GopyiightN?. 
 
 COPYRIGHT DEPOStn 
 
Bridge 
 
 Whist 
 
 By 
 
 George Fitch 
 
 P F Collier bf Son 
 New York 
 
v-^ 
 
 
 Copyright 1910 
 By P. F. CoUier & Son 
 
 (g;<CU256389 
 
BRIDGE WHIST 
 
 The Lead Pencil as a Factor 
 in the Game, 
 
 Abolition of the L,ong Flow- 
 ing Sleeves of Society 
 Leaders, 
 
 Revealing the Broken Sus- 
 pender Button by the 
 Turn of the Card. 
 
 Four Years' Apprentice- 
 ship for the lylll Rules 
 and Penalties. 
 
BRIDGE WHIST 
 
 
 
 BRIDGE WHIST is or- 
 . dinary whist with a 
 wheel- of -fortune at- \ 
 
 tachment. It is a cross be- ] 
 
 tween double -entry book- ' 
 
 keeping and roulette, and is 
 played with a deck of cards, 
 an adding machine, and a j 
 
 promissory note. It is listed 
 as a game, but generally j 
 
 varies between a vice and a 
 life-calling. ^ 
 
 Bridge whist can easily be I 
 
 explained to any one who \ 
 
 knows all about ordinary 
 whist, compound fractions, j 
 
 Robert's rules of order, wire- 
 less telegraphy, mind-reading i 
 and silent signals. The rules 
 of ordinary whist prevail as 
 
BRIDGE WHIST 
 
 far as they go, but, in order to 
 make the game appear more 
 like real financiering, each 
 suit is given a diflferent value 
 in the counting. Each trick 
 over six when spades are 
 trumps counts two pennies 
 or automobiles, depending 
 upon the location of the game. 
 Glubs count four, diamonds 
 six, and hearts eight. It is 
 also possible to cut out 
 trumps altogether by a simple 
 mechanism, in which case 
 each trick counts twelve. 
 
 Then, in order to add a 
 Wall Street zest to the game, 
 the values of these tricks can 
 be doubled or quadrupled by 
 any one with a taste for 
 
BRIDGE WHIST 
 
 plunging; and in order to 
 complicate matters still far- 
 ther, so that the experienced 
 player may get her just dues 
 from the beginner, each court 
 card is permitted at times to 
 break into the score with a 
 count of its own. This ex- 
 plains the double-entry fea- 
 ture of the game. After a 
 hand has been played, and 
 the winner's extra tricks have 
 been multiplied by 2, 4, 6, 8, 
 12, 24, 48, or 96, according to 
 the value of the trumps and 
 the intensity of the proceed- 
 ings, the losers appropriate 
 the pencil and do a little 
 harvesting of their own. If 
 they have held a majority of 
 
BRIDGE WHIST 
 
 court cards in the trump suit, 
 they may count themselves 
 twice the value of the trump 
 suit. If they have held four 
 court cards, they get four 
 times the value of the trump, 
 and if they have held five, 
 they get five times its value. 
 That ought to be enough, 
 but it isn't. To show that 
 the game was invented by a 
 firm believer in monopoly, it 
 is possible, if you hold four 
 court cards in one hand, to 
 count yourself eight times 
 the value of the trump, 
 while five court cards in one 
 hand gives you ten times the 
 trump's value. 
 
BRIDGE WHIST 
 
 Thus it will readily be seen 
 that, while the winners of a 
 hand in bridge may cord up a 
 total of two points by skill, 
 the losers may make ten times 
 that much, simply by stand- 
 ing in with the royal family. 
 This makes it evident, with- 
 out explanation, that the 
 game was invented in Eng- 
 land. 
 
 The fascination of bridge 
 lies partly in the fact that 
 the game continues to be in- 
 teresting long after the last 
 card has been played. The 
 participants generally play a 
 rubber of three games, and 
 then spend the rest of the 
 evening doing sums in simple 
 
BRIDGE WHIST 
 
 addition, to find out who won. 
 To-night they will find out 
 who won last night's game, 
 but they will not find out 
 who won to-night's game 
 until some one remembers to 
 bring home another tablet of 
 scratch paper. 
 
