The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-11-26
AROUND THE WHIST TABLE.
y<nIOUs THE0RIEs CONCERNING
THE LEAD or THE 10.


Ios,e Of the Radical short-suiters-fossi
biiities Of Some Remarkable swfnss-
Outlines of the System Followed bJ the
Famous walbrook Team of BALTIMORE
-R,-uits of the State Tournament.
In deciding whether 70 lead the ten or the small
card from J 10 and others. II has been soon
Chat 90 far as can b learned from Tine SUNS
TO- 900 deals there was no gain or loss either way
.,e,p, rb., was due moro 70 tho luck Of the posi-
ton or the distribution Of tho Other plain suits
or the uumps.
In analyring the probable play Of the forty
sirh, deals In which this particular combination
Of cards was found. II was necessary 70 assume
that tho partner OF the original leader understood
clearly that the ten was 10 DO led from ono com
binstion only, X J 10 and others and that II
could no, DO mistaken for Q 10 or the top OF
nothing The strongest objection that can be
made against any lead. or system OF leads Is,
that II is confusing TO tho partner. and II tho ten
is going 70 be led from J 10. Y 10 and the
top Of nothing. II would be extremely difficult
70 arrive al any conclusion Of value with regard
to the respective merits Of leading tho ten or tho
ANAL card from the combination under oonsid-
Grafton.
We have already seen that the followers Of
the so-cailed modified American leads are in
favor Of leading the ten instead OF the queen from
Oh 10. and leading the small card from j IN.
which Ia tho plan adopted by the baltimore CLUB
and some others less famous This Ia not In
accordance with tho "Trist- Cavondsh-Ames
system. In which tho queen Is led from suits
OF more than four cards headed by X . OF ..
and from X Q 10 In trumps The queen Is still
retained as the bost lead from Q j TO- or q los
and others This unkcrng has thrown tho ten
out altogether as a lead. and the only combina-
Al Lob he Lad L. II ~
any small cards, or as the top Of . three-card
suit two very different combinations and ones
likely TO keep the partner guessing
The Whist Club OF NewYork does NOT boliovo in
leading the ten unless IL Is accompanied by tho
nine, II there arc moro than two cards In the suit,
OF unless II Is lead made upon the development
and not original The commonscnse players
do not like to lead ten at all except a. support
ing card q card Of warning although some OF
them think II q good plan TO lead II from q 10
when tho suit Is worth playing for. 50 to avoid
tho appearance Of having led supporting queen
from a weak hand When the suit Is probably
not worth trying 70 bring in. the queen is led from
o. 10. In deciding between the two, the partner
IS credited with only average possibilities In the
Tho most radical OF the short-suters believe in
enough supported 10 be worth playing for as a
long suit and Is too long to make II probable that
ANYTHING would be gained by waiting 70 have
lead Of tho king from X j 10 is no more unsound
than that Of the ace from y, because the player
king as he will by leading The ten 1t is no more
probable that the queen will be held against him
win the rst with the ace tn |, is tina, their queen
will win the first round and tho nee will be still
against Foster and SpnfoId played band in
tho New YORK Whist lub's invitation games
last winter In which this lead of the king brought
dow u, ,s See ara 4u,r h g hrr H., bought
Impossible. Tt
deal In the inlrr-ctv tournament two years ago BY
the same opening aud the same ng happening
and queen coming down together on The first
Club leads the king from X 10 all the time when
Known II to lose iything yet
Take the very common position 81 ace with the
Two tricks in the suit without fncsse and whether
the ten the small caro- is led FIRST the acc Is played
il the king is led inst il wins, and after the ,rumps
out or when is time to force the Jack and ten
follow the king and the queen cannot escape i
Reverse the position n the quccn and the other
hand must take the hnesSe, 50 IL does not make
ia led FIRST long as the object is TO establish
the suit and not TO wit fer tn" possible gain Of
having minor teracc LED NJ To-
When a player leads the ten and IL wins there
is ALWAYS great uncertainty rs 20 whether Uart-
ner holds both ace and queen or the queen alone
Modern I LAYERS are 20 nllcn in the habit Of TAX
ing the ten for a SUP ortinc card that second
hand will ire uCntlv ra y 1t with both ace and
queen lcdu'r TANKS MS partner has
or both OF tho cards md goes TO trumrs. and
that is the last # his suit. which can never Ne
cleared.
In the whole 10000 deals recorded for THE
SUH there w"r only two in which the lead Of the
ten or tho small card rom suit OF four inside a
difference of more than one trick. The deal in
which the ten lead brought about losing n Isition
was published last week. Hero Is the deal !
which the opening Of the ten gained two tri Ks
IL is No. 1916, and was recorded by W A. Potter
Of the Proiite"re Journal. Il dealt and turned
the heart eight
TRICK.