The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-01-03
TRUNpS AND TRICKS
SOME LATE HANDS IN
WHIST.
LEADING TRUMPS.


lance justifies further attention. even
at the risk Of repetition. Our views
as to trump lead from hands con-
tanning trump strength and strength or
length in a plain suit probably do not
differ materially from the views of
the majority Of modern whist writer's.
On the question Of whether to lead the
trump from such a hand or to first
endeavOr to establish the suit, very
little can be said in the way of at
tempting to lay down general rule;
where ffve-card plain suit and five or
more trumps are held by the leader.
we advise the trump lead where the
suit Is established or where 1t can
be established with the assistance from
partner that may be expected. Where
the plain suit Is headed by ace, king,
or king, queen, or queen, jack, ten, or
ace, queen, jack, it seems strong
enough to justify if not demand the
trump lead, and we are inclined to in
clude suit headed by ace, queen, or
king, Jack, ten, or ace, jack, ten in the
same category. There are various COM
binatiohs, slightly weaker than those
mentioned, which are yet strong enough
to make the trump lead a play, If the
i've trunnps are strong enough to war
rant the expectation of being able to
exhaust the adverSarieS without being
subjected to more than one force be-
fore this is accomplished. Of course
the size Of the cards of the other suit
i'll the leaders hand will have some in
f1uence in deciding his line of play.
%Io
five trumps and a four card plain suit,
the question is more difficult Where
the trumps are small and the plain
suit weak, with no strength or little
strength in the other suits, we con-
slider the lead of the plain suit the
conservative line Of play. Where the
trumps are strong enough to warrant
the expectation of exhausting the ad-
versaries and being left with at least
one long trump and the lead, we are
inclined to advise a trump lead; this
does away with the disadvantage of
leading from a weak suit, and infor-
nation is frequently obtained which
enables the leader to discover his part
ner's strong suit and lead to it. In
many cases the leader will be able to
adopt a line of play that is a favorite
with st. Paul and Minneapolis players;
where the trump suit is headed by ace,
king, queen, ace, king, jack, or ace,
queen, jack, combinations which re-
quire the lead Of a winning trump,
and the plain suit of four or more
cards is not established, the leader may
lead one trump and then change to
his long plain suit if his partner gets
IL 4 e
has length in the suit lead, or a great
suit of his own, which he can show his
partner either by lead or discard. If
he is short in his partners suit, he can
play to make a small trump by return
ing that suit, or if he holds an unes-
tablished long suit, which he can not
show his partner, except by lead, and
which can be easily established by
leading it; he may in rare cases, re-
fuse to- return either the trump or his
partners suit, but play to establish and
bring II his own suit. This line of
play reduires a pretty high order of
whist Judgment, and the player will
do weff to canvass a situation pretty
thoroughly before he takes the game
out of his partners hands. 1t is well
to notice here what may be called the
reverse Of this method; with an estab-
lished plain suit or one from which 1t
is proper 10 leau WHINING CdrO, II
Is often, If not always, good play to
indicate that suit by one lead before
leading trump. Especially is this
true when the leader has an establish
ed suit and but four trumps. 1t in
forms your partner that your trump
lead is made for that suit, and you
run no risk Of his refusing to return
the trump, or Of his forcing you by the
lead of his own suit, If he has no
trump to give you. This line Of play
is almost obligatory among players
who lead a trump from four trumps,
and three three-card suits, as where
the suit is not first shown, a four
card trump lead is generally taken to
indicate that holding, and the partner
of the leader may exercise some dis
erection as to whether or not to return
the trump.
From a hand containing five or more
trumps and no suit of more than three
cards, we unhesitatingly advise the
lead of a trump, except in rare cases
where the leader holds such a, short
suit as king, queen, jack; king queen
alone, or queen, jack, ten accompanied
by weakness in the other suits; in
these cases the short suit lead may
ccasionally be made to advantage.
We have no sympathy for those play
ers who refuse to lead a trump, be-
cause 81 hold nothing to exhaust
tru1mDS 1OT. that is IlOC lne point,
but, even If it were, the argument is
founded on a wrong premise; the game
of whist is a partnership affair, and
the player who plays his own hand
alone has acquired an erroneous idea
that will be fatal to his success as q
player. But the best reason for the
trump lead Is that 1t is the only play
that is not a shot in the dark; the only
play that is based upon anything but
pure luck.
This brings us logically to a con-
sheraton of hands containing four
trumps and three three-card suits. We
do not Eintend here to enter into an
analysis ofsethe comparative merits Of
the trump, lead and the forced lead
from this character of hand. We favor
the trump lead, as we have frequently
stated in commenting upon the play
Of various deals published in this col
umn. We allow some exceptions to this
rule; such short suits as king, queen.
jack; queen jack, ten; queen, jack, nine,
and, occasionally, where the trumps arc
very small, queen, jack and any small
card, or jack, ten and small card may
be opened where the balance of the
hand is weak. We object to the lead
of queen from queen and one small. or
more particularly to the lead of any
smaller card at the top Of three
card suit. The lead from ace king, or
queen and two others we regard as
disadvantageous. We have indicated
above our chief argument in favor of
the trump lead. 1t is not that it is a