if he is a good player, you are to judge him strong in trumps, and it is a direction for you to play your game accordingly. 4. Nothing is more injurious to you, than to change suits often; because in every new suit you run the risk of giving your adversary the tenace: and, therefore, though you lead from a suit of which you have the queen, ten, and three small ones, and your partner puts up the nine only, in that case, if you should happen to be weak in trumps, and have no tolerable suit to lead from, it is your best play to pursue the lead of that suit by playing your queen, which leaves it in your partner's option whether he will trump it or not, in case he has no more of that suit; but in your second lead, if you should happen to have the queen or knave of any other suit. with one card only of the same suit, it would be better play to lead from your queen or knave of either of these suits, it being five to two that your partner has one honour at least in either of those suits. 5. When you have ace, king, and one small card of any suit, with four trumps, if your right hand adversary leads that suit, pass it: because it is an equal chance that your partner has a better card in that suit than the third hand: if so, you gain a trick by it; if otherwise, as you have four trumps, you need not fear to lose by it, because when trumps are played, you may be supposed to have the long trump. A caution not to part with the command of your Adversary's Great Suit. Be very cautious how you part with the command of your adversary's great suit, if you are weak in trumps, and it does not appear that your partner is very strong in them for suppose your adversary plays a suit of which you have the king, queen, and one small card only, the adversary leads the ace, and upon playing the sa ne suit, you play your queen, which makes it almost certain to your partner that you have the king: and suppose your partner refuses to that suit, do not play the king: because if the leader of that suit, or his partner, have the long trump, you risk the losing of three tricks. to gain one. Necessity of remembering the Trump Card. It is so highly necessary that the trump card should be remembered by the dealer and his partner, that we think it proper to repeat, that the dealer should always so place his cards as to be certam of having recourse to it for example, suppose it to be only a five, and that the dealer has two inore, viz the six and nine: if his partner trumps out with ace and king, he ought to play his six and nine: because if your partner has ace, kirg, and four small trumps. in this case, by his knowing you have the five remaining, you may win many tricks. The manner of playing Sequences explained. 1. In trumps it is necessary to play the highest of your sequence, unless you have ace, king, and queen; in that case play the lowest, in order to let your partner into the state of your game. 2. In suits which are not trumps, if you have a sequence of king, queen, and knave, and two small ones, whether you are strong in trumps or not, it is best to begin with the knave, because by getting the ace out of any hand, you make room for the whole suit. 3. If you are strong in trumps, and have a sequence of queen, knave, ten, and two small cards of any suit; in that case you ought to play the highest of your se quence because, if either of the adversaries should trump that suit in the second round, by being strong in trumps, you fetch out their trumps, and consequently make the remainder of that suit. 4. For the same reason, if you have a sequence of knave, ten. nine, and two small cards of any suit, play the highest of your sequence. 5. If you have a sequence of king, queen, knave, and one small card of any suit, play your king, whether you are strong in trumps or not: and do the like by any inferior sequence, if you have only four in number. 6 If you are weak in trumps, you must always begin with the lowest of the sequence, in case you have five in number: for suppose your partner to have the ace of that suit, he then makes it. If you are very strong in trumps, you may play your ga e as backward as vou please: but if you are weak in trumps, you must play the reverse. What is meant by being strong or weak in Trumps. You may be understood to be strong in trumps when you have Ace, king, and three small trumps. If you have only two or three small trumps, you are then understood to be weak in trumps. A case which often occurs. If you have two trumps remaining, when the adversaries have only one, and your partner appears to have a strong suit, you should play trumps, although you have the worst, in order to pave the way for your partner's suit, by drawing the trumps from your adversaries. How to play for an Odd Trick. If you are elder hand, and have the ace, king, and three small trumps, with four small cards of another suit, three small cards of the third suit, and one small card of the fourth suit: quere, how are you to play? You are to lead the single card, which, if won hy the last player, induces him to play trumps, or to play to your weak suit, in which case, you and your partner gais the tenace.. The like case for an Odd Trick when your partner is to lead. Suppose he plays the ace of the suit of which you have only one, and proceeds to play the king of the same suit, and your right hand adversary trumps it with the queen, knave, or ten, you should not overtrump him, but throw away the smallest card of your weakest suit, as this will leave your partner the last player, and give him the tenace in your weak suit. The like case, supposing you want four or five points, and are elder hand. Play a small trump, and if your partner has a better trump than the last player, and returns the lead, put in your king of trumps, and then play the suit of which you possess four cards. A second case. A and B are partners against C and D: twe.ve trumps are played out, and seven cards only remain in each hand, of which A has the last trump, and likewise the ace, king, and four small cards of a suit; quere, whether A should play the ace and king of that suit, or a Sinall one? A should play a small card of that suit, as it is an equal bet his partner has a better card of that suit than the last player, and, in this case, if four cards of the suit are in either of the adversaries' hands, by this manner of playing he will be enabled to make five tricks in that suit. Should neither of the adversaries have more than three cards in that suit, it is an equal chance that he wins six tricks in it. If A and B are partners against C and D, and eight trumps have beer played out, and A has four trumps remaining, C having the best trump, and is to lead, should C play his trump or not? No: because as he leaves three trumps in A's hand, if A's partner has any capital suit to make, by C's keeping the trump in his hand, he can prevent his making that suit. A case of curiosity. Supposing three hands of cards, containing three cards in each hand, let A name the trump, and let B choose which hand he pleases, A having the choice of either of the other two hands, will win two tricks. Clubs are trumps: first hand, ace, king, and six of hearts: second hand, queen and ten of hearts, with ten of trumps; third hand, nine of hearts, with two and three of trumps; the first hand wins of the second, the second wins of the third, and the third wins of the last. Calculations, which direct with moral certainty how to play any hand at Whist, by showing the chances of your partner's holding certain winning cards. 1. It is about five to four that your partner holds one card out of any two. 2. So it is five to two that he holds one card out of three. 3. It is about four to one that he holds one card out of any four. 4. It is two to one that he does not hold a certain card. 5. It is about three to one that he does not hold two cards out of any three. 6. It is about three to two that he does not hold two cards out of any four. B |