cards, he may, by declaring, allow them to make a game declaration,
whereas they are now limited to an infinitesimal score.

He must also consider that, should he pass, the maximum he and his
partner can secure is 100 points in the honor column. This is a
position to which conventional rules cannot apply. The individual
characteristics of the players must be considered. The Fourth Hand must
guess which of the three players is the most apt to have been cautious,
careless, or "foxy," and he should either pass or declare, as he
decides whether it is more likely that his partner or one of the two
adversaries is responsible for his predicament.

It sometimes, although rarely, happens that the strength not in the
Fourth Hand is so evenly divided that no one of the three has been
justified in making an offensive declaration, and yet the Fourth Hand
is not very strong. When this occurs, a clever player can as a rule
readily and accurately diagnose it from the character of his hand, and
he should then pass, as he cannot hope to make game on an evenly
divided hand, while as it stands he has the adversaries limited to a
score of 2 points for each odd trick, yet booked for a loss of 50 if
they fail to make seven tricks; 100, if they do not make six. In other
words, they are betting 25 to 1 on an even proposition. Such a position
is much too advantageous to voluntarily surrender.

It is hardly conceivable that any one would advocate that a Fourth Hand
player with a sure game in his grasp, instead of scoring it, should
allow the adverse "one Spade" to stay in for the purpose of securing
the 100 bonus.

Inasmuch, however, as this proposition has been advanced by a prominent
writer, it is only fair that its soundness should be analyzed.

The argument is that the score which is accumulated in going game is
generally considerably less than 100, averaging not over 60, and that,
therefore, the bonus of 100 is more advantageous. The example is given
of a pair who adopted these tactics, and on one occasion gathered eight
successive hundreds in this manner, eventually obtaining a rubber of
approximately 1150 points instead of one of about 350.

The answer to any such proposition is so self-evident that it is
difficult to understand how it can be overlooked. It is true that a
game-going hand does not average over 60 points, which is 40 less than
100, but a game is half of a rubber. Winning a rubber is worth 250,
without considering the 2