The sun., 1900-12-23
ruE FRIDGE WHIST TABLE.
,,,psvHpN rIS,iN0 AGAINST a m.
TIiRTD TRfNP.

..,,,.. q, American leads In Fridge -Uish
card lead. Agreed vpon h, tho BeW Play
o., IN. Matter Of No-Trumpers Points
About Duplicate nridre.
-,ocv.r-IncrcRsiug army of bridge players
4, ,tl, country IL largely recruited from the
,,,ga n, tho old whist PLAYERS, and the new
.,,,,r.usuallv nnd that they have 10 nlsarn
.,,.t deaI of tie taCtiCa OF the old gams
ro,,-c they can become expert at the new :.
r,4, 4, eatec,.lly true OF American lends.
,,Itch are worse than useless 1T bridge.
.tr,urh some few writer's and teachers
continue 70 Instruct their pupils In these
leaia when giving lessons In bridge
The advantages and dlsaiy antaCes OF
American leads have been fully discussed
+, connection with whist hut many persons
,, n stick TO them IN bridge under the mis-
,,ycn notion that they afrord valuable In
formation To the partner. Til" object or
,,.s. cad. il To show number In the suit by
yarlltions in the manner Of leading from
certain combinations OF hish cards. The
rrinoipal feature OF the system IL to lead
t9s king only when the suit contains -FOUR
or less cards the ace when the suit IL orc OF
Eve or more headed by ace alone or by hoth
a.e and king, and the queen when the suit
,eo If at Iau,t flve cards. headed by K Q.
no 10. A X q. or = J. In bridge, this
rgrnber-showing Is entirely unnecessary
s.niust trump declaration, because the
Information cannot be OF a. much valne to
H.. mariner. for whom il is intended. az II il
:, tho adversary. 1t heinz an old principle
in the strategy Of the game that information
f. alyays of more value TO the strong hand
t,au [, the weak. and the side tn at makes the
rump IL almost inv ari ably the strong hand
eni therefore the ono to profit by any scraps
Of Information that the adyersaries may
oier It.
lpe object Of all system In card play is
I, Keep the partner from guessing by giving
hm definite information Of useful charac-
Ter. and any system which iails TO 90 tiis
defeats the object for which IL Is devised.
II 1t ,tll keeps him guessing, while making
things clear to the adversary, II ia manliestIy
a losing game. and only adds 10 the dlih-
oulties of the situation instead Of lessening
them. When a single card. like the queen.
may be led from five different combinations
of cards. and the ace may or NAV not nave
the king behind II. the partner Is leit 10 guess
while the dealer. who sees twenty-six caros.
tuows all about 1t. The information sought
t. Je conveyed by American leads Is not
complete until the second round OF the suit,
ard It is then usually too late to be oi any
use against a trump declaration.
The best players are agreed upon the fol-
lowing high-card leads as the best when
paying AGAINST declared trump
lhe ace sT9m Ii3lout any ibs SUI. Ninr neaqea lei
Ga e1ner erV csrds the suit contains That
l., II you C!en a suit headed by
- tie ace witnou: tue king. ,alway:
lead tie ace, After tie ace. and a, look at
dummy, If you COatinue the suit, follow wlih
one OF the second and thrd best y you hoid
or j on the i!rst trick and LoId TIE and 10
or and 10, lead one Of them. lLi!inx suCh
cards. 40 on with small card. Usually tle
lie king. from all suits in which DMl
1rAt asto to o4 b6, IN value In s'InsF ,s .eC, sS.
OF Snd 'ufSn fSand. H hiding USl'' both ace and S
queen. follow with the queen, If YOU lA
follow with one OF ths second and ,hird best
II you hold them. such as the JACK from both
queen and jack, or any two cards that may
G. 0ueen, from all suits headed by
E& both queen and JACK, eslecially iacse
lNS SSlt2 the ia eE. s esreean, ' il It Soe,
a. the dealer cannot have both ace and king.
pvt, only, such as ,hose headed A1S5
lke K. 9. and ot,eFs 1t is E91
10 one hand and the queen guarded In the
Iartner's will stop a, whole suit If neither
Of the players leads the suit or puts up the
S+1 confusion. tho ten should not be led
- Interior card being selected in pref
80 erence.
Sm0ll cards. from suits headed by
one or two honors not In sequence,
neither of which Is the ace. or from
the top of weak suits not better
than the nine
The leads should be mastered by e--!y
S Sdse wnI pnger fhsy are Clear sna no efns
and tho meaning Of every card Is absolute
Ihe ace denies tie king, and thes following
ing an ace denies both queen and jnck, al
though the hand may contain one OF those
ss. sd ha,b ss S'Td hf3bETns bS, IN, the kPs
present.. Anv small card following either ara
Or king denies the presence in the leaders
h4 d u The e Hnfh nd are H, Senq
say. higher cards in the hand. and env small
card led Originally denies two honors In
sequence In the suit
These leads will be referred to from time
q time In these articles ~ the standard for
play ing against declared trump. but Y must
BE- remembered that an entirely different set
Of leads is used against no-trumpers. because
f. that declaration the conditions are entirely
changed There are no trumps to cut short
TIE career Of a long suit, and as every card
l. valuable the partner must be correctly
Informed as 70 when il IL his duty to get out
oi'Nc way, unblocking being a very Important
part Of the Fln,e In nO-tr,nrer
when II comes To the ply Of the deller
md dummy systems OF leads do not bother
them, and their chief caro- Ia to determine
whether IL Is better to play for a long suit
or To m Ike their trumps separately IL is
very seldom that the deller's side will have
two suits worth playing for, al d the attention
viii usually be Conccntr tod on one suit
the other being freely discarded IL IL some
times nice question whether 70 clelr the
suit first or start the trumps When there are
trumrs to sure and the suit 70 be played for
Is long enough t. make IL likely that IL will
but II the trumps are short or the hand has
been forced, or the high trumps are against
the layer. i Is usually best to start the suit
end sct II Gle ired 1t is Ulways grelt ad-
v"ht ge to make some of the small trlmps
IN the weIkcr hand separately. IL possible
hut II the ndvers lres hold the commanding
trpWps t4ey viii usually nip this scheme
IN the budhy leading trumps
Some recent games Of duplicate bridge
have brought out this point of pl ,ylng for
. suit or cross run in q m9nner that shows
h'w many way; many minds can look u hand
and It's possibilities Take the following
sx mVle. IN which there is no score. the game
being duplic 'tr and the ply being for III
the tricks possible in tho cards The dealer.
holding three honors and protection in two
other suits, makes II a heart. Hltlough he
his only four trunps This IL invariably
good m7ke with h and which IL not strong
enough for no trump. 20 the certainty ~
sixteen points In the honor score is an Offset