SCIENTIFIC r^ C.J. Melrose. ^ ajornell llttioerBtta Slibrarg Strata, ■New S"* olin,aox The original of tliis bool< is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924031243235 MODERN Scientific Whist WITH REASONS WHY. SPECIALLY WRITTEN WITH THE VIEW OF ENABLING BEGINNEBS TO BECOME SKILFUL PLAYEBS, BY A PROGRESSIVE AND FAMILIAR METHOD OF EXPLANATION AND ILLUSTRATION, COMMANDING THE REASONING ASSENT OF THE READER, AND ELIMINATING ALL ARBITRARY DICTA OF AUTHORITY. By O. 0". :M:EILiI?.OSEI. LONDON : L. UPCOTT GILL, 170, STEAND, W.C, 1898. T London Typing Company, WOEKS: W'HEATSHEAF YARD, FARBINGDON STREET, B.C. PREFACE. This book has been written with the firm conviction that it has a distinct raison d'Hre, which is claimed to consist in the manner, not in the matter. Amongst the numerous text boolcs on the game, of more or less elaborate and authoritative pretensions, there are several from the pens of men of acknowledged eminence in the game, notably the standard works by "Cavendish," whom it would be pre- sumptuous in me to pretend to rival. I have no new theories or developments to propound, the few points on which I venture to express dissent being confined to minor details which may fairly bo considered to be yet in their tentative stage. But though I cannot hope to introduce anything in any way new, there is room for much improvement in the manner of imparting the accumulated knowledge to the uninitiated. There is still an admitted need of a book which will enable the beginner who has just learnt the manner of scoring to acquire an intimate knowledge of the game in its higher aspects. Amongst the not inconsiderable literature on the subject proper (apart from the historical, IV PEEPACE. critical, and anecdotal) will be found several essays, notably those by the late Mr. James Clay and Dr. William Pole, which are not only perfect models of lucidity, but de- lightful reading withal, with the simple directness yet happy aptitude of expression which mark the productions of the scientifically trained and cultured mind. These, however, were not designed by their authors to treat the subject ex- haustively, but are merely outlines of the main principles of the modern game ; while Mr. Clay's essay, having been published some thirty years ago, is somewhat behind the present stage of development. In the present text-books, on the other hand, will be found long strings, occupying many pages, of the proper cards to play from practically all combinations of any con- sequence, with scarcely any reason assigned for so doing, or, at least, not such as would be readily grasped by the mere beginner. And this is notoriously the case with those text books which professedly set out to remedy this very defect. Apart from the objection which most thinking people have to accepting the dictum of authority where a reason capable of carrying conviction could easily have been given, with- out demanding the long course of study necessary in the higher sciences, it will be obvious to everyone that the mental effort required in committing to memory a long, dry string of "leads" is altogether incommensurate with the importance of the subject. Life is far too short, and the demands upon our mental faculties too many, to waste much time in such parrot-like exercises. When, however, the directions are accompanied by adequate reasons why, not only does it become pleasurable reading and healthy mental exercise, but the reader's PEEFACB. V mamory is stimulated in the highest degree. He will then also be enabled to apply the principles to other combina- tions, all of which it would not be possible to enumerate. Any given statement may be, and often is, forgotten, but the general Une of reasoning upon which certain conclusions are based, when once grasped, is seldom, if ever, forgotten ; and the recurrence pi a combination will at once set the reasoning faculty in motion, and with that the proper conclusion will clearly be brought back to the memory. Then, again, instead of the points being marshalled in their order of complexity, with a view of meeting the beginner's capacity for grasping the various problems, they are arranged in the present text-books rather with the object of falling under a certain order of "headings." The necessity for a graduated, progressive course, couched in famiUar and unetjuivocal terms, deemed so essential in aU educational matters, seems to me to have been left out of (Consideration entirely. The result is, that these text- books are only of real use to those who have abeady acquired a large share of skill by long practice, and that the beginner in most cases, as has been often expressed to me, finds them ' ' too deep. " It is with the special object of remedying these defects that this Manual has been written, without omitting any of the essential higher developments that will bring the subject right up to date. While designed to appeal chiefiy to the beginner, the object has been to make the book sufficiently exhaustive and seH-contained to be of use to the more advanced ; and the success attained by my manuals on one or two subjects, which, I venture to think, was due not so much to anything that was new in them as Vl PEEFAOB. to my endeavour to handle them in a lucid style and with an orderly sequence, emboldens me to hope that my present effort will be found to merit the appreciation of all Whist players. The Authob. CONTENTS. PAGE Preface - iii Honours - - 1 The Law op Averages 9 Establishing a Suit : The Aegujuonts for the Modern Game Stated Generally 13 Play the two hands combined 18 Lead from your longest suit 19 Finessing 21 When a suit is established 26 Leading short suits 28 The function of trumps 30 Leading a singleton - 36 When to give information 39 When to mislead - 41 The conversation of the game 45 " Call " for trumps 49 When to open with a low card 53 When to open with a high card - 55 Trumps played differently from plain suits - 61 Leads in Detail 63 What to lead when opening with high cards 69 Lead your fourth best when opening with a small card 85 Inferences from leads - 88 Returning Partner's Lead - - 91 Ketnrn the highest from three and the lowest from four or more ..... 94 VIU CONTENTS. PAGB Second Hand's Play ..... 102 Third Hand's Play - - - - - .111 Fourth Hand's Play - . - - - 115 Leading prom Weak Suits - - - - - 117 Finessing, and Playing to the Score- - - 121 The Management of Trumps - - - 128 When to lead trumps .... 129 When to call for trumps - - - - 136 The "Echo "of the call - - 140 Forcing, and taking a force - - 143 Trump leads - ... 146 Discarding .... - - 148 Underplay, and Holding Up - 159 When to Withhold Information - - 165 Coups .... .171 The grand coup - 172 Discarding a useless trump 174 Deschapelles' coup - - 176 Refusing to draw the losing trump - 178 Refusing to overtrump . - 180 Throwing high cards to avoid taking the lead 182 The Desperate game - - 184 Compelling a discard - - 184 Whist Memory - 188 Illustrative Hands: The Play 191 The Laws of Whist (Club Code) 257 Appendix - 275 Index 283 MODERN SCIENTIFIC WHIST. ** Ibonours." The custom of scoring points for holding "honours" is, to employ a familiar and sonorous phrase beloved of the essayist, ' ' lost ia the mists of antiquity. " It is our legacy from "long whist," when the game consisted of ten points and had scarcely emerged from its chrysalis stage of " bumble-puppydom. " As the late Mr. E. A. Proctor pointed out, the scoring of the fuU points by honours owes its retention in short whist to a sheer oversight — an accident of accidents. The choice spirits who cut the game in half at one fell swoop, whether it was to give someone a chance of recovering his losses, or to save their dinner from getting cold — tradition being somewhat divided upon this point — or perhaps for some other equally weighty reason, were evidently in too tremendous a hurry to get the rubber over to think the matter out. Had it been done in a deliberative and judicial spirit, there is no doubt whatever that the honours would have shared the same fate — i.e., would have been cut in