 Counting Them Out with the 
 Lead Pencil 
 
 THE varying values in 
 bridge account for its 
 peculiarly exasperating 
 qualities and its skill in break- 
 ing up families. The lead 
 pencil is forever elbowing its 
 way into the game and nulli- 
 fying the most brilliant play- 
 
BRIDGE WHIST 
 
 • . . doing sums in simple addition to 
 find out who won . . ^ 
 
BRIDGE WHIST 
 
 ing. The winners may, by 
 the most magnificent and 
 superscintillating whist, man- 
 age to drag out a trick in the 
 face of great odds and win a 
 rubber. Yet, at the end of 
 the game, the losers may 
 excuse themselves, and, after 
 half an hour's work with a 
 bank examiner, demonstrate 
 that the winners owe them 
 anywhere from thirty cents 
 to a month's house rent, sim- 
 ply because the losers were 
 skilful enough to hold the 
 honor cards that were dealt 
 them. 
 
 Thus, as in pugilism, the 
 strong point in bridge whist 
 lies in counting your oppo- 
 
BRIDGE WHIST 
 
 nents out. There are other^nd 
 more harrowing ways of doing 
 it, too. When your opponent 
 has made the trump, you may 
 decide that you have the 
 requisite seven tricks in your 
 hand. If you are a sport, you 
 will then "double" — that is, 
 double the amount which the 
 extra trick will win. If your 
 opponents are people of nerve 
 and recklessness, they will 
 "double back," thus quad- 
 rupling the values. You are 
 then likely, after a hasty 
 mental inventory of your se- 
 curities, to double once more, 
 thus multiplying the trick by 
 eight, after which the game 
 will proceed with clenched 
 
BRIDGE WHIST 
 
 teeth, each trick lost mean- 
 ing another opera ticket gone. 
 It is under these circumstances 
 that ladies who are other- 
 wise lovely and amiable have 
 been known to whip out a 
 trump after "revoking," and 
 sweep the boards with a cold 
 and haughty air which defies 
 criticism, providing their so- 
 cial positions are sufficiently 
 above those of their victims. 
 Such incidents lead the 
 wrathful losers to make re- 
 marks, which in time become 
 rumors, and before any one 
 realizes it another social cen- 
 ter has been shaken to the 
 core. 
 
BRIDGE WHIST 
 
 Just how bridge whist got 
 its name is not generally 
 known. It is possible that it 
 is called * * bridge ' ' because so 
 many people get 'cross over 
 it. It is sometimes called the 
 "bridge" of cusses, to dis- 
 tinguish it from that other 
 famous bridge in Venice. 
 
 Bridge is a quaint and cer- 
 emonious game as far as the 
 actual playing of cards goes, 
 though often resembling a 
 stock market afterward. It is 
 as full of etiquette as fencing. 
 It doesn't matter what you 
 do to your opponent, but you 
 must do it just so. The cards 
 are dealt just as they are in 
 denatured whist— thirteen to 
 
BRIDGE WHIST 
 
 each player. This proves that 
 there is something in the 
 thirteen superstition, for | 
 
 every player immediately re- 
 marks about his or her bad 
 luck. When the dealer has 
 finished his nefarious work, 
 he looks over his hand and \ 
 
 figures out which suit is most 
 likely to make his opponents 
 wish they were dead. If he 
 can't find a good suit, or if I 
 
 his partner kicks him under 
 the table, or if he thinks it j 
 
 is more fun to criticize ] 
 
 some one else's choice of I 
 
 trumps, he "passes it over" 
 to his partner, compelling her ] 
 
 to choose. When the trump j 
 
 has been decided, the eldest ] 
 
BRIDGE WHIST 
 
 hand, which may or may not 
 belong to the youngest player, 
 coyly inquires: 
 
 "Shall I play, partner?** 
 
 And the latter answers: 
 
 "Pray do." 
 
