count your 
 cards, think how many and what tricks you will 
 attempt to take, look at the trump card and 
 remember it, consult the score, and see what you 
 must gain or must save ; hold up your hand, and 
 when it is your turn to lead or follow, cast the card 
 you care to play, upon the centre of the table, caus- 
 ing no more noise than it makes in falling. 
 
 Watch the play and remember each detail of it 
 as long through the hand as it is of consequence 
 for you to do so. Discipline and make good use 
 of an excellent memory. You cannot play whist 
 without it. Draw your inferences as the cards fall 
 as to what is meant by the play of each. If the 
 card is turned upon your right, generally lead from 
 your strongest suit. The card that is played at the 
 opening of a game, or is the first of any hand, may 
 be specially significant. A deuce of a plain suit 
 confesses abject poverty. A nine argues one good 
 suit at least. A trump of any denomination shows 
 strength and intimates good cards to follow. Lead 
 according to the rule that proposes to cover the 
 hand you hold, unless in your judgment with ref- 
 
Whist Practice. 93 
 
 erence to the score and a certainty as to loss or 
 gain of certain cards, you had best open a different 
 game, in which case you assume the responsibility 
 of both attack and defence. In no wise deceive 
 your partner to his injury. If you have the game 
 by a certain play, make it, regardless of book or 
 creed. The business is to make the tricks. It is 
 almost useless to add, after all that has been said 
 about adhering in general to the prescribed leads 
 and followings, that it is best to be guided by the 
 rules. When your judgment approves the printed 
 forms, (and it almost always will do so, when the 
 cards run with tolerable regularity,) follow them; 
 when you hold certain cards at a peculiar juncture, 
 of suit and denomination not contemplated by 
 printed directions, or if the books indicate a stereo- 
 typed play at such a time, and you have a point 
 to gain by brilliant strategy, let your knowledge of 
 the game and foreknowledge of the probable con- 
 sequences of your play, take precedence of book 
 direction. A coup over which Deschapelles ex- 
 ulted, was a courageous lead followed by indepen- 
 dent, brilliant play. 
 
 If your partner takes the first trick that belongs 
 to your side, you are to gather the cards that com- 
 pose it. 
 
 Carefully look for your partner's call at all 
 
94 American Whist. 
 
 stages of the game, whenever it is possible he may 
 care to make it. 
 
 As carefully note which of the adversaries call, 
 if either, and if the call is echoed. 
 
 The language of the lead is to inform your part- 
 ner of the best suit that you hold and as near as 
 may be of the quality of that suit. If you throw 
 k. of clubs and it wins, and follow with 9 of spades, 
 trumps, your partner is by two leads apprised of a 
 powerful hand which asks his assistance, but in no- 
 wise his control. In general, having six trumps, 
 lead them. Having five and probable success in 
 other suits, lead them. Having a long plain suit, 
 lead from it. Never be afraid of changing suits, 
 when practicable. Never lead a nine holding ace 
 or queen of a suit. Never lead it unless you have 
 k. and kn. of the suit, and always lead it to desig- 
 nate the holding of those cards. "When the score 
 is low on both sides and the hand from which you 
 are to lead is regular, rules may be pretty strin- 
 gently applied, but when one card is to be made 
 and the hand from which the lead is to come is 
 irregular or peculiar, past the giving of information 
 in appropriate direction, the player must econo- 
 mize his resources at the expense of rule that in- 
 dorses or recommends routine action. It is more 
 frequently the case that the player gains from the 
 
Whist Practice. 95 
 
 disregard of book rule, knowing when and how to 
 make the most of his especial hand, than that the 
 mere routine player succeeds by closest adherence 
 to printed rule. Whist is not machinery to be set 
 to certain pegs and told to go. 
 
 [ See chapters under head of " Cavendish " and 
 11 J. C." for analysis of regulations in play.] 
 
 "I wish that you would tell me who of this Club 
 you call a prime whist-player/' said a visitor. " I 
 want to look upon a man who is exceptional. " 
 An introduction was given and he made inquiry, 
 " Wherein does a man prove his superiority in 
 whist ? " " By knowing ivhat to play," was the 
 answer. " Most men at a practice-game say, and 
 at a regular game think, ' I do not know ivhat to 
 play/ The true player Jcnovjs what to lead and 
 how to follow. He always has a reason for what 
 lie does. He makes his calculations at once upon 
 sorting his hand. When it is his play he deliber- 
 ately, never hurriedly, selects a card and throws 
 it. All the rest of the time his eyes are on the 
 table. 
 
 "But does such a man find a mate who can follow 
 him, interpreting what he plays ? " " Sometimes, 
 
g6 American Whist. 
 
 and when it is not understood, his fine play is of 
 small account. Styles of play are very different, 
 while all at times are given to systematic move- 
 ment. The English play a game of chance. They 
 trust to ' honors ' for a large part of their success. 
 They play a short game and a smart tell-tale game 
 for a purpose. Brilliant play with them is very 
 occasional. We have scope for speculation, and 
 as cards that do not take do not count, have no 
 fear of losing unless our adversaries' cards are bet- 
 ter played than ours. Whist with us is the great 
 game that it is, because it affords this liberty to 
 players and furnishes such opportunity for calcu- 
 lation. When a man stands in fear of a proclama- 
 tion of two or four by c honors ' he is liable, to 
 say the least, to playa sort of humdrum game to 
 try to gain an odd trick, which after all may be of 
 no service. If you will place the cards of a hand 
 which I will name, and play them by the London 
 mode, and then play them by the American, you 
 will see that one game is a kind of ( High, Low, 
 Jack/ while the other has rewarded your skill in 
 the effort of making but a single point. Again, if 
 you will place the cards of a hand played hurried- 
 ly by average American players, with four leading 
 ones, you may note that certain tricks will be 
 taken by such adroit manoeuvring as would as- 
 
Whist Practice. 97 
 
 tonish the first set, could they but comprehend the 
 reason' for such action." 
 
 " But I have heard it said that with such and 
 such cards held, poor players would make as many 
 tricks as good ones could do. Is it true that two 
 good players opposed to two ordinary ones can 
 make the most points in each game, or only in the 
 long run ? " 
 
 " It is oftentimes true that as many points can 
 be made by merely throwing down the kings and 
 aces on each side, and letting the small cards come 
 in by and by as best they may, as could be made 
 when two good players are pitted against two ordi- 
 nary ones. While the business of whist is to make 
 the tricks, the pleasure of play is in the manner oi 
 making them. It is true that two good players 
 may not make headway in an entire evening oi 
 rubbers against two antagonists who do not know 
 the game. Good players must play against good 
 players in order to make their own game a success. 
 To play against ordinary ones is to play a game of 
 guesswork, for they have not judgment concerning 
 your action, and will trust to luck. The game of 
 whist is only played when the nice points in it are 
 considered, and the satisfaction it gives, is in the 
 fact that in gaining those points, correct and bril- 
 liant play is elicited. This is not understood by 
 
 7 
 
98 American Whist 
 
 the ordinary player and that is why he should 
 study and practice in order to compete. When a 
 man has studied and practiced up to the point of 
 playing a really fine game, he is the first to tell of 
 his inefficiency in the days when he thought he had 
 a knowledge of whist. A great difficulty is expe- 
 rienced by parties who urge their friends to read 
 and study and practice whist. The average player 
 is quite satisfied that he plays as well as any one 
 need to do, and will not work up and out a situa- 
 tion because it takes too long and the drill is un- 
 interesting. His manner of play is well enough 
 for him, but the expert who watches it, is as much 
 amused as the accomplished linguist who listens 
 to the stutterings of a novice in Greek." 
 
 " J. C." says, " A little learning is a dangerous thing 
 at our game. Better far to know nothing and to play 
 your cards like the blind man." 
 
 If players who think that they know whist, but 
 who do not know what to do at any exigency of the 
 game, who do not know just what card is proper to 
 play and can give a reason for its play, would con- 
 sider " J. C.'s " statement and resolve to learn in 
 
Whist Practice. 99 
 
 future, the well-laid plans of their fine partners 
 would not so frequently come to naught. 
 
 Have a reason for every play that you make. — 
 Deschapelles. 
 
 Perhaps there is no more uncomfortable situation 
 than that in which a good player is placed when his 
 designs well planned by a peculiar process of play 
 are frustrated through the ignorance of a partner 
 who thinks all the time that he is doing right, and 
 who confidently asserts at the end of a hand, " Well, 
 we made all there was to make out of that. I think 
 we did not lose a trick." There is nothing to be 
 said in reply. It is possible that just as many tricks 
 were made or perhaps within one of as many as if 
 the fine finesse had been appreciated, but there is 
 small satisfaction to the keen manager to know 
 that blundering overthrew his work and accident 
 accomplished a plan. This sort of self-satisfied per- 
 sons one must meet at the clubs and at residences. 
 They admit that whist is a game that demands and 
 deserves study, but they do not even get the laws 
 by heart, and the necessity of regarding the table 
 and not their hand, when playing, they will recog- 
 nize no more than they will the direction that 
 would preserve silence while others think. Eule3 
 
ioo American WhisL 
 
 cannot be written for these, — they will obey none. 
 If yon play with them you must suffer, because 
 of their indiscretion. They should play practice 
 games, but as they are satisfied that they can do 
 well enough, and only make occasional mistakes, 
 they will never understand the superior sense of 
 satisfaction that is felt by those who play well. 
 Of course it follows that good players only delight 
 to play with good players, still they must at times 
 make part of an uncertain table, and give and 
 receive as much enjoyment as it can afford. Could 
 it but be made to appear to those excellent hosts 
 who ask you to come and make up a table, that 
 they would be so much more delightful compan- 
 ions if they would but take pains to inform them- 
 selves how to realize the enjoyment that genuine 
 whist confers upon its votaries, there would dawn 
 a new era of extension and reception of hospitality. 
 
 There are no rules for poor players. They are 
 to become good players by attention to the rules 
 that good players observe, or they are to continue 
 poor players and be classed as such. Nor are there 
 any rules than those already known to good players 
 when playing with poor ones, for they are to do 
 their best to educate the poor ones in all that is 
 
Whist Practice. 101 
 
 correct iii play. We recommend practice-games, 
 in which instruction can be given while the hands 
 are being played. They who are not willing to 
 study and practice should not attempt to play with 
 experts. In practice-games the laws of play are 
 strictly observed; those concerning conversation 
 and errors suspended. A good player should never 
 change his course of play established as correct 
 when his hand is assorted, for any vagary of his 
 uninformed partner. 
 
 The elements of whist are the elements of grandeur. 
 — Lecontiee. 
 
 He lowers himself and injures his reputation 
 who falsifies his hand to the opponents merely 
 because his whilom partner may not understand 
 what is correct. What would be thought of any 
 one of three men who took an ambitious fourth 
 into occasional business council, and who changed 
 his cherished policy of right to the deliberate 
 doing of wrong, merely to keep pace with the 
 action of the uninstructed new comer ? 
 
 Study and practice are equally required. No 
 man from mere reading makes a player. No man 
 from mere playing makes a player. Men are too 
 
102 American Whist. 
 
 impatient and desire to learn at once. Whist is 
 like confidence, a plant of slow growth ; a limited 
 quantity of reading or of playing will not do. A 
 man may learn the early leads from the book, and 
 put his information into practice. When he has 
 played one half his hand he is ignorant what to do 
 with the rest of it, and the worth of the player is 
 tested more in the management of his last cards 
 than of the first. It is the usual occurrence that 
 during the play of the last four or five rounds in 
 each hand, the best players make the trick which 
 they force the antagonists to lose. Drayson 
 says: 
 
 " As each card falls the play becomes more difficult, 
 and greater skill is required, so that a good player who 
 has read the book may play half the hand as well as a 
 skilful player, but when the last half of the cards have 
 to be played, the unobservant or stupid player loses 
 generally one and often two tricks." 
 
 It is very 'seldom the case that a hand is held 
 which somewhere during its play cannot assist at 
 a crisis, and he is the good player who does him- 
 self justice at such time. 
 
 When your partner renounces a suit, do not fail to 
 ask him whether he is sure that he has none of it. If 
 
Whist Practice. 103 
 
 he revokes, and you have neglected this precaution, the 
 fault is as much yours as it is his. — [Clay's " Maxims."] 
 
 The rule that plans to relieve one partner at the 
 expense of the other is selfish beyond measure, and 
 therefore execrable. If your partner does you a 
 service, you accept it ; if he makes an error, you 
 must accept that also. If he trumps at the right 
 time and makes the game, it is your game and his; 
 if he revokes accidentally, it is your loss and his. 
 You are not worthy to be the partner of a gentle- 
 man at a whist table unless, having accepted him, 
 you stand by him and his play. Beside, it is 
 undue interference. If the man knows his busi- 
 ness, he wants no reminders. You have no more 
 right to ask him if he has no card of a given suit 
 than you have to ask him to lead you a trump or to 
 take a certain trick. In fact, you have no right to 
 speak at all, and must be fined a point if you do 
 so, in which fine he must share the payment for 
 your folly. 
 
 If your partner refuses to trump a winning card, 
 lead him, if you can, a strengthening trump. 
 
 Consider the situations of the game in all par- 
 ticulars, and if you want your partner tc trump a 
 
104 American Whist. 
 
 certain card, force him by playing it. If he does 
 not take the force, but discards, you are informed 
 of his strength or weakness, and must avoid another 
 force. It may be advisable to gain the odd trick 
 that he should, as you think, make a trump upon 
 your lead. He will judge his own hand, and per- 
 haps pass, that he may take two, instead of one, or, 
 taking no risk, make sure of one. The number or 
 the value of trumps in your own hand has nothing 
 to do with your action. A good player will see 
 your intent. 
 
 Avoid leading from a suit of which both advei- 
 saries have none, for one will discard and the other 
 trump, and the drawing of the trump will not 
 probably do you as much service as the fall of the 
 card thrown away will do you injury. 
 
 When you return your partner's lead, if you had 
 originally but three cards of the suit (you must 
 have played one, and now hold two), lead the 
 highest ; if you had four or more originally, lead 
 a low one. Thus, if you held king, knave, and 7, 
 and took at third hand with king, you return 
 
Whist Practice. 105 
 
 the knave, he knows that you have but one small 
 one, or no more. If you had the 3 beside, return 
 the 3; when you, by and by, play the 7, he 
 knows you have another, and can probably name 
 it. The knave may be most important for him to 
 count upon as twelfth or thirteenth card. 
 
 The reason why you play a small card second 
 hand, when holding queen, knave, and two others, 
 is that the queen and knave may make, but you 
 play knave second, having but one small one, 
 for the chance of both high cards making is very 
 smalL 
 
 With ace, 10, and another, second hand, pass a 
 queen led. The leader can have no better than 
 knave, 9, and others, and you hold tenace over 
 them. If it should be that your partner has king, 
 your adversary may make no trick in his suit. 
 
 If a low card is led on your right, and you 
 hold ace and two small ones, play a low one, and 
 
106 American Whist. 
 
 if knave is played third and queen fourth, and 
 the lead of a low one should again come from 
 your right, you can play the low one with im- 
 punity. 0. cannot have king or 10, and your part- 
 ner must have one of them. 
 
 " Cavendish " tells us that it does not fall to an 
 individual player's lot to have the grand coup pre- 
 sentment but once in several thousand games. It 
 is of the same tendency and requirement always. 
 At the B Club, a few evenings since, the fol- 
 lowing was held and played : — 
 
 Score. A. and B., 6. C. and D., 6. Spades 
 trumps. A. and B. had 3 tricks ; C. and D., 6. 
 A. and B. must make all the rest. 
 
 A. had k., 10, 3 spades, 7 clubs. 
 
 B. had 10, 6 dia., qu. hearts, kn. clubs. 
 D. had kn., 8 spades, 4 hearts, 10 clubs. 
 
 B. led the qu. of hearts. A. saw that if he 
 threw away his club, he must take the next trick, 
 and, leading, could take but one more, for he knew 
 that D. had the two spades. He had but one 
 chance for all the tricks. He trumped the best 
 heart and led the small club. 
 
Whist Practice. 107 
 
 Having two or three trumps, in answer to your 
 partner's call, play the highest ; having four, play 
 lowest ; having five, next to lowest ; unless in the 
 two latter cases you have commanding trumps. 
 
 " So play that you may tell your partner of what 
 suit you have the most, and make your calculations to 
 play his cards as well as your own as soon as you can 
 be informed what they are." 
 
 This is indisputably good advice in a majority of 
 cases, as when your suits are in about even number 
 of cards, your trumps but three or four, or in refer- 
 ence to hands of not too irregular formation ; but 
 suppose your trumps are six or seven in number, 
 your plain suits from singleton to long, are made up 
 of impossibilities to take tricks. Your English rule 
 says, play a trump : no matter what comes of it, 
 you must emphasize that trump possession. Would 
 it not be well to decide, " We want so many tricks, 
 my partner may have such or such a card or cards, 
 I will play my own hand properly and call my 
 partner's assistance for the making of our game ? " 
 In other words, consider this the proper method of 
 playing whist. In accordance with the hand you 
 hold, play that hand or your partner's. Play for 
 
io8 American Whist. 
 
 yourself or play for him. Under certain circum- 
 stances, and they are not few in number, by the 
 attempt to play two hands you may be confounded. 
 Be satisfied that he is a good whist-player who 
 can play his own hand correctly. Follow the 
 system of mutual co-operation certainly, when in 
 your judgment you esteem it to be best, but re- 
 member that as rules cannot be made to cover all 
 cases, that judgment must be supreme. 
 
 Eules are for the majority of cases, not for excep- 
 tional positions, and a player is good, very good, or 
 of the highest class, in proportion to the rapidity and 
 acuteness with which he seizes the occasions when rule 
 must be disregarded. These occasions are so many and 
 so different that practice and very accurate observation 
 alone can master them. — ["J. C." ] 
 
 What is required by the game of whist is to 
 make the tricks, not to mind the books. In very 
 many cases the book leads are right, and you are 
 not unreasonably to play contrary to their dicta- 
 tion; but do not surrender your common sense 
 to a regulation. A lead may be as grand a coup 
 as a follow, and if you are playing with a man 
 who understands the game he will not look for 
 set tactics if he knows you capable of ingenious 
 ones. In any event, it may be that you could 
 not so play as to know much of his hand until 
 
Whist Practice. 109 
 
 several rounds. Meantime, you may have lost 
 the advantage that a brilliant play would have 
 insured. He watches each play and all develop- 
 ments, and if you have undertaken a daring game 
 be sure he will assist you in carrying it on. We 
 know that this will be understood by good players 
 as we mean to have it understood. It will be met 
 by objections on the part of all who play by book- 
 rule alone, and to whom the iron-clad regulations 
 make uniformity of play a necessity. But we pre- 
 sent, that first a king and then a queen and then 
 an ace, the latter renounced and trumped, while 
 two others, not the best, are retained, does not rep- 
 resent the best part of whist-playing. 
 
 Technical " mutual co-operation " means getting 
 out the trumps if you have a number, and telling 
 your partner as quickly and as often as possible 
 what cards you hold. Sometimes it is as credit- 
 able to make the tricks by the right use of those 
 cards, not having been at painstaking to announce 
 them 
 
 When trumps are declared against you, discard 
 from your best suit. When your partner has 
 
no American Whist. 
 
 strength in trumps, throw the lowest card of the 
 weakest suit, unless you have command of a suit, 
 in which case throw the highest of that suit. 
 
 When your partner has led a king that was taken 
 by the ace, and you are by and by to return his 
 lead, you holding kn. and a small one, play the 
 kn. ; but if 0. led the k., play the small one. 0. 
 will probably put on qu., and you remain with the 
 best card. 
 
 If you have led a small card from qu., 10, and 
 others, and your .partner takes with the k. and re- 
 turns a small card of that suit, you know that the 
 ace is on your left, and play 10, not qu., for if kn. is 
 in same hand, both will make, but if only ace is 
 there, the 10 will bring it, and leave you in com- 
 mand. 
 
 If your partner leads a kn., it is useless to play 
 k. upon it, unless second hand has played qu. for 
 ace, and qu. in fourth hand will make at any rate, 
 and you know that your partner has neither ace 
 nor qu. 
 
Whist Practice. in 
 
 When one trick is wanted, and you hold k. and 
 two small trumps, do not play k. third hand, unless 
 the ace has been played, but let the trick be taken 
 by last player. Tour guarded k. must give you the 
 needed trick. 
 
 The law of silence is imposed in whist, that the 
 status of the cards may be noted and remembered. 
 If you lead a small trump, holding ace, qu., and 
 three others, second hand renounces, your partner 
 plays the 9, and fourth hand takes with k., you see 
 at once that your partner has kn. and 10. If 
 fourth hand, now leader, returns the suit to draw 
 two for one, you should play low one, and let 
 your partner take and send you back the kn., as he 
 will see that you want trumps out, or you would 
 have stopped, the play with queen, that he knows 
 you hold. 
 
 Quick observance and tenacious memory, unin- 
 terfered with by talk, enables management to suc- 
 ceed. 
 
 Other things being equal, the one who best recollecta 
 the cards played, and by whom played, will make the 
 best player. — Ames. 
 
IT2 American WhisL 
 
 Diamonds trumps. You have led the 6 of 
 clubs, from five; ace, qu., 8, and 4 remaining. 
 The k. was played second; your partner threw 
 the 9 and D. the 2. On the next trick, in hearts, 
 D., renouncing, threw the 7 of clubs. He has 
 not the 5 nor the 3. Your partner must have 
 one of these, and is calling for trumps. C. can 
 have but one, and threw k. to get the lead, or he 
 has no more ; the knave and 10 are probably with 
 your partner. 
 
 Hearts trumps, qu. turned on your right. You 
 have ace, 10, 7, 4, 3, and lead the 4. 0. plays the 
 8, B. the k., and D. the 5. B. returns the 9 ; D. 
 plays the 6. You should see at once that your 
 partner has the 2. C. has no more. If he had kn. 
 he would have played it second. D. passed the 9, 
 that you might play the ace. By finessing your 
 partner's 9 you must take one of D.'s high cards. 
 
 The significance of the 9, as the representative 
 of k. and kn., is, of course, lost when not the orig- 
 inal lead of a suit. 
 
 B. leads k. of diamonds. D. plays 6, A. 5, C. 9. 
 B. plays kn., D. 7, A. 8, C. 10. B. holds all the 
 diamonds in play. 
 
Whist Practice. 113 
 
 Clubs trumps. B. leads k. of hearts. D. plays 
 2, A. 6, C. trumps, and leads a spade, which D. 
 takes and returns a heart. A. 7, C, trumps, B., ace. 
 You are strong in trumps, and suppose that D. is ; 
 your play is to get out the trumps, and return B. 
 the last heart you have, the 9. 
 
 If your partner leads the 10, and the kn. is 
 played second, you holding k., you know that ace, 
 qu., are at your right, or ace at your left, and that 
 
 B. led from highest of three. 
 
 If your partner lead the 6, the 4 is played 
 second, and you win with qu., you know that 
 neither ace nor king is on your left, but that one of 
 them is on your right. 
 
 If you lead qu., holding kn., 10, and small ones, 
 the ace is played second, a small one third, and the 
 9 fourth ; the k., with others, is in your partner's 
 hand, or alone on your right. If the suit is not 
 returned by C, you or your partner should throw 
 the lead for advantage. 
 
 8 
 
114 American Whist 
 
 Be assured if it ever happens that a fine player 
 takes his seat to play where talking is allowed, 
 in the free and easy game, which is only playing 
 at whist, you will never hear him ask, What is 
 trumps? who dealt? who took that trick? let. me 
 see that play ? or any other thing that can be con- 
 strued into want of attention. 
 
 We have watched the common game, at which 
 players talked, and seen a player throw k., then ace. 
 "Ah! let me see that trick a minute, ,, as his part- 
 ner turned the second. "You played the 6." 
 " Yes," rather feebly from the partner, who was, of 
 course, aware such action is transparent. First 
 player, having become satisfied that his partner 
 did not want trumps, and having told everybody 
 else as plainly as if he had spoken it, that he 
 played k. and ace, expecting or hoping for his part 
 ner's call, throws another card, and settles hack in 
 his chair, a disappointed man. He thinks he is 
 playing whist. His knowledge extends to the 
 trump call, and ends there. 
 
 A man leads a low card from an ace, and, noting 
 partner's play, stretches forward before fourth hand 
 
Whist Practice. 115 
 
 plays, to gather in the trick, exclaiming, " Tour k., 
 partner/' which, being interpreted, signifies, " 1 led 
 from the ace ; nobody can take this trick." This 
 person calls himself a whist-player. 
 
 At some of the Clubs we hear a player say, 
 " Partner, have you no club ? " and the reply, " No ; 
 let me see. No, I have looked over again. No, I 
 have not a club." This is interesting. They 
 think that they are playing whist. For the trouble 
 is, that people who do not understand the game, 
 cannot keep their mouths closed, and pay attention 
 to what they are doing. Not to be able to vent 
 their feelings is agony unbearable. All Short 
 Whist players, by rule, lift the safety valve. 
 
 Here are three hands, not difficult, but only the 
 good player knows by the score which card to lead 
 from each. A's hand is given, and it is his lead : — 
 
 A. and B. 6. C. and D. 5. Diamonds trumps, 
 
 K. turned. 
 
 Qu., 8, 6 spades. 
 
 Qu., Kn., 10 hearts. 
 
 Qu., 5, 3 clubs. 
 
 Ace, Qu., 8, 4 diamonds. 
 
n6 American Whist. 
 
 A. and B. 5. C. D. 5. Hearts trumps, 9. 
 
 Kn., 7, 4 spades. 
 
 K. 3, 2 diamonds. 
 
 Ace, 6 clubs. 
 
 Ace, Qu., 10, 8, 4 hearts. 
 
 A. and B. 5. C. and D. 6. Spades trumps, Kn. 
 turned. 
 
 4, 3, 2 hearts. 
 
 K 7, 5 clubs. 
 
 9, 8 diamonds. 
 
 Ace, Qu., 8, 6, 4 spades. 
 
 There are few instances in which it is proper to 
 lead a singleton. Some players say, "Never do it," 
 but the score, and ability of the hand must decide 
 your course. 
 
 Holding quart to k, k. is proper to be led and 
 not 10. From qu. or kn., quart or tierce, the ar- 
 gument for the lead of the highest is indisputable. 
 If you play qu. and partner holds ace and others, 
 he will not play ace. If k. is played second, he 
 does play ace and your suit is free. If the k. with 
 another is at your right, no play of yours can pre- 
 
Whist Practice. 117 
 
 vent the k. from making. If second hand holds 
 k. and does not play it, you follow qu. with kn., 
 and on that trick or the next, the k. will proba- 
 bly fall. But if you play 10 at the outset, your 
 partner takes with ace, and the k. commands the 
 suit. 
 
