The San Francisco call., 1906-11-11
Copyright. 1905, by r. F. Foster.

No.
If the pone doubles trump declara-
tion, It does nos mean that he&is anx-
ious to have the .trumps out immedi-
ately, and therefore wants his partner
to start the play with an original lead
of trumps
Trump declarations are frequently
doubled on all-around strength, and
still more frequently on the chance OF
making some of the doublers small
trumps by ruffing. Trump makes more
often go wrong because of the unfortu-
nate position of the plain suits than be-
cause of the insufficient number Oh
trumps in the declaring hand. Every
bridge player must have remarked the
hands in which the adversaries run OF
a number of tricks in. plain suits before
the dealer can get in, and before trumps
are ever touched, except for ruffing, SO
that the declaring hand is finally left
. with nothing but trumps, the adverse a.
ries having in the meantime secured
the odd trick.
The position of the declaring hand
has a good deal to do with the advis-
ability of leading trumps after a
double If the pone doubles the dealer
he must either be pretty strong or very
sure that the declaring hand Will nave
to lead up to him, because 1t IS always s
OlSaORdnIdR6
to which you are opposed on your le1t.
When the make is on the right of the
leader and the pone doubles, it is sell
dom good play to lead trumps immedl-
ateIy unless the only trump In the
hand is singleton ace or an unguarded
king because it is placing the douDler
at a disadvantage to make MIN thlfo
hand. with the strength in trumps over
him. If the eldest hand has good sup
,,oI- a. honor
is not likely to be of any use, 1T may
be led originally in order to avoid
worse leads from plain suits 1t is not
necessary for the eldest hand to make
bad lead from plain suit in order 10
avoid a bad trump lead; but II there Is
any better opeLing in the hand than
the trump 1t Is just as well to see
dummy's cards first, IL possible.
When the pone doubles the dealer,
the eldest hand is quite justified in
leading any ace he may hold, regardless
of tenace possibilities. Failing an ace
it is better to lead a K-Q suit but II ne
has no lead a good as that he shouio
lead supporting cards, sucn as anu
O's in plain suits. These are often very
useful to the partner, as they MAKE
clear to him the positions of the COM
nandings cards in plain suits. If he
knows you have no ace and no ny
suit he may be glad to know where the
O or Jof the suit you lead is located
The guiding principle for the original
opener when his partner doubles the
dealer is to avoid trump lead untli ne
has seen dummy and TO sacrince ms
own hand as much as possible by lead
ing high cards in plain suits. This VIII
enable his partner to keep his high
cards and at the same time Will PROB
ABLY force the declaring hand into the
lead.
When the pone doubles a declaration
by the dummy an original trump leao
may be very advantageous, because the
| lead will be through the presumaois
strong suit to one which Is prooaolS
| inst about as strong beyond 1t. rms
gives the doubler the advantage of po-
sition. But even when dummy declares
IT is not always safe to assume that ar
original trump lead is the best thing
simply because 1t is going through the
strong hand. 1t is better to get look
at dummy's cards first, If possible
without losing the lead. and any ace
would be a good opening under sucf
circumstances.
! If there is no ace in the leaders hand
he should try supporting cards. espe-
cially in trumps. singly- guardec
queen or a twice guarded jack may b'
yery useful; Oh or J-10 suits are SURE
TO be even more so, because the leac
can be continued II 1t gives the partner
any advantage.
supporting cards in trunlps are gooe
opening leads, but a small trump, whlcf
will simply force the partner into the
lead and compel him to go back tt
durnmy's strength, without any idea ol
what the original leader hold in plalr
suits is not advisable II the only
trunnps to lead are small 1t is better te
wait until the situation has been cleared
up a little by seeing dummys CARDS
using the opportunity of the opening
to show your partner what you can &c
| in plain suits, if anything.
If trumps are led after the pone has
/ doubled it is usually more important tc
show their strength than their number
For this reason it is better to lead the
/ ton always. With four trumps, high
| the knowledge that the is the bes'
the leader holds, is more likely TO Dt
valuable than the inference tnat ne has
either three more or none III your
mariner can trust you always to show
i him your best trump he can place
l. all the high ones Immediately and vii
| know Just what to do.
Tho eldest hand must use some judg
ment in determining what his partner
doubled on-trump strength or plair
suit. He can usually form some opln
! ION from his own cards, even before NJ
| sees dummy s. IL Ic lids tuiCC VI AONi
/ trumps himself it Is almost certain tina
the doubling was on plain suits, but i
the eldest hand has one or two gooe
suits himself ii is more than likely tha
the pone has as many trumps as the
! dummy. and has doubled on account o.
the advantage of his trump position
whether to attempt to get out dunn
my's trumps or to force him is ques
tion which cannot be decided until hi
cards are shown.
1t is curious that many players wht
will hesitate about an original truml
lead when hearts or diamonds are dou
bled, even If dummy is the declaring
hand, will instantly rush to trumps /
it is a doubled spade. Their theor,
seems to be: Dummy has nothing but
| few spades, which are trumps. Let u,
take these away from him and he will
have nothing left.
This is a serious error, and the orig
inal lead Of trumps just because tn,
pone has doubled loses a great man,