half. The subject has been dis- cussed intermittently during the last sixty years or more, Z "HONOTJBS. the last interesting discussion having appeared in The Field, of February 29th, 1896, et seq. ; but the final decision stil] remains in the balance. Many whist players and whist clubs have now rejected the custom of scoring by honours. On no rational grounds whatever is this old custom defensible. To begin vnth, it reduces whist, otherwise a highly intellectual game of skill, largely ■ into a mere chance game. No merit can attach to holding honours and no greater manipulation in playing them than if they were merely superior cards. You might just as reasonably reward a man with a number of points for holding any particular card in the pack — say, the deuce of spades or ' ' the curse of Scotland. " In the early progress of the game, when the play was largely haphazard and the game consisted of ten points, a Uttle more or less haphazard scoring did not make much difference, and it served to shorten the "rubber," which would othervnse become, perhaps, monotonous. But at the present stage of progress and with a game consisting of five points, the custom is nothing less than absurd. But the absm-dity will be still more patent when it is remembered that the holders of honours are already amply rewarded, without scoiing points for the remarkable skill of being their fortunate possessors. Holding three out of the four honours means the advantage of not less than two certain tricks, and probably three. For even if these honours consist of ace, king, knave, or ace, queen, knave, the players stand a good chance of capturing the opponents' intermediate card ; and it is only when the ace is on the other side that three honours can only be sure of two tricks. (I am leaving the question of their falling together out of "HONOUES. 6 consideration, as that is a matter to which all hands are hable. ) Holding four honours means the advantage of four certain tricks. Why, then, should those who have already a distinct and important advantage be further rewarded for no merit whatever ? Two skilful players may do their best to minimize the consequences of bad hands, against two indifferent players, and may succeed in reducing the loss to one trick, but only to find that their opponents score the game by the addition of four points for honours. The holders of four by honours are practically the winners of the game before it is played, as, with four certain tricks and the power of disarming the opponents, they should have no difficulty in securing the odd trick with anything Hke an average hand of other cards. Dr. Pole estimates the chances in favour of the holders of four by honours winning the game as 22 to 1. The various grounds upon which the retention of this custom is stiU defended sesm to me to be exceedingly weak. Whist undoubtedly owes its continued popularity amongst the thoughtful and cultured, to the fact that it blends happily an amount of skill requiring the keen exercise of the intellectual faculty with just a homeopathic dose of the chance element to give it a gentle stimulant. It is con- tended that by eliminating the chance element of scoring by honours the game would suffer in popularity. Buc the contrary has been proved in America, where the popularity of the game has increased since scoring by honours was dis- continued, the Whist League alone numbering some 15,000 members, besides the numerous social clubs where the game is played. The facts are, of course, not necessarily con- nected logically as cause and effect ; but in any case it is A 2 'HONOUES. fairly conclusive that its popularity has not waned on that account. Apart from this, such an argument would be equally applicable to a httle more or a Httle less of the chance element. The uncertainty of what the deal will produce shotdd be quite sufficient to satisfy the gambling instinct which most people possess in a greater or less degree. In reply to the objection that scoring by honom-s offers a reward for no merit whatever, it is pointed out that in the long run the good players will hold honours just as often as the bad ones, thus leaving to skiU its just reward. This contention reminds me of the story, that beforS the inner circle of the Metropolitan Eailway was completed, stran- gers to London, on sight-seeing intent, not unfrequently applied at Aldgate Station to be booked to the Mansion House. This could only be done then by travelling all round the inner circle, a journey occupying about an hour and ten minutes at a cost of Is. lOd. , whereas, if they had only known it, they could have accomplished the journey by 'bus in about five minutes, at a cost of one penny. If skill is to meet its due reward, why go this roundabout way to get it. Another argument is, that in fairness to those who are waiting to join in a rubber it should not be unduly pro- longed. I do not think it is contended that the players themselves would find the rubber too tedious without the assistance of honours to cut it short. As a matter of fact players do not find it so. Theoretically, the number of players waiting to cut in should not exceed three, as other- wise they would form a table amongst themselves. Prac- tically, however, they may consist of any number. The reason is twofold. Sometimes good players prefer waiting ' ' HONOURS. 5 to cut in among other good players rather than sit down with bad ones. But as frequently the bad players prefer to cut in amongst the good ones, rather than play with those of their own calibre. They are entitled to do so by the club code, and their desire to improve by playing with good players is quite laudable. But whether it is always in good taste obviously to force oneself on them is another matter. Since it is not possible to impose a test of efficiency before admission to membership, good taste would seem to dictate that members should take their chance and form a table with the first comers. If a member finds that he has really not yet mastered the elementary rules of scientific play, he would do well to try and learn first by looking on for some time, and by reading up, rather than make himself a nuisance. Anyhow, if such a one is prevented from cutting La and breaking up a good table, no one but himself wiU. look upon it as a loss. It has been suggested that this difficulty ought to be met by taking away the right of members to cut in when there are sufficient of them in the room to form a table, except with the consent of the players. Then it is claimed that scoring by honours yields ' ' pretty positions " for the exercise of skill. The meaning of this will be made clear to the beginner presently when dealing with " playing to the score." But, with a few minor excep- tions, the pretty positions will occm- jtist as frequently when playing without honours, only at a different stage of the hand. Eor example : the opponents are at the score of two and hold two by honours. In order to save the game they must be prevented from scoring the odd trick, and you therefore hazard a doubtful finesse or a particular lead, or " hold up a card," and so on, on the chance of saving a game D ".HONOUES. ■which otherwise must be lost. But exactly the same Mnd of strategy wiU occur when playing without honours, only at a later stage of the hand, when the opponents are at the. score of four. The exceptions wiU occur in this way. If the opponents are at three to your love, one or two, and you hold no honours, the game is in aU probability lost unless your partner holds two honours, and you therefore play your cards on the assumption that he does hold them. But for every one pretty position it produces a crop of par- ticularly ugly ones. If the opponents are at three and hold two . by honours, or at one and hold four by honours, and you have no chance of winning by tricks, the position may be very pretty to the winning side, but I doubt much if the losing side will see anything pretty about it. Numerous suggestions have been made for amending this undesirable state of things. Both the late Mr. James Clay, M. P. , admittedly