 A literal sequence may be of two cards, but in 
 whist parlance, it means three or more of value 
 consecutive, either of which can be taken only in 
 its own suit by a card higher than the highest oi 
 the three. 
 
 The leader must play coups as w T ell as the fol- 
 lower. Brilliant play is well-judged digression 
 from routine play. It is the partner's business to 
 watch for and interpret this. The gain that is 
 worthily made is made by skill. The tricks that 
 are made by calculation denote the player. 
 
 Independently of the fact that a lead from a long 
 suit is better than one from a short suit, because it 
 informs your partner, your own hand is benefited 
 by such play. Suppose you have ace, qu., and 4 of 
 hearts, 10 and four small clubs, ace and two small 
 
n8 American Whist. 
 
 spades, trumps, and qu., kn. diamonds. If you 
 play the penultimate in clubs your hand is intact 
 for use in all the other suits. If your partner 
 plays qu., holding k, and D. takes with the ace 
 and leads a diamond, his long suit and your short 
 one, your kn., may take a trick or pave the way 
 for the qu. to do so, although you have but two. 
 
 Positive observance of the cards as they fall 
 upon the table is a necessity. 
 
 At tables where the burlesque of whist is per- 
 formed, a player intent upon his hand when he 
 should have watched the play calls out, " Was that 
 your 5, Mr. D. ? " " Yes, sir." " All right ; let me 
 see that last trick. Ah, you played the 8." Such 
 a bungler might save time by asking at first, " Do 
 you want me to play trumps, Mr. D. ? " 
 
 The constant allusion to and dependence upon 
 " honors " in all the advice for play by writers upon 
 Short Whist prevents adaptation of their regula- 
 tions to our mode. Provided certain "honors" 
 have been played or are held, they advise a certain 
 course, if not, a different one. " Holding as I did 
 
Whist Practice. 119 
 
 the k. and kn., and being at the point of three, it 
 became important that I should know at once if 
 my partner had the qu. If so, we were out, and 
 if not we must play." This is picture-luck, not 
 whist. 
 
 The Short Whist men say that if honors had 
 been cut in two, their game would have been per- 
 fect; but they admit that the advantage of skill 
 would have been so great as to limit considerably 
 the number of players. The wonder is that they 
 do not call the honors at once and save all trouble, 
 as thus : " Have you a picture, partner ? " " Yes, 
 I have the kn." "All right; I have k. and qu. 
 Halve the stakes, call in the bets." This is a kind 
 of partnership poker, not whist. 
 
 Columns of English newspapers have been ap- 
 propriated to the argument, pro and con, as to the 
 punishment for the showing a hand by a player. 
 Says the " Field :" "A player may expose his en- 
 tire hand so that all the others can see it without 
 a card penalty." And this he can do with wilful 
 intent and not be fined, while if he should throw 
 two cards at once upon the table his opponents 
 howl for satisfaction. It is not very strange that 
 
120 American Whist. 
 
 such opinions are laughed at. Of course, when a 
 man shows his hand he exposes it, and we should 
 fine him a point for every card that he improperly 
 or accidentally shows. A man would not be played 
 with here, who should repeat the intentional show- 
 ing. If the London clubs would dismiss a player 
 who so purposely offended propriety, the rule might 
 stand ; but they are said to tolerate such conduct 
 on the part of men who " define well the interest " 
 that they take in the game. 
 
 The difference in sentiment between American 
 and Short Whist is specially to be considered. 
 Drayson says : 
 
 " It rarely happens that many rubbers of whist are 
 played, especially by inexperienced players, without a 
 question or dispute arising as regards the penalty which 
 may or can be claimed for certain offences/' 
 
 This comment may be supplemented by the 
 assertion of a good player of Short Whist: 
 
 "It never happens but that in an evening's play, 
 and often at intervals in the day-play, that I have 
 seen quarrels — for they can be called by no other 
 name — of such nature as to embitter the antagonists, 
 at least for the time, occur as a matter of course." 
 
Whist Practice. 1 2 1 
 
 , The tantalizing talk of the winner of the bets or 
 the gainer of a verdict in the matter of a disputed 
 rule or part of a rule as quoted in the " Cavendish 
 Essays/' is indicative of the spirit that animates the 
 player. It is said that as the parties who play 
 Short Whist in this country do not, as a general 
 thing, play for money, there is freedom from this 
 unhappy disposition. But whenever luck rather 
 than skill is an element of a game, there is disap- 
 pointment and discomfort. A slight indoctrina- 
 tion of the English spirit goes with the hazard and 
 prejudice of the game. An American advocate of 
 it argues for 
 
 " The keeping up of the cross ruff as long as possible, 
 as it is an effective method of making tricks and always 
 aggravating to the adversaries. ,, 
 
 Now, in our fine, long game we have no quarrels. 
 I have sat at many a table and not a cross word 
 spoken between the hands. How can it be other- 
 wise? American Whist is an intellectual game, 
 and the players can and do " use philosophy " in 
 the treatment of their own or of their antagonists' 
 mishaps. 
 
 We require a long game at cards, and American 
 Whist is that game. There are a great number of 
 
122 A merican Whist. 
 
 short ones tliat will answer for gambling purposes 
 to the content of any and every body. Some one 
 game should be for enjoyment gained by brain 
 work. There is an honest argument in behalf of 
 the general introduction of an honest amusement 
 into our best clubs, at our literary rooms, and into 
 our much-loved homes, 
 
 We were once told that the " ten-point game " 
 was played nightly by certain parties, and invited 
 to attend the session if we would see whist prop- 
 erly played. Of course, as a spectator we saw but 
 one hand of any game. At one time, when the 
 score stood A. and B. 1, C. and D. 9, D. turned the 
 qu. of clubs and A. took up this hand, viz. : — 
 
 Kn., 10, 9, 8, 6, 5 
 
 hearts. 
 
 Ace, K, 4 
 
 spades. 
 
 10 
 
 diamonds, 
 
 K,Kn., 7 
 
 clubs. 
 
 A. played the 10 of diamonds, as he afterward 
 said, that he might trump them, for he had so 
 many hearts that were good for nothing that he 
 felt sure his partner could have none, and while 
 he, A., was trumping diamonds, B. could trump 
 
Whist Practice. 123 
 
 hearts, adding, if there was " any way to make any- 
 thing out of such cards that was the way to do it." 
 His partner held ace and k, of hearts, qu. 7, 5, 2 
 of spades, ace, 9, 5, 3 of clubs, and three small dia- 
 monds. A. and B. made three by card and " two 
 by honors," saving the game, as B. said, who pro- 
 tested that they could have done no more and that 
 they had not lost a trick. A. being very emphatic 
 in his assertion that nobody ever could do anything 
 with a hand of so many poor cards as he held and 
 only three trumps, we ventured to tell him that 
 his hearts were as good as trumps, and asked if he 
 would allow the hands to be played over. All 
 were agreed, and A.'s and B.'s cards were properly 
 played, making, of course, every trick and winning 
 the £[ame. 
 
 "It is the duty of a player to make the game as 
 easy to his partner as he can. The play often depends 
 upon the sort of partner. For example : You lead 
 the 10 from k., qu., kn., 10. Your 10 forces the ace 
 from fourth hand; you obtain the lead again. The 
 proper lead is now the queen, as your partner knows 
 you have k., kn., whereas he is uncertain about the 
 queen. But, with an indifferent partner, the better 
 lead is the king, as he may not have drawn the correct 
 inference from the first lead, and, not knowing the 
 
1 24 American Whist. 
 
 queen is the best, he may trump it." — [ " Cavendish," 
 p. 117.] 
 
 It is the duty of a player to play correctly, and 
 the duty of a partner to understand such play. 
 Holding k., qu., kn., 10, the proper lead is the 
 king. That forces the ace, and your partner knows 
 you have the qu. When you have the lead again, 
 the play is the knave. No gain is made by the 
 lead of a low card of a sequence, while much harm 
 may come from it. If you lead the 10, the lowest 
 of four, you deceive your partner, for the 10 may 
 be the head of a sequence, or k., kn., and others* 
 may be held, or it may be the best of three. It 
 has been said that ace might not be played on 10 
 by second player, and so you may have another 
 lead. He who would not play ace upon 10, might 
 not upon k., but wait for qu. The argument is 
 of no avail. 
 
 Your partner plays k. spades, which takes ; you 
 have not the ace. He then plays ace of clubs, 
 trumps, the 4 turned on his right. He then plays 
 9 of diamonds. Name five cards that you know he 
 now holds. 
 
 Your right-hand opponent (D.) played kn. of 
 hearts (9 of diamonds turned by B.). You played 
 
Whist Practice. 125 
 
 the 7, your only heart. C. played 8. B. took with 
 ace, and led qu. of spades, which was taken by 
 D.'s k., and on the trick C. discarded the k. of 
 hearts. What is your inference as to the situation 
 of the rest of the hearts ? 
 
 Your partner has turned qu. When you lead a 
 small trump to him, he takes with kn. and re- 
 turns the three. How many trumps, at least, has 
 he ? Suppose he takes with qu., and returns kn., 
 how many trumps, at most, has he ? Suppose he 
 takes with ace, and returns k., how many has he ? 
 Suppose he takes with k., and returns qu., how 
 many ? If he takes with qu., and returns k., how 
 many? 
 
 Select the cards. Give your opponents the four 
 highest cards in every suit. Let the trump be 
 turned upon your right. Lead and make five by 
 card. 
 
 Spades trumps. Kn. turned at your left. Your 
 partner leads k. diamonds, of which you have not 
 the ace. It takes all small cards. He now leads 
 
126 American Whist. 
 
 ace of trumps. You have four small ones. What 
 is your inference when he plays the ace ? 
 
 You have kn. and 9 of clubs, trumps. You 
 know that the 10 and 8 are on your right, C. and 
 B. having renounced. You also have ace and 4 
 of hearts. Only the 3 of hearts has been thrown, 
 discarded by D. C. leads kn. of hearts. B. takes 
 with qu. What is your play for all the tricks ? 
 
 Qu. c. turned on your right. On ace, qu. of 
 diamonds, played by you, B. has called. You hold 
 k. kn. 4, 3 c. What is your play ? 
 
 10 spades turned by D. You have 5, 4, 3, 2 
 spades, 6, 5, 4, 3 hearts, kn. 10, 9 clubs, and ace, 
 k. diamonds. What will you lead ? 
 
 A man may play whist for several weeks. He will 
 then find it necessary for him to apply his knowledge 
 for three or four years before he discovers what a diffi- 
 cult game it is. — Deschapelles. 
 
Whist Practice. 127 
 
 In the library or drawing-room a table is made, 
 and A. says, as he looks over his thirteen cards, 
 " I declare I don't know what to play ; " and B. 
 responds, "You would if you had my hand; it's 
 awful;" and C. says, "Well, play something; I 
 can follow suit to anything;" and D. groans, 
 " Yes, give us something. I want to get through 
 with this hand." Not one of the party happens to 
 hold three aces, three kings, three queens, and four 
 trumps, and is not satisfied. They do not think 
 that among them is distributed all the cards there 
 are, and that it is by the best use of such as each 
 may chance to hold, the great game is played. 
 
 Lord Henry, as " Cavendish " delights to call 
 Bentinck, possessed, as per his biographer, two 
 excellent traits : He was accurate in observance of 
 the fall of the cards, and he made no distinction as 
 to his manner of play with a partner good or bad. 
 Of course neither " Cavendish " nor any of the 
 Euglish writers or players consider this latter qual- 
 ification a recommendation, for there are shillings 
 or pounds to be lost or won, and as we are not to 
 suppose that the opponents would let slip any 
 opportunity for advantage by managing their game 
 
128 American Whist. 
 
 other than shrewdly, the only plan for Lord Henry 
 to adopt, was to violate propriety in any manner in 
 order to deceive them. With us, all three players 
 would be at their best, and the poor player would, 
 by their treatment of the game, be inclined to 
 study it, as he, upon the playing of every hand, 
 would be made sensible of his errors. But in 
 other respects Lord Henry was an uncomfortable 
 companion. His pretence that a player who had 
 once led from a plain suit could not afterward, in 
 the progress of the same hand, call for trumps, is 
 absurd. " Cavendish " says it was of no use arguing 
 with him, so he let the matter drop. Another man 
 in Lord Henry's place, after " Cavendish " had lost 
 three or four tricks by his silly play, would have 
 received a reprimand not readily to be forgotten. 
 
 People in general entertain strange notions con- 
 cerning whist. Many say, "Oh, I don't know 
 much about the game. I only play for amuse- 
 ment. You must not expect me to know about it. 
 I have n't the time." As well to say, " Oh, I don't 
 know much about the meaning of w r ords. I only 
 read for amusement, Ivanhoe or Middlemar^ 
 You must not expect me to understand them. I 
 have n't the time." 
 
Whist Practice. 129 
 
 If a man who did not know how properly to 
 sound a note, was asked to sing Schubert's " Wan- 
 derer," would he accept the invitation ? If he did 
 accept, would his singing be a success ? But he 
 daringly takes up thirteen cards, each one of which 
 in the great game that he essays, 
 
 1 ' Though it have no tongue, will speak 
 "With most miraculous organ," 
 
 and does not understand which is the proper one 
 to play. Consider the situation. . 
 
 A gentleman writes : u It has been said that no 
 man can appreciate the beauty of whist but the 
 first-class whist-player. I really liked the game, 
 as I once understood it, and had plenty of fun in 
 taking tricks with the big cards, which somehow I 
 almost always had the good fortune to hold. I 
 had among my friends quite a reputation as a 
 player, and we used to sit and do away with the 
 aces and kings, and queens too, when these latter 
 would run without being trumped, but always ex- 
 claiming at our ill luck when such catastrophe 
 happened. One rainy day, last winter, two gentle- 
 men were introduced to me at the hotel, and I pro- 
 posed, as an after-dinner amusement, a game of 
 
 9 
 
130 American Whist. 
 
 whist, naming my soon-to-be-obtained partner, and 
 jocosely telling them we would show them a little 
 about the game. Our aces and kings, very seldom 
 our queens, and never any other cards that I 
 can remember, took a few tricks, but 7's and 
 5's, and even 2's, called at the last of nearly every 
 hand for what we had, and thought of value. I 
 was never so bewildered about anything in my life, 
 and so vexed that I would not ask for an explana- 
 tion. But my partner did, and we were told of long 
 suits, management of trumps, and the value of the 
 eleventh card. I remember to have said, ' Why, 
 then, it seems my partner and I have n't been play- 
 ing whist at all/ to which I received reply, ' No, 
 sir; you have been playing pictures.' .... I 
 wish you to send me such books as I can read to 
 advantage, for I hope in time to be of those who 
 ' can appreciate the beauty of the game.' " 
 
 The good player, seated with an ordinary player 
 as partner; is constantly misunderstood. When 
 the first four cards have fallen, the good player 
 has drawn his inference concerning the suit. 
 When the next four have fallen he almost knows 
 where are the other five. By and by, it may be, 
 he leads one of these. A good partner would 
 
Whist Practice. 131 
 
 know why, and also understand location. But the 
 mere appraiser of so-called royalty w r ill usually 
 frustrate his intent. At such times the odd card, 
 all arranged for, is put beyond his hope ; and, at 
 the close of the hand, his partner, innocent of 
 having defeated a well-laid plan, will say, " I don't 
 see how we could have played any better." 
 
 While the opportunity of playing the grand coup 
 occurs to an individual player but once in a thou- 
 sand or more rubbers, the chance of throwing the 
 lead, parting with the proper card, giving advantage 
 to partner, or forcing a lead of the adversary occurs 
 in almost every hand. A. had the 9 and 5 of 
 diamonds (trumps). The trumps were all out but 
 four, and A. knew that C. had the 7 and 4. He 
 also knew that C. held the 10 of clubs, of which 
 he had the twelfth card, the 8. The score was 
 6 to 6. Each party had five tricks in this hand 
 A careless player would have thrown the highest 
 trump, and lost the game. A., throwing the lead, 
 and forcing the play, makes the odd trick. 
 
 In a book kept for the purpose of scoring, a 
 player may have his record of points, games, and 
 
132 
 
 American Whist. 
 
 rubbers, together with the name of place where 
 played, date, and names of partners and opponents. 
 A proper, simple mode of scoring, much in use, is 
 as follows : — 
 
 B S Club , Jan. — , 18—. 
 
 1 2 3 4 5 6t 1 2 3 4* P. G. R. 
 
 E. & F. 
 G. &H 
 
 II 
 
 II 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1+U 
 
 lllll 
 1 
 
 mi 
 
 i 
 
 110 
 14 2 1 
 
 Partners change, and the next score is 
 
 1 2 3 4 5t 1 
 
 E. & H. 1 1 || ||il( 
 
 F. & G. | HI 
 
 3 4f 1 2 3 4 5* P. G. R. 
 
 II I 112 1 
 
 II III Il|l9 2 1 
 
 A t represents the numbered hand in which a game is won, and a * 
 stands for a rubber. 
 
 Ordinary players are desirous to go on with play, 
 and jump conclusions. "Don't stop now to ex- 
 plain that ; we have 'nt time ; go on with the deal." 
 That man will never make a whist-player. He is 
 like the boy who, when he meets a word that he 
 cannot pronounce, or does not understand, skips it. 
 Whenever he comes to a hard place he will play 
 " something," and trust to luck. Did he but know 
 that the beauty and worth of the game lies in 
 knowing just what to do at those trial times ! but 
 he will never know it. 
 
Whist Practice. 133 
 
 Cases are exceptional where leads from short 
 suits, especially of two cards or a singleton, can be 
 proper. But such cases do occur and it is keen 
 judgment that readily appreciates the situation and 
 dares to throw the lead despite the rule. Grand 
 coups deserve no more credit than grand leads. A 
 brave player in certain cases takes the responsibil- 
 ity of the game from the start, and if he has a good 
 partner to quickly read his meaning and to assist 
 him at any sacrifice, he will w T in by a series of bril- 
 liant play that would electrify a mere follower of 
 book-rule. 
 
 Play over illustrated games and note all the ex- 
 planations for their conduct. 
 
 Study all written maxims with the cards placed be- 
 fore you in the situations mentioned. — Mathews. 
 
 You will not hold the same hands at the table 
 in regular play, but you will meet with situations 
 similar. 
 
 When a player has committed a series of puerile 
 mistakes during a rubber, every one of which is re- 
 ferred to as bad play in whist books, and then 
 announces with an air of triumph that he never read 
 a book on whist in his life, it is rather disappointing 
 for his partner to inform him that his style of play 
 indicates the fact. — DraYSON. 
 
134 American Whist. 
 
 In the overplay of the hand see if you can im- 
 prove upon the play of partner or opponent for 
 reasons that either might have had, governed by 
 the knowledge of the play as it progressed. 
 
 It is not well to lead trumps from an utterly 
 doubtful suit of trumps. For instance, holding k., 
 kn., 7, 4, or qu., 10, 6, 3, better lead a plain suit, 
 for you may lose every trick. In this matter of 
 trump-playing, regard must be had to the fact that 
 in Short Whist there is always place for the ascer- 
 tainment of honors ; but you are obliged to make 
 points. And the number of points that you have 
 to gain gives freedom for finesse. 
 
 The call from your partner to you or by you to 
 him for trumps is by the play of an unnecessarily 
 high card upon a plain suit led and after, a lower 
 card, or by the discard of a card higher than that 
 afterward discarded. The echo is made by the 
 same mode of play. If you have five trumps and 
 not ace, k., at the head you lead the penultimate 
 as in plain suits. If your partner has four trumps 
 he makes it manifest, unless he takes the trick, by 
 
Whist Practice. 135 
 
 the throwing of a small one, and after, one smaller. 
 If he takes the trick and then plays a very low- 
 trump you may infer that he had four originally 
 or that he has no more. The proper leads of trumps 
 have been given. Should you lead a low trump 
 through k. or qu., turned on your left, and your 
 partner takes with kn. or 10, having but one more, 
 he may not return the lead. You then have it at 
 option upon obtaining the lead in a plain suit, of 
 playing again either through the turned trump or 
 of attempting to take it. 
 
 "If your partner leads a certain card you are 
 justified in finessing deeply, or if he leads from 
 desperation." How are you to know that he leads 
 from " desperation " ? And what has desperation 
 to do with whist ? The cards are to be played as 
 well as the player knows how to play them, at any 
 and all stages of the game. You cannot deal a 
 hand to a good player which he will not consist- 
 ently play from first to last. 
 
 No man takes up twice the same hand, perhaps 
 never takes two hands that have close resemblance 
 to each other, save only in the numbers of the cards 
 
136 American Whist. 
 
 that form the respective suits. Leads may be or- 
 dained for him, but by and by, as the hand is being 
 played, there comes a choice between what is most 
 proper to be thrown. The good player is conspic- 
 uous here, and his action must be read and under- 
 stood by his partner. What made Deschapelles 
 " the finest whist-player beyond any comparison the 
 world has ever seen " ? The doing of those strange 
 deeds of finesse, to the depths of which no book 
 logic can reach. His was a brilliant, daring game. 
 As the position of the cards developed, he planned 
 for their fall. The platitude of an ordered game was 
 not for him. Let us have an illustration. Lecon., 
 p. 22: "Seven rounds w^ere played. It was his 
 lead, and he held tierce to a king in clubs, the 7 of 
 spades, the queen of diamonds, and the last trump, 
 a small heart. He must have all the tricks. The 
 king of diamonds was with his adversary. The 
 king and queen of spades had both been played 
 and made by his left-hand opponent. The ten 
 and another diamond were with his partner. Four 
 spades were out, but not any sure intimation of 
 their whereabout. Clubs had been played but 
 once, and the ten had taken the trick. The book- 
 player, if indeed in his monotonous following out 
 of suits he could have arrived at such a crisis, 
 would play the knave of clubs, and if his partner 
 
Whist Practice. 137 
 
 played properly lie would have won the game. 
 But Deschapelles threw the trump. On it his 
 partner, who saw that the club sequence was the 
 cause, played the ace of clubs, and Deschapelles 
 read the reserved tenace in his hand. He led the 
 spade, which was taken, and the ace returned by 
 his partner. Upon that he threw the queen of 
 diamonds, and to the four of clubs next led he 
 played the knave, and then the king and queen." 
 
 It is the manner of play to which we call atten- 
 tion. Men must remember and must plan, who 
 play with such as Deschapelles. The details of 
 whist are not microscopic but kaleidoscopic, and 
 the illimitable changes must be noted as they go. 
 A sketch of one of Deschapelles' beginnings fol- 
 lows. He held : — 
 
 Ace, king, 4, 3, diamonds. 
 King, queen, 8, 6, clubs. 
 Ace, 7, 4, 3, 2, spades. 
 
 10 of hearts turned to his right. 
 
 He led the king of diamonds, which took ; then 
 the king of clubs, which took ; then ace of spades 
 on which his partner threw the king, and Descha- 
 pelles at once followed with the 3. Where is Mr. 
 Pole with his " theory " ? What shall " Cavendish" 
 and "J. C." say to this ? "Avoid changing suits.' 1 
 
138 A merican Whist. 
 
 " Never force your partner if weak in trumps," and 
 he had not one. At our imitative English Short 
 Whist Clubs the ace of spades would have been 
 loyally played at first, then, frightened by the fall of 
 the king, the leader would have thrown the king of 
 clubs or king of diamonds, that suit to have been 
 kept uninterrupted so long as he had to lead it. 
 B. (Deschapelles' partner), holding queen, knave, 
 and ten of spades, took with the 10 and led a trump. 
 Three points were required and made, the last trick 
 taken by the queen of clubs. There is more of life 
 and interest in such a game than in an hundred 
 that plod on with three cards in succession of a suit 
 until it is exhausted, and the thirteenth held to 
 come in after the trumps are out. 
 
 It would seem by the tenor of the foreign books 
 that in many assemblages, a man who knows lit- 
 tle or nothing of the play may "cut in" with 
 good players and insist upon being one of four. It 
 would also seem that no objection is made, or per- 
 haps can be made, to his course. Such an one, we* 
 should think, must be ready to brave unhappiness, 
 if we are to believe the stories of the manner of 
 reception with which the individual meets. We 
 are led to think that, as his money is as good as 
 
Whist Practice. 139 
 
 any one's, he is let in to take the chances of losing 
 it, and that in order to keep it on the one side, or 
 to get it on the other, all sorts of devices and tricks 
 with the cards are justifiable. 
 
 " When, however, the partner is "unobservant, the 
 rules should be systematically violated, as one of the 
 best means of mystifying the adversaries." 
 
 Standard Whist permits no such foolery with 
 principle. The game that tolerates such departure 
 from rectitude is not for us to play. 
 
 To the practice of " calling,'' objection has been 
 made because it is said to be a signal so definite. 
 It is no more so than many others. Whist is cards 
 at conversation : they speak ; not the players, except 
 through them. When an ace is thrown away, it 
 says : " The king and command remain." When a 
 knave is thrown second, it says : " The queen wants 
 the next trick, if you take me." The call and the 
 echo are proper plays, informatory to all, to be 
 obeyed by one party and resisted by the other. 
 The call is easily learned, and is more common in 
 practice than many whist signals. It is more 
 abused than many. Some parties in its use can 
 not avoid, as it would seem, accompanying the 
 
1 40 A merican Whist. 
 
 making it with an earnestness not attendant upon 
 any other play. All this is wrong. The partner 
 sees, and knows, and remembers what is played 
 quietly ; the better the partner, the less necessity 
 for affronting his common sense. The call is made 
 not only at the beginning of the play of the hand 
 by the fall of an unnecessarily high card among 
 the lower ones, and then a lower, but it may be 
 made at any time during the hand, and by cards 
 of any denomination. The qu. and then the kn. 
 upon a lead, is a call, as well as the 3 and then 
 the 2 ; and the discard is equally effective. A 5 
 thrown away, and then a 4, is a definite call or 
 echo. You signal in one suit for the play of 
 another. Certainly, for if it was that suit which 
 you wanted, you are playing it now, and may 
 throw what card you please. You ask for trumps, 
 having many and wanting advantage. Your ad- 
 versaries are not deceived. It is a signal that 
 requires two rounds to complete. You read other 
 signs in single plays. If you play a k., and change 
 the suit, the inference is you have ace and kn. If 
 you, second hand, have a knave and 5, you throw 
 the kn., hoping that the leader will change his suit 
 from k. led. The playing of a high card in such 
 manner, and afterward the lower card, gave rise to 
 the general admission of the trump-call tactics.* 
 
 * See Preface to Sixth Edition, M. 
 
Whist Practice. 141 
 
 You should practice sorting your hand quickly so as 
 to be ready for the lead, and to have formed some 
 estimate of the value of your hand before the first card 
 is led. By forming an estimate of your hand, I mean 
 that you should note how many tricks you are almost 
 certain to win, how many tricks you may possibly win, 
 then having noted the score of your adversaries and 
 your own score, you know whether you can save the 
 game in your own hand. If you cannot do so, you 
 must remember how many tricks you require from your 
 partner to save the game between you. If you are cer- 
 tain that you can save the game you may run some risk 
 to win it, but you must be most cautious, as the state 
 of the score alters the style of the play. — Dratson. 
 
