The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-10-11
THE OLD AND NEW TEN LEAD

LIE OAD AND NEW TEN LEAD.
The ten lead from king, jack, ten,
with or without others, has been for
many years the recognized lead from
that combination, and always pro-
claimed the holding of the male hon
ors. The queen lead, before the in
PRODUCTION Of American leads. signified
the presence Of queen, lack. ten with
or without others. Since the adoption
or the Misunderstanding high card leads,
the queen has been also led from the
ace, King, queen, and more than one
other, and from king, queen and three
or more others. On account of the
supposed confusion created by the
queen being led from the sequence
queen, jack, ten, and also from the
other combinations, many Of the ex-
pert players of the country, indeed,
probably large majority of them
have abandoned the lead Of queen from
the top of the sequence, and lead in
stead the ten from that combination
In order to prevent confusion with the
old ten lead from king, jack, ten, they
have been obliged to abandon that lead
and to lead fourth best from suit
containing that combination.
Perhaps the new leads do tend to
simplify matters. The lead of queen
always signifies q suit of five cards
or more, with king or ace, king. The
lead OF ten means always queen,
jack, ten, with or without others. This
is without doubt, some advantage, and
were it not for the abandonment Of the
old ten lead from king, jack ten, which
the new ten lead neceSsitates we should
be inclined to favor the new lead. In
our opinion, the question is this: Are
the advantages gained from the lead
Of ten instead of queen, from queen,
jack, ten, sufficient to compensate for
the disadvantages of leading fourth
best from suits headed by king, Jack
ten. The advantage Of the ten lead
instead of the queen is solely that it
prevents the leaders partner from be-
Ing In doubt whether the lead is from
king, queen, suit, or from queen, jack,
ten. There is absolutely no choice be-
tween the two leads so far as trick
making power is concerned, except in
SO far as the leaders hand may be.
misinterpreted. How frequently does
the lead Of queen cause any doubt
with partner? We do not know the
exact mathematical probabilities, but
in our experience, it is very rare, in
deed, that the partner is not able to
tell from his own hand or from the
the cards that are played to the lead
of queen, which combination the
leader holds; a jack or ten or king
in his own hand at once inform him.
king winning the trick informs him
If the queen wins. and third hand holds
ace, the second lead will proclaim the
combination.
1t is very rare indeed, in actual play,
that there Is any confusion arising
from the two meanings Of the queen
lead. The slight advantage gained
by doing away with one Of these
meanings is. we think, not sufficient
to compensate for what. we consider
the distinct loss in trick taking which
comes from the abandonment OF the
ten lead from king, jack, ten; we have
experimental with this lead and with
the fourth best lead from the COM
binatfon, and, on the whole, have found
that the ten lead has a decided ad-
vantage over the lead Of fourth best
unless, perhaps, when the suit is Of
four cards only, and even then we
consider the ten quite as safe a lead
as the fourth best. In the first place
the lead of one Of the high cards in
sures the command Of the suit on the
third round, even under the most un-
favorable circumstances, and this may
mean the bringing in of the suit, and
a gain of several tricks, whereas the
lead of fourth best may prevent the
establishment of the suit until the
third round. A deal played in the
Hamilton-St. Paul match at Brooklyn
serves to illustrate our point: North
held X, J, 10, s. 5, Of diamonds; East
A. Q. 2; South 7, 4, 8, and West 9, g.
st. Paul North led the ten, and es-
tablished three cards of the suit which
were brought in with the assistance Of
trumps in South's hand; Hamilton
North led fourth best, the eight, which
was won by West with the nine. 1eav-
ing East with the ace and queen and
rendering the establishment of the dia-
monds in North's hand in time to bring
them in an impossibihty. So II ace,
queen. 8 or @, 9 had been with East,
the ndne would win the first trick, and
leave ace. queen against. Other sItu-
atoms readily suggest themselves
where the low card lead will fail to
force queen or ace on ne first round
OF course there are cases where the
fourth-best lead will gain by forcing
out queen or ace without the sacrifice
Of a high card from the leaders hand:
but we speak from experience when