the finest player next to M. DeschappeUes, and Mr. E. A. Proctor, advocated giving to honours half their present score — i.e., two points for four, and one point for three honours. Additional suggestions are that honours should not count unless the holders score by tricks, and not at all when at the score, of three. For myself, I do not see the necessity for tinkering. The bulk of whist players are, as far as I can gather, quite prepared for the change of entirely discontinuing scoring by honours, if the movement is supported by men of influence in the whist world, instead of their assuming an attitude of "masterly inactivity." Against this it is contended that the Club Code stands in the way ; and some are inclined to blame the joint com- mittee of the Turf (then Arhngton) and Portland Clubs, who " HONOUES. I are responsible for the present code. I cannot see, however, that the committee could have acted otherwise than they did in the matter. Legislation should foUow, not precede, public opinion. "When they undertook the revision of the previous code in 1864, pubUc opinion was not sufficiently ripe to justify their embodying such a sweeping change. The business of a committee is not to dictate new rules, but to codify those aheady generally acknowledged. That the present committees of these clubs would put any obstacles in the way of accomplishing such a desirable change I cannot believe. In the matter of penalties or other rules open to equivocations it is obviously essential to abide strictly by an authorised decision, even though it could be proved not to be perfectly just. But no equivocation can arise from players choosing not to score by honours, and their choice cannot possibly affect those who prefer the old custom, except in creating public opinion. This is exactly the course by which changes should be brought about ; and I have no doubt that, when pubUc opinion is sufficiently clearly pronounced, the committees of those influential dubs would soon take steps to alter the rule. Should this be the means of bringing about a general revision, whist players will have reason to feel grateful. In the following pages, the examples of ' ' playing to the score " wiU leave honours out of consideration, the players being assumed not to score by honours. The method of reasoning vnU, of course, be equally apphcable to scoring by honours. Where, for instance, the necessity of saving a game or the attempt to win it involves a departure from the usual method of play, you must not forget to include in your calculation the honours held either by yourselves or 8 "HONOUBS." the opponents — e.g., when the opponents are at the score of two and hold two by honours, or you are in the same position, it is in either case equivalent to being at the score of four. While the four high trumps will, for the sake of brevity, still be referred to by their time-honoured name, the illustrations and examples will be worked out on the basis of a five-point game, without honours. ^be Xaw of averages. It is a common saying among indifferent players that "you cannot play without cards." If this meant only that granted equal sMU in play the good cards must win against the bad ones, there would be nothing to object to in the statement ; but, on the other hand, it would be such a truism that it would be puerile to repeat it. As a rule, however, this statement is the resort of the incompetent player, behind which he would fain hide his weakness, and is meant to imply that the advantage to be gained by so- called good play is really inappreciable, and that, after all, winning or losing is a question of holding good or bad hands. Occasionally, two indifferent players will have a run of good luck for several rubbers or several evenings against two good players, and they wiU then point exultingly to this confirmation of the truth of the popular saying. It will, however, be obvious to anyone who takes the trouble to think and observe that such is not the case in the long run. I suppose it would be too venturesome an asser- tion to state that the Law of Averages holds as good in card dealing as it does in the matter of the duration of human life, upon which the insurance companies base the calcula- tions of premiums vnth practically mathematical certitude. I think it was Professor Stanley Jevons who calculated that if the whole human race were to shuffle and deal cards for so many thousands of years they would yet fail to 10 THE LAW OP AVBBAGBS. exhaust the possible combinations of a pack. Nevertheless, it will, I think, be found that the average strength of a number of hands may be relied upon with almost, if not quite, as much certainty as the average length of human life. The value of any individual life in normal health at, say, thirty years of age may be anything from five minutes to fifty years or more ; yet the value of a number of lives of the same age and condition, during a certain decade, talcen in the aggregate, may be relied upon to a single year. As I consider it important to accustom the reader to esti- mate "general probabilities " at their true value, which will be of use to him later on, I will give one or two illustrations from well-known facts in verification of the above statement. At the gaming tables at Monte Carlo and elsewhere the ■'banks" continue netting a handsome profit, year in and year out, spite of variable fortune. Occasionally we hear of people having won large sums — of having broken the bank — but stOl the bank flourishes. How is that ? How is it they do not have years of losses as well as years of gains ? Simply because the rules of the games are such as to give certain odds of chances in the bank's favour. The meaning of odds of chances is very simple. The probability, for instance, of a pair of dice turning up 6 as against 5 p.-esents the odds of 3 to 2, because there are three combina- tions which wiU make 6, but only two which will make 5. If you were foolish enough to back your luck on 5 as against 6 on even terms you would inevitably lose in the long run. In the game of "Banker," where the bank receives all "ties," the odds are obviously in the bank's favour ; and, in a lesser degree in the game of ' ' Faro, " where the bank divides ' ' ties. " To be quite fair, a "tie" should constitute "no bet." THE LAW OF AVEEAGES. H In the game of ' ' Baccarat " the odds in favour of the bank are, I believe, calculated to be only as 21 to 20. But though occasionally small banks are broken, in the long run much more money passes from the punters to the bankers than vice versa. So distinctly has experience proved this to be the case that in all gambling clubs a pretty stiff price is paid to the proprietor for the privilege of holding a baccarat bank, spits of v^'hich the bankers net a handsome income out of human weakness and folly. But unless the law of averages held good, it would be useless to rely upon the odds of chances for a steady income, for the small odds could not compensate for a year's run of bad luck at all the tables. Unless the runs of bad luck were counterbalanced by the runs of good luck, thus striking the average and leaving the chances in the bank's favour to operate freely, no profit from the transaction could be relied upon with such unfailing regularity. Many a man has found out the truth of this to his cost. Having had a run of good luck, he keeps oh with the intention of winning more, and finds ultimately that he has not only lost his winnings but something of his own as well. Such is practically the fate of all who pit themselves against superior chances, provided they keep on long enough. In the long run the good and bad hands will balance each other, and superior chances or superior skill must. teU. It will, therefore, foUow that in an eminently intellectual game like whist, where the odds are quite even, the chances of winning wiU be greatly in favour of the skilful players in the long run. This is aU the more so on account of the scoring points being cumulative. For not only has a good hand to be made the most of, but the consequences of