 Your partner's hand and your own are to be played 
 in common, as near as may be, and if you have not 
 strength to maintain independence, to ascertain 
 how you can be of service to him is of the first 
 importance. Let us take an example to ascertain 
 what would be the value in the regard of a good 
 player, of a hand easily condemned as worthless by 
 those who must hold high cards in order to have 
 their interest enlisted. The score was 6 to 6. D. 
 dealt, and turned 9 of clubs. A.'s hand was 10, 8 
 6, 5, 2, hearts ; 7, 4, 3, spades ; 4, 2, diamonds ; kn., 
 10, 8, clubs. A. led properly the penultimate of 
 hearts. B. took with qu., and led the 5 of cli 
 D. played 7, A. 8, C. 2. A. led kn. clubs, C 
 
142 American Whist. 
 
 B. k, D. 9. B. ace clubs, D. qu., A. 10, 0. re- 
 nounced. B. led ace hearts, and his two trumps 
 gave him the odd card. B. knew that A. led from 
 his long suit, and dared finesse, but not return the 
 ace. He also knew by A.'s play of 8, then kn., 
 that A. had no higher than kn. in trumps, and that 
 he held the 10. If A. had argued, "I have no 
 cards that are worth anything, it matters not what 
 I play," he would have found the diamonds on the 
 one hand, and spades on the other. D. would have 
 thrown his last heart on his partner's play of spades 
 and trumped the heart led him for that purpose, 
 making the odd trick and game, in place of losing 
 both. 
 
 A. and B., 6 ; C. and D., 5. Eight rounds have 
 been played. C. and D. have six tricks. A. is to 
 lead from 7 and 6 of spades, 10 of hearts, and 9 and 
 4 diamonds, trumps, Now, as A. says, C. and D. 
 have all the liick, and it can make no difference to 
 him, A., which of all these cards he plays. There 
 is a higher trump than his somewhere, and the 
 sooner he gets rid of these small cards and has a 
 new deal, in which he hopes for aces and kings, the 
 better. Of course this game is lost with his little 
 cards ; he can do nothing to prevent it. By the 
 score, if he consulted it, he would see that he 
 
Wkist Practice. 143 
 
 wants all these tricks to make the game, but he 
 does not know that by his proper play he makes a 
 coup far more complimentary to himself and his 
 partner than was effected by the taking by high 
 cards of his two earlier tricks. He leads the 4 of 
 diamonds to call down the last trump ; then he 
 can trump a club if it is led to him, and that may 
 keep the others from going out ; and, as he says, is 
 all there is in this hand. He is surprised to see 
 his partner's 10 fall on the 4. His partner leads 
 ace of spades, and then a club, that is trumped by 
 A ; who then leads the other spade. The k. is 
 played by C, who leads ace of hearts, and the 
 game is won. 
 
 Now, let us put the cards in master hands. A., 
 knowing that B. played kn. second when led as C.'s 
 best suit after clubs had run, plays the 7 of 
 spades. B. finesses qu., and returns ace, taking k., 
 then leads a club, which A. trumps, knowing, as he 
 should know, that B. held the other trump, and no 
 heart, A. leads the 10 of hearts ; B. trumps, and 
 returns club, but not the best, which A. takes with 
 last trump, and A and B. win every trick and the 
 game. 
 
 Be very careful about your second or third hand 
 play, when long tenaces are over you at your left 
 
144 A merican Whist. 
 
 Thus, holding qu., 10, 4, play 10 and draw k. If 
 fourth player holds ace, k, and 8, and is obliged to 
 lead, you make the qu. If you play the 4, you 
 lose all the tricks, 
 
 Look over good players ; but, though in liberal 
 Clubs the liberty may be accorded you to see all, 
 see hut one hand during a game. You cannot trace 
 the action of a single player, if curiosity to know 
 more of the condition of things than he does, in- 
 duces you to ascertain the situation of other cards 
 than he holds. The law that governs a proper table 
 will not allow you to see but one hand, for the 
 reason that bystanders, passing about behind the 
 players, may confuse their game. Watch the one 
 play, and try to understand the reason for it in 
 detail. If you do not understand, ask the player, 
 after the hand is played, to explain. There is no 
 good player who will not gladly give explanation. 
 
 The following specimen of fraudulent intention, 
 " Cavendish" styles " a very clever thing." "A. once 
 did another very clever thing. He became a mem- 
 ber of a play Club where there was a by-law that if 
 honors are scored in error the adversaries may take 
 
Whist Practice. 145 
 
 them down and add them to their own score. As 
 a new-comer he was courteously informed of the 
 existence of this by-law. ' Excellent rule,' said 
 A., ' capital rule/ and sat down to play. After a 
 hand or two his score being three to love he lost 
 two by cards and observed smiling to his partner, 
 1 Lucky ! we just saved it/ The adversaries con- 
 cluding from the remark 'just saved it 1 that they 
 were four, marked four without further consider- 
 ation. But as soon as the score w T as marked, A. 
 innocently inquired, ' were you four by cards that 
 time ? ' ' No, two by cards and two by honors.' 
 1 Honors were divided/ said A. blandly, and so 
 they w^ere. ' I think you have a very proper rule 
 here that under these circumstances we score two. 
 Partner, mark a double/ " A pleasant little cheat 
 worthy of old Fagin. They call this playing whist 
 in London. 
 
 It was at a practice game, and all were privil 
 to talk. A. took up five cards of a suit, four of a 
 second suit, and four of a third. He had not a 
 trump, and immediately played one of the five 
 suit. " Why did you throw that card ? w a friend 
 asked. " Because it is according to rule/' said A. 
 "But you have an odd trick to gain." "Yes, I 
 
 10 
 
146 American Whist. 
 
 • • ' ■■ » 
 
 know that, but I must take the risk as to how the 
 cards lie." " Very well ; I always take my own 
 hand into consideration," said the other. A. had 
 led from a major tenace, made not a trick in the 
 suit, and the opponents won the card. A. per- 
 sisted that he had played correctly ; the rule said, 
 " Lead from your longest suit," and he always did 
 so, win or lose. His friend remarked, " It is an 
 easy game to play." The issue of the hand by 
 another lead was shown to be the gain of the 
 trick, but A. insisted that it was better to lose by 
 rule than to win by calculation. 
 
 Be punctual to the instant in an appointment for 
 whist. Eemember, if you are fifteen minutes late, 
 it is not the loss of that time for which you must 
 apologize, but for the loss of the forty-five minutes 
 of the time of three other men. 
 
 Whoever would like to talk but a little even, at 
 a whist table, must recollect that whatever he 
 would say can be reserved until after the hand is 
 played, and that though one only speaks, three 
 hear, and each of the three must be more or less 
 disconcerted in his own plan of calculation. 
 
Whist Practice. 147 
 
 As to the time within proper limits (unless such 
 time has been set), for the breaking up of a party, 
 courtesy gives to the losers of the largest number 
 of rubbers, the right of decision. 
 
 You cannot play whist hurriedly. You have 
 too much work on hand. Haste makes waste. 
 You must take time for thought of all that is 
 being done. Play deliberately, endeavoring to use 
 no more time over one situation than over another, 
 for hesitation, at one time more than another, is 
 unwarrantable. 
 
 Hesitation exposes the hands, and directs the oppo- 
 nents. — Howland. 
 
 When trumps are out, or all that are in play are 
 in your partner's hand or your own, it is known 
 that the play of an unnecessarily high card, and 
 then a lower one, does not mean a call for trumps, 
 but it does mean that the party so playing has 
 good cards in that suit. For instance, hearts 
 trumps, and exhausted ; your partner plays k. of 
 clubs, you 7. He follows with ace, you play 6 ; he 
 knows you have the qtL 
 
148 American Whist. 
 
 In shuffling, one of the best modes, usually 
 called the whist-shuffle, is to throw a part of the 
 cards from the right hand among the rest of the 
 pack in the left. Care should be taken that none 
 of their faces should be seen. Never stand a part 
 of the pack upon the table and force the rest down 
 into it ; by so doing you cut or turn the edges. 
 
 In dealing, keep tire cards level in the hand 
 from which you deal, and point them downward 
 when thrown. 
 
 Some so-called players, at Clubs where talking is 
 allowed, ask, " What is trumps ? " Such men, as 
 well as those who habitually play out of turn, re- 
 voke, or expose cards, want to see the last trick, 
 and to.know " Who dealt ? " should go home and 
 study — the cards placed before them, and the 
 books of direction within easy call. They should 
 not belong to a Whist Club as players, any more 
 than boys who cannot remember the multiplication 
 table should serve as auditors in the settlement of 
 arithmetical accounts. 
 
Whist Practice. 149 
 
 "What should he done when you have a 'poor 
 player' for a partner?" ask "Cavendish/ 1 Clay, 
 Pole, Walker, and all the rest. " Play false 
 cards, deceive yourself, deceive your adversaries,'' 
 answer " Cavendish," Clay, Pole, Walker, and 
 all the rest. In London do you call that play- 
 ing whist ? Do you not think it would be more 
 manly to play true cards, to preserve your honor, 
 and not to do trickery ? Would it not be well to 
 say to this poor partner, " We will teach you if you 
 will study ; if you will not learn, you must not in- 
 terfere with our game." 
 
 Some of the objections that we make to Short 
 Whist and its practice are as follows, viz. : — 
 
 It is a short game and is played for money. 
 
 Talking is allowed at the table. 
 
 " Honors " are counted. 
 
 It advises rules that assist a short game to its 
 completion. 
 
 It is largely indebted to chance rather than skill 
 for results. 
 
 A lucky hand may successfully oppose a hand 
 well played. 
 
 There is constant trouble and dissatisfaction 
 about its laws. 
 
150 American Whist. 
 
 Bystanders are referred to in settlement of diffi- 
 culties. 
 
 Some of the laws are rigorously enforced, as 
 well as they can be understood, among good play- 
 ers, but violated by common consent when a "poor 
 player " sits down with the good players. 
 
 When so-called good players purposely avoid or 
 break a law, as the one concerning revoke, they are 
 not only tolerated but excused in the repetition of 
 the offence. 
 
 Bystanders openly bet upon the game and with 
 the players. 
 
 From the facts of its speed in play, dependence 
 upon luck, value in picture cards, and non-observ- 
 ance of silence, it possesses, as does any other gam- 
 bling game, especial qualifications which do not 
 belong to American or Standard Whist. When 
 used for gaming purposes it is popular, since it 
 owns so many features upon which wagers can be 
 laid, as well as upon the result of game or rubber 
 quickly decided. When played in this country 
 and at Clubs and elsewhere where gaming is not 
 allowed, it has the merit, in common with many 
 other games that are made to contribute to an 
 evening's pleasure, of being conducted in accord- 
 ance with a set of rules which approve its brevity 
 and license for occasional remark; and with or- 
 
Whist Practice. 151 
 
 dinary care and calculation it forms a pleasant 
 amusement, harmless, and in many cases, unprof- 
 itable. If played with the vigor that character- 
 ized the French game an^ the shrewdness which 
 some of the fine English players use, it is incom- 
 parably the best of all the short games at cards. 
 But it must always be borne in mind that it was 
 Long Whist, which for more than a century mo- 
 nopolized the attention of the best of the card-play- 
 ers, and enlisted in its amplitude for calculation, the 
 earnest attention of superior men. For gaming 
 purposes alone it was taken from its high estate, and 
 for gaming purposes alone, it holds its mimic court 
 in Europe. In the olden form, each party had its 
 opportunities in almost every game, to combat with 
 the fortune which in the previous hands the oppo- 
 nents had embraced, and the scale might at any 
 time, by the result of a new deal, be turned against 
 the partial winner. Hand after hand was frequent- 
 ly played before the game was won. " One or two 
 rubbers," says Charles Lamb, " might co-extend in 
 duration with an evening.' , Now 
 
 11 A pert player with his hundred bet " 
 
 may at the very outset of a game throw down his 
 hand and claim the stake. 
 
 There have been improvements and inventions. 
 
152 A merican Whist. 
 
 These apply to Long, better than to Short Whist, 
 because it is the nature of whist to demand time 
 for the settlement of its advantages. What we 
 dislike in Short Whis^when it is ever so fairly 
 offered is, that at the moment of its presentation of 
 attractions for our mental delight, the merest chance 
 may obliterate them all. That is not a game that 
 is not played. 
 
 Formerly all the " honors " must be held and all 
 the tricks but one must be taken, if in one hand a 
 game was won. With but three "honors" and all 
 the tricks, there yet remained a chance for redemp- 
 tion by the adversaries. In modern whist we put 
 aside the " honors " and require that all the tricks 
 must be obtained by one party, who in one hand 
 shall win. This, as nearly as may be, equalizes the 
 games in merit. It is a difficult matter at almost 
 any time to make su.ch a game in one hand, and it 
 should be so. 
 
 I am tempted to quote from a letter from one of 
 the best players in New York City. " What a de- 
 light it is to play American Whist ! No noise, no 
 talk, no contention ! Plain count and common 
 sense. Why, I can think now while I am playing, 
 and, I assure you, I have recently thought to some 
 purpose. C. and D., and B. and myself played five 
 rubbers Saturday afternoon. B. and I won four of 
 
Whist Practice. 153 
 
 them, but it was the hardest work I have done 
 with cards for many a day. What a memory C. 
 lias ! I never knew anything like" it. At dinner 
 after the play, C. said, ( you have beaten us hand- 
 somely, and the game is certainly the finest that 
 can be imagined. No more imitation whist for me, 
 be assured.' I tell you this because C. has been 
 playing at the U — Club occasionally. I think he 
 will play with us hereafter." 
 
 Since the announcement of this book a gentle- 
 man writes from Providence: "I hope that you 
 will not commend the learning of American Whist 
 to people in general, for some people can not hold 
 their tongues. Please don't let these get hold of 
 vour book. American Whist is for solid satisfac- 
 tion, enjoyment unalloyed with prattle, which at 
 any other time than when I am playing whist, I 
 am as foolish as anybody in loving to hear and take 
 part in, but I want to hear a watch tick ten yards 
 off when I am playing whist." 
 
 Mr. Henry Jones of London ("Cavendish") is 
 the inventor of plans, and the acknowledged author 
 and authority for all that is best in English Whist 
 
 Force of circumstances, as we believe, has led him 
 to condone its gambling tendencies and to apolo- 
 
154 A merican Whist. 
 
 gize for many of its errors. He is too great in 
 play and possessed of too much good sense not to 
 see and understand that the American game of 
 whist is the grand game for him to play. He 
 would use other games if money is at stake, and 
 he would gladly know and play one game of skill. 
 He is one of the best, if not the best of the players 
 , in Europe, and of whist he says : — 
 
 " A perfect game ought to excite such an amount of 
 interest that it may be played for its own sake, without 
 needing the stimulus of gambling. " 
 
 And he makes this free confession: — 
 
 "Early in this century the points of the game were 
 altered from ten to five, and calling honors was abol- 
 ished. It is doubtful whether this change was for the 
 better. In the author's opinion Long Whist is a far 
 finer game than Short Whist. Short Whist has, how- 
 ever, taken such a hold that there is no chance of our 
 reverting to the former game." 
 
 There is but one reason given by themselves, why 
 " Cavendish " and all great players in London must 
 sacrifice their honest belief to the prevailing fash- 
 ion. " The new game is found to be so lively, and 
 money changes hands with such increased rapidity, 
 tha,t all the members of the leading Clubs of the day 
 continue to play it" 
 
Whist Practice. 155 
 
 Underplay. 
 
 Properly manipulated, underplay can be made 
 serviceable. But probable success demands keen 
 management. You hold ace, kn., 10, and a small 
 card of a suit led by right-hand opponent. On his 
 5 you play the iO, and it takes the trick. Now, if 
 you are strong in trumps, you may play the small 
 card. You must consider first that your adversary 
 led from four at least. You had four, and there 
 can be but five in the other two hands. But C. 
 has not k. or qu. D. cannot have them both, and 
 you are justified in underplay. If your partner 
 has k. (for C. will not trump his partner's original 
 lead if he has no more of the suit), you, by the 
 aid of your trumps, are to make all the tricks in 
 your adversaries' suit. If it should be that you 
 lose your partners qu. to the k, the other tricks in 
 the suit are yours. This is underplay from second 
 hand. If the lead is made by C, and D. can play 
 no higher than the 9, your lead of the small card 
 
 , vlmost sure to be successful, for C. will not play 
 k. second if he has it; it is his only high card, and 
 he will play an 8 rather, and trust that ace will 
 fall in that round. The closest figuring with refer- 
 ence to position will be requisite for the practice 
 
156 A merican Whist. 
 
 of underplay. Every gain in it is by a coup, and 
 not by common play. It is well sometimes to 
 delay the lead of the suit until you have played a 
 winning card. Then the small card makes for you 
 a proper lead. " J. C." gives an example that may 
 be called an underplay finesse. " You hold the k, 
 with two or more small cards, and are fourth to 
 play. C. has led a small card ; Dt has taken with 
 ace, and returns the lead. You play a small card, 
 and trust to your partner to take the trick. This 
 he is very likely to do, unless original leader hold 
 both qu. and kn., for, believing the k. to be behind 
 him, he may finesse a 10 or 9 rather than play his 
 qu. to what appears certain destruction." 
 
 False Caiuds. 
 
 We do not admit .that there is a valid excuse for 
 the play of false cards. If you hold qu., kn., and 
 a small card of a suit, of which your right-hand 
 opponent leads the 10, and you argue that qu. 
 and kn. in your hand are equal cards, and play the 
 qu., you have deceived your partner, whom you 
 lead to suppose that you have but one card 
 beside qu. played, or that you have k. and another. 
 You have certainly told him that you have not the 
 kn. The English writers have uniformly con- 
 
Whist Practice. 157 
 
 demned the practice of false card play, only excus- 
 ing it when done to mystify an opponent, the part- 
 ner not being well enough informed in the game to 
 be deceived by the action. We do not understand 
 in what manner the English players expect to 
 teach their " poor partners " the correct game while 
 they all the while practice upon their credulity. 
 Our plan is not to play false cards, and not to 
 deceive anybody. The more honestly the game is 
 played by all, the more satisfaction is understood by 
 all. A victory is shorn of its laurels unless it is 
 fairly won. 
 
 The Eleventh, 
 
 So called because it is the best of three remaining 
 of the suit, is sometimes a power, if you know that 
 the other two are divided between the opponents. 
 You give your partner opportunity for discard, and 
 so learn what to lead him, or what to play to 
 throw the lead. If the two are with left-hand 
 opponent, you may force a trump from the right, 
 who must lead to your partner's tenace. If the 
 two are on the right, you compel a trump from the 
 left, and your partner may discard or over-trump, as 
 suits his hand. In case he discards, you have the 
 last play on the next lead ; and if instead he takes 
 the trick, he does so for the advantage of the lead. 
 
158 A merican Whist. 
 
 The Twelfth. 
 
 This is not necessarily the best of two remaining 
 of a suit. When it is the best, and you know D. 
 has the smaller, the twelfth will of course win, 
 unless trumped by C. But you run a risk in play- 
 ing this card, of a discard from C, that may very 
 much influence your next lead. For this reason 
 much care must be taken in the management of 
 the twelfth. Drayson gives a fitting example. 
 You hold ace, qu., and two small spades, and the 
 twelfth heart. C. has two small spades, ace, k., 
 and 2 of clubs. B. has three spades, qu., and small 
 club. D. four spades and thirteenth heart. Clubs 
 trumps. B. leads small spade, you win with qu. 
 You lead twelfth heart. C. throws spade. You 
 then play ace spades, which C. wins with small 
 club, and makes k. and ace ; three tricks to your 
 two. Now, playing carefully, you reverse this, 
 winning three to C.'s two. Play ace of spades, 
 then twelfth heart, and it or your partner's qu. 
 must make. Winning cards should be played 
 before the twelfth card, if there is possibility of 
 discard to your detriment. When the twelfth is 
 the lower of the two, and the thirteenth to your 
 left, the object of playing it is to throw the lead or 
 make your partner play a high trump. He has 
 
Whist Practice. 159 
 
 kept the run of the cards, and will know if you 
 have a tenace. Holding the twelfth, while B. has 
 thirteenth, is, of course, an argument for having all 
 trumps out before playing it. 
 
 The Thirteenth. 
 
 The marked intention of the play of the thir- 
 teenth is to draw from your partner his best trump. 
 He will know if this is your purpose, if there are 
 several high trumps in, and will see that you do 
 not want your best trump to fall with his. The 
 thirteenth is played also to throw the lead for 
 benefit of leader or partner. The partner must 
 judge of the intent, and having seen what was 
 played of his partner's best suit, may, if C. trumps, 
 discard and make A.'s tenace ; or, having one of his 
 own, if C. does not trump, let D. take and lead. 
 The thirteenth is not the best card to play, if 
 trumps are against you, for you give the adversa- 
 ries their lead. Nor is it best, if you have suit of 
 whicli your partner holds best card, unless you 
 know that suit must be led him by adversary. 
 The twelfth and thirteenth cards, therefore, are 
 important to play, or withhold, according to cir- 
 cumstances, and good players endeavor to make 
 them of service. 
 
1 60 A merican Whist. 
 
 Finesse. 
 
 A chapter on finesse can be addressed only to 
 experienced players, since it deals only with the 
 highest order of play. Finesse belongs not alone 
 to the third-hand player, but to the second and 
 fourth as well. It is because of the overlooking 
 of opportunity for fine play that many a hand in 
 whist degenerates into routine. The significance 
 of finesse is expressed when two good players, as 
 partners, manage peculiar situations. The finesse 
 proper and the finesse speculative are nearer alike 
 than are any other two forms of this strategy. A. 
 leads 5 of spades, B., having ace and qu., plays qu. 
 This is finesse proper. A. leads 10 of diamonds, 
 and B., holding ace and qu., passes. This is finesse 
 speculative. These two forms the ordinary player 
 understands as readily as he reads the trump signal 
 or the lead of k, then ace. The severer orders of 
 finesse practiced by the good players are : First, the 
 finesse obligatory. A. holds good diamonds, trumps, 
 and k, 9, 6, 3 of clubs, and leads the 3. B. takes 
 with qu. and returns the 8. A. knows it is B.'s 
 best card, and that the ace and kn. or 10, if D. 
 plays a low one, are on his left (if D. renounces, 
 they are all with C), but he must pass the 8, or 
 not have a trick in the suit, or the card of re- 
 
Whist Practice. 161 
 
 entry. Second, the returned finesse, on the lead 
 of the left-hand adversary that may continue to 
 the peril of several tricks, and, under some cir- 
 cumstances, on the lead of either adversary, when 
 it may be assisted by underplay. A. passes D.'s 
 10 led, and, by-and-by, leads, through C.'s minor 
 tenace, the same suit, to be taken by B., and, 
 whether C. afterward leads back to D., or B. leads 
 through D., the return, unless against certainty, 
 gains the trick and the lead. Third, the finesse 
 on the partner, to result in the command of a 
 suit, or in the attempt to make a trick, or in the 
 establishment of a suit in which he has strength. 
 Fourth, the finesse by trial. If D. leads 5, and 
 A. plays 9, and C. ace, when D. next leads 7, A. 
 can safely play 10, retaining the qu. or k. 
 
 Your partner having made a successful finesse 
 in a suit of which he holds high cards, will 
 not return that suit, thus : A. has led 8, C. has 
 played 6, B. takes with kn., and retains ace and 
 qu. Of course the k. is not with D., and if B. has 
 good trumps, he is to make two more tricks in 
 the plain suit. 
 
 Finesse is often deep to save a game, and espe- 
 cially in trumps near the close of the hand. If 
 trumps are not played until late, the result of their 
 proper use in the hands of good players is soine- 
 
 ii 
 
1 6 2 A merican Whist. 
 
 times startling. An ordinary player, hurrying the 
 play, will disconcert schemes which he does not 
 know how to plan or to second. 
 
 The following up of the advantage of the finesse 
 made by B. is incumbent upon A. If B. takes a 
 trick in trumps third hand with the 10, holding 
 ace, kn., he should not lead the trump in return, 
 but a card of a suit for A. to take, who should 
 again lead trumps. Finesse is also instrumental 
 in gaining two tricks by the relinquishment of 
 one; and it is made effective when with several 
 minor cards in play, and the situation of one or 
 two is doubtful, third player, holding, it may be, 
 qu., 10, 7, plays the 7 on the lead of the 2. 
 
 The knowledge of a previous discard oftentimes 
 directs successful finesse. Second or fourth hand, 
 holding good trumps and good cards in a suit led, 
 may make a large score, if he understands the 
 return finesse, while a player bent only on taking 
 each trick as it seems possible, would make a loss. 
 
 There is no part of whist so inexplainable as 
 the varieties of finesse to the ordinary player, who, 
 carrying but the lesser considerations of the hand 
 in memory, will innocently interfere with the 
 action of a finished player, and never understand 
 in what manner superior skill would have made 
 the cards which he holds of great service. 
 
Whist Practice. 163 
 
 It is not essential that, alter the finesse obliga- 
 tory has drawn the largest card from fourth hand, 
 third hand should hasten the getting out of trumps ; 
 his partner will take in the situation, and is as- 
 sisted in his count of the hand. 
 
 Finesse may be made by the lead or by any 
 other play, and at any stage of the hand.* The 
 cards are conversational, and, by the will of expe- 
 rienced players, they are made to speak a various 
 language. There are occasions upon which it is 
 no more a matter of propriety that the first card 
 led should designate four or five of the suit in 
 hand, than that a man, who would hold common 
 converse, should first cry out in his loudest key. 
 Certain set leads are easily learned, and m ust be 
 learned and appropriated by all ordinary, and at 
 times by all good players, but these are made upon 
 proviso. If certain named cards are held, they 
 may be thrown, according to written regulation. 
 But when combinations that cannot be anticipated 
 are held, and the score is to be considered, the rule 
 of lead or follow is of the brain of the player. And 
 the interpretation of it is of the brain of the part- 
 ner. " J. C." has said that the worst fault of which 
 he knew in a whist-player was the playing for his 
 own hand alone. But he said thai a dozen years 
 
 \ and with all the sad detail of a freshly con- 
 
 * See Preface to Sixth Edition, N. 
 
164 American Whist. 
 
 cocted code of curiosities, called laws, staring him 
 in the face. Certain signs and significations must 
 he given, and given early, in the new short game 
 that was to be ruled into life. Of a much braver 
 nature was he, who, having invented the call, re- 
 gretted such manifestation of his ingenuity, since 
 its practice gave less scope to his own powers of 
 calculation. 
 
