ODDS.
Odds are of two kinds—“given” and “owed.” When odds are given, one
player starts at love and his opponent at fifteen, thirty, &c. If odds
are owed, one player is love and the other behind scratch, so that he
must make one or more strokes before his score reaches love. There is
one other difference between the two kinds of odds. With given odds,
the larger odds are taken in the even-numbered games, and, with owed
odds, in the odd-numbered games. The object is to distribute the odds
as evenly as possible through the different games in cases where odds
are both owed and given.
For instance, suppose A. owes B. half-fifteen and gives him
half-fifteen also. In the first game A. starts at owe fifteen and B.
at love; in the second game A. is love and B. fifteen. Were it not for
this provision the first games would start at love-all and the next at
owe fifteen-fifteen.
Handicaps are now so general that something may well be said of the
game to play when giving or taking large odds. If a player is receiving
large odds, he must remember that his opponent is probably a much
better player than himself. If, then, he plays a cautious game and
tries mainly not to make mistakes, his opponent will win nearly every
stroke. The receiver of odds ought to play as bold a game as possible.
He should hit hard and take every chance of making a stroke that cannot
be returned. Let him give the same odds to some weaker player, and he
will soon find how difficult it is to give them if his opponent plays a
fast game. Against a player who hits hard and takes the chances one is
apt to make more mistakes than one can afford.
The reverse is true if a player is giving large odds. He cannot afford
to play as free a game as he would if playing level. If he can make
any particular stroke that will win the rest twice in three times,
he will win easily against an equal, but if he is giving very large
odds he cannot afford to lose even one stroke in three. In such cases
the better player can afford to take no risks whatever, and must play
wholly for safety. If the odds are very small, he should play the same
game that he would when playing level, and between these two extremes
his own judgment must guide him in deciding what style of game to play.
There is little to say about odds in themselves, as it is settled by
law how they shall be taken; thus fifteen is one stroke given at the
beginning of every game of a set, and no judgment can make it anything
else. There is, however, one important exception, the bisque.