The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1916-01-16

THE ELEVEN NV1t
Rv their selection OF certain high
cards 10 lead good players indicate TO
the partner that certain other hish cards
rerain in their hand or arc against them.
The player who leads a king. for IN
stance. shows that either ace or queen
or both these cards ara behind the king,
The player who starts with a queen
or an ACC denies the king and marks
that card a. out against him.
But when the player has no such
combination Of high cards from which
to lead ne cannot Indicate the possession
OF single honors, or Of two that are not
In sequence. There Is no system or
leading that will how the partner the
king and ten at the head OF a suit. or
that acc and queen are out against
him.
Although the leader canno tell his
mariner exactly what the high cards are
he can do the next best thing and tell
him how many there are which are
higher than the card he leads, This
il accomplished by selecting from
among the small cards what IL called
the fourth best. counting from the top.
or "the card OF uniformity"
Let US take an example and follow II
up. The leaders best suit Is the X 10
s ! 8 of clubs. The fourth best. count
INK IToIH TAG wv, . y khO 'SNsA, -" N''s
Is the correct card TO lead. Some per-
sons do not believe In this lead against
a trump declaration and use It only
against no trumpers. but there can he
no harm in using II upon all occasions.
One never knows when II may be helpful.
The original idea OF this lead vas
simply to show length. If a smaller
card than the one led was missing. dis
carded or played. such ~ the trey In
tho example given. tho leader was
marked with Ave In suit. II ne started
with the smallest he could hold. such
as the deuce. he a four only.
The writer discovered about thirty
years ago that this card OF uniformity
was capable Of giving much more valu-
able information than the number of
cards in the suit, and that the higher
the card led the moro positive the in
formation became,
4 careful examination Of every pos
sible combination Of cards that would
beat the card lad revealed the interesting
fact that when a card Of a given de-
higher cards that would beat II vas
always the same.
This led to the formulation Of what
In known az the eleven rule. first pub
lished An 1890. and stated thus:
II the spots on tho card led are de-
Quoted from eleven tho difference Is the
number OF cards higher thar the one
lad that are out against the leader Of
that suit.
In our example. leading the 7 from
X 10 3. tho partner would deduct
7 from II n get I, Some Of these
four may be In dummy he nay hold
Il, The remainder are In tho hand
OF the decl8rer.
Suppose dummy puts down the q 9 I
md third hand holds A J s. The four
cards higher than the seven are all in
sight. Dummy has two OF them. Q and
. third hand has the others. A II y.
IL dummy plays the 4, tho 7 will hold
the trick, II dummy puts on the . the
j in enough to win II.
The beginner should take a pack Of
cards and satisfy himself that this rule
is invariablc, provided the small card
led In always the fourth best OF the
leaders suit. The expert player. ny
combining this rule with his differences
from the bidding, can put II to uses that