Los Angeles herald., 1909-06-28
BRIDGE DEPARTMENT
EDITED BY w. R. WHARTON

4, of short suits. Always apply the eleven
rule, and if the result is consistent with
fourth best, finesse accordingly Never
forget that the lead of fourth best de-
nies that leader holds in any plain suit
either of the following combinations
Ace, king; king. queen, jack; king,
queen, ten; ace, jack, ten; king, jack,
ten. or queen, jack, ten, as each OF
those is a stronger opening.
The leader may have ace, queen, or
king, jack which are stronger II the
lead comes UP to him. Therefore If an
examination of exposed hands discloseS
the absence of these cards you should
Immediately be on the alert to deter
mine whether the dealer or leader holds
them. In this a consideration of the
declaration is of material assistance
The leader may have a short suit
but prefer opening fourth best because
of having four trumps he does not WlSn
to ruff If, therefore, during play OF
the hand it is found that leader origin
ally held a suit of not more than two
cards unless one is king or queen 1t Is
safe to assume that he held originally
such trump strength as to cause him
to desire not to ruff.
On the other hand, the opening of a
short suit indicates a strong desire TO
trump.
An examination of the two exposed
hands will usually enable you to de-
termine which. If you conclude it is
led from combination it is safe TO
assume that leaders held not more
than three trumps and desired to ruff.
If ace is followed by king it is GER
tainly combination c, and if followed
by queen 1t is certainly from combina-
tion a.
knight is safe to assume that lead
er hold either ace or queen. If followed
nv oueen leader holds either ace or
jack.
If suit is switched it is proper to in
fer that leader holds such a combina-
ton that he prefers the next lead in
the suit to come up to him, therefore
upon obtainind the lead pone should
lead his best card in the opening suit,
provided, of course, the cards exposed
and played do not demand a different
lead.
Queen-This opening declares that
leader holds jack and probably ten.
Solution to problem II published in
this issue):
1t is evident that leader has opened
from king, queen, ten, with or without
the deuce. In any event. dealer must
trump the second spade lead. 1t is also
evident that dealer held originally at
least five hearts to ace, jack or six to
one of them.
If dealer holds ace of hearts. it is
evident that he can exhaust trumps
and bring in the club suit, upon which
losing diamonds may be discarded.
One spade and three diamond tricks
will save the game. Therefore, pone
should play ace of spades on first trick,
and if dealer does not trump he should
at once lead his three diamonds.
BY this play he can lose nothing. on
the other hand, should he allow leader
to hold the trick, it is practically GER
tain that another spade will be led.
which may mean the loss of the game.
This problem, although quite simple
vet frequently arises and serves to en-
phasize the necessity of always con-
sidering the question of How may the
game be saved?"
1t is not sufficient to be contented
with the reflection that you are trying
to take all the tricks you can. 1t Is
far more important to make sure of
enough to save the game.