Auction of To-day | Page 4

that a certain declaration had been made, or that a certain card has been played, miscounting the Trumps or the suit in question, etc., when the lack of complete concentration is the real trouble.
Success in Auction is indeed difficult, and the player who would grasp every situation, and capture every possible trick, must have the power to concentrate all his faculties upon the task before him. No matter how great his capacity, he cannot do thorough justice to any hand, if, during the declaration or play, his mind wander. Too often do we see a player, while the play is in progress, thinking of some such subject as how many more tricks his partner might have made in the last hand; whether his partner has declared in the manner which he believes to be sound and conventional; what is going on at some other table; whether this rubber will be over in time for him to play another, etc.
When this is the mental condition of a player, the best results cannot be obtained. If a trick has been lost, it is gone. Thinking over it cannot bring it back, but may very quickly give it one or more comrades. As soon as each deal is completed, it should be erased from the mind just as figures from a slate. In that way only can be obtained the complete and absolute concentration which is essential to perfect play, and goes a long way toward securing it.
Auction is beyond doubt the most scientific card game that has ever become popular in this country. The expert has the full measure of advantage to which his skill entitles him, and yet the game possesses wonderful fascination for the beginner and player of average ability. It is doubtless destined to a long term of increasing popularity, and it is, therefore, most advisable for all who participate that they thoroughly familiarize themselves with the conventional methods of bidding and playing, so that they may become intelligent partners, and a real addition to any table.

AUCTION OF TO-DAY

I
THE DECLARATION[1]
It is well to realize from the start that the declaration is the most important department of the game, and yet the most simple to master. A foolish bid may cost hundreds of points. The failure to make a sound one may lose a rubber, whereas mistakes in the play, while often expensive and irritating, are rarely attended with such disastrous results.
[1] Also known as "the Bid" and "the Call."
Any good player who has to choose between a partner who bids well and plays poorly, and one who is a wild or unreliable bidder, but handles his cards with perfection, without hesitation selects the former.
To be an expert player requires natural skill, long experience, keen intuition, deep concentration, and is an art that cannot be accurately taught either by the instructor or by a textbook. Bidding has been reduced to a more or less definite system, which may be learned in a comparatively brief space of time. Consequently, any one possessed of ordinary intelligence, regardless of sex, age, temperament, or experience, may become an expert declarer, but of all who attempt to play, not more than forty per cent. possess that almost indefinable characteristic known as a "card head," without which it is impossible to become a player of the highest class.
The average club or social game, however, produces numerous expert players, while the sound bidder is indeed a rara avis.
The explanation of this peculiar condition is not hard to find. Most Auction devotees began their card experience with Whist, a game in which, beyond doubt, "The play's the thing"; then they transferred their allegiance to Bridge, where the play was the predominant factor; and now they fail to realize that in their new pastime the most important part of the game is concluded before the first card leaves the leader's hand.
It must encourage the student to know that he may surely and quickly become a sound bidder, and that he will then be a more valued partner than a Whist or Bridge celebrity who does not accord to the Declaration the care it deserves and rewards.
Many methods of bidding have been suggested; some have been so absurd that they have not warranted or received serious consideration; others have been accorded a thorough trial, and found wanting.
The system which is herein advocated is believed to be the most sound and informatory yet devised.
Before taking up the declaration by each hand, it is important for the player to realize that with the introduction of the count of to-day, much of the bidding previously in vogue has, of necessity, passed into disuse. For example, under the old count, a player, knowing that the Club suit would never be played and that there was no danger of that declaration being continued by his