a bad 12 THE LAW OF AVEEAGES. hand must be minimised as much as possible. If you can but save a game at a critical point you may win it after- wards easily, without the exercise of much skill. Supposing you score four points with good hands where by skilful play it would have been possible to score the five and win the game outright, you may have lost the only chance of winning it, though your opponents are but at the score of love ; for you must not count on a monopoly of good hands. Con- versely, if by cleverly manipulating bad hands you prevent your opponents from winning the game outright, you may ultimately win it though you are but love to their four. Of course some hands are so exceptionally strong that the worst of players can hardly faU to realise the full advantage of them, and others are so exceptionally bad that the best of players could not succeed in saving the game with them. But these are the few exceptions. Generally speaking, two hands (self and partner) are seldom either so exceptionally good or bad but that two good players could make a trick more with them than two bad ones. Whether that trick would be of any use in winning or saving a game is another matter, which depends upon the state of the score. In the long run skill must tell. Apart from the consideration of winning, the pleasure- yielding qualities of the game are so distinctly of the intellectual order that any insight into a properly reasoned out system of play cannot fail to enhance tenfold the pleasure derived from it. It may also be claimed that it con- stitutes a healthy form of mental gymnastics, expanding and developing the reasoning faculty, indicating the proper inferences to be drawn from certain data and how they are to be applied to the best advantage. lEstablisbing a Suit. THE ARGUMENTS FOR THE MODERN GAME STATED GENERALLY. The first idea that the beginner forms of the game is, that it is requisite to make tricks, and hence he proceeds to make them as soon as he can. If he holds an ace he leads it off, and gleefuUy gathers up the trick. Should he hold the king of the suit also, he follows it up with that. Any trumps he may hold, whether few or many, he hugs closely and carefully, having some hazy sort of notion that they will come in presently for trumping the opponents' tricks. Nothing delights him more than this — it seems clear gain. His idea of partnership extends no further than merely counting his own and partner's tricks together for purposes of scoring. He looks at his hand — "I can make four tricks, " thinks he, ' ' and if my partner can do the same we shaU score two points." That by playing the two hands combined more tricks could be made with the twenty-six cards than by each playing his thirteen cards independently never enters his mind. ' ' How can I combine the play of my hand," he will argue, "with that of another of the contents of which I am totally ignorant ? " In this he is perfectly correct. So long as he remains without the know- ledge of how to impart and gather information by the play of the cards, he has no choice but to play his cards on their 14 ESTABLISHING A SUIT. own merits. All he expects his partner to do for him is not to injure him knowingly. He must not tramp his best card — if he happens to remember that it is the best — and he must not put an ace on his king or a king on his queen. To do either of these knowingly he would consider next to a deliberate insult ; and that anything can possibly be gained in any circumstances by such stupid play nothing less than a miracle would convince him. ' ' Would not his best card make later ? And even if not, is not my vrinning a trick just as good as his doing so ? It is only a piece of egotistic display." Having led out his aces and kings he comes to a momentary standstill. What next? He then bethinks himself that he has a partner, and reasons somewhat in this wise— "I have made my ace and king; it is now my partner's turn to make his queen, if he holds it. If not, it cannot be helped ; our opponents are bound to make it then. Happy thought ! perhaps my partner will be able to trump the trick should he not hold the queen — more clear gain." Eeasoning thus, he now leads off the only card he has left in that suit. But it so happens that one of the opponents holds not only the queen but all the remaining cards in the suit with the exception of one in your partner's hand, with which he must, of course, foUow suit. Eleven cards of the suit having now been played, the opponent now holds the remain- ing two. (The name for remaining cards of a suit in one hand is "long cards," and remaining tramps are called ''long trumps." J To his surprise, the opponent now leads a trump — a sheer waste it seems — and they keep on leading trumps between them at every opportunity they get of doing so, until all the ESTABLISHING A SUIT. 15 trumps are exhausted. ' ' What is coming now ? " you wonder. Why, those two remaining httle cards of the suit which you led off. How mortifying! Two paltry smaU cards, no bigger than the four and five, and each one as certainly a trick as if it were the ace of trumps. What is it you have done ? Simply this. By getting rid of your ace and king you have estabhshed the remaining cards of that suit in your opponent's hand. They have all become " master " cards as if they were aces, and must take tricks except for being trumped ; and it was most probably with the express object of preventing yourself and partner from trumping these very cards that they exhausted the trumps. But how could you have done better ? Let us see. We wiU suppose that you hold ace, king, and one small card in one plain* suit, and ace and one small card in another. There remain eight more cards to account for in the other two suits, one being the trump suit. You must either hold four in each suit, or more than four in one suit and there- fore less than four in the other. Let us suppose, then, that these consist of five cards in the third plain suit, headed by queen, knave ; and in the trump suit only three httle cards. If, then, you were to start on your longest suit and succeed with the aid of your partner in forcing the ace and king out of your opponents' hands (that is, supposing your partner does not hold either or both of them himself) you will most probably remain with three master cards of that suit in your hand — that is, YOU WILL HAVE ESTABLISHED TOUR SUIT INSTEAD OF THE OPPONENTS. "But," you will say, "cannot I do that as well after I *Plain (or " lay ") suits ai-e those other than the trump suit. 16 ESTABLISHING A SUIT. have led out my aces and kings as before ?" Ah, but it makes all the difference. WhUe your suit yet remains to be established, theirs is already so. By the time you have succeeded in establishing yours, trumps will probably have been round three times, and having no commanding card left in the other two suits you have no card with which to obtain the lead, and your established suit is utterly useless. Even if your partner should remain with the ' ' long " trump or trumps, he may be unable to assist you getting in with your established suit, through having no cards of that suit left. The following example wiU forcibly illustrate how a number of tricks, and with that the game, may be lost through leading a short suit with the idea of trumping opponents' tricks, as so many indifferent players are in the habit of doing. Let your hand (A) consist of Hearts .... Ace, 5. 4. Clubs .... Ace, 6. Diamonds . . . King, knave, 9. 7. 6. Spades . . . . 7. 4. 