Los Angeles herald., 1909-02-21
ARTICLE q
Section 1

Continuing the discussion of dealers
play of no-trump hand and assuming
that the principle of playing for long
suits has been thoroughly understood
and adopted by those who are in
terested in these articles the reader
should devote his attention to the score
with view to determining how many
tricks are needed to win the game, as
this exercises a great influence upon
his play.
If he can count enough sure tricks to
win the game it is generally best to
make them and take no chances. Never
fisk the game for the sake of possibly
winning one or two extra tricks. On
the other hand, if you hold such cards
that it is impossible for your adver-
saries to prevent you from going game
or if you have already taken enough
tricks to win the game, then you are in
a position to take some risks if the
probable gains are sufficient to justify
you in so doing. The ordinary justi-
fable risks may be discussed under the
heading
Finessing
Finessing may be defined as playing
the third best card rather than the
best, in the hope that the second best
may be at the right hand and thus
be captured. For instance, if dummy
holds jack or 10 of a suit in which the
dealer holds ace, queen and two or
three small cards it is evident if
the suit be led from the dealers hand
that the king must win a trick except
in those rare cases when it is alone.
On the other hand, if the jack be lead
from dummy and the king is in the
hand to the dealers right it may be
captured. In such a case if the second
hand player does not play the king the
dealer should play small card. If the
king is on the right the jack wins the
trick and if it is on the left it would
win anyway. 1t is apparent that the
chances are equal that the king is on
the right. Therefore if the game is not
in danger it is the rule to always
f1nesse against one card unless the
probable loss is greater than the prob
able gain. A tenace as defined by Ell
well, than whom there is no better
authority, is a combination of two or
more cards Of one suit from which an
intermediate card is missing.
Tenaces
1t should be borne in mind that the
hand should be so played if possible
that you should lead up to tenaces, not
away from them. The advantage of
this has just been explained under the
head of f1nessing, which may well be
designated taking advantage of ten
aces"
There are several different occasions
upon which the opportunity to do so
occurs. The most frequent course is
that in which you put one hand in the
lead for the express purpose of lead
ing up to a tenace in the other. A ten
ace consisting of ace-queen is called a
major tenace. All others are minor
tenaces, but this term is more partiCu
larly applied to king-jack. 1t is ap-
parent that the same reasons which ap-
ply to major tenaceS apply equally to
minor tenaces. For instance, if in one
hand you hold king-jack and in the
other either the ace and small cards or
small cards only, it is evident that
your only chance to win a trick with
the jack is to lead from the other hand
and finesse against the queen. In the
latter case, if your right hand adver-
Sary holds the ace but not the queen
your king must win, and in the event
he holds both ace and queen you must
lose them both, so that there is pos
sibility of winning half the time with
no real loss in the other half. The
only exception being similar to that of
the ace-queen finesse, to wit: when
the queen is alone in the fourth hand.
Another frequent occasion on which
tenaces must be carefully examined is
that in which they are held in the suit
opened by the opponents, as you may
Cn6IEDY frequently take IWO IIIChS III
the suit instead Of one. For instance,
If the opening lead is a spade in which
you hand in the dummy ace-queen, it
is evident that if the leader holds the
king an extra trick is won by playing
the queen rather than the ace to the
first trick. other instances will fire.
uuentIy arise in play which are readily
recognized by those who bear constant
Iv in mind the general rule that when
ever you hold two cards with the inter
mediate card missing, the situation
may develop either by your own eff
forts or the natural play of the hand.
Therefore, always be prepared to take
advantage of your tenaces and illnesses.
and you will be surprised how often
you are given the opportunity. Do not
be disappointed if you of ten fall as
YOU are entitled to win only half the
time.
Section 2
In the discussion of cards of en-
in the last article the
writer overlooked the fact that Elwell
in his latest work on bridge, whilst
not departing from his former rule of
showing weakness by discarding first
high and then low. yet advocates the
system i'll general of thus showing