The San Francisco call., 1906-09-02
Copyright, 1906, by r.. F. Foster.
No. 3.

ore BE plays them with a full under
standing Of their possibilities and their
weakness. He knows exactly what is
against him in every suit This en-
aales hlm TO push his advantage where
he is strong and TO avoid the suits in
which he is weak
The superiority Of his position is
due 10 one thing. and TO one only He
l5TvTs exactly what is in his partners
II sho0lq be the first care of his ad-
versarles TO place themselves. as far as
possible, upon an equal footing with
him in this respect. They should make
thsir hands as plain TO each other as
tae dummy's cards are TO the dealer
This IS their only hope. unless one of
ehem is so overwhelmingly strong that
he does not care anything about his
partner. In the majority of hands the
a6versaries OF the dealer fail to get the
most out OF their cards simply because
one does not know what the other
holds. It is useless TO urge that infor-
nation given 10 the partner is equally
available and perhaps more valuable to
The dealer The dealer knows what is
against him the moment dummy's cards
are laid down: he is ignorant only of
the distribution Of the opposing cards.
What little is added TO his information
IS Insignificant as compared to the i'm
Portanoe Of the understanding arrived
1T by his adveFsaries. If in addition
70 the dealers efforts to mislead them.
they conspire to deceive each other.
their game is hopeless.
The mutual understanding which
should exist between the partners when
oFposed te the dealer is more easily
As5biished when there is g declared
trtmp than when there is no trump,
snd the manner in which they can and
should inform each other will be better
understood If the tactics used against
trump declarations are mastered first
IN ne-trumpers the situation is more
difficult and the methods used are
based on entirely different considera-
tion.-.
We have already seen that the eldest
hand should select certain combinations
OF honors for his opening hand. From
these he selects certain cards, not be-
cause they are any better than others,
but because they will give his partner
& clearer idea Of what he has in the
suit The best card 10 begin with from
any given combination has been settled
by long custom. and even If slight
changes might be made for the better
they would not be understood by the
great mass Of bridge players. The
opening leads have become conveu-
tionaI and standardized If the leader
adopts this conventional system and If
his partner is familiar with IL the
partner can read the leaders hand at
once.
Put yourself in the place OF the lead
eE's partner. who is usually spoken of
as the 'pone" because he sits on. the
dealers right and suppose your part
ner. the eldest hand, leads a king
Dummys cards are laid down and you
examine them. and then turn your II
tention 10 your own cards. If the ace
Of the sHit lead is IN your hand or
dummy.s you know your partner holds
the Q, or Q and J. because he would
rot lead a X unless he held the card
nN1t il in value. If you or dummy
hare the Q you know your partner is
leading frem K A. If neither A nor Q
is IN sight you do not know which
your partner holds until the dealer
plays TO the trick.
Your partner leads an ace You
know at once he has not the king,
because he would lead 1t If he had II
III mana
or duumy's the dealer must hold il.
Your partner leads a Q. You know
az once that he holds no higher card
Of that suit in his hand, and you also
know that be has no suit headed by
both A and K, or he would have led il
in preference 10 suit headed by a Q
Your partner leads a J. Then the a
x G OF that suit must be in the deal
er's hand, If neither you nor dummy
~ those fhraa cards
Your partner leads q 10. You place
beth K and J in his hand, and know
that both A and Q are elsewhere. Il
you or dummy has enc, the dealer has
the other.
Now, while your partner is trying to
give you as much information as posi-
bic about his hand, you should try &c
tell him something about yours: not
about your entire hand, but about Tho
cards you hold in the suit which he
leads.
Your partner tells you, by his leads
what combination OF high. cards he
holds. What he wants TO know from
yea IS, how many OF the Smaller cards
~ hold and what danger is there
rat the dealer will ruff the suit If il
- persisted IN. II he has not all the
high cards. he may want TO know il
you could make q little trump on tbs
third round.
Try TO remember this general prin'
ciple: When the eldest hand leads win
ming cards ne knows how many trick:
he can take; what he wants to know
IS how the suit is distributed II yot
can ten him how many you hold he car
count the dummy and credit the dealer
with the difference
II is the duty OF thesthird hand, wher
he makes no attempt 70 win the trlel
himself, 70 show his partner whether
he holds two or more cards Of the suit
He does this by means OF what Il
called the esdown-and-out echo. It. con
sists in playing the higher Of only tw'
cords OF the suit when neither Of then
Is as high as the. jack When mor'
than two cards. are held the lowest Il
always played to the nrst round.
Suppose you are the eldest hand anS
are leading an 4 K Q suit. On th'
Grst trick your partner plays the 6, ant
on the next he plays the 2 He tell
you he. has no more of that suit II
on the contrary, he plays the IN
frst time and the 6 the next, he still
has another card Of that suit
When one Of the cards is as high a
the 1t is not necessary to echo, as tn
cards teH their own story. If you ar
eldest hand and lead X and then A. t.
=