3. (trumps). Your opponent on your left having the first lead, leads hearts, compelling you to take the trick with the ace. Having only three small trumps which seem to you of no use except for trumping in, and a short suit in clubs which offers you the chance you want, you lead off the ace and foUow that up with the small one. Your right-hand opponent takes the trick and leads trumps. It turns out that your opponents are holding seven trumps between them (four in one hand and three in the other), including the four honours. After three leads of trumps your right-hand opponent remains with the ESTABLISHING A SUIT. 17 long trump and the lead. Watch what now happens. He proceeds to make four tricks in clubs while his partner is discarding what diamonds he holds, and he then leads a small heart, which his partner takes and makes two tricks in, the last trick falling to the long trump. They thus score five tricks, winning the game outright. You find to your great disgust, which you probably call bad luck, that in addition to your king, knave and nine of diamonds, your partner held also the ace, queen and ten, and yet aU these high cards had to be dropped helplessly on your opponents' clubs and hearts. Had you led from your Jong suit instead, and perse- vered with it whenever you obtained the lead, no matter which card you led off, and however your opponents played their hands, you must have made five tricks, your opponents thus only scoring two points. Below are the other three hands, your partner's being in the centie and your opponents' on your right and left respectively. It wiU be a good exercise to make up the hands and see how they can be worked out. C's hand. B's hand. D's hand. » K. Q. Kn. 9. 2. 10. 7. 3. 8. 6. 4. 10. 4. 3. 9. 2. K. Q. Kn. 8. 7. 5. ♦ 4. 2. A. Q. 10. 8. 5. 3 ♦ A. K. 2. 10. 8. 6. Q. Kn. 9. 5. Note. — The opponent on your left leads off knave of hearts, his proper card to lead, as will be seen later. 18 ESTABLISHING A SUIT. Play the Two Hands Combined. Several conclusiona will readily be drawn from the fore- going. 1. Your original and subsequent early leads should be directed to the object of establishing your own and partner's long suits — that is, you should endeavour by the best means at the disposal of youi-self and partner to exhaust the cards higher than those you hold in your respective suits, so as to leave yourselves with the command. If you hold aces and kings in short suits there is no reason in the world (apart from freeing — -technically ' ' unblocking " — your partner's hand, so as to leave the command of the suit in which he happens to hold strength entirely in his hands) why you should be in a hurry to make them, as there is every probability of their taking tricks at any stage of the hand. 2. That apart from the mere consideration that your aces and kings will not run away, it is most essential that you should establish your long suit before losing the command of the lead in other suits, as otherwise you may not be able to get in with your established suit later on. Your opponents, you must remember, are playing vnth the same object in view, and he who obtains the lead towards the end of the hand, generally when trumps are nearly or quite exhausted, will make his long suit. It is, in fact, in so manipulating the hand as to remain with the command towards the end, where the skilful player most shows his superiority over the indifferent. You should also rernember that you stand a better chance of obtaining the lead towards. ESTABLISHING A SUIT. 19 the end in a short suit, as, there being more cards of that suit among the other players, your partner can let you in and your opponents frequently must. 3. By holding up your high cards in the short suits you are preventing your opponents from establishing theirs. You know your own strong suit, and your partner will inform you of his strong one when he opens a sxiit after obtaining the lead. Not only are the probabilities now in favour of your opponents holding strength in the remaining two suits, but your partner has given you negative evidence to that effect. For though he may hold moderate strength in another suit or suits, you may, in any case, conclude that he has led from his strongest suit, until the fall of the cards enables you to gather more definite information. 4. We have also gathered that the length of a suit constitutes strength. But this is a point which we shall have to follow up further immediately. We may, therefore, consider we have arrived at this general rule : Lead from Your Longest Suit. If you hold two suits of equal length, open the one headed by the higher card or cards. But a long suit headed by a low card constitutes greater strength than a short suit headed by a higher card. Por instance, a suit of four or five headed by a knave is stronger than a suit of three headed by queen or king. But a further consideration enters into the matter. By leading from a short suit you B 2 20 ESTABLISHING A SUIT. lessen your own and partner's chance of making one or two tricks in it, should it be his short suit also. It will be necessary to make sure of the reasoning upon which this proposition can be made good, not only on ac- coimt of its intrinsic importance, but because it will open up further considerations w^hich it is important we should make ourselves familiar with. To begin with, it will be quite obvious that there is a DISTINCT ADVANTAGE IN BEING FOURTH PLAYER. Having the other three cards before him, his course is perfectly clear. If his partner's card has already won the trick, he will play his smallest and retain the higher cards in the suit. If the highest card of the three has been played by an opponent, he will gaia the trick as cheaply as he can ; e. g. , if the highest card played is the knave, and he holds ace and queen, he wiU, of course, take it with the queen and re- tain the ace, and so on. Should he be unable to win the trick, he will play his smallest and retain what strength he may possess in the suit. It wiU follow from this that the THIRD PLAYER IS DISTINCTLY AT A DISADVANTAGE imless his partner led the best card or he holds the best card himself. He is obviously obliged to play the best card he holds in the suit in order to prevent the fourth player from winning the trick cheaply. Not only this, but as his partner has led the suit it must be taken that he is trying to make a trick or tricks in it (unless the lead comes late in the hand, when it is looked upon as probably a ' ' forced " lead, a sort of ' ' Hobson's choice "), and the only way to ESTABLISHING A SUIT. 21 enable him to do so is by forcing the high cards out of the opponents' hands. "We must now grasp fully the meaning of the term " Finessing." ' ' Finessing " means the playing of a third best or even fourth best card as second or third player, although holding the best card, on the chance of the second best, or second and third best, being in the hand of your right-hand opponent. For instance : your partner or your right-hand opponent leads a small card of a suit in which you hold ace and queen. If you play the queen either as second or third player you are finessing on the chance of the king being on your right. But this is hardly the correct or full meaning of the term. Most finessing is not done on the mere chance of the intermediate card being on your right, but rather from fair inferences, frequently approaching to certainty. For example : your right-hand opponent leads a small card of a suit in which you hold Mng, knave, and small ones. You play a small one ; his partner plays the ten ; your partner, as fourth player, takes the trick with the ace. "Who holds the queen ? Not your partner, or he would not have parted with the ace to win the ten. Your left-hand opponent may hold it, but it is most improbable, as he would then certainly not have been justified in playing the ten and thus give your partner a chance of winning the trick cheaply with the knave, having no reason whatever for concluding that you hold the knave. The fact that the right-hand opponent opened the suit would be an additional reason for inferring that he holds the queen, as he must be 22 ESTABLISHING A SUIT. taken to have opened from strength. Hence if the suit is led through you again — i.e., from your right — you would confidently finesse the knave and retain your Mng. It would certainly be bad play on your part to lead the suit yourself the second time, as you would then simply make your opponent a present of a trick. Another illustration may here be given of finessing your partner's card. Your right-hand opponent leads from a suit in which you hold ace