AMERICANS AS WHIST PLAYERS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VII, Issue 2124, 20 October 1885, Page 2

AMERICANS AS WHIST PLAYERS.

An exciting controversy has been raised by Mr It, A, Proctor respecting the merits of Americrn whist players. Mr Proctor, it seems, ventured to teach the Americans to play '' the game," and the Americsns retort that they can jiff. the game as well as any " blarsted iSKher. 1 ' Mr Proctor, in repiy to an indignant remonstrance, declared that he wrote his papers as a general missionary of sound whist—not as an advocate of English, or European, or any other school of whist. " Good wliisfc is tho finest of all sedentary recreations. Recreations are most important for workers whether with brain or hands. Bad whist is an ' abomination of desolation.' For one player of good whist there are in England and Europe a hundred players of bad ivhist (and I have discovered within tho last fifteen months at least a thousand in America). As regards American whist, I am told that there are many fine American players—and lam willing to believe it. But except Mr frist, of New Orleans, I havo never yet met with an American whist player who had not some flaw of style. (Errors I care not for, no one can play an evening without a fault; I speak of deliberately adopted faults of method), The best player I met in New York had the bad fault of almost always holding up ace second or fourth hand, when king was led from king, queen, or small ones. This pays about three times out of ten ; it is therefore very bad play. Mr Trist's play, so far as I observed it, was without any fault of style. But he was opposed by such bad play, and part of the time had such a bad partner, I could not judge his style in 'full whist,i. e., whist where all four were players. I have not yet played this game in America."