 The lead may be a finesse at a nice point of the 
 game, A. has 9, 7, 5, 4, spades • the 8, 6, and 3 
 are in play, their location indefinite, save that B. 
 has led 10, and qu., k., and ace had fallen. The 
 kn. had been thrown away, perhaps the beginning 
 of a call, by C, as he afterward led trumps, but 
 probably his only spade, and the 2 had been played 
 by D. on trumps led. It is known that C. and D. 
 have all the best clubs, and that B. has low clubs. 
 Diamonds, trumps, are exhausted. It is A.'s lead, 
 and he wants all the tricks. He places the 8 and 
 another spade in his partner's hand. There is no 
 alternative ; he must lead the 7. If 0. renounces, 
 and B., holding 8 and 3, or 8 and 6, made the error 
 of throwing the lowest on A.'s 9, should he lead 
 that card, A. and B. can have but one more trick. 
 A. must insure the lead, whether B. plays the 3 
 or 6, or takes with the 8, and returns the 3 or 6. 
 The finesse is against the possible 8 in D.'s hand 
 
Whist Practice. 165 
 
 The fine play allowable in finesse by the latitude 
 of American Whist is all unknown to the player 
 of a diminutive game, who must quickly count 
 tricks and stand in fear of " honors." Still, it is 
 evident that the advantage to be derived by ingen- 
 ious plans is understood by scientific players only. 
 Constantly the occasions offer for the exercise of 
 calculation, and as constantly would the well-ar- 
 ranged schemes be frustrated by an unlearned 
 partner. That is why American* Whist must be 
 studied to the gaining of information beyond what 
 any other game can demand. To a fine player of 
 finesse the language of the cards thrown by his 
 equally good partner is in disguise to an adversary, 
 but capable of interpretation by himself, thus : — 
 
 A., B. 6. C, D. 3. K. c. turned by D. C. 
 holds ace, qu., 10, 8, 4 h., ace and three small 
 clubs, ace, k. s., and two small diamonds. A. leads 
 2 of hearts. C. infers that A. has three trumps, 
 even suits, k. or kn. h., and two others, and sees that 
 if D. can make one trick beside the k. a, he may 
 win the game. C. plays 8 of hearts, reserving 
 double tenace. A quick whist would play qu., but 
 if the k. and another are with B., and kn. and two 
 others with A., both k. and kn. will make. C. 
 knows that k., kn., and 9 are not in A's hand, and 
 that A. led from four. If B. takes the 8, and re- 
 
1 6 6 A merican Whist. 
 
 turns the suit, 0. must have command. B. takes 
 with k, and plays spade. C. takes with k., and 
 leads low club. D. takes with qu., and, holding k. 
 and 4, instead of returning trump, remembering 
 the fall of the cards, sees A's probable finesse for 
 the game, and leads 9 of hearts. C. takes with 10, 
 finessing against possible kn. in B.'s hand, leads 
 another club, and 0. and D. win ten tricks and the 
 game. 
 
 Third and fourth hand finesse is sometimes by 
 
 *one player, in a single hand, finely played. Score, 
 
 6 to 6. C. turns ace of clubs. A. holds ace, qu., 
 
 9, 7, 6, 2, hearts, k., qu., 5, 3, clubs, 8, 7, 5, diamonds. 
 B. leads 10 hearts. This must be from k, kn., or 
 from three cards. D. plays 5, A. throws 6, and C. 
 takes with k. C, with major tenace in spades, and 
 suspecting call of D., leads 4 clubs, holding ace 
 
 10, and 8 ; B. 2, D. 9, and A. 3. D. returns the 
 7, on which C. throws ace and returns 8 ; A. takes 
 with qu., draws the last trump, and makes five 
 tricks in hearts, the odd trick and game. 
 
 The lead of master cards, or of singletons, is not 
 systematic, since sometimes neither are held. 
 
 There are but two systems in whist. The one 
 is the long-suit play, and everything is to be sacri- 
 ficed to its demand. The other is of situation, 
 admitting all modes of brilliancy in play, and 
 
Whist Practice. 167 
 
 chief among them the practice of finesse in variety. 
 The one peremptorily orders your play; the other 
 would take counsel of your judgment. The one 
 proposes instantcr to take your partner (and, per 
 consequence, your opponents) into your confidence. 
 The other would have partner and adversary con- 
 sider your plans as you see fit to unfold them. 
 The one is short and simple, handy for hazard and 
 pleasant for pastime. The other is long and intri- 
 cate, ingenious in incident, and fruitful in finesse. 
 
 Trumps. 
 
 Trumps, the artillery of the hand, are not re- 
 quired, as a general rule, to do service as often or 
 as regularly in the early part of an engagement by 
 American as by English Whist. They act as our 
 reserve, in many instances. By the foreign regu- 
 lation, a player holding five, leads a trump at the 
 first opportunity, or calls for one to be led by his 
 partner. Holding six, he leads trump without 
 allowing any consideration but the performance of 
 that duty to possess him. Having drawn the 
 trumps from his opponents' and partners hands, if 
 he or his partner have good cards to make, they 
 can be made; if they have not, the making of the 
 adversaries' good cards may, in part, at least, be 
 
• 
 
 1 6 8 A merican Whist. 
 
 prevented. In the first place, save that it decides a 
 short game earlier, bringing out the " honors," and 
 making useless further strife, the play of trumps, at 
 the outset, from five or more, does not, in a major- 
 ity of cases, win more tricks for the player than 
 will their proper husbandry and use. If you will 
 play twenty or fifty hands in duplicate, you may 
 ascertain this fact. In the second place, unless 
 there is reason for such action, it is very cheap 
 whist that only takes advantage of such manner of 
 fortune, and always in the same set way. In the 
 third place, the making of a long suit is not the 
 only important consideration in the tactics of a 
 first-class player. 
 
 It does not seem like a generous employment of 
 power. If the gain that is made by this dog-in- 
 the-manger policy can be assured in no other way, 
 it is justifiable; but as trumps must take tricks, 
 unless themselves taken by larger trumps, it is 
 considered politic in our game to ascertain for what 
 purpose we are to expend them, before putting 
 them to use. Merely to take away all the oppo- 
 nents' trumps, if it can be done, and then to throw 
 a card at risk of partner's holding the best ; or to 
 draw the trumps, and after, make some high cards 
 on a long suit, is legitimate and probably very 
 satisfactory to those who are always striving to 
 
Whist Practice. 169 
 
 bring about such a result. But we think that we 
 see something better and more creditable to accom- 
 plish. " Cavendish " says : — 
 
 " It cannot be too strongly impressed that the pri- 
 mary use of strength in trumps is to draw the adversa- 
 ries' trumps for the bringing in of your own or your 
 partner's long suit. With great strength in trumps, 
 five or more, you may proceed at once to disarm the 
 opponents, and lead trumps, without waiting to estab- 
 lish a suit." 
 
 If the largest number of tricks can be made 
 by at once leading trumps, that is the way to play. 
 We object, however, to the advice that makes the 
 primary use of trumps subservient to the most 
 hostile intention. Adversaries at w T hist are not 
 enemies. We would fairly win or fairly lose, at 
 any rate we will fairly play. The first use of 
 trumps is their employ to make our tricks. If we 
 can make them serviceable to that end, although 
 we lose a trick or more to our opponents' trumps, 
 and we by skilful play make more than we have 
 lost, and it may be more than in a defiant game 
 we should have made, we have used our trumps to 
 best advantage. We confess that there are few 
 coups that please us more than those which put 
 their veto on an ambitious lead of trumps by a 
 
1 70 American Whist. 
 
 player holding four or five. Game XXXVIII. in 
 "Cavendish/' illustrated p. 214, in which B. holds 
 the game (he wants but one point) in his own 
 hand, and throws it away, is an impressive exam- 
 ple. It is the plan of the English player to draw 
 trumps and make the long suit. It may be said 
 to be his only plan. Supposing that this was the 
 best part of whist, and worthy of all acceptation, 
 which is not true, did it ever occur to you that the 
 attempts to bring in long suits were generally foiled 
 by able players ? If you will think a moment, you 
 will remember that each player always has a long 
 suit, and you must be aware that each player can- 
 not make it ; in fact, that only one of four can be 
 made, and not that one sometimes is rendered 
 available. While you are endeavoring to arrange 
 for the trumps to fall to please you, the adversaries 
 are quite equally determined to hinder such result, 
 and if so be that the power is in their hands, 
 you may have lost all chance for making good use 
 of the trumps that you hold. A thirteenth card is 
 sometimes made, but not very often, and the long- 
 est suit held at the table, as a general rule, is thrown 
 away by piecemeal, very reluctantly, but very uni- 
 formly. 
 
 "Cavendish" gives us thirty-eight* illustrated 
 hands, and the long-suit system in play is, in them 
 
 * In the last edition there are thirty-nine. 
 
}\ 7 hist Practice. 171 
 
 all, scrupulously intended to be carried out. But 
 the longest suits that are held by the respective 
 players are not the successful ones. Even when 
 assisted by high trumps they do not always win 
 the tricks. It is true that each game is laid out 
 for a purpose, and the play conforms to an illustra- 
 tion, still the long-suit plan is constantly adhered 
 to. The games are not well played in many par- 
 ticulars. It is not of that, however, that we now 
 speak, but only that very many of the attempts to 
 bring in the longest suit fail utterly. In hand VI., 
 Z. has six spades, and does not make one of them. 
 In hand VII., A. has seven spades, and does not 
 make one of them. In hand VIII., A. holds five 
 trumps and six diamonds, and makes but one dia- 
 mond. In hand IX., Z. has six diamonds, and does 
 not make one of them. In hand XII., B. has six 
 clubs (trumps) to help six hearts of his partner, 
 and loses the odd trick. In hand XIX., A. has 
 sexieme to k. in clubs, and by the play makes two, 
 although, had Z. played properly, he could have 
 made but one of them. In hand XX., B. has six 
 clubs, and makes but one of them. In hand XXL, 
 Z. has five hearts, and does not make one of 
 them, although he has quart to k. and two more 
 diamonds (trumps). In hand XXII, A., with eight 
 hearts and seven trumps, headed with ace and king, 
 
172 American Whist. 
 
 in his own and partner's hand, makes but a single 
 heart. In hand XXVIII., Z. has six trumps 
 and his partner two, the k. and qu., and five clubs, 
 and does not make one of the clubs. In hand 
 XXXI., B. makes three tricks out of six hearts, but 
 it is because of Y.'s bad play. In hand XXXIII., 
 A. has six spades and with five of the best trumps 
 in his partner's hand, and k. and another in his 
 own, does not make one of the spades. In hand 
 XXXIV., B., with seven clubs, does not make one 
 of them. In hand XXXV, A., with six diamonds, 
 makes but one of them, and his partner, with six 
 spades, does not make one of them; and in hand 
 XXXVI., A. has five hearts, and B. six diamonds, 
 neither of which take a trick. What was sacrificed 
 in these different hands by the rigid conformity to 
 system, which the rank and situation of the cards 
 did not warrant, will be shown by the play of the 
 same hands in illustrated American Whist. 
 
 It may be said, some of these were suits of small 
 cards, and could not win ; true, and some of them 
 were master cards and did not win. It may also 
 be said that the opposing parties made some of 
 their long suits; but the longest suits that were 
 held in these hands did not make. We only care 
 to show that the attempts to make long suits fail 
 as frequently as they succeed, that it takes two 
 
Whist Practice. 173 
 
 long suits to make one successful, and that not 
 always can one be established by the aid of the 
 other, and, in brief, that there are other matters to 
 be considered of as much consequence in playing 
 whist as the bringing in of long suits. The pecul- 
 iar long-suit play belongs more to Short Whist than 
 to Standard Whist, as the brevity of the game needs 
 swifter information from partner to partner. We 
 are not unwilling to use more ingenuity than Short 
 Whist demands, to draw inferences from deeper 
 and better play and plans than such as can be too 
 quickly revealed, and to be rewarded by results 
 that we have earned by management. If it is best 
 instantly to say to our partner by playing k. of 
 diamonds that we have ace or qu., very well ; but 
 if we do not care to announce to him that we have 
 seven or eight trumps, that is also well When 
 the hand is played, place the cards, and by the early- 
 communication plan make one more trick than we 
 have made, and you shall have credit for better 
 play than ours. If men play whist for the rattling 
 fun of the thing, A. may throw a spade, then C. a 
 heart, then B. a club, then D. a diamond ; each 
 swiftly announcing, " I have four or five of that 
 suit ; " but if they play it to elicit the beauty of 
 the game of combinations, they may at certain times 
 make necessity for partner and opponent to use 
 
i74 American Whist 
 
 their sharpest wit for the unravelling of their pur- 
 poses. At a practice-game of experts, B. asked : 
 " Why did you play the kn., the best of three, when 
 you knew by my play that I had the best club ? " 
 " Because, now that you have taken my knave, you 
 have played, not your best club, which you will 
 presently need for re-entry, but a trump that I 
 wanted you to lead to me, but which I did not 
 want to lead. Now we will take every trick." 
 And so it proved. 
 
 The struggle made from the beginning of the 
 play of the hand to bring in the long suit, full 
 oftentimes results in the overthrow of the plan 
 itself, and the success of a similar suit in the hand 
 of the opponent. 
 
 The conversation of the game may be direct or 
 ambiguous. The good partner is not desirous to 
 be assured concerning every play. The interest 
 would cease if calculation was ignored. The order 
 of lead and follow, for which Short Whist has taken 
 out a patent, and the five-trump-lead, no matter 
 what comes of it, are properly mechanical, and suit 
 an ordinary hazard game that hopes for " honors " 
 and for luck to hasten it. We think that " Caven- 
 dish " is right in recommending the absolutism of 
 trump play, for his x is a short game, and he has the 
 stakes to consider for himself and partner. Advan- 
 
Whist Practice. 175 
 
 e gained in any way is the rule in such a game. 
 In American Whist it is not our purpose to wreck 
 another hand, whether or not we are to be gainers 
 by such course, but rather by management, whose 
 influence extends to all the hands, to induce the 
 play of others to inure to our benefit. 
 
 Every player will approve the ingenuity of Des- 
 chapelles, Clay, and " Cavendish," in their advance 
 management for gaining tricks when the hand is 
 
 O DO 
 
 half-way played, and when the ordinary player 
 cannot understand their intent. What shall we 
 say of him, who, on taking up his hand, plans and 
 plays his game from his first lead with *a precau- 
 tion and finesse that sets all common rut-rule at 
 defiance ? And if the routine player is to have 
 credit at the beginning of a hand for invariably 
 leading in a specified manner, right or wrong re- 
 sulting, is he who by shrewd tactics draws all the 
 three players to the assistance of his plan, to receive 
 no applause ? 
 
 In this connection we give an instance of play. 
 It is a new game, there is no score. B. has turned 
 9 of hearts, and D. has played 4 of clubs. A. holds 
 t, 10, 7, 6, 3, 2, clubs, kn., 8, 6, 5, 4, 2, hearts, and 
 ace spades. Now the book play is to begin the 
 call for trumps. Short Whist would tolerate no 
 other play. But A. is a fine player, and proposes 
 
176 A merican Whist. 
 
 to be master of the situation. He knows D. will 
 not lead from a four-suit major tenace. He also 
 knows that D. has four clubs and not five, for D. 
 has led the lowest. A. does not want trumps led 
 to him from a low or a short suit. If the high 
 trumps are against him, they must make ; but with 
 his hand and a club lead from the right, he marks 
 out his course. Between 0. and B. there can be 
 but three clubs. The 9 may be B.'s only trump, 
 and it must not be called. It is not necessary that 
 his partner should at present know how many 
 trumps he holds. He is sure of his own game, as 
 he believes, and his partner may play as he pleases. 
 He threw the 2 of clubs, CLkn., B. ace. The queen 
 then is with C. or D. B. played ace of diamonds. 
 Then he had not the small club, or he would have 
 returned it through the strong suit. A/s play now 
 is, that qu. of clubs, if there, shall fall on his left. 
 He threw ace of spades upon the diamond. An 
 ordinary player would have thrown a low club. B., 
 if holding but two trumps, will play a spade to what 
 he supposes A's commanding suit, but knowing 
 that A. must be strong also in clubs or hearts, for 
 D. cannot have both k. and qu. of clubs, he secures 
 one round of trumps. Noting that the 4 nor 2 
 falls, he knows A. must have one of them, and so 
 four trumps. He continues with the ace, and qu. 
 
Whist Practice. 177 
 
 and 10 fall, and the 4 nor 2 does not. A. then has 
 all the trumps. B. plays the low diamond, A. 
 trumps, leads low club, qu. falls, B. trumps with 9, 
 and all the rest of the tricks are A.'s, the thirteen 
 made in one hand. This is whist which Mr. Pole's 
 " theory " cannot anticipate. It may be said that 
 the plodding game of calling for trumps would 
 have contributed to a similar result. That might 
 have been as the cards happened to be held, but 
 it would have exhibited no such fine play. The 
 way to play the hand was the w r ay in which A. 
 played it. It is deep play, however, and such 
 players as A. could show our English cousins much 
 of this kind of work that would seem marvellous 
 in their eyes. 
 
 The hands are given, that the play may be 
 better understood. D. led from 9, 8, 5, 4, clubs ; 7, 
 5, 4, 3, spades ; k, 8, 2, diamonds, and qu., 3, hearts. 
 A.'s hand has been given. C. held k, qu., kn., 9, 
 spades , 10, 7, hearts; qu., kn., 10, 5, 3, diamonds; 
 qu., kn., clubs. B. held ace and four small dia- 
 monds ; ace, k, 9, hearts ; ace clubs, and four small 
 spades. 
 
 It may be inferred that all were good players at 
 this table. It would not do for B. to make the 
 mistake of playing the 9 of hearts after taking 
 with the ace, for D. would have made one of his 
 
 12 
 
178 American Whist. 
 
 clubs, as he could understand that he had better 
 give away k. of diamonds than 5 of clubs. 
 
 The beauty of whist-playing does not consist in 
 making long suits, but in creating and conquering 
 situations. The finest situation is when your oppo- 
 nents play for your benefit, you having planned 
 the course that they must take. 
 
 The English rule, " Do not force your partner if 
 you are weak in trumps," is one that finds small 
 favor in American Whist. It is one of the very 
 reasons why we force him when we have ascer- 
 tained that he has signified no strength. If he is 
 weak in trumps, and I am weak also, shall I not 
 give him. a chance to make one of his small trumps, 
 while I know that when the opponents lead, we 
 must • both surrender at discretion ? The book- 
 players have an idea that the rule is of value ; that 
 if they lead a card for partner to trump, it may do 
 him injury. To one of them, who wrote me a 
 kind letter on this subject, I made answer, which, 
 as it expresses my views, I copy : — The fault with 
 the English book-players is, that they play all 
 English book. It does not seem to occur to them 
 that the partner need not accept the force. If he 
 has a tenace he throws the lead; if he has poor 
 trumps, how can he better play than to take the 
 trick, and what favor could you have done him 
 
Whist Practice. i 79 
 
 greater than to have given him the chance ? He 
 lias had a chance to call and did not improve it, 
 the adversaries have or have not called ; you have 
 had a chance to play trumps and did not. What is 
 the inference but that you and your partner are 
 weak ? Then make your trumps when you can. 
 The first thing is to make the tricks, the books 
 to the contrary notwithstanding. If your adver- 
 saries are strong, they will rid you of your hus- 
 banded trumps at the first opportunity. You are 
 each to play both hands, you say. Certainly. 
 Can you better do it than to make the most out of 
 them ? Your good cards in short suits will take as 
 well after you have made one or two small trumps 
 as before. Suppose you have ace, k, 7, 5, 3 of 
 a plain suit (spades) and the lead. Hearts trumps, 
 of which you have but one. To both k. and ace 
 your partner renounces, but does not call for 
 trumps. Your adversaries do or do not call. Will 
 you refuse because you have but one trump, to play 
 another spade ? Do you not see that your partner 
 has the advantage of yet another discard if he does 
 not choose to trump ? 
 
 Drayson. in his grand opposition to some of the 
 untenable English rules, says : " Do not run av 
 with the idea that to refuse to force your partner be- 
 cause you are weak in trumps is a safe game. It is a 
 
180 American Whist. 
 
 dangerous game, because you are refusing to make 
 a certain trick, on the speculation that you may 
 probably win more by so doing ; if your specula- 
 tion is incorrect, you lose by your reticence." He 
 offers the following rule, which is preferable to that 
 in force : " Unless your partner has shown great 
 strength in trumps, a wish to have them drawn, or 
 has refused to trump a doubtful card, give him the 
 option of making a small trump, unless you have 
 good reason for not doing so, other than a weak suit 
 of trumps in your own hand." This is English, 
 and rather lengthy. If there was necessity for a 
 rule, we should say: "Force your partner, if the 
 situation warrants your doing so," and if he did not 
 see fit to accept the force, he would be able to give 
 a good reason for his discard. 
 
 We may add that some of the best games we 
 have seen have been saved or won against strong 
 trump hands by the proper force at the proper time 
 by players who were without strength to resist a 
 trump attack. As an illustration, I append a 
 synopsis of one played recently : — 
 
 The game stood five each, not five " all," as the 
 English would have it. The ace of hearts was 
 turned on my left. I held the 7 and 4. My part- 
 ner played k. and ace of clubs, then, as the qu. fell 
 on my left, led a diamond from k. and three others. 
 
IV/iist Practice. i8i 
 
 I played the ace, holding qu. and another, folio 1 
 with the qu., which took, my left-hand adven 
 
 calling for trumps. I played the k. and ace of 
 spades, and the fall of the cards showed me nc 
 more spades in my partner's hand nor to my right. 
 The call was echoed. I then played a small spade 
 and not a diamond, my partner's lead. He trumped 
 with the k. of hearts, his only trump, and we won 
 the odd card against ten trumps, six to my left and 
 four to my right. By the English rule we should 
 have lost the game, for our opponents could claim 
 that they held three cards, neither of which they 
 had a chance to play. It may be said that " Cav- 
 endish" provides for this case in his fourth excep- 
 tion. The fact is, he plays fast and loose upon the 
 whole matter. His own exceptions cover nearly 
 all cases, and render the rule a nullity. 
 
 We quote a single hand of successful finesse, 
 more especially to show how book-rule as to the 
 play of plain suits, and the lead of trumps, was 
 set aside by an ingenious player : — 
 
 Score A., B., 1, C, D., 6 ; 3 of hearts turned. D. 
 plays 5 of spades. A.'s hand is ace, qu., 9, 4, 
 hearts, ace, k, km, 8, 4, 3, spades, 7 and 2, dia- 
 m^^, 5 of clubs. 
 
 The book-play is the k., and the next lead, the 4 
 of hearts. A. has six points to make. He infers 
 
1 8 2 A merican Whist. 
 
 that D., having four spades, leads with qu. or 10 at 
 the head. He plays kn. second, and not k., C, 9, 
 B., 2. A. now knows that D. had four, and that C. 
 has the 10, or no more. He must throw the lead 
 intc his partner's hand, and, to assure him of his 
 poverty in diamonds, plays the 2, C, kn., B., ace, 
 D., 3. B. sees A.'s strength in spades, and why he 
 did not lead them. C. may be calling, but B. has 
 no alternative ; he must play a trump ; the lead of 
 the small diamond is suggestive. He plays 10 of 
 hearts, D., 6. A. finesses the 10, playing 4, C, 2, — 
 B., 5, hearts, D., kn., A., qu., C, 7, — A., ace, C, 8, B., 
 3, D., k. A. must now throw the lead again into 
 his partner's hand, as his only chance of making 
 six by cards. He must play the club, for his part- 
 ner has not k. or qu. of diamonds, or he would not 
 have played the ace. A., 5, clubs; C. holds ace, 
 qu., but, being sure of one trick in clubs, and one 
 in diamonds, plays the qu., B., k., D., 3. B. leads 
 6 of spades, D., 7 ; A. finesses 8, C. renounces ; A. 
 now makes all the tricks but the 7 of diamonds, 
 and A. B. score six points, and the game. 
 
 It may be said that C. should not have thrown 
 qu. second, but he did not fathom A.'s intent and 
 hoped to make three tricks by his play; and ttiat 
 D. played erroneously in throwing 7 second ; he 
 should have played 10, forcing k. But the hand is 
 
Whist Practice. 183 
 
 a study, and as a specimen of play in finesse is re- 
 markable. After the play, A. stated that when he 
 saw the 5 of spades fall as the lead, his game must 
 be one of faith in finesse. Play of this order, which 
 could be attained by many who now play, as they 
 think, very well, ought to be understood by them, 
 and they should find partners to follow it as it pro- 
 gresses. So coolly and easily was this hand man- 
 aged by A., that a looker-on over D.'s hand, who 
 plays whist, said that he thought all the time after 
 A.'s knave took the first trick, A. held ace only be- 
 side, and B. all the spades. Such play as this is 
 not provided for in Dr. Pole's " theory," and a 
 Short Whist player would, after playing k. second, 
 have been curious to ascertain only if his partner 
 had an " honor." He would have been put in pos- 
 session of that valuable information at the cost of 
 the game. A.'s hand has been given. C. held ace, 
 qu., 7, 3 c, 8, 7, 2 h, 9 a., qu., km, 9, 4, 3 d. E. 
 held k. and four small clubs, 10, 5, 3 h., G, 2 s., 
 ace, 8, 6 d. D. held kn. and two small clubs, k., 
 km, 6 h., qu., 10, 7, 5 s., k, 10, 5 d. 
 
 This then is genuine whist. Know your oir,i 
 hand and make your calculations upon it. The 
 score, the trump, the rank of the trump, the prob- 
 abilities, the possibilities of play must be taken 
 into account. Have a purpose in view and play 
 
184 American Whist. 
 
 to compass it. If defeated in your plan, change 
 your tactics if you are allowed opportunity to do 
 so. Let no stereotyped notions contest your inge- 
 nious play. Let your cards tell the truth, but send 
 such ones as you please, to convey as much of it as 
 you see fit to explain. Your partner will no more 
 expect you to intimate too much to him, than he 
 would ask you to call his attention to your desire 
 for trumps by the more emphatic play of 8 first, 
 and then 2, when you held the 3. If it is your 
 play to inform at once of a certain suit, do so cer- 
 tainly; but, if you think that you see a better play, 
 make it, as readily as you would throw the lead 
 later in the game. Despite all book-rule, play 
 whist as your judgment directs. If you are a good 
 player, that judgment must take precedence of lim- 
 ited instruction. Know the laws and never break 
 them. Know the rules and when to break them 
 with impunity. Brilliant play is better than rou- 
 tine play. Play your own hand, and in the playing 
 it play not only your partner's but the hands of 
 the opponents. The strife at whist is oftentimes 
 a friendly one with the whole table. If you have 
 five trumps or more, think what is to be done with 
 them that not one shall fail of service. Whist asks 
 for brain-work. Eemember how embracing is its 
 theory. Consider that the game is always new 
 
II 7/ is i Practice. i8=; 
 
 With every hand you enter upon an untried expe- 
 rience. By no mere knowledge or employment of 
 partial rule can you solve or nullify the varied 
 problems of this philosophy of recreative life. 
 
