The Waterbury Democrat., 1931-01-08
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BY VIM. F.. MCKINNEY Secretary American Bridge League

the fourth best of our longest and strongest suit, especially against q no trump declaration when partner has not bid. There are but few novices W ho really understand what the lead is about and know how to read it when made by partner or opponent. To correctly make this lead, a thorough understanding of the rule of eleven is required. The rule of eleven is a mathematical method which, when the correct deductions are made, may be your only means of defeating the opponents contract, and as the same information is avail- able to declarer, it may work out to his advantage.
 There are q few players who think the lead of the fourth best of your longest and strongest suit conveys too much information to the declar- CT, but it must be remembered that the declarer knows what missing cards are out against him and while the success of his contract often depends upon the knowledge of where certain of the missing high cards are, it is far more important opponents, quickly convey to each other where their strength lies. Lead Fourth Best
 The rule of eleven requires that the card led be the fourth best, or the fourth from the higest. card of the suit led (e. s. if you held queen-10-S-52 and that was the suit you had selected to open, the five spot should be led). The nu- neral of the card led should be subtracted from eleven Gin this case five from eleven leaves six). The result will tell you the number of cards higher than the card led that are in the hands of the three play CTS other than the leader.
 Using the above example (part- ner opening the five spot) if dunn my now held king-9-6 and you. as partner of the leader, held ace jack |7, you would now say five from eleven leaves six. As there are three cards in the dummy higher than the five spot, and as your hand contains three higher, you would know know that the declarer held no card high CT than the five. If dummy played the six, you would play the seven which would hold the trick. If he played the nine you would win the trick with the jack, while if he played the king you would ld hc IL WilIl IhC dSCs
 The mathematical principle of the rule of eleven is as follows: Cards in reality begin with the two spot-there is no one spot. Now, let us substitute an eleven spot for the jack, twelve spot for the queen, thirteen spot for the king and a fourteen spot for the ace. Now se- lect I3 cards from one suit of q deck and lay them out on the table in their ranking order. We are calling the ace, king, queen and jack the fourteen, thirteen, twelve and eleven spots respectively. Now se- lect any small card and subtract it from the highest card-the four teen spot. If you had selected the five, you will now find, afer deduct ing five from fourteen, that there are nine cards h igher than the five spot in every suit.
 Much Practice Needed.
 As the card led is always the fourth best, . the leader therefore, hold three of these nine cards, so instead of saying five from fourteen leaves nine and the three the leader holds from nine leaves six, we short en the procedure by deducting the three cards held by the leader from fourteen and arrive at the constant figure of eleven.
 Now, for practice, take the 13 cards of the suit you are using and deal them out in four hands in any distribution you care to, mak- ing sure that the opening leader always has at least four cards. Lead the fourth best, look at the dummy look at either of the other two closed hands. and See if you can tell how many cards higher than the card led are in the other closed hand. Practice this until you are thoroughly familiar with the work ing of the rule of eleven.
 It is very seldom that a card higher than the eight spot is ever led in the rule of eleven. When the nine spot is your fourth best card, you invariably have an honor com bination that should be led in pre- ference to the fourth best.
 Tomorrow, examples applying the rule of eleven will be given. Copyright. 1880, NEA Service. Incl