The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1901-01-20


ten, nine, seven. S X You lead the fourth
beSt--viz.. the seven. Seven from eleven
leave four. There must, then, be in the
Other three hands four better cards than
the seven, as you VIII perceive Is the
fact. If your partner has one OF them
he will know for certainty that the
opponents have three. If he hold two,
then they have two only, and so on
Possibly. one or more of such higher cards
may fall from tie ad e. saries .ands IN
the course of the trick. giving still fur
Their completeness TO his information
We will quote the example given in FPS
ter's own work, as not Only illustrating
the rule. but as being an admirable sam
pie OF whist inference. Aou hold ace.
king nine-thrce OF a given suit YOU
par,ner leads the seven. There are. then.
outside his hand four higher cards an
the seven, of which You yourself no d
three. Second hand plays the ten. You
win The trek with the king. Fourth
hand plays the four. Unless in tne
exceptional case that one of the adver-
sarieS has called you can now locate
the who.e suit. The PLAYER on your right
hand has none left. The player on Your
left has not the two three. o he wouli
have Played one of them, but may have
the 1--WE or six. or both. Your partner
has queen, knave, eight, two and three,
and by getting rid of your ace and nine
you W II fully establish his suit.
LEADS FROM = WEAK SUIT.
II will be observed that the leads above
indicated are all from strength, numerical
or otherwise. But it may happen that
you have no strong suit. and are there
fore compelled to lead from a weak one.
IN such d case YOU should play your high
est card. not being an ace or king. The
card may win. il is does not, it Will
a. ans rate uraw a higher card, and 50
strengthen your partners hand. 1t may
further give him some useful information,
e. e. if YOU lead d queen (Which is only
led from strength when he'd with knave
and ten) and he himself holds knave or
ten. he is able to decide with certainty
that you led the highest OF a weak suit,
and that you have but a poor hand.
HOW TO FOLLOW UP THE LEAD.
Holding ace, queen and linavc, if you
have more than five cards originally, the
rule is TO follow with knave: il otherwise,
with the queen: this rule again enabling
Your partner to deduce with certainty
the number of your suit. If the knave
suit IS big one. and holding the king.
should play it on the knave, so as TO
leave You with the command.
Hold NJ ace. king, queen and knave. with
or without others, and having, according
to rule, led king, you should follow it
with knave. Barring trumps, it natural
~ wins, whence your partner correctly
infers that you hold ace and queen also.
Lacking the kI2ave your second lead
should be queen, which in like manner
tells your partner that YOU have not the
knave. but you have ace remaining.
With ace. king and small cards, follow
king with ace. lest it be trumped on a
third round. Leading from king, queen.
knave, or from king, queen. and small
cards. If the king wins, you should follow
with a small card on the supposition that
your partner holds the ace.
After queen lead (Which presumes
the holding of knave and ten). follow with
the ten. Your partner is then assured
that You led from strength. Until knave
or ten falls unless he himself holds one
OF them, he is uncertain whether you
may not have led the highest Of weak
suit.
THE PLAY OF THE SECOND HAND.
The broad rule for the second hand is
TO play his smallest card. but this is sub
iect to some qualifications, If, for in
stance in the first round Of a suit. he
holds both ace and king, he should play
the king. Wiz. king, queen, knaVe, amy
tot,, save ace being led. the knave With
a less commanding sequence, as knaFe,
ten. Of his suit is short, he should cover;
if long. he should play a small card. The
ace SNpGIu De y '1NSI, II YOU iO-t! II, " CIV Si
an honour led, but not king or queen.
Queen, knave or ten led prove that the
leader does not hold the ace, and you
therefore pass the trick.
In the second round OF a suit, the sec
ond r,:ayer should always play the winning
card If he has it.
THE PLAY OF THE THIRD HAND.
Here the board rule is to play your
highest card. If your two best cards are
in sequence. You should play the lower
of them. Holding ace, queen, the queen
should be played. on the chance OF the
king not being in the hand of the fourth
player This is the simplest example Of
what is known a finesse-
THE PLAY OF THE. FOURTH HAND.
This generally resolves itself into one
of two alternatives. Win the trick II
you can and as cheaply as You can. i. e.
with the lowest card available. If you
cannot win, throw away the lowest care
of the suit, or if You have none. that
card which is likely to be least useful to
you.
RETURNING YOUR PARTNER s LEAD
If on the second round you have only
two cards Of the suit left lead the high
er: if more than two, the lower. This is,
however. subject to one exception, VIZ,
if YOU hold the winning card play it,,
whether the suit be long or short You
are not however, bound TO return your
partner S lead lmculal3lE, lnucet- 10 40
so is tantamount to telling him that you
have no good suit OF your own. First
lead him your own strong suit, and at
the next opportunity return his.
LEADING TRUMPS.
Trumps are for the most part led as
plain suits but there are one or two eX-
ceptions. Thus holding ace and four or
more others. in a plain suit you lead ace
first lest it be trumped on Il second
round. In trumps this consideration does
not apply. and you lead your best in or
der to inform your partner, at the same
time giving him a chance to make the
trick. Holding ace. king and three 9th
ers. if You practically wish to exhaust
trumps YOU should lead king. followed by
ace, and then fourth best. With all four
honors YOU lead the lowest to inform
partner OF your strength. With ace king,
and queen. lead queen.
With four trurnps and a strong suit. It
IS generally good play to lead trunps IS
soon as possible. With five it is still more
advisable to do SO.
THE CALI. FOR TRUMPS.
This IS a conventional sigma. consist
ing OF the playing. at any stage of the
same. HecdesS.T hic1 card before
lower Of the same suit. THIS is a perempI-
DRY intimatio to the players partner
that he is required to lead trunps at