and small ones. You play a small one ; the third player plays the knave, which your partner takes with the Mng and returns the ten. The fact that the third player played the knave is no ground for in- ferring that he does not hold the queen, but on the other ground of the lead having come from strength you have a fairly strong inference, else you must suppose him to have opened a suit headed by nothing higher than a nine at best. You would therefore be justified in finessing your partner's ten, should the second player (on your right") not cover with the queen. Especially would this be good play if the win- ning or saving of the game depended probably upon making that trick. When you have gained a further insight into the game you will find that your partner had most probably returned the opponents' lead so promptly with the express purpose of strengthening your hand, and that he expected you to let it pass if you held the ace, unless covered with the queen by the second player. He also probably has no more cards of that suit and has the additional object in view of getting a chance of a " discard " (throwing away a useless card on a trick already won by one's partner) on the third round. (For a fuller treatment see chapter on " Finessing, " p. 121.) ESTABLISHING A S0IT. 23 It has been seen that inferences are drawn from the card played by the third player, on the assumption that he is playing the highest card he has of his partner's suit, in order to force a high card from the fourth player and thus leave his partner with the command. This is an important point. It is indeed an acknowledged rule, that ONE SHOULD NOT FIN:ESSE IN A PARTNER'S. LEAD, except when holding ace, queen, or the finessing based on inferences from the fall of the cards, or under special cir- cumstances, such as the winning or saving of a game depend- ing upon a successful finesse, or if you are holding exceptional strength in the suit and deem it necessary not to lose the command in it. Even if you should finesse successfully it may often turn out to your partner's disadvantage. For instance : you finesse the knave successfully from king, knave, and one small card. The next lead in the suit comes again from your partner, the second player playing the ace. You are at once placed in a di£B.culty. The queen is certainly not on your left, or your knave would not have made in the previous lead. It is most probably in your partner's hand, but possibly on your right. "But," you say, "I can still retain my king." Yes, but probably at the cost of two or three tricks. For later in the game, when the trumps are exhausted, your partner, who holds the queen and two or three others, might have made three or four tricks in the suit had your king been out of the way ; whereas now you must take the trick with the king and are unable to retm-n the suit to your partner. The retaining of a high card against a partner's command is termed ' ' blocking " or " obstructing " his 24 ESTABLISHING A SUIT. suit ; and the getting rid of it, such as discarding it on another suit, or taking a trick with it when a smaller card would have done as well, or the playing it when the trick is already won by your partner, is termed ' ' unblocking. " This forms a very skilful point in play, which may frequently make a difference of several tricks. It will now, I think, have become obvious that unless you hold the complete command in a suit, so as to prevent your opponents remaining with established cards — say, the four honours, and two or more small ones, or a long sequence from the king downwards — ■ rOU OPEN A SUIT TO A DISADVANTAGE. 1. You give your opponent the advantage of being fourth player, who, if he cannot win the trick, will reserve his strength. 2. You distress your partner by making him third player, compelling him to part with his highest card to prevent the fourth player winning the trick cheaply. 3. You enable your opponents to draw inferences as to the position of certain cards, both from the fact of your having opened the suit and from the card played by your partner, thus enabhng them to finesse against you success- fully. If a card of a suit in which you hold king and others is led up to you, you must make the king either on the first or certainly on the second trick ; whereas if you open the suit yourself, you are not only not sure of making it, but by finessing against you your opponents may make it impossible for you to take a trick with it. "But," you may say, "in that case it seems that it is rather a disadvantage to lead from a strong suit. Had I ESTABLISHING A SUIT. 25 not better lead from a weak one, in which I have httle to risk, and wait for the lead to come to me in my strong suit ? " By no means. It is a question of obtaining the best advantage you can, not the best you would Uke. You cannot command your opponents to lead suits up to you. Your weakness is their strength, and vice versa. You must remember that you have a partner, and that if you cannot do him any good, you should at least avoid doing him harm. If you lead from a long suit, the loss of a high card by your partner is compensated by the aid rendered towards establishing the suit in your hand. But if you lead from a short suit, you sacrifice your partner's card which he might have won a trick with, and diminish at the same time your own chance of making a trick in the suit. Some players object to open from a suit headed by ace, queen, though it happens to be the strongest suit, for the sake of the advantage to be gained by being led up to in that suit. No doubt it is an important advantage, but is certainly bought too dearly by opening instead from a weak suit ; especially as you may after all be compelled to open the suit ultimately. If we grant the general soundness of the foregoing reasoning, we have a fresh argument against opening from a weak suit, even in what you may consider special circumstances. You wiU have deceived your partner, who will take it for granted that you have opened from your strongest suit, and wiU shape his play accordingly, with, perhaps, disastrous results. We have now, I trust, not only grasped the fuU importance of opening the original lead from the strongest suit, and that strength consists to a greater extent in the number of cards held in the suit than in the superiority of the cards by 26 ESTABLISHING A SUIT. which it is headed, but we have also obtained a wider view of the reasoning upon which modem whist is based. We begin to understand how inferences are drawn from the leads and the fall of the cards. We can already see that the play is not haphazard but systematic ; that ahnost every card played can be made to give information. Of course this rule applies principally to the first lead, and in a lesser degree to the subsequent early leads. Later in the hand, the fall of the cards wiU exhibit reasons obvious at once to yourself and partner why you should lead any particular card or suit. Should you be compelled late in the hand to open a suit simply through having nothing better to lead, your partner vnU not draw any inference of strength in that suit, but will take it as probably a forced lead. When a Suit is Established. A suit is established when you either hold the only remaining cards of the suit (long cards), or a sufficient number of master cards to compel the fall of the rest of the cards in the suit even if they should be all in one hand. A suit may often be considered as VIRTUALLY ESTABLISHED, though you do not hold sufficient master cards to draw all the rest if they should happen to be in one hand. For instance : four cards have been played, including the ace and knave, and you remain vyith king, queen, nine and two small ones. There are four more cards of the suit to come, and in order to break your command, not only must at ESTABLISHING A SUIT. 27 least three out of these four be in one hand but one of these three must be the ten. Such a thing is, of course, quite possible, but, in calculating the chances at whist, one must estimate GENERAL PROBABILITIES. There being only four cards held