 This is positively the only 
 time that prayer and bridge 
 whist get into the same room 
 together. 
 
 When the game really 
 starts, a most important thing 
 happens. The dealer's part- 
 ner spreads her cards down 
 on the table, face up, neatly 
 arranged in suits, and retires 
 from the game, leaving her 
 partner to play both hands. 
 This provision has been found 
 necessary from the fact that 
 
BRIDGE WHIST 
 
 the game affords 400 times 
 more chances for getting mad 
 than ordinary whist. By giv- 
 ing each player in turn a 
 chance to go out on the porch 
 and cool off, by kicking the 
 spindles out of the porch 
 balustrade, the wise inventor 
 of the game has made it pos- 
 sible for four mad people to 
 play through an entire even- 
 ing without biting each other. 
 Having everything his own 
 way, like the Speaker of the 
 House of Representatives, 
 the dealer goes gaily through 
 the game, playing both hands 
 with a confident "I-know- 
 what-you're-going- to-get- 
 next" expression that is most 
 
BRIDGE WHIST 
 
 disconcerting. Formerly by- 
 law 94, section 6, prescribed 
 that if the dealer led from his 
 own hand when he should 
 have led from the "dummy" 
 hand he must be penalized 
 one trick. This rule, however, 
 led to so much nervous pros- 
 tration and temporary insan- 
 ity that it has recently been 
 suspended from all bridge 
 whist that is played on the 
 low gear. 
 
 When the hand has been 
 played the winners add up 
 their extra tricks, multiply 
 the score properly, and enter 
 it in the proper place on the 
 score-card. Both sides then 
 quarrel over the question of 
 
BRIDGE WHIST 
 
 . . "• a chance to go out on ths \ 
 porch and cool off, hy kicking the ' 
 spindles out of the porch balustrade ... 
 
BRIDGE WHIST 
 
 "honors" or court cards, and 
 the side which wins enters its 
 honor score in another part of 
 the ledger. Thirty points con- 
 stitutes a game and two 
 games out of three make a 
 rubber. The winner of the rub- 
 ber gets 100 extra points for 
 its honor score, which is not 
 included in the game score. 
 When the evening's play is 
 over the players retire for re- 
 freshments, leaving their sec- 
 retaries and tellers to post up 
 the books and compute the 
 returns. When the game is 
 played merely for amusement 
 this ceremony is often omit- 
 ted, the books being balanced 
 once a month. 
 
BRIDGE WHIST 
 
 Bridge has become im- 
 mensely popular in society 
 circles for several reasons. In 
 the first place, it does away 
 with the necessity for conver- 
 sation, thus putting the rich 
 and the intelligent on an 
 equality. In the second place, 
 it provides a polite and com- 
 paratively painless method of 
 distributing wealth, into 
 which the Socialists would 
 do well to look. In the third 
 place, a good knowledge of 
 bridge gives the player un- 
 limited facilities for showing 
 calm superiority, haughty 
 disdain, amused contempt, 
 and other expressions which 
 distinguish the real things 
 
BRIDGE WHIST 
 
 from the bargain counter 
 brigade. 
 
 As a rule a special costume 
 is prescribed for bridge play- 
 ers. In London, however, 
 women are supposed to play 
 the game in tight-fitting cos- 
 tumes with short sleeves. 
 Formerly, when long, flow- 
 ing sleeves were the style, it 
 was found in certain circles 
 that when a society leader's 
 hand was very poor she gen- 
 erally managed to sweep a few 
 cards off the table with her 
 voluminous cufFs, thus mix- 
 ing up the game and putting 
 the auditor under a great dis- 
 advantage. Long, flowing 
 sleeves were abolished in 
 
BRIDGE WHIST 
 
 poker games in the West 
 many years ago, but for a dif- 
 ferent reason. Whereas the 
 London sleeves got the cards 
 off the table the Nevada 
 sleeves got them on to the 
 table. The former was harder 
 on the reputation, but the 
 latter was more detrimental 
 to health. 
 