EXAMPLES AND OVERPLAY. 
 
 Dr. Pole gives us five examples of hands and 
 remarks as follows : — 
 
 The following are a few simple hands played through. 
 They are not intended to exemplify skill, for, as in 
 almost all hands, the play might admit of modification 
 according to the capabilities of the several players ; — 
 they have merely the object of illustrating the routine 
 practice of some of the more common and important 
 points in the modern game ; — such as the signal for 
 trumps, forcing, the return of a suit, discarding, and 
 so on. 
 
 A. and B. are partners against C. and D.; the attention 
 being chiefly directed to the play of the two former. 
 The reader is supposed to play the elder hand A. The 
 winner of each trick is marked with an asterisk. 
 
Examples and Overplay. 
 
 i8 7 
 
 Example I.* 
 
 The object of this example is to illustrate the making 
 of a long plain suit, by the aid of your partner's long 
 suit of trumps ; the trump lead being called for by 
 signal. 
 
 Hearts. Kg. 8, 6, 4, 2. 
 Spades. 6, 2. 
 Diamonds. 9, 6, 3, 2. 
 Clubs. A. 7. 
 
 Hearts. A. Q. Kn. 
 Spades. 8, 7, 5. 
 Diamonds. A. 10. 
 Clubs. Q. Kn. 10, 
 
 Hearts Trumps. 
 
 C D 
 
 (Dealer) 
 
 9 turned up. 
 A 
 
 Hearts. 9, 5, 3. 
 Spades. Q. Kn. 
 
 Diamonds. Kg. Q. 
 
 Kn. 8, 7. 
 Clubs. 9, 4, 2. 
 
 Hearts. 10, 7. 
 
 Spades. A. Kg. 10, 9, 4, 3. 
 
 Diamonds. 5, 4. 
 
 Clubs. Kg. 8, 6. 
 
 * "We give a few selected hands of play, and the overplay of 
 these, for the practice of interested parties. In "Illustrated 
 Games," we shall present a variety, played by both methods, 
 the English and American, and some new hands as played by 
 a quartette of fme players of the American game. 
 
i88 
 
 American Whist. 
 
 Trick. Play. 
 
 Trick. Play. 
 
 I. *A. King of Sp. 
 
 y. c. q. of ci. 
 
 C. 5 " 
 
 *B. A. " 
 
 B. 6 " 
 
 D. 2 " 
 
 Remark. —Having five trumps, C. 
 
 A. 6 " 
 
 signals to have them led. A. not 
 seeing the 2 fall, will know that some 
 
 
 
 one is asking for trumps, and will 
 
 
 therefore carefully watch the next 
 
 VI. B. 4 of H. 
 
 round. 
 
 D. Knave " 
 
 D. 9 " 
 
 A. 4 of Di. 
 
 
 *C. A. of H. 
 
 
 II. *A. AceofSp. 
 
 
 C. 7 " 
 
 
 B. 2 " 
 
 VII. C. Kn. of CI. 
 
 Remark. — Trump signal com- 
 
 B. 7 « 
 
 pleted. 
 
 D. 4 " 
 
 D.Q 
 
 ♦A. Kg. " 
 
 
 
 III. A. 10 of H. 
 
 
 Remark. — In obedience to trump 
 
 VIII. *A. 10 of Sp 
 
 signaL 
 
 Remark. — A. has now brought in 
 
 C. Kn. " 
 
 his long suit, and pursues it to the 
 
 *B. Kg. " 
 D. 3 " 
 
 end. C. discards his diamonds. It 
 is immaterial what the adver-;. ' . 
 play. 
 
 
 IX. *A. 9 " 
 
 IY. B. 2 of H. 
 
 X. *A. 4 " 
 
 D. 5 " 
 
 XI. *A. 3 " 
 
 A. 7 " 
 
 XII. *B. 6 of H. 
 
 *C. Q. " 
 
 XIII. *B. 8 " 
 
 The resiilt is that A. and B. win a treble by cards 
 against two by honors, and other considerable adverse 
 strength. 
 
Examples and Overplay. 189 
 
 Example I. — Overplay. 
 
 The object of playing the same cards again with 
 the same trump and opening, is to show that when 
 C.'s and D.'s hands are properly played, A. can 
 make but ace and k. of his long suit, and A. and 
 B. make the odd card only. The hands which have 
 been given are to be played for the first six rounds 
 as already printed. It is now C.'s play, and he 
 knows that the two remaining trumps are in B.'s 
 hand, and all the spades in A.'s hand. If A. has 
 k. of clubs, and C. plays km, A. and B. must make 
 every trick, therefore 
 
 7. 
 
 
 8. 
 
 
 C, ace, d. 
 
 
 C, 10, d. 
 
 
 B.,2. 
 
 
 B., 3. 
 
 
 D.,7. 
 
 A. B., 4. 
 
 D., kn. 
 
 A B., 4. 
 
 A., 5. 
 
 C. D., 3. 
 
 A., 3, s. 
 
 C. D., 4. 
 
 9 
 
 
 10. 
 
 
 D., k., i 
 
 
 D., qu., (1. 
 
 
 A., 4, s. 
 
 
 A, 9, s. 
 
 
 ; , c 
 
 A. B., 4. 
 
 C, 5, c. 
 
 A. B., 4. 
 
 i;., 6, d 
 
 C. D., 5. 
 
 r.., 9, d. 
 
 C. D., 6. 
 
 11, 12, and 13. B. makes his two trumps, and 
 A. the k. of clubs. A. and B. make one point in 
 place of five. 
 
190 
 
 American Whist. 
 
 Example II. 
 
 In this the elder hand (A.) has the same long suit as 
 before, but the strength in trumps is now given to the 
 adversaries. The example is intended to illustrate how 
 a long suit, though it may not be brought in, may be 
 made useful in. forcing the strong adverse trump hand. 
 
 Hearts. Q. Kn. 5. 
 Spades. 6. 
 
 Diamonds. A. 8, 7, 3. 
 Clubs. A. Q. Kn. 7, 2. 
 
 Hearts. A. 9, 8. 
 Spades. 8, 7, 5, 2. 
 Diamonds. 9, 6, 2. 
 Clubs. 10, 4, 3. 
 
 B 
 
 Hearts Trumps. 
 
 C D 
 
 (Dealer) 
 
 King turned up. 
 A 
 
 Hearts. Kg. 10, 6, 
 4,2. 
 
 Spades. Q. Kn. 
 
 Diamonds. Kg. Q. 
 Kn. 10. 
 
 Clubs. 9, 5. 
 
 1 
 
 learts. 7, 3. 
 
 
 Spades. A. Kg. 10, 
 Diamonds. 5, 4. 
 
 9, 4, 3. 
 
 ( 
 
 )lubs. Kg. 8, 6. 
 
 
Examples and Overplay. 
 
 191 
 
 Trick. Play. 
 
 Trick. 
 
 Play. 
 
 I. *A. King of Sp. 
 
 VI. D. 
 
 6 of H. 
 
 c. -i " 
 
 A. 
 
 4 of Di. 
 
 B. 6 
 
 C. 
 
 8 of 11. 
 
 D. Q. 
 
 *B. 
 
 Q. « 
 
 Remark. — Commencement of sig- 
 
 
 
 nal for trumps. 
 
 VII. *B. 
 
 A. of CI. 
 
 
 D. 
 
 5 " 
 
 II. *A. A. of Sp. 
 
 A. 
 
 6 " 
 
 Remark. —Better to go on with 
 
 C. 
 
 3 " 
 
 spades at the risk of being trumped 
 
 
 
 than to open a new weak suit. 
 
 VIII. B. 
 
 Q. of CI. 
 
 C. 5 
 
 D. 
 
 9 " 
 
 B. 3 of Di. 
 
 ♦A. 
 
 Kg. " 
 
 D. Kn. of Sp. 
 
 Remark. — To get rid of the com- 
 
 Remark. — Signal completed. 
 
 mand. 
 
 
 
 c. 
 
 4 " 
 
 III. A. lOofSp. 
 
 IX. A. 
 
 9 of Sp. 
 
 Remark. — To force the adverse 
 
 Remark. — Repeating the form to 
 
 hand which has, by asking for trumps, 
 
 extract the last trump. 
 
 declared itself strong in them. 
 
 c. 
 
 8 " 
 
 C. 7 " 
 
 B. 
 
 8 of Di. 
 
 B. 7 of Di. 
 
 *D. 
 
 10 of H. 
 
 *D. 2 of II. 
 
 
 
 
 X. D. 
 A. 
 
 10 of Di. 
 
 
 5 " 
 
 IV. D. 4 of II. 
 
 C. 
 
 2 " 
 
 A. 3 " 
 
 *B. 
 
 A " 
 
 *C. A. " 
 
 
 
 
 
 B. 5 " 
 
 XI. *B 
 
 Kn. of CI. 
 
 
 Remark. — The 
 ing now all foic 
 
 adverse trumps he- 
 
 
 ed out, C, having 
 
 V. C. 9 of II. 
 
 gained the lead by a card of re-entry, 
 
 B. Kn. " 
 
 brings in his clubs, and makes them 
 alL 
 
 *D. Kg. " 
 
 XII. *B 
 
 . 7 
 
 A. 7 " 
 
 XIII. *B 
 
 ■2 " 
 
 A. and B. gain 3 by cards. 
 
192 A merican Whist. 
 
 Example II. — Overplay. 
 
 In this example D. called for trumps, having five 
 and a fine suit of diamonds. Being forced, lie after- 
 ward played as suited his hand. 
 
 A. k. s. 
 
 
 A. ace s. 
 
 
 C. 2. 
 
 
 C. 5. 
 
 
 B. 6.. 
 
 
 B. 3d. 
 
 
 D. qu. 
 
 A. B. 1. 
 
 D. kn. s. 
 
 A B. 2. 
 
 
 C. D. 0. 
 
 
 C. D. 0. 
 
 
 D. has called for trumps. 
 
 
 3. 
 
 
 4. 
 
 
 A. 10 s. 
 
 
 D. k. d. 
 
 
 C. 7. 
 
 
 A 4 
 
 
 B. 7d. 
 
 
 C. 2. 
 
 
 D. 2h. 
 
 A. B. 2. 
 
 B. ace. 
 
 A. B. 3. 
 
 
 C D. 1. 
 
 
 C. D. 1. 
 
 A. plays, trick 3, to force the caller ; D., trick 4, 
 to test the situation of the diamonds. 
 
 5. 
 
 
 
 
 6. 
 
 
 B. ace c. 
 
 
 
 
 B. qu. c. 
 
 
 D. 5. 
 
 
 
 
 D.9, 
 
 
 A. 6. 
 
 
 
 
 Ak. 
 
 
 C. 3. 
 
 A. 
 
 B. 
 
 4 
 
 C. 4 
 
 A. B. 5. 
 
 . 
 
 C. 
 
 D. 
 
 1. 
 
 
 C. D. 1. 
 
Examples and Overplay. 193 
 
 A. properly, trick 6, plays k. to keep B. in com- 
 mand. 
 
 7. 8. 
 
 A. 9 s. 
 
 
 D. qu. d. 
 
 
 C. 8. 
 
 
 A 5. 
 
 
 B. 8d. 
 
 
 0. 6. 
 
 
 D.4h. 
 
 A. B. 5. 
 
 B. 5 h. 
 
 A. B. 6. 
 
 
 C. D. 2. 
 
 
 C. D. 2. 
 
 A., trick 7, plays the force again, and B. throws 
 his last diamond that he may trump D.'s lead. 
 
 9. 10. 
 
 B. kn. c. D. 10 h. 
 D. 6 h. A3 h. 
 
 A 8 c. A B. 6 C. ace. A B. 6 
 
 C. 10 c. C. D. 3. B. kn. C. D. 4. 
 
 Trick 10, D. 10 hearts. This is the decisive 
 play. D. can read the hands. A has the two low 
 spades, for C. has played the 8 on A's 9. B. has 
 the two low clubs, for C. has played the 10, and A. 
 the 8, himself the 9, on a previous lead, and C. has 
 three trumps and the 9 of diamonds. If the ace 
 and qu. of trumps are against him, it makes no 
 difference how D. plays, but if his partner has the 
 ace, C. and D. make all the tricks. C. under- 
 
 13 
 
194 
 
 American Whist. 
 
 stands the situation, takes 10 with ace, returns the 
 8, and C. and D. make the odd card. The long 
 suit of spades nor that of clubs were of much 
 avail, the difference between poor play and correct 
 play being four points. 
 
 Example III. 
 
 The object of this is to illustrate the value of the 
 discard, as a means of communicating information. 
 
 Hearts. A. 9, 7, 6. 
 Spades. 6, 2. 
 
 Diamonds. Q. Kn. 10, 9, 4. 
 Clubs. 8, 3. 
 
 Hearts. Q. 8, 5. 
 Spades. Kn. 10, 4. 
 Diamonds. A. 3. 
 Clubs. A. Q. 9, 7, 
 
 Hearts Trumps. 
 
 C D 
 
 (Dealer) 
 
 10 turned up. 
 A 
 
 Hearts. Kn. 10, 3. 
 
 Spades. 9, 8, 7. 
 
 Diamonds. 8, 7, 
 6,2. 
 
 Clubs. Kn. 10, 4. 
 
 Hearts. Kg. 4, 2. 
 Spades. A. Kg. Q. 5, 3. 
 Diamonds. Kg. 5. 
 Clubs. Kg. 6, 5. 
 
Examples and Overplay. 195 
 
 Trick. Play. 
 
 L *A. Kg. of Sp. 
 
 C. 4 
 
 B. 2 " 
 
 D. 7 " 
 
 II. *A. Q. of Sp. 
 
 C. 10 " 
 B. 6 " 
 
 D. 8 " 
 
 III. *A. A. of Sp. 
 
 C. Kn. " 
 
 B. 3 of CI. 
 
 Remark. — This discard at once 
 gives great insight into S.'s hand. 
 He discards from his weak suit, and 
 therefore he ought to he strong in 
 trumps and diamonds. But he has 
 not 5 trumps or he would have sig- 
 nalled for them, and hence, in all 
 probability, he has at least 4 or 5 
 diamonds. 
 
 D. 9 of Sp. 
 
 IV. A. Kg. of Di. 
 
 Remark. — The spade lead being 
 now unadvisable, A. is justified in 
 acting on the information gained by 
 his partner's discard, and leads a 
 strengthening diamond. 
 
 *C. A 
 B. 4 " 
 
 D. 2 " 
 
 V. *C. A of CI. 
 B. 8 " 
 D. 4 " 
 A. 5 " 
 
 Trick. 
 
 VI. 
 
 Play. 
 
 C. 2 of CI. 
 B. Q. of Di. 
 
 Remark. — This second discard 
 completes the full information as to 
 C.'s hand. In the first place, having 
 passed a doubtful trick, he has more 
 than three trumps, and as we have 
 seen, he has not five, he must have 
 four with three diamonds. Secondly, 
 his discarding the best diamond shows 
 he has command of the suit. 
 
 D. 10 of CI. 
 *A. Kg. " 
 
 VII. *A. Kg. of H. 
 
 Remark. — Strengthening trump 
 lead, justified by the knowledge 
 gained in the last trick. 
 
 C. 5 " 
 B. 6 " 
 
 D. 3 " 
 
 VIII. 
 
 A. 4 of H. 
 
 C. 8 " 
 *B. A. " 
 
 D. 10 " 
 
 IX. 
 
 B. 7 of H. 
 D. Kn. " 
 A. 2 " 
 
 *C. Q. " 
 
 X. C. Q. of CI. 
 *B. 9 of H. 
 
 Remark. — Uses the last trump to 
 bring in his diamonds. 
 
 D. Kn. of CI. 
 A. 6 " 
 
 XI. *B. 9 of Di. 
 XII. *B. 10 " 
 XIII. *B. Kn." 
 
 A. and B. win 4 by cards. 
 
196 
 
 American Whist. 
 
 Example III. 
 
 There are but three tricks possible for C. and D. 
 in this hand as may be seen at the first glance at 
 the position of the cards, no matter who leads. A. 
 and B. have all the kings and two of the queens 
 all guarded, two of the aces and the long suit of 
 trumps. The hand plays itself. But it is a good 
 lesson as to the value of a discard, and deserves to 
 be played over and understood. 
 
 Example IV. 
 
 The object of this is to illustrate the advantage of 
 returning the proper card of your partner's lead, as a 
 means of conveying information. 
 
 Hearts. A. 9, 3, 2. 
 Spades. A. Q. 6, 2. 
 Diamonds. Kg. 5, 4. 
 Clubs. 6, 3. 
 
 Hearts. Kn. 6. 
 Spades. 10,9,8,7. 
 Diamonds. 9, 6. 
 Clubs. Q. 10, 9, 
 5,2. 
 
 Hearts. Kg. Q. 10, 7. 
 Spades. Kg. 4, 3. 
 Diamonds. 10, 7, 2. 
 Clubs. Kn. 8, 7. 
 
 Hearts. 
 
 8, 
 
 5,4. 
 
 
 B 
 
 Spades 
 
 Kn 
 
 . 5. 
 
 
 Hearts Trumps. 
 
 Diamoi 
 
 ids. 
 
 A. 
 
 Q. 
 
 C D 
 
 (Dealer) 
 
 Kn. 
 
 5, 3. 
 
 
 
 6 turned up. 
 
 Clubs. 
 
 A. 
 
 Kg. 
 
 4. 
 
 A i 
 
Examples and Overplay. 197 
 
 Trick. 
 
 I. A. 
 
 Play. 
 7ofH. 
 
 Remark. — In this hand every 
 plain suit is so bad to lead that the 
 trump lead with such strength is 
 quite justifiable. 
 
 C. 4 " 
 *B. A. " 
 
 D. 6 " 
 
 II. B. 2 of H. 
 
 Remark. — From this card re- 
 turned, B. must either have had four 
 or two. 
 
 D. Kn. " 
 
 *A. Q. " 
 
 C. 5 " 
 
 III. *A. 10 of H. 
 
 Remark. — It is justifiable to take 
 out another round of trumps, though 
 two may fall for one : partly to see 
 how they lie, and partly to get a dis- 
 card from some one as a guide for the 
 next lead. Leading the 10 instead of 
 the King is an additional assurance 
 to your partner that you have still 
 one left. 
 
 C. 8 " 
 
 B. 3 " 
 
 Remark.— This card shows that 
 B., having returned his lowest in the 
 last trick, had four at first, and has 
 consequently now one remaining, 
 which therefore you are careful not 
 to draw, as the game will depend on 
 the two being made separately. 
 
 D. 6 of Di. 
 
 Trick. 
 
 
 Play. 
 
 
 IV. 
 
 A. 
 
 10 of Di. 
 
 
 Remark. 
 
 — For want of a 
 
 better 
 
 lead, you lead up 
 
 to the suit that has 
 
 been declared weak. 
 
 
 
 c. 
 
 Kn. " 
 
 
 
 *B. 
 
 Kg. " 
 
 
 
 D. 
 
 9 " 
 
 
 V. 
 
 B. 
 
 2 of Sp. 
 
 
 
 D. 
 
 7 " 
 
 
 
 *A. 
 
 Kg." 
 
 
 
 C. 
 
 5 " 
 
 
 VI. 
 
 A. 
 
 4 of Sp. 
 
 
 Remark. 
 
 — See remark, next trick. 
 
 
 c. 
 
 Kn." 
 
 
 
 *B. 
 
 Q. " 
 
 
 
 D. 
 
 8 " 
 
 
 VII. 
 
 *B. 
 
 A. of Sp. 
 
 
 
 D. 
 
 9 " 
 
 
 
 A. 
 
 3 " 
 
 
 Remark. — This shows that you 
 (A.) having returned your highest, 
 had not more than three spades origi- 
 nally, and consequently have no more 
 left. Your partner (B. ), therefore, ob- 
 serving this, sees that by leading the 
 losing spade, he will enable you to 
 make your trump separately from his, 
 which will win the game. 
 
 C. 4 of CI. 
 
 VIII. B. 6 of Sp. 
 D. 10 " 
 *A. Kg. of H. 
 
 Remark. — You trump without 
 hesitation, knowing your partner to 
 hold the other trump. 
 
 C. 3 of Di. 
 
 B. makes the last trump, and A. and B. make 3 by 
 cards and 2 by honors, winning a treble. 
 
198 
 
 American Whist. 
 
 Example IV. 
 
 Here, too, the power is all in one direction. C. 
 and D. can make but four tricks. But the play is 
 incorrect. D., trick 3, should have thrown 2 of 
 clubs. Trumps were against him, and clubs his 
 long suit. C. plays poorly in trick 4, he knows! 
 that the 10 of diamonds is led from three, and J 
 should have played ace. 
 
 Example V. 
 
 This example is given to show how singularly, under 
 extreme circumstances, the bringing in of a long suit 
 may annihilate the most magnificent cards. The hand 
 is a very remarkable whist curiosity : A. and B. hold 
 all the honors in every plain suit, and two honors in 
 trumps, and yet do not make a single trick ! 
 
 Spades. Q. Kn. 
 
 Diamonds. Kn. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6. 
 
 Clubs. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6. 
 
 Hearts. A. Q. 10, 
 
 8. 
 
 Spades. 10, 9, 8, 7, 
 6, 5, 4, 3, 2. 
 
 B 
 
 Hearts Trumps. 
 
 C D 
 
 (Dealer) 
 
 2 turned up. 
 A 
 
 Hearts. 6, 5, 4, 3, 
 
 2. 
 Diamonds. 5, 4, 
 
 3,2. 
 
 Clubs. 5, 4, 3, 2. 
 
 J 
 
 ] 
 
 ( 
 
 hearts. Kg. Kn. 9, 
 Spades. A. Kg. 
 Diamonds. A. Kg. 
 31ubs. A. Kg. Q. K 
 
 7. 
 
 Q. 
 In. 
 
Examples and Overplay. 199 
 
 Trick. Play 
 
 Trick. 
 
 Play. 
 
 
 I. A. 7 of H. 
 
 IV. 
 
 C. 3 of Sp. 
 
 
 Remarks. — There can be no doubt 
 
 
 B. Q. " 
 
 ^ 
 
 about this being the proper lead. 
 
 
 *D. 5 of H. 
 
 
 *C. 8 " 
 
 
 A. A. of Sp. 
 
 
 B. 6 of CI. 
 
 
 
 
 D. 2 of H. 
 
 V 
 
 . D. 6 of H. 
 
 A. Kn. " 
 *C. Q. " 
 
 B. 8 of CI. 
 
 
 II. C. 2 of Sp. 
 B. Kn. " 
 *D. 3 of H. 
 
 A. Kg. of Sp. 
 
 
 III. D. 4 of H. 
 
 Remarks. — The propriety of this 
 lead is often questioned ; but it is de- 
 
 VI. 
 
 *C. A. of H. 
 A. Kg. " 
 
 
 fended by the impolicy of leading 
 
 
 
 
 either of the extremely weak plain 
 
 
 
 
 suits, and by the lead of trumps be- 
 
 
 d 
 
 *B. lOofSp. 
 *B. 9 " 
 *B. 8 " 
 
 
 ing up to a renouncing hand, and 
 therefore the most favorable possible. 
 Also, by giving C. the lead again, it 
 enables him to continue the spade, 
 
 VII. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 IX. 
 
 
 for D. to make his small trumps upon. 
 
 X. 
 
 *B. 7 " 
 
 
 A. 9 " 
 
 XI. 
 
 *B. 6 " 
 
 
 *C. 10 " 
 
 XII. 
 
 *B. 5 " 
 
 
 B. 7 of CI. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 *B. 4 " 
 
 
 C. and D. win every trick. 
 
* 
 
 * * 
 
 200 American Whist. 
 
 Example V.* 
 
 There is nothing remarkable about the original 
 example except that a triple tenace is arranged for 
 C, and five more trumps are given his partner. If 
 A. leads a trump, he, holding k. and kn., should 
 lead the 9. As the hand is packed, that would make 
 110 difference in the result. We will open the 
 hand as if A. led from his best plain suit. 
 
 1. 
 
 2. 
 
 A. k. c. 
 
 A. kn. c. 
 
 C. 5 s. 
 
 0. 8 h. 
 
 B. 6 c. 
 
 B. 7 c. 
 
 D. 2. c. 
 
 D. 3 c. 
 
 C. passes k., thinking that D. may have ace. D. 
 having five hearts might call, but his cards are so 
 inferior, that we doubt his efficiency, save in the 
 trumping of spades. If he did call, and C. responded, 
 the hand would be quickly played. Play the hand 
 through in your own way for practice. 
 
 * Example V. is simply an arranged hand, a triple tenace of 
 trumps, and all the spades after two rounds. There are no 
 "magnificent " cards. Cards are sometimes neat, sometimes 
 handsome, and there are low cards and high cards, but none of 
 them are magnificent. Nor do they suffer annihilation. If A. 
 leads a trump, which with four, all uncertain ones, he would not 
 
Examples and Overplay. 201 
 
 Game of "J. C." and Overplay. 
 
 Whist will not be reduced to a system that 
 claims direction. Control by rule cannot be had 
 over its variety of display. "J. C," alluding to the 
 olden or former ten-point game in America, says, 
 " The Americans play for their own hands alone, 
 
 need to do, it is evident in two rounds that he cannot take a 
 trick. Dr. Pole's leads are had. He is not reported as a fine 
 player, and his leads do not indicate that he understands de- 
 tails in good play. The 2 of spades led hy C. (trick 2) signifies 
 poverty in the suit, and in all suits, and can indicate no more 
 than four of the suit. D.'s inference from the play of the 2d 
 round should be that B. held Qu. and ace of spades, and A. no 
 more after playing K. The play to be made by C. was the lead 
 of the 5 of spades, then the 4. 
 
 But the proper play of A. at the lead was the K. of C. If 
 we play the "remarkable curiosity" with that lead, the long 
 suit will have trouble to effect "annihilation" of A.'s cards. 
 
 Dr. Pole remarks, there can be no doubt about the play of 
 the 7 of trumps being the proper lead. There are evidently 
 two reasons why it is not. First, if a trump is to be led, the 
 > 9 is the correct play to designate K. and Kn. Second, this is 
 eminently a hand to be led up to in trumps, and not one from 
 which to lead. "With positive control of all the plain suits, •&A,fi.H^ 
 why give the play into other hands ? If A. had tenaces in 
 plain suits, or if he held A. or K. Qu. of trumps, a trump lead 
 with four would be justifiable, but it will at once be seen that, 
 however the rest of the trumps may be disposed, his initial 
 play (with his hand) should not disturb them. By leading 
 from this hand correctly, quite a different result is produced 
 from that announced in the game already played. 
 
