The San Francisco call., 1906-10-21
Copyright, 1906, by n. F. Foster.
No. II.

There are two departments of the
play OF the third hand in which many
persons are very remiss; the play on
the second round OF the suit, when
making no attempt to win the trick,
and the proper card to return IL third
hand wins the FIRST trick, when playing
against a no-trumper.
II the third hand tries to win the
second trick after having made no at
tempt 10 win the first. he follows the
same general principles that would
govern his play IL il were the first
trick, playing his best card, or one in
sequence with It, unless intermediate
cards are exposed in the dummy. 1t
sometimes happens that the cards in
the third hand are such that it is not
necessary for him TO play the highest
he holds on the second round Hold
ing Q. J. 9, for instance, the 10 being
IN the dummy, Il the is played the
nrst round as the beginning OF an echo,
the should be played to the second
round II * is an attempt 10 win the
trick. because 10 play the Q, with the 10
n oummy's hand would be to deny the
3. In the same way holding Sc
qUeDce. such as J, 20. 8, S, partner
leading the K, and then small, the 10
Is the play on the first trick to begin
the second round as an attempt to win
the trick, which VIII make every card
IN the third hand clear to the leader,
as viii be seen IL the position is studied
for a moment.
What the third hand should DO when
he wins the first round Of his partners
suit and wishes to return it, must be
left for . separate article, as that mat
ter Is complicated By the necessity of
considering dummy's cards
For the present Il will be enough If
the student can be clearly Impressed
with the difference between the play
when the third hand tries to win the
second trick and the play when he does
not. II there is 10 be perfect under
standing between the partners opposed
10 the dealer, nothing is more i'm
portant than this part OF their game.
When the third hand follows suit TO
high cards led by his partner IN playing
against declared trump he uses the
down -and-out echo to show whether he
holds two cards only or more than two.
The object is 10 make il clear that he
can run the third round Of the suit, or
10 intimate 10 the leader that the dealer
is likely TO do so
In this form of the echo IL must be
remembered. there IS no way of show
iaE more than three cards in the third
hand but that is not so important as
showing the ability to run. When the
third hand has more than two Of the
sIit. as shown by his failure to play
down and out. the leader may be able
TO tell from the number OF cards in the
dummy whether or not the dealer has
auv more Of the suit II is all a matter
cf being able to count thirteen. In
cases in which the leader has only four
of the suit himself and dummy has
three ii may be impossible 10 estimate
the number in the dealers hand. It is
often important for the leader TO
know this because If the dealer is the
weak trump hand il is bad policy TO
force him. # on the contrary, the
dealer is the strong or declaring hand,
il may be good policy TO do 50.
But when il comes 70 the play against
q no-trumper the third hand has no
ruf1ng to think about. and when he
follows suit on high cards led by mis-
partner MS object IS to show the num-
Der he holds, and also what high cards
he has as nearly as possible To deny
certain high cards IS often quite as
good as showing them.
We have seen that on the first round
the third hand follows the invariable
rule OF playing his second best, regard
less OF number or value On the sec
ond round the card to play depends on
the number remaining in the hand. and
the important rule to remember is
With more than two cards Of your
partners suit originally, always keep
the smallest to the last
In order to follow out this rule it will
be necessary for the third hand. after
playing his second best to the first
trick. to give up the best he has on
the second round, unless he held orig
Enal1y four or more Of the suit
Suppose that third hand holds 10, 8. 8,
e His play on the first round viii be
the s. The same card would be played
II he held 10. s. 6. or 10, s only But on
the second round. II there were four
cards originally, the play would be the
6, whereas with two or three OF the suit
only, the 10 would be given UP on the
second trick, because Of the rule that
the smallest of the suit must be kept
until the last round when you have
more than two originally. Whether
the cards are played TO q lead or dis
carded does not matter; the same prin-
ciple must be followed in all cases in
which the third hand is not attempt
ing to win a trick in the suit.
In this system Of usi1g the echo
against no-trUmpers, ii should be OBJ