 The Rules of Bridge 
 for Blood 
 
 THERE are two kinds 
 of bridge whist — ^bridge 
 for fun and bridge for 
 blood. The rules of play in 
 the former are comparatively 
 simple, but in the latter 
 
BRIDGE WHIST 
 
 i 
 
 there are as many rules as i 
 
 there are in golf when it is 
 being played by two Scotch- i 
 
 men. In a game for blood, 
 where each player is counting 
 on paying grocery bills if the j 
 
 right card is turned, nothing \ 
 
 is left to chance. The con- 
 versational lid is clamped 
 tightly down, and the only 
 words allowed during play 
 are prescribed by the rules. 
 This is necessary, owing to ! 
 
 the great chance for signaling 
 between partners. A mild ] 
 
 and inoffensive word, like 
 "pshaw," may mean only 
 indignation to the opposition, ; 
 
 while to your partner it may ' 
 
 mean: **Lead trumps and \ 
 
BRIDGE WHIST 
 
 divide the swag in the alley 
 later. ' ' In the highest circles 
 where bridge is played with 
 the passion of the true 
 artist, a wink or a sneeze 
 may be as serious to the 
 winker's or sneezer's repu- 
 tation as a fifth ace is in 
 another and popular card 
 game. 
 
 As a celebrated authority 
 on bridge has remarked, 
 perfection in the game is 
 accomplished slowly and 
 after long effort. One may 
 learn the political game in a 
 year, and in the course of a 
 few years may perfect him- 
 self in astronomy, Sanskrit, 
 biology, and bridge-building. 
 
BRIDGE WHIST 
 
 Perfection in bridge, however, 
 is not so easy a matter. It 
 requires not only a knowl- 
 edge of the 1,111 rules and 
 penalties, the best plays, and 
 the best methods of settling 
 large debts on a small income, 
 but it calls for great skill in 
 deduction and mind-reading. 
 The accomplished player is 
 supposed to read by the play 
 of a card not only the in- 
 tention of the player but the 
 hand which he holds. Natu- 
 rally, only long practise will 
 enable you to know that 
 when an opponent has put a 
 three-spot of clubs on your 
 ace of trumps she holds four 
 more clubs, is short on spades. 
 
BRIDGE WHIST 
 
 will take the second trick in 
 diamonds, owes for the 
 diamonds she wears and has 
 a hole in the heel of her 
 left stocking. Yet this is 
 child's play to the accom- 
 plished bridge player. 
 
 Before the beginner 
 attempts to play bridge he 
 should devote at least four 
 years to a study of the game. 
 The first year should be de- 
 voted to learning the 
 rules and penalties, the con- 
 versation of the game, and 
 the meaning of such mys- 
 teries as "chicane," * 'cross 
 ruffing," "eldest hand," 
 * 'established suit, ' ' * guarded 
 honors," "dummy," "grand 
 
BRIDGE WHIST 
 
 slam," **Littleslam," * Tar- 
 borough," "Singleton," and 
 the other 99 terms which are 
 used to fog up the game for 
 the beginner and make him 
 easy meat. At the end of 
 the first year the novice 
 should have acquired such a 
 vocabulary that the ordinary 
 citizen will be able to under- 
 stand only one word in seven 
 of his bridge conversation. 
 
 The Art of Card- Talk 
 
 THE second year should 
 be spent in the study 
 of bridge from the 
 standpoint of mathematics, 
 telepathy, psychology, and 
 
BRIDGE WHIST 
 
 astrology. By the end of this 
 year the student should be 
 able to know the results which 
 will follow from leading 
 a seven of diamonds in the 
 last game of a rubber in an 
 established suit against the 
 dealer in the dark of the moon. 
 He should also be able to 
 diagnose his opponent's hand 
 so well that it will be plain to 
 him, when the latter discards 
 a weak spade on a high 
 heart, on the defensive dur- 
 ing the third hand with the 
 score 10 to 8 against him and 
 the thermometer at 78° Fah- 
 renheit, that he is holding 
 protected honors, will lead 
 through if he gets a chance. 
 