202 American Whist. 
 
 the worst fault I know in a whist-player." But is 
 not playing for one's partner's hand, not knowing 
 what it is, a fault as bad ? The game of combina- 
 tion is correct, but as a general thing, one of the 
 parties directs that combination. Your partner plays 
 k. and ace of a plain suit. You call for trumps. 
 He must obey. In what manner are you playing 
 his hand ? In what manner is he playing yours ? 
 Are you not playing your own with little care for, 
 or reference to, what he may hold ? Perhaps he 
 would gladly reserve the trumps he has ; are you 
 consulting his wish ? Perhaps his trumps are the 
 re-entry cards on which he counts: do you con- 
 sider that ? You think that it is best to get out 
 trumps and having five, force the play of them. 
 The emphatic order of Short Whist is, " Take up 
 your hand, see what is your long suit, play from 
 it. Having five trumps, play one/' No matter 
 about success or disaster, if you begin in this tread- 
 mill process, you inform everybody that you are 
 doing duty. If you do not win, no matter, you 
 have played by book. Good play, that is, book- 
 play, you are told, is always right, whether it. suc- 
 ceeds or not. You must not be discouraged, but 
 always go on and do the same thing again. It will 
 succeed sometime, and. then you will have the 
 satisfaction of knowing that you have plodded 
 
Examples and Overplay. 203 
 
 straight on in a specified course, and brought the 
 burden of obligation imposed by rule, to deposit at 
 the goal. But if you hope to become a player of 
 American Whist, we warn you that it is our cus- 
 tom to regard our own hands, to measure them, to 
 ascertain what had best be done with them at the 
 beginning, and to play them as we think they 
 ought to be played according to the situation of 
 the game. Because we have five cards or six, or 
 seven or eight, we do not lead one of them, if it is 
 not best in our judgment for the taking of the 
 tricks. It generally is best, but of that we propose 
 to judge. The plan of assisting the partner's hand, 
 the combination, is a part of whist. It is a game 
 of partnership. The partners are obliged to play 
 for each other. But if you have a partner who 
 knows whist, you will find not only that he can 
 manage his hand, but that he will do so. He will 
 do his own playing, understanding as well as you 
 do what is best for the interest of both. He will 
 know as well as you do that at certain stages of 
 the game it would not be best for you to lead from a 
 tenace that you ought to make before the suit is 
 trumped, that you must not show him your best 
 suit on which you are to depend, or that you can- 
 not afford to part with trumps only because they 
 make others part with theirs. We print "J. C.'s " 
 
204 
 
 American Whist. 
 
 game for the odd trick in which nine trumps are 
 held by one party. But D., certain of success, 
 played the only lead, and made the only plays in 
 continuance, that would be by English play for a 
 moment tolerated. Better lose by system, and 
 with such a hand, than gain by prudence and cal- 
 culation. We have only to say, that we should 
 have made that hand and the odd trick, and would 
 have rather scored the game at the expense of love 
 of monotony, than to have lost it at the cost of 
 conformity to calculation. A. and B. play the game 
 of judgment, doing away with all book-rule in lead 
 or follow. C. and D. obey the iron-clad obligation 
 of " Get out the trumps, that if you cannot benefit 
 yourself you may help your partner, but get out 
 the trumps if you have the power to do so." 
 
 " J". C.'s" Game for the odd trick 
 
 A B. 6. C. D. 6. 
 
 8 of Sp. turned. 
 
 A. 
 
 Sp. 6, 3. 
 D. 10, 5, 4, 2. 
 C. ace,k.,kn.,10. 
 H. 10, 4, 3. 
 
 C. 
 
 ace, k., 7. 
 
 k.,kn.,6,3, 
 
 6,2. 
 
 k., kn., 6, 2, 
 
 B. 
 
 8,2. 
 
 ace, qu., 8, 7. 
 
 7, 5, 3. 
 
 ace, qu., 9, 8. 
 
 D. 
 
 qu., kn., 10, 9, 5, 4 
 
 9. 
 
 qu., 9, 8, 4. 
 
 7,5. 
 
Examples and Overplay. 205 
 
 1. 
 
 
 2. 
 
 D. qu. 
 
 s. 
 
 D. kn. s. 
 
 A. 3. 
 
 - 
 
 A. 6. 
 
 C. 7. 
 
 
 C. k. 
 
 , B. 2. 
 
 A. B. 0. 
 
 B. 8. A B. 0. 
 
 
 C. D. 1. 
 
 C. D. 2. 
 
 s. 
 
 
 4. 
 
 C. ace, 
 
 s. 
 
 C. 3 d. 
 
 B. 3 
 
 c. 
 
 B. 7. 
 
 D. 4 s. 
 
 
 D. 9. 
 
 A. 2 d. 
 
 A. B. 0. 
 
 A. 10. A. B. 1. 
 
 
 C. D. 3. 
 
 C. D. 3. 
 
 5. 
 
 
 6. 
 
 A. 10 
 
 h. 
 
 A 4 L 
 
 C. 2 
 
 <c 
 
 C. 6. 
 
 B. 8 
 
 ft 
 
 B. 9. 
 
 D. 5 
 
 " A. B. 2. 
 
 D. 7. A. B. 3. 
 
 
 C. D. 3. 
 
 C. D. 3. 
 
 7. 
 
 
 8. 
 
 B. 7 c. 
 
 
 A. 3 h. 
 
 D. 4. 
 
 
 C. kn. 
 
 A. 10. 
 
 
 B. qu. 
 
 C. 2. 
 
 A. B. 4. 
 
 D. 5. s. A. B. 4. 
 
 
 C. D. 3. 
 
 C. D. 4 
 
2o6 American Whist 
 
 9. 
 
 
 
 
 10. 
 
 
 D. 8 c. 
 
 
 
 
 A. k. c. 
 
 
 A. kn. " 
 
 
 
 
 C. 6 d. 
 
 
 C. 6 " 
 
 
 
 
 B. 8 " 
 
 
 B. 5 " 
 
 A. 
 
 B. 
 
 5. 
 
 D. 9 c. 
 
 A B. 6. 
 
 
 C. 
 
 D. 
 
 4. 
 
 
 C. D. 4. 
 
 Trick 11, A. plays ace clubs upon which D.'s 
 queen falls. D. makes his two trumps, trick 12 and 
 13. A. and B. win the odd card. This is whist, 
 so far as A. and B. are concerned, and machinery so 
 far as C. and D. are concerned. Now we will play 
 C.'s and D.'s hand as they would have been played 
 by American whist-players. You can then, as 
 in a thousand instances of similar nature, judge 
 whether you had best lose by rule or win by 
 common sense- 
 Score, trump, and hands have been given. 
 
 D. qu. s. D. 4 c. 
 
 A. 3. A. 10. 
 C. 7. C. 2. 
 
 B. 2. A. B. 0. B. 3. A. B. 1. 
 
 C. D. 1. C. D. 1. 
 
 If A. leads from his long suit, then 
 
Examples and Overplay. 207 
 
 3. 
 
 
 
 4. 
 
 A. 2 d. 
 
 
 
 B. 8 h. 
 
 C. 3. 
 
 
 
 D. 5. 
 
 B. qu. " 
 
 
 
 A. 10 " 
 
 D. 9. A. 
 
 B. 
 
 2. 
 
 C. kn. " A. B. 2. 
 
 C. 
 
 D. 
 
 1. 
 
 C. D. 2. 
 
 and the game is won. 
 
 Or, if A. and B. will strive 
 
 in finesse against powerful trumps, 
 
 3. 
 
 
 
 
 4. 
 
 
 A 10 h 
 
 • 
 
 
 
 B. 7 c. 
 
 
 C. 2. 
 
 
 
 
 D. 8. 
 
 
 B. ace. 
 
 
 
 
 A. kn. 
 
 
 D. 5. 
 
 A. 
 
 B. 
 
 2. 
 
 C. 6. 
 
 A. B. 3. 
 
 
 C. 
 
 D.l. 
 
 
 C. D. 1. 
 
 5. 
 
 
 
 
 6. 
 
 
 A. 4 h. 
 
 
 
 
 B. 5 c. 
 
 • 
 
 0. 6. 
 
 
 
 
 D. 9. 
 
 
 B. 9. 
 
 
 
 
 A. k. 
 
 
 D. 7. 
 
 A. 
 
 B. 
 
 4. 
 
 C. k. s. 
 
 A. B. 4. 
 
 
 C. 
 
 D. 
 
 1. 
 
 
 C. D. 2. 
 
 7. 
 
 
 
 
 8. 
 
 
 C. 3 d. 
 
 
 
 
 A. 2 d. 
 
 
 B. 7. 
 
 
 
 
 C. kn. 
 
 
 D. 9. 
 
 
 
 
 B. qu. 
 
 
 A 10. 
 
 A 
 
 . I 
 
 !. 5. 
 
 D. 4 s. 
 
 A. B. 5. 
 
 C. D. 2. 0. D. 3. 
 
208 
 
 American Whist. 
 
 D. then plays qu. of clubs, A. ace, C. ace sp. 
 It really makes no difference what A. and B. en- 
 deavor to do after the second lead of D. The 
 suicidal course of running out his trumps makes 
 the former play as given by " J. C." of A. and B. 
 excellent of its kind, and successful; but we do 
 not play D.'s game in American Whist, and be- 
 lieve that there will be accorded to the correct 
 manner of play, the proper credit. 
 
 Hand I, of Cavendish. 
 
 
 Cavendish Laws and Principles, p. 136. 
 
 Score, Love all. 2 of s. turned. 
 
 
 Sands. 
 
 
 A. 
 
 C. 
 
 B. 
 
 D. 
 
 S. qu., 10, 5, 3. 
 
 ace, 6, 4. 
 
 k. 7. 
 
 kn., 9, 8, 2 
 
 H. ace. 
 
 kn., 10, 8, 2. 
 
 k., qu., 9, 5, 4. 
 
 7, 6, 3. 
 
 C. ace, 7, 6, 3. 
 
 qu., 10, 9. 
 
 kn., 4. 
 
 k., 8, 5, 2. 
 
 D. k., kn., 9, 2. 
 
 10, 6, 4. 
 
 qu., 8, 7, 5. 
 
 ace, 3. 
 
 The Play. 
 
 
 1. 2. 
 
 
 A. 2d. D. 2 c. 
 
 
 C. 4 d. A. 3 c. 
 
 
 B. qu. d. C. qu. c. 
 
 
 D. ace d. A. B. 0. B. 4 c. 
 
 A. B. 0. 
 
 
 C. D. 1. 
 
 
 C. D. 2. 
 
Examples and Overplay. 209 
 
 A. leads from his strongest suit. Having no 
 sequence, he leads from the lowest card of the 
 suit. The fall of qu. and ace leaves A. with 
 winning diamonds and a small one. B. allowing 
 qu. to win (trick 2), has not k. 
 
 3. 
 
 
 
 4. ' 
 
 C. 2 k 
 
 
 
 13s. 
 
 B. qu. h. 
 
 
 
 C. 4 s. 
 
 D. 3h. 
 
 
 
 B. k. s. 
 
 A. ace h. 
 
 A 
 
 . B. 1. 
 
 D. 2 s. A. B. 2. 
 
 
 C 
 
 . D. 2. 
 
 C. D. 2. 
 
 B. having k 
 
 ., plays qu. 
 
 second. A. with estab 
 
 ihed suit leads trumps from four, trick 4. 
 
 5. 
 
 
 
 6. 
 
 B. 7 s. 
 
 
 
 C. kn. h. 
 
 D. 8 s. 
 
 
 
 B. k. h. 
 
 A. 10 s. 
 
 
 
 D. 6h. 
 
 C. ace s. 
 
 A. 
 
 B. 2. 
 
 A. 6 c. A. B. 3. 
 
 
 C. 
 
 D. 3. 
 
 C. D. 3. 
 
 A. finesses 10 s. 
 
 
 
 7. 
 
 
 
 8. 
 
 B. 5d. 
 
 
 
 A. qu. s. 
 
 D. 3d. 
 
 
 
 C. 6 s. 
 
 A. kn. d. 
 
 
 
 B. 7d. 
 
 C. 6d. 
 
 A. 
 
 B. 4. 
 
 D. 9 s. A. B. 5. 
 
 
 C. 
 
 D. 3. 
 
 C. D. 3. 
 
 14 
 
2io American Whist. 
 
 9. 
 
 
 
 
 10. 
 
 
 A. k. d. 
 
 
 
 
 D. 5 c. 
 
 
 C. 10 d. 
 
 
 
 
 A. 7 c. 
 
 
 B. 8 d. 
 
 
 
 
 C. 9 c. 
 
 
 D. kn. s. 
 
 A. 
 
 B. 
 
 5. 
 
 B. kn. c. 
 
 A. B. 6. 
 
 
 C. 
 
 D. 
 
 4. 
 
 
 C. D. 4. 
 
 A. forces best trump and remains with thirteenth 
 to bring in his long diamond. A. played well 
 (trick 10), passing the club. Eemaining tricks A. 
 makes, and A. and B. score three by cards. 
 
 Hand I. — Overplay. 
 Hands have been given. 
 Score, A. B. 0; C. D. 0. 2 of Sp. turned. 
 
 1. 
 
 
 
 
 2. 
 
 
 A. 9d. 
 
 
 
 
 D.2c. 
 
 
 O. 10 d. 
 
 
 
 
 A. 3 c. 
 
 
 B. qu. d. 
 
 
 
 
 C. qu. c. 
 
 
 D. ace d. 
 
 A. 
 
 B. 
 
 0. 
 
 B. 4 c. 
 
 A. B. 0. 
 
 
 C. 
 
 D. 
 
 1. 
 
 
 C. D. 2. 
 
 The proper lead is the 9, holding k. and kn. 
 C. having 10 and but two more, plays it upon the 9. 
 
Examples and Overplay. 211 
 
 3. 
 
 
 
 
 4. 
 
 C. 10 c. 
 
 
 
 
 A. kn. d. 
 
 B. kn. c. 
 
 
 
 
 0.44 
 
 D. k. c. 
 
 
 
 
 B. 5 4 
 
 A. ace c. 
 
 A. B. 
 
 1. 
 
 D. 3. A. B. 2. 
 
 
 C. 
 
 D. 
 
 2. 
 
 C. D. 2. 
 
 C. has no game to play for himself, and if he 
 had, it is proper to return his partners lead, hold- 
 ing 10 and 9. It proves to be the play of the 
 hand. A.'s k. and kn. of diamonds are equal cards. 
 
 5. 
 
 
 
 
 6. 
 
 
 A 3 s. 
 
 
 
 
 B. 7 s. 
 
 
 C. 4 s. 
 
 
 
 
 D. 8 s. 
 
 
 B. k. s. 
 
 
 
 
 A. 10 s. 
 
 
 D. 2 s. 
 
 A. 
 
 B. 
 
 3. 
 
 C. ace s. 
 
 A. B. 3. 
 
 
 C. 
 
 D. 
 
 2. 
 
 
 C. D. 3. 
 
 A., having four trumps, and k. of diamonds and 
 ace of hearts for re-entry, chooses to play trump. 
 He has noted that no call has been made. 
 
 7. 
 
 
 
 
 8. 
 
 
 C. 9 c. 
 
 
 
 
 C. 2h. 
 
 
 B. 5 h. 
 
 
 
 
 B. 4h. 
 
 
 D. 5 c. 
 
 
 
 
 D. 6 h. 
 
 
 A. 6 c. 
 
 A. 
 
 B. 
 
 3. 
 
 A. ace h. 
 
 A. B. 4 
 
 
 C. 
 
 D. 
 
 4. 
 
 
 CD. 4 
 
212 American Whist. 
 
 C. makes the best club. B. (trick 7) plaj's 5 h. 
 that he may after throw the 4, apprising his part- 
 ner of strength in the suit. A. leading trumps 
 (trick 5), B. knows A. has four, perhaps five. He 
 hopes that A. will play trump and then a heart. 
 
 9. 
 
 10. 
 
 
 A. qu. s. 
 
 A. k d. 
 
 
 C. 6 s. 
 
 C. 6d. 
 
 
 B. 7d. 
 
 B. 8d. 
 
 
 D. 9 s. A. B. 5. 
 
 D. kn. s. 
 
 A B. 5. 
 
 C. D. 4. 
 
 
 C. D. 5. 
 
 A. plays spade to draw two for one, but the kn. 
 and 9 cannot both fall. 
 
 11. 
 
 D. 8 c. 
 
 A. 7 c. 
 C. 8h. 
 
 B. 9. h. A. B. 5. A. B. make the odd card. 
 
 C. D. 6. 
 
 We will play one variation, supposing A. to 
 have led k. d. instead of the trump at trick 5. It 
 will still be seen, however, that C.'s play of the 
 10 c. was the play of the hand. 
 
Examples and Overplay. 213 
 
 5. 
 
 6. 
 
 
 A. k. d. 
 
 D. 5 c. 
 
 
 C.6d. 
 
 A. 6 c: 
 
 
 B.7d. 
 
 0. 9 c. 
 
 
 D. 2 s. A. B. 2. 
 
 B. 7 s. 
 
 A. B. 3. 
 
 C. D. 3. 
 
 
 C D. 3. 
 
 7. 
 
 8. 
 
 
 B. k. h. 
 
 A7c. 
 
 
 D. 3h. 
 
 0.8k 
 
 
 A. ace h. 
 
 B. k. s. 
 
 
 C. 2 h. A. B. 4 
 
 D. 8 c. 
 
 A. B. 5. 
 
 CD. 3 
 
 
 C D. 3. 
 
 9. 
 
 10. 
 
 
 B. qu. h. 
 
 B. 9h. 
 
 
 D. 6h. 
 
 D 7h. 
 
 
 A. 2d. 
 
 A. 3 s. 
 
 
 C. 10 L A. B. 6. 
 
 C kn. h. 
 
 A. B. 7. 
 
 CD. 3. 
 
 
 C D. 3. 
 
 11. 
 
 12. 
 
 
 A. 5 s. 
 
 D. 9 s. 
 
 
 C 6 s. 
 
 A. 10 s. 
 
 x 
 
 B.4L 
 
 C ace s. 
 
 
 D. 8 s. A. B. 7. 
 
 B. 5h. 
 
 A. B. 7. 
 
 C D. 4. 
 
 
 C D. 5. 
 
 A. makes the last trick with qu., and A. and B. 
 score two by cards. 
 
214 
 
 American Whist. 
 
 Hand XXXVIII of Cavendish. 
 
 "Cavendish," Laws and Principles, p. 253. 
 
 This hand is played to illustrate the grand coup 
 and will repay study. The hands are : — 
 
 A. 
 
 C. 
 
 B. 
 
 
 D. 
 
 S. 9, 7, 5, 4. 
 
 ace, kn., 6. 
 
 qu., 10, 8 
 
 
 k., 3, 2. 
 
 H. 9, 7. 
 
 5. 4. 
 
 ace,qu.,10, 6 
 
 k.,kn.,8, 3,2. 
 
 C. qu., 6. 
 
 4, 3, 2. 
 
 ace,k.,kn 
 
 .,8. 
 
 10, 9, 7, 5. 
 
 D. 10, 7, 6, 4, 2. 
 
 qu.,kn.,9, 8,5. 
 
 ace, 3. 
 
 
 k. 
 
 Score, A. E 
 
 \. 6. C. D. 6 
 
 . 8 of hearts turned up 
 
 1. 
 
 
 2. 
 
 
 A.4d. 
 
 
 B. 6h. 
 
 
 • C. 5 d. 
 
 
 D.2h. 
 
 
 B. ace d. 
 
 
 A7h. 
 
 
 D. k. d. 
 
 A. B. 1. 
 
 C. 4h. 
 
 A. B. 2. 
 
 
 C. D. 0. 
 
 
 C. D. 0. 
 
 3. 
 
 
 4. 
 
 
 A. 9 k 
 
 
 B. k. c. 
 
 
 C. 5 h. 
 
 
 D. 5 c. 
 
 
 B. ace h. 
 
 
 A. 6 c. 
 
 
 D. 3h. 
 
 A. B. 3. 
 
 C. 2 c. 
 
 A. B. 4. 
 
 
 C. D. 0. 
 
 
 C. 
 
 D. 0. 
 
 Trick 3. A. and C. have no more trumps and 
 D. knows that qu., 10, are in B.'s hand. 
 
Examples and Overplay. 215 
 
 5. 
 
 
 
 6. 
 
 B. ace c. 
 
 
 
 B. kn. c. 
 
 D. 7 c. 
 
 
 
 D. 9 c. 
 
 A. qu. c. 
 
 
 
 A. 4 s. 
 
 C. 3 c. 
 
 A. 
 
 B. 5. 
 
 C. 4 c. A. B. 6. 
 
 
 C. 
 
 D. 0. 
 
 C. D. 0. 
 
 7. 
 
 b. 3 a. 
 
 
 C. qu. d. 
 
 D. 2 s. 
 
 
 B. 8 c. 
 
 A. 10 d. 
 
 
 D. k. s. 
 
 C. kn. d. 
 
 A. B. 6. 
 
 A. 2 d. A. B. 6. 
 
 
 CD. 1 
 
 C. D. 2. 
 
 D. throws k. s. instead of the 3 for this reason. 
 If D. has the lead at the tenth trick he must lose 
 a trick in trumps and the game. C. must have 
 ace of spades to take when D. leads or the game 
 is lost. 
 
 9. 10. 
 
 C. 9 4 
 
 
 D. 3 s. 
 
 
 B. 8 s. 
 
 
 A. 5 s. 
 
 
 D. 8 k 
 
 
 G. ace s. 
 
 
 A. 6 4 
 
 A. B. 6. 
 
 B. 10 s. 
 
 A. B. 6. 
 
 
 C. D. 3. 
 
 
 C. D. 4. 
 
216 American Whist. 
 
 , r 
 
 D.'s play 8 h. in trick 9 is the grand coup. 
 11. 
 
 Tricks 12 and 13, D. 
 must make his two 
 trumps, and 0. and D. 
 win the odd trick. 
 
 B. refuses to trump winning cards. He holds 
 the tenace and expects to be led up to and so to 
 make the odd trick. 
 
 C. 8 d. 
 
 
 B. qu. s. 
 D. 10 c. 
 
 
 A. 7d. 
 
 A. B. 6. 
 
 
 C. D. 5. 
 
 Grand coups and any other style of show-work 
 in cards can be arranged by placing the cards, and 
 then causing them to be played to order. It will 
 be seen that B.'s cards are played as badly as they 
 could be. In the first place, he should not have 
 led trumps ; in the second, he should not have 
 taken the third trick ; in the third, he should have 
 continued his club suit; and in the fourth, he 
 should have trumped the diamond. But it is use- 
 less to comment upon' such absurd play on his 
 part : the manner of making the coup by D., be- 
 cause B. gave him all the chances for making it, 
 is commendable, and serves as a lesson to those 
 who would learn, that cards of seeming worth can 
 be thrown away for a purpose. 
 
Examples and Overplay. 217 
 
 Hand XXXVIII. — Overplay. 
 
 The score and hands have been given. We will 
 play B.'s hand as it should have been played, show- 
 ing a different result, let C. and D. do what they 
 may. 
 
 1. 
 
 
 
 2. 
 
 A. 4d. 
 
 
 
 B. k. c. 
 
 C, 5d. 
 
 
 
 D. 7 c. 
 
 B. ace d. 
 
 
 
 A. 6 c. 
 
 D. k. d. 
 
 A. 
 
 B. 1. 
 
 C. 2 c. A. B. 2. 
 
 
 C. 
 
 D.O. 
 
 C. D. 0. 
 
 B. sees that A. and C. have the diamonds, but 
 knows A. has not tierce to qu., or he would have 
 led qu., nor is he strong in trumps, or with many 
 diamonds he would have led a trump. Noting the 
 score, B. reserves his own trumps of which he holds 
 double tenace. 
 
 3. 
 
 
 
 
 4. 
 
 B. ace c. 
 
 
 
 
 B. kn. c. 
 
 D. 5 c. 
 
 
 
 
 D. 9 c. 
 
 A. qu. c. 
 
 
 
 
 A. 4 s. 
 
 C. 3 c. 
 
 A. 
 
 B. 
 
 3. 
 
 C. 4 c. A. B. 4. 
 
 
 C. 
 
 D. 
 
 0. 
 
 C. D. 0. 
 
 D. has called for trumps, but B. continues his 
 suit. 
 
218 American Whist. 
 
 5. 
 
 
 
 
 6. 
 
 
 B.8e. 
 
 
 
 
 A. 5 s. 
 
 
 D. 10 c. 
 
 
 
 
 C. kn. s. 
 
 
 A.7h. 
 
 
 
 
 B. qu. s. 
 
 
 C. 6 s. 
 
 A. 
 
 B. 
 
 5. 
 
 D. k. s. 
 
 A. B. 5. 
 
 
 C. 
 
 D. 
 
 0. 
 
 
 C. D. 1. 
 
 With A., the 7 and the 9 of hearts are equal 
 cards. He knows his partner is striving for the 
 odd card and does not continue his diamond lead 
 of which he knows C. to hold qu. 
 
 7. 
 
 
 
 
 8. 
 
 D. 3h. 
 
 
 
 
 A. 7 s. 
 
 A. 9h. 
 
 
 
 
 C. ace s. 
 
 C. 4h. 
 
 
 
 
 B. 8 s. 
 
 B. 6h. 
 
 A. 
 
 B. 
 
 6. 
 
 D. 2 s. A. B. 6. 
 
 
 C. 
 
 D. 
 
 1. 
 
 C. D. 2. 
 
 It makes no difference as to the play of C. and 
 D. A. and B. make 2 by cards. 
 
"CAVENDISH." 
 
 "Laws and Pkinciples of Whist." 
 
 To this writer more than to any and all others 
 are we indebted for information and direction con- 
 cerning the modern game of whist. He cannot as- 
 sure us that his system is certainly right and all 
 others certainly wrong. " The problem is too intri- 
 cate to admit of being treated with mathematical 
 precision. The conclusion, that the chances are in 
 favor of a certain line of play, is not arrived at by 
 abstract calculation, but by general reasoning con- 
 firmed by the accumulated experience of practised 
 players. The student must frequently be satisfied 
 if the reasons given appear weighty in themselves, 
 and none weightier can be suggested." The reasons 
 for specified play, as given by " Cavendish," are 
 the best of which English players may know, since 
 their accepted game is one of chance and skill, and 
 not of skill and chance, and he is received as au- 
 thority. It is when reasons weightier than his own, 
 
2 2 o A merican Whist. 
 
 as applicable to a greater game than his, can be 
 suggested, that we care to consider them in contra- 
 distinction to his teaching ; and when these are 
 presented, it is with the desire which " Cavendish" 
 himself had, to better old-time custom that we im- 
 prove upon his patent. He says : — 
 
 1. "Lead originally from your strongesi 
 Suit." That is, the longest or strongest or both 
 in one. This is accepted in the general as one 
 of the most important of the rules. The order 
 of leads will explain which card of one of four, 
 or five, or six, to lead. The two hands of the two 
 partners are to be made to assist each other, or, 
 so to speak, to be combined, that is, played for 
 each other, so that each can depend upon the 
 other to assist in the making of tricks. Partners 
 are to act for each other. The first lead that is 
 made after the trump card is turned, is usually 
 most significant. Of course but one card has 
 been exposed. The leader has no knowledge 
 where is to be found any other card -or cards. 
 He must tell his partner as much as he can of 
 his own hand, then carefully observe the play. 
 
