STRANGE HANDS AT CARDS.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2496, 5 January 1877, Page 3

STRANGE HANDS AT CARDS.

One recorded example of strange hands at cards was testified in a very complete way, to remove all doubt of the good faith of the narrator. Thirteen years ago, in the military cantonment at Jubbulpore, in the East Indies, five officers of her Majesty's Ninety-first Foot were assembled, four playing at whist and one looking on. A brief narrative was written in the names of, and signed by, all fire officers—comprising the lieutenant colonel, two captains, and two ensigns of the regiment, and . transmitted to the editor ©f a London weekly newspaper. The cards used on this occasion had been played with before, and were shuffled and cut in the usual way. When all the fiftytwo cards had been dealt out, and the hands were looked at, the combinations were such as well might astonish the players. The dealer was found to have all the 13 trumps—spades ; his partner had 11 clubs ; his antagonist on the left haud had 12 hearts"; and he on the right hand twelve diamonds ! In so far as the dealer's hand containing all the thirteen trumps, we have already noticed an instance of this kind ; but the extraordinary thing is that each of the other' three hands was made up so very nearly of one suit only. There was a fair probability, for example, that the dealer's partner (all the spades being held by the dealer himself) would have nearly equal numbers of clubs, hearts and diamonds, four or five of each ; but that he should have so many as eleven of the suit was certainly not to be expected. And so of the other two hands ; there was a combination of improbabilities so extraordinary as to make the odds enormous against such a phenomenon occurring in actual play. The number of strange and exceptional hands at cards which have actually been held is very large; but comparatively, few of tliem are publicly known, either because the players do not cJeem it worth while to put them in print, or because they lie buried in publications having a relatively small circulation. One is known as the " Yarborough hand." The (or an) Earl of Yarborough once held a hand containing no card above nine, and had reason to remember it on account of some heavy betting, that was going on. Ever after that he held himself ready to bet 1,000 ■ guineas to 1 guinea against such a hand being held again. A practical arithmetician calculated that the real odds are somewhat larger than the Earl supposed; and yet the hand has been held sufficiently often to obtain for it a distinctive name. One whist, player noted that he held the king of hearts six-times running, or in six successive deals. The odds! against such a coincidence can be . exactly calculated, but we have not the figures at band. Another recorded instance relates to the game of bezique, not to whist, but it serves equally well as an illustration. Two players, cutting for deal, both cut aces; they tried again, and both cut kings; they cut again a third time, and here appeared two knaves. As a bezique pack consists of only thirty-two cards—all the twos, threes, fours, fives and sixes being rejected—the improbability of such a coincidence is not so great as in a whisfc pack of 52 cards; nevertheless the odds are calculated to be 5000 to one against the occurrence of this particular event. A whist-player would sometimes give much to know how many honors are held by" his partner; a fact which, of course, in honorable contest, he can only guess approximately by the course of the play. Nevertheless calculators, especially the^r mathematician Demoivre, have estimated numerous probabilities in connection with the four honors of '•ach suit. Such questions as these have been answered: " What are the odds against the dealer and his partner having all the honors between themP" " And what against their holding three honors, but not the fourth?" "What are the odds against the other two players holding four, and against holding three ? '' Without going into particulars, we may say that the odds in these supposed instances range from 13 against 7 to 23 against one. —All the Year Round.