amongst three playei-s, the chances are greatly against one holding three out of the four and amongst them the one particular card which can stop your command. The chances are stiU greater against any one holding aU the remaining four. You would therefore be justified in considering that you are holding an established long suit, and shape your play accordingly. You are now virtually holding five certain tricks provided you can draw your opponents' trumps, to prevent them trumping these cards, and provided you can obtain the lead after you have drawn the trumps. The importance of preventing your opponents from trumping a card of your established suit is not hmited to that trick alone. If they should do so after you have lost the chance of entry in another suit, your established suit will be utterly useless to you. The importance of establishing a long suit is now seen to consist in the fact that the low cards assume a capacity for taking tricks which they had not at the start of the hand. A "long'' card in your hand, even if it be but a two, when the opponents hold no trumps, is as certain of a trick as if it were the ace of trumps, provided you can obtain the lead. Should a trump or trumps stUl remain in the opponents' hands, the established cards serve to force the trumps out of their hands, and leave you the opportunity of taking tricks with your remaining established cards, whether in the same or in another suit. Should you find yourself compelled 28 ESTABLISHING A SUIT. towards the end of the hand to take a trick with the only card which could possibly have given you a re-entry, and thus remain without the power of taking any other tricks, your lead of an established card which must force a trump from your opponent may clear the road for your partner getting in with his established suit. Leading Short Suits. Of course a point will be reached where the possible advantage to be gained by leading from the longest suit may be so remote as to be practically valueless. It wiU be obvious, for instance, that should your only long suit consist of four cards headed by nothing higher than a sis or seven you can do very little with it. ' You have only the shght chance of remaining with one long card after the suit has been led three times, supposing the remaining nine cards to be equally distributed among the three players. Should you, then, hold a suit of three headed by ace and kiug, it would obviously be better to lead from that, for though you incur the risk of establishing cards of that suit in your opponents' hands, by being able to lead master cards you avoid forcing your partner to sacrifice a high card and enable him to retain what strength he may hold. Whereas if you lead from your four suit you reduce your partner's chance of making any high cards he may hold in it without the sufficiently compensating advantage of enabling you to establish anything in the suit. Should your best short suit be headed by king or queen, or even only knave, it would still be preferable to lead from ESTABLISHING A SUIT. 29 that ; but in such cases you generally adopt a different poUcy in your leads to that of leading from long suits. Having no chance yourself of remaining with a number of tricks at the end, you play on the chance of enabling your partner to remain with estabhshed cards in the suit. Instead of forcing your partner to part with a high card, you lead the high card yourself so as to enable him to reserve his strength. You play, in fact, as if you were third player instead of first. The subject wiU be discussed further under the heading ' ' Leading from Weak Suits " (p. 117). It will there be seen that it is agreed that the highest should be led from all cards up to knave ; that there is some difference of opinion as to leading queen from three in suit ; but that from king or ace and two others, the decision is in favour of leading the small one. One of the greatest and most frequent faults of indifferent players is, that they play a thirteen card instead of a twenty-six card hand. You should remember that it is just as important to enable your partner to make tricks as to make them yourself. Nay, it is more so. For while your own hand is open before you, the value of which on its own merits may be frequently estimated to a trick almost at a glance, your partner's hand wants studying, and indications of his strength gathered from the play. It may frequently happen that by sacrificing a card with which you could have taken a trick yourself, you may enable him to make two or three extra tricks. But as you descend in the value of the cards heading your short suit, and ascend in those heading your long suit, the choice becomes sometimes very difficult, and no decided rule can be laid down. It is not, for instance, easy to make a choice between a suit consisting of knave, ten, and 30 ESTABLISHING A SUIT. seven and one consisting of ten, nine, six, and four. With a hand consisting of no better suits than these two you possess, in any case, very little power for good. You wiU, however, not often be placed in this dilemma. As a rule, whether the hand as a whole be weak or strong, the choice wiU be readily made. The Function of Trumps. It wiU now be necessary to form correct conclusions as to the part which trumps should take in working out the hand to the best advantage. , We have already had an illustra- tion (p. 16) of how the desire to utilise tramps for trump- ing opponents' tricks may lead to a loss of three tricks and the game. The reader must have also gathered by this time that in basing the system of play upon enhancing the value of small cards by establishing suits, much wiU. depend upon the opponents' abihty or inabihty to trump your es- tablished cards. The danger of this consists not only in the actual loss of the trick or tricks trumped, but in breaking your lead just at the time when you have no card of re-entry left, giving them the advantage of coming in with their estabUshed suit at the end. All beginners and not a few who have played whist for years but have not taken the trouble to read the subject up and take advantage of past experience, have a most un- reasoning predilection for hugging trumps to the last possible moment, and a little beyond. The trump has for them the sacredness of a fetish — it seems to possess an occult virtue apart altogether from its trick-taking capacity. It is indeed ESTABLISHING A SUIT. 31 sometimes very amusing to watch the ordinary social whist party, and see a shower of trumps coming down on the last three tricks with the regularity of clockwork, one's knave falling to partner's queen and his king to your ace. If you were' to ask them in what way they are better off by taking tricks with their trumps at the end of the hand rather than at the beginning, they could not teU you. Perhaps, if you wish to retain their regard, you had better not ask, for most people are particularly sensitive about their ability to play whist, and the worse the player the more sensitive you will find him upon the point. As a matter of fact, it is only the weak hand that can benefit by trumping in. The strong or average hand is more often the loser by it. It may occasionaLLy happen that two hands (seU and partner) of even above the average strength may gain considerably by a series of cross-trumping, called a cross-rvff. Your partner, say, opens with a small card from a suit of five, with the usual object of establishing his higher cards ; you happen to be void in that suit and trump the trick. You now open your long suit, of which your partner happens to hold none, and he trumps that. It will be ob- vious that it will now be your play to give each other the suits to trump, in turn, as you may thus be able to secure sis or seven tricks right off, making your trumps separately, without weakening any strength you may hold in the third plain suit. But such a case, which is, of course, exceptional, all the more clearly and forcibly illustrates the disadvantage of holding on to trumps with a fairly strong hand. For, take the case of the other side, which