Show OBSERVATIONS ON WHIST A Few Ecmnrlia About the Proper 3Ian agcnient of Trumps No one can hope to become a good whist pfsyer who allows himself to be blindly guid oed by the rules without reasoning out their ivrfay and wherefore No good whist rule was wsrer la force that there was not a good reason far and when ono rule is substituted for another an-other it is because there is a better reason for the Conner but it is important to know what ibo reason is otherwise the result is a sort of parrot whist I will venture to say that them are a great many players who know ibai Jt is tls rule to nlar third hand bisk but couldnt givo the reason to save them It is perhaps in tho management of trumps that this kind of player is most often at a disadvantage disad-vantage There is more latitude in playing trumps than in any other branch of the game but when their use is once understood it is no more difficult to play them than plain cards The only difference between a trump and a plain card is this That when you have no cards of the suit led you can trump tho trick This is the one advantage that a trump has over plain card But let us consider what an immense advantage this is First then the aim of every whist player is to get his long suit established or that of his partner for it must not bo forgotten that the best whist is always played as if tho two hands yours and your partners were one To establish es-tablish a suit is to hold tho command of it Sometimes your suit is already established for youfor instance where you originally hold the a k and q Now if it were not for the trump and its peculiar advantage over the other suits whist playing would be as easy to use a homely expression as rolling off a log But an established suit may bo of no value whatever if a trump is played against itin tho hands of an opponent For instance you havo a suit of seven originally and after the first two rounds you have established it you have five cards of the suit the rest of which have been played Now it is obvious that if tho trumps were all out these five cards supposing that you have the lead are good for five tricks But let us carry tho illustration a little further Suppose that trumps have gone around three I times and that one of your opponents holds tho thirteenth Suppose that ho has the command I com-mand of a long plain suitsay tho a k q and two or three small l ones Now it is plain that the whole play hinges on that I ono little trump You lead from your established estab-lished suit your opponent trumps and then leads out his suit and makes the game Upon reflection it will be seen why the rule I for trumps js i to lead them when you have five or more There are only two ways in which trumps can be used If you have five or moro and in wine cases only four it is better j to play them and thus exhaust tho trumps in tho hands or your opponents The chances are reasonably certain that you can do this I in four rounds and you may do it in three indeed if your partner has four trumps i originally you may do it in two so that you II will hold after your opponents trumps have been exhausted cue or two with which you I can often turn tho tide of the game I This is one way to play trumps The other is where you have only to two or three of j them In this cato you play a defensive I I game and it remains for you to use them as best you can by trumping This of course I can only be done when suit is led of which you have no cards But this is where the higher skill of the whist player is shown For instance A has five trumps and good plain suits besides and his play is to get the trumps out But there is a possibility that his partner part-ner B can make his trump If A leads the trumps out ho of course exhausts them from Bs hand as well as from his opponents but if he can first succeed in playing a suit which B hasnt got B can thus bo enabled to make good his few trumps or one of them and save a trick or two Then A can proceed and lead his trump This is however very delicate deli-cate work and is only mentioned here to illustrate il-lustrate some of the possibilities of the game It is frequently done by tho best players with good effect TOM LAXSETQ |