Los Angeles herald., 1909-03-01

Nalue IN leading trumpS the Ideal pla1
would be one by which you would us,
the short trump hand for roughing and
the long trump hand for exhausting thu
| adversaries.
| 1t is seldom that this can be com
| pletely accomplished, but frequently 4
| is possible to use some of the short
trumps for this purpose. On the Other
hand, do not lose sight of the fact thai
until trumps are exhausted the adver-
| saries may trump your winning cards
In the great majority of cases that
hand which holds five or more trumps
should lead them at the first oppor-
tunity. Beginners seem to object tC
| this, and it is very hard to convince
them of its wisdom. Experience has
demonstrated that until considerable
experience has been acquired the gen.
eral rule of leading trumps should be
followed except when 1t is apparent
that you can use one or more trumps
in the short trump hand for trumping
without running any risk of the adver-
saries trumping your tricks. There is
one other exception worthy of notice.
1t arises when your hand Is so consti-
tuted that the adversaries must win at
least one trick before trumps are ex-
hausted and you have worthless cards
which you might discard before letting
them get in the lead. Before giving an
illustration of such a situation. readers
are again urged to lay out the cards
upon the table and to read the text in
connection herewith as thereby it is
impressed upon the memory.
Let us suppose that the dealer has
declared hearts with the following
hand: Ace, king, Jack, 10, 6 of hearts; 8,
s, of diamonds; ace, king, queen, 8,
of clubs and no spades. The leader
opens a small diamond, and dummy
lays down the following hand: 8, 2
of hearts; ace, queen, 10 of diamonds;
jack, 8, of clubs; ace, king, queen, 6
of spades. Under such circumstances
the proper play is the ace of diamonds,
upon which the dealer discards his
worthless diamonds. Otherwise the
dealer may lose two diamond tricks.
The most frequent error committed
by beginners in playing declared
trump, and consequently that to be
most carefully avoided, is first trump
ing from the long trump hand apd try
ing to exhaust trumps. 1t is rarely
found advisable to lead trumps after
the strong hand is weakened by twice
trumping, yet the novice often does
that for which the opponents are striv-
ing, namely, forces his strong hand,
thereby deliberately foregoing the adj
vantage of possessing the strong trump
hand. The reader should at the earliest
possible moment determine If he in
tends to lead trumps, and IL so avoid
with the strong trump hand
Section 2
Assuming that the reader has adopt
ed the rule of high followed by low to
Indicate strength and conversely low
by high to indicate weakness
1t Is deemed advisable to consider a
few hands which are so constituted as
to offer considerable difficulty IN
avoiding confusion If this rule be fol-
lowed The opponents of this rule |
they believe in the discard |
from strength or the discard from |
weakness, can easily give examples of
hands which in their opinion are so |
that to follow the rule en-
tails either useless sacrifice or the dan
ger of being misunderstood by your
partner. These examples most fire.
luently consist of two classes Of hands;
first, those in which the weak suits /
contain no card below the eight and |
he strong suit consists of ace, king.
queen, four, three, two; second, those
hands i'm which the weak suits are
of combinations like three
% the queen in which to discard one
would be to resign that suit to the
lealer. These two classes of hands are
lot so frequent as DIRECTORS maintain,
consider them under four heads, name
Y. single discard-no trump, single dis
ard declared trump, double discard
10 trump and double discard-declared
rump. AS that which presents the
most difficulty let us first consider
Single Discard-No Trump
The discussion of this subject should
,e subdivided as follows: First, when
our partner will be in the lead, and
econd, when the dealer will be in the
arefully examine the dummy as the
ards held by him in the several suits
nay be such as to inform your partner ;
What to avoid and thereby eliminate
rom his consideration certain suits.
FOR instance, if one suit having been
pened upon which you are to mako
ne discard and the dummy hand dis
loses two suits in which practically :
II the high cards are held by dummy
. should be apparent to your partner
hat your strength if any is in the ;
ourth suit; hence the discard of a ]
Ugh card in either of dummy's two
trong suits should not mislead him.
houid dummy, the declaration being
riginal hold only one strong suit it
usually wiser to be governed by
hitch of the other two suits is most
Kelly " lidNS SlASliSbii III tHC
and as your partner will assume ,
trength in black rather than red on
ne part of the dealer. For instance,
the leader opens diamonds upon
hitch you have one discard and the
jimmy discloses great strength in
oades and you hold ace, king, queen,
,ur, three, two of hearts there is very
tile risk in describing a high club for {
our partner must know that the deal !
would have declared hearts in pref
renee to no trump If he held great !
rength in that suit, hence the dealer I
Iust possess great strength in clubs. G
), however in such case your part
er has already won three tricks the 9
est discard is the ace of hearts, as
lat will make him lead a heart and :
le game is saved, which is quite in- !
)rtant in view of the spade strength :
sclosed by dummy and the great club I Z
rength which the dealer must have
Id to declare no trump. Should these :
tits be permeated so that your part !
IF is likely to enormously place the =
rong suits it is best to sacrifice a
ick by discarding an ace, which trick y
ay usually be recovered by leading y
rough the dealers strong red suit, Z
it is almost impossible that the ;.
aler should Have declared no trump y
it'll one red suit set-up and no d
rength in the other red suit. =
Should it be apparent that the dealer
III take the lead the discard should
the four of your strong suit. as the Z,
aler's subsequent play will either r
va Won another discard or will in T.