 2. "Lead the highest of a head sequence." 
 This rule is subject to change, more in England 
 than in America. It will be observed that, having 
 k., qu., kn., and 10, we always play the k. " Caven- 
 
Cavendish." 221 
 
 dish" throws 10 to call ace from his partner, if he 
 has it. We play k. ; if partner has ace and two 
 more, he plays small one; if but one more, he takes 
 with ace, and returns small one at proper time. 
 
 3. " Lead the highest of a numerically weak 
 suit." Our rule is, lead the .highest of three, other 
 than ace, k., and qu., the lowest of four cards, the 
 penultimate of five cards, and the antepenultimate 
 of six. 
 
 4. " Avoid changing suits." The chapter under 
 this head in "Cavendish" is necessarily full of 
 contradictions, and we set it all aside. The good 
 player will change suits as often as he sees cause 
 for so doing, and his partner must be attentive to 
 his action. 
 
 5. " Return the lowest of a strong suit, the 
 highest of a weak suit." That depends upon cir- 
 cumstances. If you have taken with kn., and hold 
 k., qu., and others, play k. And it is sometimes a 
 question whether the lowest, or next to the lowest, 
 of a strong suit should be returned. 
 
 6. "Play your lowest card second hand." 
 Provided, first, that you have not a sequence, in 
 which case play lowest of same ; second, that you 
 do not want trumps led by your partner, in which 
 case you play an unnecessarily high card, to be 
 followed by one lower (i. e., the 4 and after, the 2 ; 
 
222 A merican Whist. 
 
 instead of the 2 and after, the 4) ; and third, if a 9 
 be not led, in which case cover with a 10 or queen. 
 When a knave is led, cover with ace, if you have 
 it, and have not k. with the ace. 
 
 7. " Play the lowest of a sequence." This has 
 reference to a follow, not a lead. Play the lowest, 
 if desirable to play any member of it. 
 
 8. " Play your highest card third hand." You 
 will not play ace on partner's queen, nor queen, if 
 your only high card, on partner's 10. Holding 
 ace, qu., and the card led is below the 10, play 
 queen and after, ace, unless the 9 is led when 
 having only ace, qu., take with ace and return qu. 
 
 9. " Keep command of your adversaries' suit," 
 and 
 
 10. " Get rid of the command of your part- 
 ner's suit." By all means obey these rules. 
 
 11. "Discard from your weakest suit." If 
 your partner leads or has taken the trick on which 
 you play, when the cards are running against you, 
 and you have a card of re-entry, and may be able 
 to lead from what is a weak suit to your partner's 
 advantage, throw away such other card as you 
 deem best to part with. When the opponents' 
 trumps are largely against you, discard from your 
 strongest suit. 
 
 12. " Afford information by your play." Every 
 
11 Cavendish." 223 
 
 card, as it is played at the proper time, speaks. 
 The king led says : the ace or the qu. is here. The 
 9 led says : the k. and kn. are here. The 2 led 
 says: there is nothing here of value. The k. 
 played second hand says: the ace is here, or I 
 am alone or (in trumps) : there is but one small 
 one here. The 9 played second says : I am the 
 lowest of a sequence, or, I commence the call for 
 trumps, or, I am the only card of the suit. The 
 2 played second says : this hand does not want, or 
 cannot properly take, the card played, and does 
 not want trumps led. A trick is always taken, if 
 taken at all, by fourth hand as cheaply as possible. 
 Having kn. and 10, take with the 10, for the play 
 of the kn. says : I have not the 10. 
 
 13. " Lead trumps when very strong in them." 
 This depends upon the state of the hand, the score, 
 whether you want to receive assistance from your 
 partner, and where you would like to place the 
 lead. It is not alone a proper reason, because you 
 have a certain number of trumps, that you must 
 play them. Trumps are to be managed differently 
 from plain suits. In the " Cavendish " game it is 
 more proper that a lead from five trumps should 
 always be made than in American Whist. The 
 English game counts but five points, and two or 
 four of those can be, and often are, made by " hon- 
 
224 ^ merican Whist. 
 
 ors." We have seven points, and all to make by 
 card, so that there should be a reason for leading 
 from five trumps, as neither the leader nor the 
 partner having high cards, the getting out of 
 trumps may be the playing of the opponents' 
 game. If you have five small trumps and a short 
 suit, they may be of much service. 
 
 14. " DO NOT TRUMP A DOUBTFUL CARD IF STRONG 
 
 IN trumps." That is, pass a card at second hand if 
 probably your partner can take it. You thus show 
 him that you have many or good trumps. The 
 rule is, having few trumps take with them all that 
 you can, and whenever you can ; having many, pass 
 the card to your partner that you may use your 
 strength to advantage. 
 
 15. " Force a strong trump hand of the ad- 
 versary." This is a good rule, for it makes use of 
 his trumps less to your detriment than if he drew 
 one from you and from your partner. 
 
 16. "DO NOT FORCE YOUR PARTNER IF YOU ARE 
 
 weak in trumps." This is at once a proper and 
 an improper rule. The business of the partner is 
 to take tricks, and if he can trump a card led by 
 you for that purpose, it makes no difference whether 
 you have or have not strength in trumps. If he 
 is a good partner he will not be forced to his in- 
 jury. [See chapter on Trumps.} 
 
Cavendish? 225 
 
 17. "Play to the score/' and 
 
 18. " Watch the fall of the cards and draw 
 your inferences at the time." The score in Short 
 Whist is a matter of great difference from ours, 
 and the manner in which it is made, compels us to 
 qualify the meaning of any rule that applies to it. 
 If a man playing Short Whist is at 3 and holds 
 three "honors," or holds two, his partner having 
 turned one, he has no game to play, but only to 
 hinder others from playing profitably. If one party 
 are at 1, either partner or both together may hold 
 four " honors," and the game is theirs already, if 
 the other party have nothing, or if they have but 
 one point. Short Whist is of no more account 
 than any other short game to parties who are 
 playing for money. The sooner the play is over 
 the better, that the stakes may be paid, not 
 that a victory may be fairly won. It is not in the 
 same sense that we urge the adoption of the rule. 
 Play to the score, that your good play may count. 
 Eemember that you must work for every point 
 you gain. In American Whist there is no mum- 
 mery of " honors." If you have five or six points, 
 play with all shrewdness and caution, or, it may 
 be, with all daring and abandon, for the last one 
 or two points. Of one thing you are sure, your 
 good work cannot be frustrated by the exhibition 
 
 15 
 
226 American Whist. 
 
 of a picture or two held by accident, and whose 
 influence is outgeneralled. To watch the fall of 
 the cards and to draw inferences are distinct char- 
 acteristics of the good whist-player. If your part- 
 ner leads a king you at once infer that he has ace 
 or qu., perhaps both, perhaps a knave. If second 
 hand plays 10 you infer he has kn. or no more, or 
 wants trumps, and has but one card more of the 
 suit. If your partner or fourth hand wins a trick, 
 the highest card of which is the 10, with a king, 
 you infer he has not qu. or kn. [See Inferences. 
 Also see y under " Whist Practice" many rules hav- 
 ing reference to play at different stages of the game.] 
 
 Inferences drawn as the game proceeds induce 
 the best of play. Partners inform by the cards of 
 many situations and relations, and good players 
 remember and make use of the information. 
 
 " Cavendish " tells us : — 
 
 "There is no whist principle which should not be 
 occasionally violated, owing to the knowledge of the 
 hands derived from inference during the play." 
 
 We never violate a principle. We change our 
 tactics as we deem proper to do on occasion, and 
 reserve the right to do so under any condition. 
 Leading from strongest or from weakest suit, treat- 
 ing long suits like short ones, and vice versa, refus- 
 
Cavendish? 227 
 
 ing to win the second round of a suit, declining to 
 draw the losing trump, throwing high cards to place 
 the lead, getting rid of a surplus trump for a pur- 
 pose, refusing to overtrump, trumping partners 
 trick in place of a discard, and any other coup 
 or grand coup, are nothing more nor less than 
 dispositions of good players manifested because of 
 the ability to take the rule into their own hands 
 without interfering with the right of opponents, 
 and without deceiving their partners, in the up- 
 holding of principle to the elicitation of the best 
 solutions of the mysteries of the game. 
 
 " Cavendish," at the close of his historical sketch, 
 adds a few words of credit for his friends " J. C ." 
 and Dr. Pole, and of his own book declares, " How 
 far it has fulfilled the conditions of its being, it is 
 not for the author to say." But we may say ever 
 so proudly, as we recur again and again to his mas- 
 terly analysis of whist, that apart from the neces- 
 sity which seems to exist for adapting his ideas to 
 the conventional standard of a contracted practice, 
 he has produced the best contribution to whist lit- 
 erature extant, so complete in the main essentials 
 of the game that all who follow him are borrowers 
 of the tenor of his instructions, if not of the lan- 
 guage in which he pertinently states them. 
 
228 A merican Whist. 
 
 For those persons who think that after a few 
 high cards are played in the early part of the hand, 
 the rest are of no avail and may fall as they please; 
 as well as for those who would study the intricacies 
 of play, we copy the excellent examples which give 
 information of cases that occur in practice in which 
 playing to the board is involved. 
 
 A. 9, 4, 3, 2 clubs. 
 
 C. ace, qu., kn., 5 clubs. 
 
 B. k., 8, 7 clubs, 8 spades. 
 
 D. 9 d., 6 clubs, 9, 7 spades. 
 
 Spades trumps. C. and D. must have all the 
 tricks to save the game. A.'s lead. 
 
 1. 
 
 2. 
 
 3. 
 
 A. 2, c. 
 
 C. qu., c. 
 
 D. 9 s. 
 
 C. ace. 
 
 B. k. 
 
 
 B. 7. 
 
 D. 7 s. 
 
 
 D. 6. 
 
 A. 3 c. 
 
 
 C. plays ace of c, not kn., 'second, the only sure 
 play, D. trumps next trick with 7 and draws last 
 trump with 9, making his diamond. 
 
11 Cavendish? 229 
 
 II. 
 
 A. qu, 8 sp., 2 h. 
 
 C. 7 sp, 7 h, 10 d. 
 
 B. 9 sp, kn, 7 d. 
 
 D. kn, 10, 3 sp. 
 
 Hearts trumps. A, B. want two tricks to save 
 the game. A. knows 0. holds best trump and B. 
 best diamond and a low spade. 
 
 1. 
 
 2. 
 
 A. qu. s. 
 
 A. 2h. 
 
 C. 7 s. 
 
 C. 7h. 
 
 B. 9 s. 
 
 B. 7d. 
 
 D. 3 s. 
 
 D. 10 s. 
 
 A. leads qu. of spades, and then the losing trump. 
 B.'s diamond must make. 
 
 III. 
 
 A. qu, 10 s. kn, 7 h. 
 
 C. kn, 3 s. k, 9 h. 
 
 B. kn. c. kn, 10, 4 d. 
 
 D. 6 s. 7 c. 5, 2 d. 
 
 Spades trumps. *C. knows A. has two hearts, 
 and qu, 10 spades, and that D. has small spade. 
 C, D. want three tricks. 
 
230 American Whist 
 
 1. 
 
 2. 
 
 A. 7 h. 
 
 C. 9h. 
 
 C. k. h. 
 
 B. 10 d. 
 
 B. 4 d. 
 
 C. 6 s. 
 
 D. 7 c. 
 
 A. kn. h. 
 
 C. putting on k. hearts second although 9 would 
 have taken, relieves his partner from trumping C.'s 
 best heart to get the lead through the spades in 
 A's hand. 
 
 IV. 
 
 It is never right to over-trump when three cards 
 remain in each hand and one player holds second 
 and third best trumps with one of which he trumps 
 
 card led. 
 
 A. 8, 7 h., 3 s. 
 
 C. 10 h, 9, 4 d. 
 
 B. 9, 8 s, kn. c. 
 
 D. k. 6 s., ace d. 
 
 The position of the trumps, spades, is known. 
 A. leads a heart, B. trumps it. If D. over-trumps 
 he loses the other tricks, if he throws ace d. he 
 wins them. 
 
 V. 
 
 When you are left at the end of a hand with 
 the tenace in trumps (best and third best, or sec- 
 
" Cavendish? 231 
 
 ond best guarded), over right-hand player and two 
 other cards both of the suit led by him, always 
 throw the highest to his lead. 
 
 A. k., 7 h., ace, 6 c. 
 
 C. ace, 10 h., 9, 5 c. 
 
 B. kn. c. qu., 8, 6 i 
 
 D. k, qu., 8, 3 c. 
 
 Hearts trumps. A. leads ace of clubs. C. should 
 play 9, for D. might play carelessly and let C. take 
 next trick. C. should make it a necessity for D, 
 to take it, that D. might lead up to C.'s tenace. 
 
 VI. 
 
 
 A. has k, 10, s. 
 
 ace, 4, d. 
 
 C. has ace, kn., s. 
 
 k., 2, d. 
 
 Spades, trumps. A. plays ace, d. C. should 
 throw k. He can take but two tricks at any rate, 
 and should see that he cannot. Also, that if his 
 partner had higher diamond than A. next led, C. 
 D. would make three tricks. 
 
 VII. 
 
 
 A. has kn., 10, 8, 7, c. 
 
 
 C. has k, 5, 3, 2, c. 
 
 
 B. has 9, 6, c. 
 
 10, 8, h. 
 
 D. has ace, qu., c. 
 
 qu., 9, h. 
 
232 A merican Whist. 
 
 C, D. must have every trick ; hearts, trumps. It 
 is known that the trumps are held by B. and D. 
 
 1. 2. 
 
 A., kn., c. D., qu., c. 
 
 Q, 2, c. A., 7, c. 
 
 B., 6, c. C, k, c. 
 
 D., ace, c. B., 9, c. 
 
 D. takes the trick with ace, and returns qu. C, 
 seeing his partner's anxiety to get rid of the lead, 
 takes the trick with the k., and thus secures to D. 
 the tenace. 
 
 VIII. 
 The grand coup consists in throwing away a 
 superfluous trump. 
 
 A. has 8, 6, s. 10, 9, d. 
 
 C. has qu., s. 6 c. 5, 3, h. 
 
 B. has 5, 3, d. 10, 7, e 
 
 D. has kn., 9, 5, c. kn. h. 
 
 •. _ 
 
 Clubs, trumps. D. ^knows that B. has 10 and 
 another trump. 
 
 1. 2. 
 
 A., 10, d. C, qu., s. 
 
 C, 6, c. B., 5, d. 
 
 B., 3, d. D., kn., h. 
 
 D., 5, c. A, 9, d. 
 
" Cavendish!' 233 
 
 D. throws away the 5 of trumps, and secures all 
 the tricks. Had he played kn., h. on first trick, and 
 B. refused to trump qu. spades, D. must have lost 
 a trick. 
 
 IX. 
 
 Grand coup already played, followed by good 
 play. It may happen that more must be done than 
 to sacrifice the trump to save a trick or game. 
 Hearts, trumps. B. has thrown away his super- 
 fluous trump. 
 
 A. has 8, c. k., 7, 6, d. 
 
 0. ^ 5, c. kn., d. kn., 5, h. 
 
 B. ace, 5, d. qu., 6, h. 
 D. qu„ 10, 9, 8,d. 
 
 A. and B. must have all the tricks. 
 
 1. 2. 
 
 A., 8, c. A., k, d. 
 
 C, 5. c. C, kn., d. 
 
 B., ace, d. B., 5, d. 
 
 D., 8, d. D., 9, d. 
 
 B. can gain nothing by retaining the ace of 
 diamonds, and trusts to his partner having the 
 highest to take the second trick. 
 
234 American Whist. 
 
 X. 
 
 Grand coup. Hearts, trumps. It is known that 
 
 B. has k., qu., and kn., and a losing spade or club, 
 uncertain which. C, D. must have one trick of 
 the four. 
 
 A.haskn., 10, 8,7,d. 
 
 C. 9, 6, 5, d. 7, c. 
 
 B. k., qu., kn., h. 8, s. 
 
 D. qu., c. 5, 4, h. qu., s. 
 
 1. 2. 
 
 A., kn., d. B., qu., h. 
 
 C, 5, d. D., 5, h. 
 
 B, kn., h. A, 7, d. 
 
 D., 4, h. C, 7, c. 
 
 D.'s trumps were good for nothing. He throws 
 one away, and waits for his partner's discard to 
 know if B. has the small spade or club. He takes 
 the last trick with qu. s. 
 
 Appendixes A. and B. in " Cavendish " name the 
 reasons for the invention of the penultimate lead, 
 and the specification of the number of trumps by 
 the ingenious echo. Both advantages are appre- 
 ciated by the American game, and all credit given 
 to their English inventor and expositor. The 
 
" Cavendish? 235 
 
 plan and object of both are described in appropriate 
 places in this volume. 
 
 With reference to " Decisions " in " Cavendish," 
 as in all the English books, we are only able to say- 
 that as our laws afford no opportunity for misun- 
 derstanding or dissatisfaction, we have no reason 
 for dissension, and no occasion for appeal. 
 
 "Card Essays, Clay's Decisions, and Card 
 Table Talk," 
 
 Is the title of the last book edited or compiled by 
 " Cavendish." In the first chapter Whist versus 
 Chess is considered. His argument is that at chess 
 the moves are suggested by the application of 
 analysis based on inspection, while at whist the 
 play results from exercise of judgment based on 
 observation and inference. He quotes Clay's at- 
 testation to the perfectness of whist, had the hon- 
 ors been divided in the reckoning, while the 
 advantage of skill would be so great as to limit 
 considerably the number of players. It is chance 
 upon which to take the risk that makes the excite- 
 ment for an English player. If he had to trust to 
 skill in play of all the cards, the game would not 
 be swift enough to satisfy the inordinate craving 
 
236 American Whist. 
 
 for hazard. Cards must be held, if not used, that 
 denote points ; then, against skill, fortune may win. 
 
 In a long article, " Cavendish " would inform 
 of the " Morality of card-playing." Card-playing 
 in its innocency needs no defence, and the heading 
 to his chapter had best be "On the morality of 
 gambling in card-playing." This proposition he 
 proposes to espouse, and endeavors to show that 
 absolute morals indorse gaming if the party who 
 must play for something to establish the interest 
 felt, can pecuniarily afford to do so. 
 
 Bibliographers and etymologists will find matter 
 of interest in the next two papers, and the lover 
 of Piquet will read the descriptive article upon 
 that game. " Clay's Decisions " may be agreed to 
 or quarreled with, as shall please the fancy of Eng- 
 lish amateurs or professionals. 
 
 Lord Henry Bentinck appears to have been the 
 god of the " Cavendish " high holiday, and * Caven- 
 dish " stood in lofty awe of him. Quite a number 
 of anecdotes of less than mediocre value, are re- 
 corded with an unction that would become the 
 recital of sayings of an illustrious man. 
 
 " Card Table Talk " is anecdotical. As a whole 
 it is puerile. The instances in which book-play is 
 disregarded and common sense used in the disposal 
 of the cards, enliven it somewhat, but the general 
 
" Cavendish? 237 
 
 discomfort of contestants, the exhibition of ill 
 humor at the table, and dissatisfaction with the 
 course of opponents, rob the stories of interest 
 for men who meet as friends in a manly game, who 
 play as friends, creditably exercising their faculties 
 to achieve temporary success, and who part as 
 friends, having shared the pleasure that intellectual 
 recreation affords. 
 
"J. C." 
 
 " A treatise on Short Whist, by James Clay," 
 was published in England in 1864. During the 
 spring of the previous year, Mr. Clay was reported 
 to have acted as chairman of a committee appointed 
 to revise the laws of Short Whist, or to act upon a 
 series of rules presented by Mr. John Loraine Bald- 
 win for adoption. Of these rules we only say here, 
 that some seven or eight sensible men subscribed 
 to them. 
 
 " J. C." presents the old game as dead, and the 
 new one in full life and vigor. He thinks that the 
 honors should have been divided, as well as the 
 number of tricks, allowing four honors to count 
 two points, and three honors to count one point. 
 Then, as he says, the game would be perfect. He 
 recommends talking over the hand after it has 
 been played, and the watching the play of expe- 
 rienced men. Many of his maxims are worthy the 
 most careful attention. He prefaces $hese with 
 the opinion, — 
 
«% C" 239 
 
 "That although the following rules may occasion- 
 ally speak of things to be never done, and others to 
 be always done, the student must remember that no 
 rules are without exception, and few more open to 
 exceptional cases than rules for whist." 
 
 His advice is given very fairly and freely, and 
 while desirous that would-be or practiced players 
 should possess and study his volume, we cull for 
 our criticism certain statements made therein, 
 which do not harmonize with our conduct in 
 play. He, in common with- several others, who 
 seem to distrust their companions, advises — 
 
 " avoidance of getting into any particular habit of sort- 
 ing your cards, such as always putting trumps in the 
 same place, &c. Players of no great delicacy may 
 easily gain from your peculiarities some indication of 
 your strength, and even the most loyal may find diffi- 
 culty in not noticing them and being somewhat influ- 
 enced by the information which they have unintention- 
 ally acquired." 
 
 That is a most ingenious employment of words, 
 at once to hide and to expose the contemptibility 
 of espionage. Your cards, as sorted into your hand, 
 should, in colors, be at odds with each other, and 
 the trumps should always occupy the same position, 
 say the second suit on the right. Whenever you 
 discover that you, a gentleman, are playing whist 
 
240 American Whist. 
 
 at a table with people who are ferreting out the 
 cards in your hand, instead of properly playing 
 their own, you had best leave that table and that 
 company. 
 
 " I have laid down a rule — it is no invention of 
 mine, hut is given, I think, in the old works of Hoyle, 
 or Matthews, or both, and was decided to be right after 
 some controversy among the chief Graham's players 
 many years ago — that with a tierce to a king in any 
 suit, it is only right to commence with the knave when 
 you hold at least five of the suit. Nothing, however, 
 is more common, even among very fair players, than to 
 commence with the knave, holding this tierce alone, or 
 with one other card only. It is a grave error, and I 
 refuse to consider any man, whoever he may be, a fine 
 whist-player who commits it. He has not understood 
 the immense advantage which it is to me, not in that 
 suit only, but ranging over the whole of the hand, to 
 know, as if I saw it, that when he commences a tierce 
 to a king with the knave, he has at least five cards in 
 the suit." 
 
 This rule, together with that which directs the 
 play of the kn. as a lead in trumps when k. 10 
 and others are held, is adopted by the best players. 
 They, who will not remember such special plays, 
 practice the lead of the head of the sequence, and 
 of the lower trump, [pp. 46, 53.] 
 
 " If you have omitted to notice how the cards fell to 
 a trick, ask that they be placed." 
 
"7. C" 241 
 
 Whose fault was it that you did not notice how 
 they fell ? Who should be punished ? Whose time 
 have you a right to take, disturbing calculations ? 
 You may point to a single card on the table, and 
 he who played it must draw it toward him ; but 
 even this proceeding on your part should rarely 
 happen. 
 
 "Do not force your partner, unless you hold four 
 trumps, one of them being an honor, or unless," &c, 
 &c. 
 
 Force your partner whenever he can take a trick, 
 and you know that you need it. If he does not 
 choose to trump, knowing his strength, he will dis- 
 card, throw the lead, and gain his advantage. 
 
 "Let the first card you throw away be from your 
 weakest suit." 
 
 On your partner's trick the discard is the small- 
 est card of the weakest suit. Inferences must be 
 read when different play is made. Let the discard 
 be from your best suit, if trumps are declared 
 against you. 
 
 " Never play false cards. The habit, to which there 
 are many temptations, of trying to deceive your adver- 
 saries as to the state of your hand deceives your part- 
 ner as well and destroys his confidence in you. A 
 
 16 
 
242 American Whist. 
 
 golden maxim for whist is that it is of more importance 
 to inform your partner than to deceive your adversary. 
 The best whist-player is he who plays the game in the 
 simplest and most intelligible way." 
 
 These are good sentences and full of meaning. 
 ft oftentimes happens that a player upon taking up 
 his hand anticipates the play to its conclusion. He 
 wants from his partner a certain card or cards, and 
 the needed point is made. Failing in that, if he can 
 have the lead from his left or can force his right- 
 hand adversary who has turned the k., he is sure. 
 What might be called false cards are now leaders, 
 and have their mission. There is independence in 
 the play of whist as well as dependence. The 
 game properly played by A. consists in the fact 
 that A. plays B.'s hand as well as his own. It 
 requires that 0. should play D.'s hand as well as 
 his own. It asks of B. and D. that they should 
 respectively play A/s and C/s hands. That is, 
 there is mutuality of action between the players 
 who are partners. But A. takes up a hand which 
 he proposes to play. He has one, two, three points 
 to make, and he proposes to make them. His part- 
 ner must give room for him to act, and keep the 
 track of his performance. It is not of the slightest 
 consequence to A. whether his opponents follow 
 him or not. Herein the game of whist in proper 
 
"7. cr 243 
 
 hands obeys the law of orderly judgment, the books 
 become the alphabets, the brains the volumes, of 
 information. Suits are changed as often as A. sees 
 fit to change them, his partner or adversary forced 
 according as he predicts his gain ; on his opponent's 
 lead he throws what pleases him to play, and some 
 life is infused into a game that might plod on in 
 strictest conformity with the dullest of routine. 
 The best whist-player is he who plays the game 
 understandingly, honorably, and brilliantly. 
 
 "A lead from qu., kn., and one small card, or kn., 
 10, and one small card, is not bad when you have no 
 better suit." 
 
 Whether it is "bad" or not, if you have no 
 better suit, you must make it. But it oftentimes 
 happens that the lead is proper and by no means 
 bad when you have a better suit. We have seen 
 many a game thrown away by silly devotion to 
 book-rule. A graduate from a Short Whist Club 
 
 was playing in the A. club-room not long 
 
 since, and the score stood 6 to 6. Qu. of spades 
 turned on his right. He took up his hand, k., 
 qu., 7, 5, 3, hearts, kn., 10, 6, clubs, ace, qu. d., 
 k., and two small spades. He instantly threw k. 
 of hearts because the book said so, and lost the 
 odd trick, as he deserved to do. He should have 
 
244 American Whist 
 
 seen the possibility of his making both k. and qu. t 
 and even of the 10 of clubs. Had he played kn. 
 of c. as he should have done, he — for his partner 
 had two tricks — would have won the game. But 
 the book men at his club would have never for- 
 given any other lead than one from the five, "to 
 inform his partner " that he had more of that suit 
 than of any other. He threw away his best card 
 to please a rule. It does not always follow that 
 the best suit should be played either at the begin- 
 ning or at certain other stages of the game. That 
 is where judgment is to be exercised. Whist is 
 played by method, but not by machinery. 
 