BRIDGE WHIST 
 
 and that, moreover, in a ] 
 
 moment of intense excite- | 
 
 ment he has broken a 1 
 
 suspender button in the rear j 
 
 of his wardrobe. There are j 
 
 17,876,432 combinations of 
 this sort in bridge, and the 
 good player knows all of 
 them. I 
 
 The third year should be 
 devoted to the reading and 
 translating of signs. Bridge \ 
 
 abounds in signs, which are \ 
 
 permissible and highly use- 
 ful. You are expected to i 
 tell from the cards your I 
 partner leads whether she 
 expects you to trump, to 
 discard, to lead from your { 
 strong s\ut, or to have a \ 
 
BRIDGE WHIST 
 
 convulsion and delay the 
 game until the trump is for- 
 gotten. You can also tell 
 by signs what your partner 
 thinks of you. When she 
 lifts her eyebrows, after you 
 have played, she means 
 ''chump." When she 
 shrugs her shoulders she 
 means "idiot." When she 
 glares pleasantly she means: 
 "Why didn't you return my 
 lead?" When she smiles 
 politely while grinding her 
 teeth she means: "Why do I 
 play with a numskull ? " It 
 is not pleasant to the begin- 
 ner to understand these 
 signs, but it is useful, for as 
 soon as the student has 
 
BRIDGE WHIST 
 
 When she glares pleasantly she means: '; 
 *'Why dxdnH you return my lead?^^ ] 
 
BRIDGE WHIST 
 
 learned all the plays he will 
 not be content until he can 
 use these signs himself. 
 
 The fourth or senior year 
 can be spent profitably on 
 the fine points of the game 
 — how to make the novice 
 feel happy and contented 
 when he is losing $5 a 
 minute ; how to quarrel with 
 a lady in a gentlemanly 
 manner; how to quote Rule 
 39 to an opponent in such a 
 manner as to make him feel 
 that when it comes to play- 
 ing bridge your game is of 
 the cantilever variety, while 
 his is only a culvert. This is 
 also a fine year in which to 
 leam how to play $7,500 
 
BRIDGE WHIST 
 
 worth of bridge a year on a 
 $5,000 salary and come out 
 even or better. 
 
 With his education thus 
 finished, the beginner need 
 have no hesitation in enter- 
 ing the most refined and 
 exclusive circles, and min- 
 gling freely with the best 
 players without leaving his 
 watch at home. Knowing 
 bridge, he will need to know 
 neither conversation nor 
 manners. In a good stiff 
 game there is no time for 
 either. 
 
BRIDGE WHIST 
 
 A Few Helpful Dejinitions 
 
 THESE few remarks 
 would not be complete 
 without some defini- 
 tions of bridge terms which 
 will be found both useful and 
 necessary. The following 
 are the most important : 
 
 ** Dummy "—The leader's 
 partner; your partner. 
 
 "To RufF"-To trump. 
 
 To "Cross RufF "-To make 
 your partner cross by trump- 
 ing. 
 
 "Grand Slam"— To show 
 temper in putting down a 
 card. 
 
BRIDGE WHIST 
 
 ** Revoke "—A riot signal, 
 produced by refusing to 
 follow suit when you have it. 
 
 "Finesse"— To economize 
 in spots when taking a trick. 
 
 "Pass it Over"— During 
 the game, to allow your 
 partner to name the trump. 
 After the game, to settle up. 
 
 "Eldest Hand"— The hand 
 which is dealt first. 
 
 "Old Hand"-The player 
 who comes out ahead. 
 
 "Love All"-Something 
 wliich happens at the begin- 
 ning of a game and never 
 again. 
 
 "Odd Trick"-To play 
 something of which your 
 partner does not approve. 
 
BRIDGE WHIST 
 
 *Toints"— What you 
 make money on, the same 
 as in Wall Street. 
 
jW 
 
One copy del. to Cat. Div. 
 
 FEB 1 IS-5f 
 
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