HOW IT IS POSSIBLE TO CHEAT AT BRIDGE.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2147, 1 August 1907, Page 3

HOW IT IS POSSIBLE TO CHEAT AT BRIDGE.

By an. Expert Card Player. (Daily Mail.) That bridge is the most delightful card game ever invented all those who have penetrated into its mysteries and have felt their spirits stirreu by the stress and excitement of no trumps, doubled or redoubled, or hearts at sixty-four aT'trick, will readily admit. But it has one very serious defect. - It is painfully- easy to cheat at it. Olio is entirely at the mercy of an unscrupulous opponent, for the man who is so minded can, by unfair means, secure advantages for his side which the skill of the finest players in the world would fail to counterbalance. I do not say that cheating is at all common at the bridge table, or that bridge players yield - more readily to.temptation that other peo-plorr-neither supposition is borne out by my own experience—but it is pos-. sible to play the game unfairly, and, of course, there are black sheep in | ' every flock. DIFFICULTY OF “FAKING. ’; Now there are divers ways in which a man may cheat at bridge if he - pleases. In the first place, if he is the possessor of sufficient legerde- - main, he may “fake” the cards, dealing himself and his partner better hands than their opponents. But this form of cheating is not easy, and would’’only be practised by a common swindler; moreover, it may safely be asserted that anyone who 1 ‘faked” the cards at bridge or any other game would be found out sooner or later. Cheats of this kind are observed to -wm habitually, are watched, and detection follows as a matter of course. After that their card-playing days are over. , , , Again, it is very much harder to cheat in.a club, where there are sure to be one or two onlookers, than in a private house or room, where there may be none. Under the latter conditions marked cards may be intro duced with far less difficulty, or a ! carefully selected party of .“rooks may have congregated by arrangement to pluck one confiding pigeon. This sort of thing has probably been done times without number, but one does not hear of it. The plucked oik aa a /rule pays up, lialf-suspecting that he has been “done,” perhaps, and hides his discomfiture from his friends. But in a club —unless it be an extremely disreputable one- —it.may be taken for granted that no tampering with t-lie- implements of the game 'is possible, and the company cannot be selected. Moreover, it is very un likely that a player who would resort to these methods could ever obtain admission, for a man must have sunk pretty low before he turns lus -hand to this sort of business. “How is it possible to swindle in a club then?” the reader will ask; “or in a private house of a respectable character?” The answer is: In a variety of ways. “PEEPING TOMS.” The simplest, perhaps, is to loot, over your opponents’ hands, set what cards they hold, and finesse accordingly. This is the easiest thing in the world, and some players do r< habitually—or, at least, they ac ouired this unfortunate reputation, untl are greatly to be pitied if they do not deserve it. Why* there was i. member of a card club I wot of winwent by the name of “Peeping loinon account of this propensity ! 1 copin naturally avoided his society a: much as they could, and, whenl ob liged to play with bun held then, cards closely packed together, witl onlv the indicators showing, attei the fashion of an expert poker playei on an Atla’ntic liner. But a subtler and more prevalen, form of unfairness consists in giving improper indications as to the con tents of tho hand— indications which if acted upon by the player s partner, ' cannot fail to prejudice the otlie side. It is using rather a harsh term perhaps, to call this cheating, but k fs cheating if it is done deliberately. And the unfortunate thing is that a partner may quite unconsciously al lev himself to ho swayed by information in this -manner, and so become an innocent confederate of the cheat. If a dealer hesitates a long tune before passing the declaration, anc when he at last does so, dummy declares no trumps or hearts on am- absurdly weak hand, yon may be sur; Hint thero is a screw loose somewhere. One or both oi* your opponents are “having you on, and you had better refuse to play with them next time they ask you, being poll e but firm in your refusel.

LADIES WHO “BRIGHTEN URI, is, I know, a Very ungaUam tiling to say, but tlic ladies are greater offenders than the men in tins matter. Excellently as they have learned to play bridge during the. last year or so, there are one or two little points of etiquette which they habitually ignore. It is unfair, for instance, for a dealer’s partner, on looking though her hand, suddenly to brighten up and ask eagerly who dealt. If sho has really forgotten who dealt, and thinks she may have done so herself, she should wait until her memory is refreshed by one of the other players or until her partner speaks. The question is too much of a cue for the flatter to pass the call, and shotdd always be answered with a defensive spade. Again, the player who, when a trump has been declared, looks at the score before asking if ho may play or before giving his partner permission to play, as tho case may be, marks liimself with a strong suit of trumps. Tho player _ who pauses I ■■ „ perceptibly before following suit with a small card when a king is led shows that he is holding up the ace. The player who, when forced to discard .from strength instead of from weakness at no trumps, squirms about in his chair before making up his mind ' what card to throw, tells his partner exactly what ho is doing. ■ All these are cases in which an improper advantage is taken of the adversary by conveying information •\v|)ich could not be conveyed by fair

means. Nino times out of ton, no doubt, thoy ariso simply through madvortonco, but in tlio tenth tho offence is committed intentionally, and when this is so tlio dealer may fairly complain that ho is being cheated. ADVANTAGE OF CUTTING FOR PARTNERS. Of course, the safeguard against til’s form of cheating is that an honorable player will not, if be can help it, act upon information that is conveyed to him in this manner. But he may do so unconsciously; or a perfectly fair-minded player may give indications which are knowingly accepted by an unscrupulous one. A pair of partners who did not play oho game fairly would bo at a tremendous advantage over a pair of partners who did, whatever tho relative. skill of tho playes, but tho selection of partners by cutting usually prevents the continuance of a combiration of tho former kind.

It is a groat mistake, however, to [day bridge with - strangers for more than nominal stakes, and unless absolutely sure of the bona fides of tho othor players one should never dream of playing a set rubber —that is to say, a game in which tlio same partners play together rubber after rubber. Even among friends this sort of game is not generally considered satisfactory. I fancy I have said enough to show that cheating is only too easy at bridge. I wish this could bo remedied, but it cannot. It- might, perhaps, he useful to fix a minimum standard of strength for no trumps by tho dealer’s partner, but tho game wiuld have to bo altered beyond recognition to close tho door to all unfairness. This, having regard to its present popularity, is not to bo thought of for a moment. We like our bridge, as it is, and would not agree to play a mangled form of it, only we are careful not to play in doubtful company.