Arizona republican., 1897-12-18
WHIST.

If partner renounces, early tn the hand, in opponents suit, what should one do upon obtaining te lead? Some will say Offhand, if strong i'm trumps, force him at once. This answer is correct, under certain conditions, but one must consider the situation care fully before deciding that all the con- difons are fulfilled.
 In the first place, if opponent opens suit and the player second hand holds the first trick, and his partner renounces, what are the chances of his being also strong in trumps? The answer can best be implied by calling to mind the fact that his hand was di- vided originally between three suits, two plain suits and trumps. Part n,eu's discard is, however, of more inn portance in several ways than is the question of the strength in trumps held by either partner or ones self To be sure a very low card played by him may imply a willingness to ba forced, but iuhis does not always fol- low. The main point is, if he is forced, what will he lead? Probably the third suit, as his discard indicated i weakness in the second It is this important feature of the play that is
 
 give partner goOd support in the suit which he is most likely to open, it may be, seen at once that the answer given to the original proposition re- | quires additional qualifications Sup pose strength is held in partners de- | clared suit, with the chances good that he may be fairly strong in tnumps. It is likely to prove of greater advantage to lead his suit, unless long i'm it ones self, than to l force him, and a trump lead even, | Will often give still better results. 1 Leaving out of consideration today l the question of giving partner a dis | card, there are one or two other points l in the composition of ones own hand which should assist materially in de- mining the choice of play. Sup l pose opponent leads the king of a | suit, which second hand wins with ace, l holding also knave and one or more, and partner renOunces. Manifestly little can be gained by forcing part ner, as the suit is blocked for oppon- ent, and the second best can only be cleared by opponents lead of the mas ter card. Again, suppose partner trumps the ace led, or the king played third hand, of opponents suit, and the queen and knave are held by sec end hand, the situation is similar.
 Holding buE one or two small cards
 in partners declared suit and no
 cards of value i'm opponents s suit, the
 bes't chance for cross-ruff, if that
 seems to present the greatest posSi-
 bilities, is to lead partners suit rather
 than to force him at once.
 If partner tralmps the first round, Of
 either opponents suit or ones own and leads a king, deuce, or any card
 which one can read as declaring just cards in his suit, he must have held
 five Erumps originally, unless he has opened a strong four card suit, in preference to a suit of greater length containing no high cards. This is on the supposition that partner fol lows the American leads, and the de duction drawn is easily explained or ) the same principle referred ko in es. timating his trump strength viz, i he holds none of one suit (his thirtee- cards being divided among the ohe 1 three) and declares his long, pair 1 suit to contain but four cards, hi! l Errlmp suit must have contained fiv, except a preference was given to ; strong four card suit over one O
 greater length. In the same way,
 he trumps the second round of sui
 and declares a four-card plain sui
 one can read that he must have hen four trumps originally.