The San Francisco call., 1906-11-25
Copyright. 1908, by r.. F. Foster
no. n


The reason for selecting an original
trump lead in preference to opening any
Of the plain suits we have seen to be
chiefly because each OF the plain suits
was headed by combinations of high
cards which il is undesirable 10 lead
away from
In bridge theN expression ..to lead
away from" anything means TO be the
first player on the trick and TO hold
back the combinations spoken of as
led away from. leading other cards
than those mentioned but in the same
suit For instance: To lead away from
the ace means TO hold back the ace and
lead a small card of the suit To lead
away from a king means 70 keep the
king in your hand and lead some other
card OF the same suit You will fre-
quently hear the expression, 4 did not
like 70 lead away from ace-queen.
which means that the player did not
wish 70 begin with either the ace or
the queen. and at the same time he did
not like the idea of leading q small
card from the suit which was headed
/ by ace-queen.
+ You cannot say that you lead away
from q certain combination when you
keep IL and lead another suit Il you
I have the @ and other diamonds and
the and other spades you lead the
/ spade 10 avoid leading away from the
AZ all you either lead the ace or you
( lead away from it.
To lead away from any combination
I OF high cards is usually 10 the disad-
vantage OF the player when there is
i declared trump II does not pay 10
/ hold back high cards too long. neither
does II answer TO play them at a dis
/ advantage The opposite of leading
away from anything is 10 lead up 10
/ It When you say a combination was
/ led up 70, you mean that IL was IN the
hand OF the fourth player on the trick.
( Il is very undesirable 10 lead away
from 4 king up 10 an ace-Queen suit
+ On the other hand. il is a great ad-
vantage TO have the king led up 10.
especially by the player who holds the
ace
In many hands the objection 10 open
! ing any OF the plain suits is not sufn-
cient 10 suggest a trump lead as the
only alternative. There may be shades
1 Of difference in the plain suits them
selves which will indicate one as a bet
/ ter opening than another 4 very safe
rule for the beginner IS:
Trumps should never be led original
/ y unless all the plain suits are worse
openings than the trump suit
In previous articles we have had the
rules for selecting the proper card to
/ lead from any possible combination.
but there IS still something 10 be said
about the respective merits OF the COM
binatfons themselves. These simple
rules viii be found useful as guide
when playing against trump declara-
tions:
i Length in suit is unimportant; high
I cards are everything
Leads of an honor from three in Sc
quence are the best
! Leads OF an honor from TWO in Sc
quence are the best
Leads OF any kind from two honors
not in sequence are bad.
Leads Of small cards from suits
headed BY single honors are the worst.
We shall have opportunities to call
attention TO these rules from time 10
+ time in the selection of opening leads.
but in the meantime we should advise
every beginner TO get the principles
/ firmly fixed in his memory as q guide
There. are hands In Which two honors
/ in sequence may be better than three
1 for an opening. such as A X of one suit
and K Q ] OF another The 4 K suit
/ is the better opening. because it holds
/ the lead until dummy's cards are laid
down. In Fosters Complete Bridge"
page los. there is very instructive
example OF this opening
The mere color of the suits will
when the declarati has been left TO
the dummy. II the dealer will not de-
clare h,s is probably weak in the red
suits. or at least IN hearts. That is he
is not so likely to be strong in them
as he is in black II the leader has any
choice between red and a black suit
IL is better for him 10 open the red
when he has 10 lead TO a passing
hand, because ne is less likely to lead
up to strength.
Some players make It rule never
10 lead small card OF a black suit I'D
TO passing hand as an original open
ing, unless the small black card is z
singleton and they want to trump the
second round of the suit One of two
or three honors In sequence IN black
suit may be led regardless OF the posi-
ton of the declaring hand. but 1t is
usually bad policy 10 lead small cards