 "The lead from k., kn., 10, and others is excep- 
 tional. It is the only case of leading a middle card, 
 and the practice is to lead the 10." 
 
 Because it has been the only case of a middle 
 card lead, the game that the English play is faulty. 
 In advance of any lead is that of the 9, which 
 designates k. and kn. " J. 0." could not, at the 
 time of the printing of his book, give his adhesion 
 to the doctrine of the penultimate, but he did so in 
 a short time thereafter. He remembered business 
 of the older schools, and how the Parisians, with 
 Deschapelles at their head, created a system oi 
 their own, and how that system drove away the old 
 
. "7- cr 245 
 
 beliefs. Long-suit leading as a principle in prac- 
 tice, and signalling conversation, were of the Eng- 
 lish plan, but daring trump-leading on occasion^ 
 and the method, in part, of mutual dependence 
 adopted by the French and incorporated into the 
 game that the English played, made that English 
 game a success. Afterward came the call and 
 echo, the discard of the second best, and the order 
 of the leads. Now we take their game where they 
 are content to leave it, and where for their pur- 
 poses of speed and excitement it answers well 
 enough. They claim the credit of having robbed 
 the original of half its fine proportions, and hon- 
 estly give their reasons for delight in the change. 
 
 We are not fearful that because of discussion 
 there will be diminution of interest on the part ot 
 good players in the best features of the regular 
 game. "Cavendish" and others were indebted to 
 Hoyle and others for their information concerning 
 whist. They made improvements upon their mas- 
 ter's work. We follow their example in such re- 
 gard, and in turn rejecting what is unsuited to our 
 atmosphere, reform what we deem unworthy and 
 accept their wisest conclusions. We Americanize 
 whist and make of it a better and more interesting 
 game. 
 
 u J. C." finds it difficult to give an accurate defi* 
 
246 American Whist. 
 
 nition in a small compass of the rival systems of 
 Paris and London. He admits that^lie brilliant 
 play of Deschapelles disconcerted alike the wise- 
 acres and the erudite players of England. Id 
 France the game must be, in common with all 
 manner of entertainment, a rapid thing, and so the 
 honors must have place. Cut off these excrescen- 
 ces, and the "rash attack" which "J. C." calls 
 the French opening, preferring the same to an 
 over-cautious defence, corresponds with independ- 
 ent action in American Whist. He gives an ex- 
 ample : — 
 
 " The game is at its beginning, and a small card has 
 been turned up. I hold the queen, knave, and two 
 small trumps, tierce to a kn. and a small card on the 
 second suit, queen, kn., and a small card in the third, 
 and a guarded k. in the fourth. With this, which is 
 not very great strength, or with any hand of a similar 
 character, I believe it so important to find out whether 
 my partner has a third honor, and whether, conse- 
 quently, I may play to win the game, that I unhesitat- 
 ingly lead a small trump. (They call this playing 
 whist in London.) If I find him very weak, I have 
 no doubt played to a disadvantage, and must change 
 my attack to defence, making the best of my hand, 
 which would probably have been more profitably com- 
 menced by the knave from my tierce. But if my 
 partner has an honor and a trump to return to me, 
 
"7 C" 247 
 
 with only one strong suit to which he by the card 
 that he throws to my third round of trumps and the 
 adversary by his lead will direct me, we shall probably 
 win the game, or at least, be very close to it. The 
 player of the old school would have opened the hand 
 with a tierce to the knave as exposing him to the least 
 danger." 
 
 Now any man who will, may see the great advan- 
 tage of American Whist over either school that 
 speculates upon the luck of an " honor." " J. C." 
 holds two pictures in trumps, and is instantly 
 desirous to ascertain if his partner has another. 
 What has that to do with playing whist ? It is 
 about equal to matching cards in " Old Maid " in 
 the hope of finding out where the odd queen is. 
 If he and his partner have been dealt three cer- 
 tain cards, though two of them are compelled to 
 fall upon the opponent's ace or king, the claim of 
 " two by honor " is set up and stands as fair as the 
 gain made by the ingenious calculation which, 
 despite that fortune, has made the odd card ! 
 With us, a good player, taking up the hand speci- 
 fied by "J. 0.," does not play a trump, because he 
 has no hand to warrant such a course. He throws 
 the kn. in the second suit, or, it may be, not fear- 
 ing the criticism of Lord Harry Bentinck, et al, 
 the queen in the third. There is nothing to ex- 
 
248 American Whist. 
 
 pect from his hand, and he so tells his partner, and 
 that he is ready to play for him. If his partner 
 possesses the strength of which " J. 0." speaks, 
 such assistance as A. can render will be given, 
 and the two or three by card which " J. 0." pro- 
 phesied, can be made. But to attain the result 
 how much more desirable and interesting the 
 whole play of the hand for points alone ! 
 
 "tT. C.V comments upon and against the play 
 of false cards are about balanced in quantity and 
 quality by his comments upon and in favor of 
 them. He abhors them, but he tolerates them ; he 
 denies your right to play them, but if you win for 
 him, there can be excuse found for their existence. 
 To just such argument all positive book-players 
 come at last, for the plain reason that circum- 
 stances alter cases, that whist is full of circum- 
 stance, ever-changing, and that judgment must 
 determine what shall be done when routine is of 
 no avail. 
 
 Let whoso will, take it for granted that English 
 opinions are infallible. We remember how they 
 have differed with each other • that "J. C," the one 
 great player, for a long time refused to lead the 
 next to the lowest in a suit of five, and that among 
 his last games he insisted upon everybody's leading 
 the antepenultimate in a suit of six. He lived 
 
" 7. C" 249 
 
 long enough to know that his own manner of early- 
 play was incorrect, and could he live to-day, he 
 would understand that the American game is the 
 most informatory of all, and the best adapted to 
 the exercise of his brilliant powers. 
 
POLE. 
 
 " The Theory of the Modern Scientific Game of 
 Whist." The title is an ambitious one, and the in- 
 troduction full of promise ; but as the written 
 definition of a theory of a science or art, unless its 
 author indulges in protracted metaphysical treat- 
 ment or relentless logical induction, is briefly 
 told, we need not be surprised if, in the making of 
 a book of an hundred pages upon the principles of 
 whist, "the vigor and success of the war have not 
 quite come up to the sounding phrase of the mani- 
 festo." The "theory" then is not a theory at all, 
 but a very excellent development and explanation 
 of the practical game of English or Short Whist, 
 founded upon the obeyal of two practical rules, 
 which are supposed to be of utmost importance to 
 the scientific player of that game. Dr. Pole is so 
 intent upon the demonstration of his "theory," 
 that he lets go by some important matters of 
 detail. He recommends leads that are obsolete. 
 From k., kn., 8, 4, 3, 2, he counsels leading the 
 
Pole. 251 
 
 smallest card of the long suit of spades. The cor- 
 rect lead from six is the antepenultimate. 
 
 " What should you do," he asks, " when you have 
 a partner who does not understand, and consequently 
 does not play the scientific game]" 
 
 Teach him as well as you may by your own ex- 
 cellent play, or advise him to go and study before 
 he attempts to play ; but under no circumstances 
 deceive him by trying to make him think that you 
 are doing right, when you know that you are doing 
 wrong. What should .three gentlemen, about to 
 investigate a geometrical, mathematical, or philo- 
 sophical problem do, when some one who knows 
 little of geometry, mathematics, or philosophy, pro- 
 poses to add himself to their number for the pur- 
 pose of taking part in their work ? Fearful lest 
 he should not understand their correct action, will 
 they cast aside plans which they know to be true, 
 and practice those which they know to be false ? 
 Says Dr. Pole : — 
 
 "Whenever you have five trumps, whatever they 
 are, or whatever the other components of your hand, 
 you should lead them, for the probability is that three, 
 or at least four rounds will exhaust those of the adver- 
 saries, and you will still have one or two left to bring 
 in your own or your partner's long suit, and to stop 
 those of the enemy." 
 
252 A merican Whist. 
 
 He argues that it is no consequence as to their 
 numerical strength, that by this lead you are bene- 
 fiting your partner at any rate, and that if you 
 are both weak, any other play would probably be 
 worse for both. It is a consolation to know, and 
 it is easy work to play a game that only asks 
 the showing of such knowledge, that your work is 
 decided upon in advance, and that in the pursuance 
 of directions you can never go wrong. But, unfor- 
 tunately for the " theory," the advice in practice is 
 gratuitous. You know nothing of your partner's 
 hand ; and, despite the already specified necessity 
 of combination, you propose to take the whole 
 matter into your own control, rid him of his 
 trumps, will he, nill he, give him no chance for 
 trumping short suits, — the only thing it may be that 
 with his hand he could do, — throw away your own 
 opportunity of doing the same thing, and assume 
 that you are to do him good merely because you 
 are not clear that you can do him harm. An 
 infinite number of cases can be supposed wherein 
 a lead from five small trumps, with no possible 
 reason for leading them but that you happen to 
 hold them, may deprive him of all the chances 
 that he has for usefulness in the hand. Perhaps it 
 is not too much to say that in American Whist 
 the chances are more than even that you play the 
 opponents' same. 
 
Pole. 253 
 
 The Doctor has great confidence in his " modern 
 scientific game," and in his systematic mode of 
 teaching it, making us constantly aware of our 
 lasting obligations to him for his improvement 
 upon predecessors who have only named a practice, 
 what he calls a " theory." But if all that he has 
 said may be found in " Cavendish's " " Laws and 
 Principles," and "J. C.'s" "Treatise," he has 
 nevertheless said much of it remarkably well, and 
 his peroration, which is much the best thing, aside 
 from absolute quotation, in the book, shall be ac- 
 cepted as his apology for whatever may be in non- 
 conformity with the proper definition of " theory." 
 
 " And lastly, a good player must apply the results 
 of his observation, memory, and inference, with 
 judgment in his play. This cannot be taught ; it 
 must depend entirely upon the individual talent and 
 good sense of the player, and the use he makes of 
 his experience in the game. This will vary im- 
 mensely in different individuals, and the scope for 
 individual judgment in play is one of the finest 
 features of the game." 
 
 Dr. Pole's order of practice, whatever his theory 
 may be, is to play trumps at any rate if you have 
 five, that you may disable the adversary early (a 
 feat not always accomplished, by the way, when 
 five small trumps strive to make such hostile head- 
 
254 American Whist. 
 
 way), and then to bring in that long suit, also a 
 troublesome matter ; vide the overplay of his own 
 illustrations, pp. 189, 192 . At the outset you are 
 to open from the long suit, if you have not the five 
 trumps. You must play from that. You must tell 
 your partner that you have more cards of a certain 
 suit than you have of any other. Then he must do 
 the same thing by you. But we have thought that 
 whist was a game for calculation. May we not 
 begin to count as early as we can ? Must we do a 
 certain quantity of machine work before we assert 
 our independence ? " Yes, the fundamental theory 
 of whist consists in the fact that two hands must 
 be played as one, and that the long-suit play is the 
 only play to be adopted. That is the basis of all 
 play ; it has been proved to be the best, and the 
 best players have so decided." 
 
 There was a reason for such decision. The has- 
 tened insight into the partner's hand was required 
 to meet the hasty action of a whirling game. The 
 sooner that trumps were exhausted from the hands, 
 the sooner the one plain suit was turned to account, 
 the sooner the honors were discovered, the sooner 
 the bets could be paid and the stakes collected. 
 
 There are four ways to lead in whist: from a 
 short suit, from a long suit, from master cards, and 
 from such card or cards as shall throw the lead. Tt 
 
Pole. 255 
 
 matters not how early in the hand proper play be- 
 gins. Whether it is best to lead the best card or 
 the poorest one, the leader in his judgment must 
 determine. If a man who would know whist is to 
 take his seat at a table to play uniformly one card 
 of four or five or six, only because it is one card of 
 the larger number, he had best play English Whist. 
 It will not matter to him w T hether theory or prac- 
 tice is the name given to his code or creed ; he has 
 a bounden duty to perform, and nothing can be 
 easier than to meet its demand. Calculation for 
 him may come by and by. It oan only concern 
 some one trick that may eventually be lost or won. 
 It will be time enough to take responsibility when 
 it is thrust upon him. Meantime he must play two 
 hands before he knows what one is, and must not 
 place a value upon the only one he sees until he 
 has given the ordered information concerning a 
 portion of it. He can learn to play fast. And 
 beside, — he has chances to talk. 
 
 Dr. Pole has damaged beyond repair his inter- 
 esting and useful r6sum6 of whist, by the addition 
 of an Appendix, in which he proposes to play as 
 badly as he can, for if his partner " fails to draw 
 the proper inferences false play will not deceive him, 
 and, therefore, so far from being forbidden it is to be 
 recommended for its misleading effect upon observ- 
 
256 American Whist. 
 
 ant opponents." It is hardly possible for an Amer- 
 ican whist-player to censure sufficiently such advice 
 as that above quoted. The literal interpretation 
 is : " My partner does wrong ignorantly, I am there- 
 fore justified in doing wrong intentionally ; deceit 
 is now the order of my play ; since I cannot gain 
 by fair means I will unhesitatingly employ foul 
 means." 
 
 We do not propose to take anything into ac- 
 count. Tricks made by such play are falsely made ; 
 the game is degraded as far as it lies in the power 
 of the player to degrade it. If he " has a poor part 
 ner," a burlesque of whist is deliberately planned 
 and played by a man who was but now the able 
 defender of its honesty. The last fourteen pages 
 of the prose portion of the book are employed in 
 stating that the proper way to play whist is to play 
 correctly, while with a " poor partner " the proper 
 way is to play incorrectly. It seems strange enough 
 that two opponents to the Doctor and " his poor 
 partner" (unless they had largely defined their in- 
 terest in the game) should take pleasure in a game 
 so strangely played. We should like to know in 
 what way " poor players " can ever expect to learn 
 or to be taught in London if such is the practice of 
 good players toward them. It seems a pity that 
 Dr. Pole should so far forget the principle for which 
 
Pole. 257 
 
 he has contended, as to compromise with error for 
 the sake of humoring an indifferent player and de- 
 ceiving two skilful adversaries. But he advises 
 the practice. With Mr. Silas Wegg he " profes- 
 sionally declines and falls," and, at the last, affords 
 us a novel surprise, when, " as a friend, he drops 
 into poetry." 
 
 *7 
 
WALKER. 
 
 Captain Walker's Catechism, "The Correct 
 Card," is reprinted by the Appletons. In the 
 Preface of the 1876 edition the Captain expresses 
 himself satisfied with his book and the demand 
 for it. Then we should be certainly. If people 
 like to read questions asked and answers given, 
 when in half the time they can read the statement 
 made in full, this catechism may " meet a want long 
 felt." The plan is as follows : Some one says or 
 writes : " Mr. Smith's horse ran swiftly." Captain 
 Walker manipulates the information in this wise, 
 viz. : — 
 
 Q. What do you call A. A horse, 
 
 the animal belonging to 
 Mr. Smith? 
 
 Q. What did the horse A. He ran. 
 
 do? 
 
 Q. What estimate do A. A favorable one, 
 
 you form of the capa- since he ran swiftly, 
 bility of Mr. Smith's 
 horse for speed? 
 
Walker. 
 
 259 
 
 Nothing new is offered concerning the game. 
 All that the book contains or treats of, and a great 
 deal more, is set down in " Cavendish," from whom 
 all the ideas emanate that are changed in their 
 manner of expression, simply by being rewritten 
 in this system of interrogatory and reply. It is 
 very much less than some of the abridgments of 
 " Cavendish " that are sent into the world by people 
 who want to print a book, and have nothing of 
 their own to say. 
 
 The author tells us that the catechetical form is 
 a novelty in whist, and he runs no risk of being 
 disputed. Some of the prolixity about the most 
 self-evident facts in whist or nature, is frivolous 
 enough to be amusing : — 
 
 Q. Why should any 
 one, holding the lead and 
 several winning cards, not 
 draw a second card out 
 of his hand, until his 
 partner has played to his 
 first trick ? 
 
 Q. May any intimation 
 be given by the player as 
 to the state of his hand 
 or the game 1 
 
 Q. May the question, 
 "Who dealt?" be asked? 
 
 A, Because such an act 
 is a distinct intimation 
 that the former has played 
 
 a winning card. 
 
 A. None whatever. 
 
 A. It is irregular, and, 
 if asked, should not be 
 answered. 
 
260 
 
 American Whist. 
 
 A. -No; this should be 
 done for his own informa- 
 tion only. 
 
 Q. Is it right for a 
 player to desire the cards 
 to be placed, or to de- 
 mand to see the last trick, 
 or to ask what the trump 
 suit is, in order to invite 
 the attention of his part- 
 ner? 
 
 Suppose we proceed, on our own account, with a 
 little more of this catechetical formula : — 
 
 Q. Why should not A. 
 tell B., as soon as A. has 
 thrown his card, that he, 
 A., holds the ace, which 
 he, A., is all ready to play 
 next time ] 
 
 Q. May a player tell 
 the rest, how the game 
 looks to him, so that his 
 partner may be encour- 
 aged] 
 
 Q. May any one ask 
 what is trump, at the 
 same time informing his 
 partner that, as he has 
 none of a certain suit in 
 his hand, he naturally 
 supposes that suit to be 
 trumps ? 
 
 A. Because B. would 
 then be likely to under- 
 stand what card A. was 
 drawing to play. 
 
 A. It would not be 
 just the right thing to 
 do, and perhaps the ad- 
 versaries might object. 
 
 A. It would be out of 
 course, and might result 
 in injury to the feelings 
 of the bystanders, who 
 had bets on the game. 
 
Walker. 261 
 
 Q. Is it proper for a A. Well, no ; he may 
 player to speak of a par- look very hard at a cer- 
 ticular card on the table tain card for his own 
 as a good card to lead, in gratification, but his part- 
 order that his partner ner, meanwhile, must re- 
 might understand he had gard the ceiling, or make 
 best lead one of that suit little memoranda in his 
 as soon as he has a chance horse-book, 
 to do so 1 
 
 It is, perhaps, needless to add that Captain 
 Walker's questions and answers, in the chapter 
 of "How to treat a bad partner," do most des- 
 perate injustice to the credit of the game of whist, 
 inferring and advising the playing of false cards, 
 and the practice of deceit in any and all particu- 
 lars, closing with the following query and reply, 
 which will serve as a key to the whole matter : — 
 
 Q. In fine, then, what A. Judgment and ob- 
 
 is most requisite in play- servation of your part- 
 ing with a bad partner] ner's idiosyncrasies, al- 
 ways remembering that 
 what would be very bad 
 play, if you had a good 
 partner, may be perfectly 
 good play with a bad one. 
 
 None of the books can let the " poor partner's " 
 interest slacken, and a whole chapter of this one 
 
262 American Whist. 
 
 is devoted to questions and answers concerning 
 the " bad partner," of which something called the 
 " Broad Arrow/' shot from a long bow, is quoted 
 among the recommendatory notices as saying : — 
 
 "Every point of the game is very happily touched 
 upon, but the chapter on the treatment of a bad partner 
 possesses for us peculiar attractions." 
 
 We hope that the "Broad Arrow" succumbed 
 to treatment. 
 
 There 'nay be an interest to young people, who 
 are still fresh in Colburn's examples, to follow up 
 the queries of Captain Walker, if, indeed, they care 
 to play Short Whist. So far as American Whist is 
 concerned, the book is of no account. For, as it 
 deals with " honors," which we do not name, and 
 with leads and practices which we do not adopt, it 
 seems like a childish form of treating a subject of 
 magnitude. -We may be allowed to express surprise 
 that, notwithstanding he has devoted twenty or 
 more pages to interrogation and answer concerning 
 John Loraine Baldwin's chef d'ceuvre, " the Laws 
 of Short Whist," which " Cavendish " and all good 
 players are desirous to have remodelled, Captain 
 Walker did not follow the universal fashion, and 
 make his little book a little larger by their bodily 
 insertion at the beginning or the close. 
 
DRAYSON. 
 
 The "Art of Practical Whist," by Colonel A W. 
 Drayson, E. A., F. E. A. S., is the title of an Eng- 
 lish book on English Whist, published by Eout- 
 ledge and Sons, London. This is the only book 
 save " Cavendish," published upon whist in Eng- 
 land that can lay claim to originality. Clay and 
 Pole do but adopt the "Cavendish" plan, present- 
 ing neither rule nor method not demonstrated by 
 their author-leader. Their books and all the rest 
 upon Short Whist issued in England or America, 
 unless copies of his work, are but " echoes of his 
 call." But this man has ideas. He knows more 
 and better whist than many of the rest. His " ex- 
 position hath been most sound." His difference 
 with the accepted manner of play in England is 
 independently and clearly explained. One of the 
 first facts that we note concerning the book is, that 
 it makes of whist a game to be played for amuse- 
 ment and recreation, and not for gambling pur- 
 
264 American Whist. 
 
 poses. It is evident, to be sure, that Colonel Dray- 
 son cannot dispense with the Englishman's passion 
 and prerogative to gamble at cards, but he does 
 not deface his book with constant allusions to win- 
 ning and losing money, and in place of them he 
 talks of winning and losing the game. 
 
 "The longer I play whist the more I regret that 
 'Kule 91* exists, and that it is at all possible to see 
 the cards of a trick turned and quitted." 
 
 That rule is abolished by players of American 
 Whist on the ground that the cards must be noted 
 and remembered as they fall. 
 
 Colonel Drayson has some keen remarks for the 
 determinate " bad card-holders." He says what is 
 true, that the claim is ridiculous. When a man 
 takes his seat at a whist-table he is to play such 
 cards as he receives as well as he may. There are 
 no poor hands and no good hands. In every hand 
 there is some one good, shrewd play to make; let 
 it be to his credit that he makes it. Therein lies 
 the game, whether he wins or loses it. The mere 
 number of points gained upon a given evening do 
 not denote the whist-player. 
 
 " Cavendish " and others insist upon the change 
 of the position of the trumps in consecutive hands. 
 Such arrangement Drayson considers of no value, 
 
Dray son. 265 
 
 and it is of none. He dissipates the inflamed 
 rhetoric about the " grand coup," by simply stat- 
 ing the fact that it only consists in throwing the 
 lead. A dozen instances of fine play occur at 
 many a sitting that are grander coups than the 
 mere taking of a partner's trick and returning a 
 proper card, or throwing away of a useless trump. 
 The rule of the orthodox players, "Do not force 
 your partner if you are weak in trumps," Colonel 
 Drayson explodes : — 
 
 " So you would not allow me to make a trick in 
 trumps because you, my partner, are weak in them?" 
 
 The intent of playing the game is to make the 
 tricks, and if a single trick more can be made by 
 forcing, which otherwise could not be made, it 
 matters not whether the forcer holds one trump 
 or five. 
 
 The chapter upon false cards, and the argument 
 for their play as opposed to the book-players, is not 
 as ingeniously written as are some other parts of 
 this most interesting book, but it evinces inde- 
 pendent play, and helps to carry out Colonel Dray- 
 son's general argument, that whist must be played 
 with consummate judgment ; that rules may be too 
 exacting for the display of brilliant and effective 
 
266 A merican Whist. 
 
 play, and that a player must take position and hold 
 it, for the elicitation of all points to be gained in 
 each and every hand by himself and his partner. 
 
 The prejudices in behalf of what a foreign club 
 may do, take hold more firmly upon some of the 
 players of whist in America than upon certain of 
 its own members, who, discerning evils, in place 
 of espousing them for no other reason than be- 
 cause an English Club proposed or indorsed them, 
 dare publicly denounce their folly. Colonel Dray- 
 son has shown that in many respects the accepted 
 notions of Short Whist are incorrect, and his long 
 acquaintance with the game and its players may 
 be mentioned when we cite him as authority. 
 
 The independence that he manifests in the as- 
 sertion of his own style of play and action, whether 
 it meets with favor or not in the opinion of others 
 justifies more than any issue of the London press, 
 a candid opposition to set rules which certair 
 clubs have seen fit to adopt. And in. the light of 
 a treatise so fair, it seems proper to present, with 
 hope for their generous reception, opinions which 
 have been disregarded by the acceptors of an arbi- 
 trary code. 
 
 " However thoroughly you may know the rules or 
 leads, or which card to play second or third in hand, 
 yet you can never by book knowledge do away with 
 
Dray son. 267 
 
 the necessity for judgment under almost every condi- 
 tion of the game, the lead, etc. This is what makes 
 whist the fascinating study that it proves to be, and 
 gives to the intelligent player an advantage over the 
 mere book student. The game of an intelligent whist- 
 player differs more from the mechanical game of the mere 
 hook-player than does the pianoforte performance of a 
 skilled musician from the music ground out by a hand- 
 organ." 
 
 If such language as this is proper having refer- 
 ence to Short Whist with its broad opportunity of 
 chance, and contracted opportunity of skill, shall 
 it not be applied with peculiar emphasis to the 
 American game, which in its latitude for the exer- 
 cise of judgment so far out-ranks the foreign one ? 
 
 Colonel Drayson's innovations upon radical habit 
 of play are among the first that have been daringly 
 stated by an English writer, and come as welcome 
 and fresh to proper players as did the concession 
 of James Clay concerning the "Cavendish" penul- 
 timate, to the members of the Arlington and Port- 
 land. There are fewer long-drawn lessons to poor 
 players than appear in most of the published books 
 upon whist, and this one would be much better if 
 no allusion was made to them. The art of practi- 
 cal whist in its direction and adaptation, concerns 
 only good players. What poor players would or 
 would not do has no place. It is for them to learn 
 
268 American Whist. 
 
 what is right and to practice that. How absurd it 
 would seem in a treatise upon architecture to meet 
 with constant interpolations as to the manner in 
 which an unskilled carpenter would erect a temple, 
 together with constantly reiterated recommenda- 
 tions to master builders to forsake their truthful 
 plans because the novitiate workman was unable 
 to comprehend them ! 
 
 If it shall ever be that the author of the "Art of 
 Practical Whist " may read this notice, we append 
 for him congratulations upon his just and inde- 
 pendent course, and assure him that there are 
 whist-players in this country, whose number is 
 rapidly increasing, who are sufficiently advanced 
 to play « by reason and not by rule ; " and some of 
 them would be happy to give him ■ the option of 
 making a small trump " in the standard American 
 game, which is worthy of his most distinguished 
 consideration. 
 
 University Press : John Wilson & Son, Cambridge.