may be yours on the nest occasion. If they had only had a chance of leading trumps 32 ESTABLISHING A SUIT. at the start and could have led it three or four times, they would have deprived you of the power of trumpLag their aces and Mngs, and your trumps, instead of making separately, would have fallen together. THE MAIN FUNCTION OF TRUMPS SEOULD REALLY BE THAT OF DISARMING THE OPPONENTS. It does not foUow that you are leading a trump with the object of making a trick in it. You are often leading it with the object of securing the safety of another trick or tricks, We will take a very strong hand in plain suits as example, by way of making the point clear. Say you hold ace, king, and queen in aU the three plain suits and four small trumps. In what possible way can you gain by holding on to the trumps ? You may say you do not wish to put your partner at the disadvantage of making him third player, compelling him to sacrifice a high trump to the fourth player. But the only way in which you can give him the advantage of being fpurth player is by your right-hand opponent trump- ing one of your master cards and thus obtaining the lead. If you proceed with your plain suits and make all the nine tricks you would have to open trumps aU the same. Why, then, not open trumps at once and persist with it, in order to deprive your opponents of the power of trumping your master cards ? The above example is perhaps too obvious to need insist- ing upon, but it serves to illustrate the general principle that trumps should be used as a protection for the other cards. As the general strength of the hand diminishes, or your power of disarming the opponents is lessened, by hold- ing less than four trumps, for instance, careful judgment ESTABLISHING A SUIT. 33 will have to be exercised in leading trumps. There is always the danger of your opponents remaining with the long trump or trumps after you have lost the power of re-entry. "We will take a further illustration, by way of presenting the danger mentioned in the last sentence, and also with the object of opening up a further consideration, which we shall have to enter upon presently. Let your hand consist of one suit of five and one suit of four cards, both headed by the three master cards (ace, king, and queen), the ace only of the third suit, and three small trumps. The proper play of such a hand would probably be disputed. The plain suits are undoubtedly very strong, and if your partner could only draw the opponents' trumps for you, trumps would be your lead without a doubt. Your danger lies in that single ace you are holding. For should you be compelled to part with it before trumps are ex- hausted, your opponents may come in with the long trump and the remainder of that suit. It wUl be generally con- tended that the best play is to go on with the longest suit and see if your partner shows strength in trumps (the method of doing which is explained later — p. 49). If he does not show strength it would be better to persevere with the suit, though the third trick cannot possibly go roimd, there being only eight other cards besides those you are holding. You will in any case be able to gather information as you proceed. Perhaps it wiU be your partner who will faU short. It wiU then be reasoned that, should your partner not show strength in trumps, you should be guided by whether your opponents exhibit strength in trumps during the first two leads. If they do not, it shows that the trumps are 34 ESrABLISHING A SUIT. evenly divided, with' possibly four in your partner's hand, and you should then lead trumps. One point must not be overlooked. The longer you go on with your suit the less chance you have of re-entry in it, as less cards of the suit remain among the other players, and if you should be com- pelled to part with your single ace your chance of re-entry is reduced to one suit. Still another method may be pursued. Open with your ■king of the suit of five, follow it up with the king of the four suit, and then lead trumps. By the fact of your kings making, your partner knows that you hold the aces also. But he will know more than this. You are in effect saying to him : ' ' This is my strongest suit, and this my next strongest. Now I want trumps out to secure the safety of those suits." ■ Your object is to avoid the danger of your "partner leading the suit of which you hold the single ace. "When your partner has done all he can to exhaust trumps, he will return the suit you led first, and if unable to do that will give you your second suit. You would then keep on with your longest suit, and if an opponent stiU. holds a trump with which he tnmips your trick, he must let you in again in either of the other two suits, so long as you are holding the third ace. There is, then, this to be considered : that by informing your opponents which are your strong suits, you will cause them to purposely avoid leading those suits, and they would certainly open the very suit you do not want led, the moment they take their first trick. But this point is not so strong as it looks at first. For as you are holding the strength in the two suits yoUreeH, they cannot hold strength in them, and would, therefore, in any case, not open from ESTABLISHma A SUIT. 35 weakness. If they hold strength at all, it must be in the other two suits. It may, however, happen that though one of the opponents does hold strength in the third plain suit, it may not be the one who takes the trump trick, who, being weak in aU three suits, would not know which to open, had you not informed him which to avoid by leading out your kings. But, then, while you are keeping your opponents in the dark, you are also keeping your partner in the dark. He may be holding the three master trumps and be weak in the other three suits. In absence of an indication from you he may open the suit you did not wish him to, leaving the opponents with the long trump and an established long suit. The general rule may therefore be laid down that A WEAK HAND IS BENEFITED BT TRUMPING, AND A STRONG HAND IS INJURED BY IT. So much is this the case that it may frequently be found advantageous to refuse to take a force (trump in), though you thus allow the opponents to take the trick, rather than lose the power of leading trumps with a fair probabihty of remaining with the command afterwards. Instances of this will occur in the play of the hands. One must, however, be careful not to carry this principle too far. If you know that your opponents have the power to continue to force you, it is best to take the force at once rather than exhibit your objection to doing so, as they will then most probably discontinue the lead of that suit to save their tricks being trumped. If you have a good partner who gives you a force purposely (see p, 145), you should not refuse it. He has, most probably, sufiScient strength to dispense with your assistance. He is saying to you : "I can disarm the c 2 36 ESTABLISHING A SUIT. opponents without your aid, and you had better make your trumps separately while you can, instead of their falling On mine." You will, of course, not refuse a force if you are excep- tionally strong in trumps, so that the taking it is not likely to impair your power of disarming the opponents and stiU. retain a commanding card. In any case, it is always best to disarm the opponents first, and take the force after- wards, if necessary. Particular instances which justify the opening of trmnps will be given later. At present we are concerned with obtaining a-familiar yet firm grasp of general principles. Leading a Singleton. After what has been said before, it would hardly have been necessary to point out that the worst possible lead from a strong or even average hand is to lead off your only card of a suit, were it not that so many fairly good players of the old school still persist in doing so. I was once fortunate enough to witness a player open the game by leading off his only card of a suit, though he held no trumps. This was not a specimen of ' ' domestic " whist, but was perpetrated by a new member of a club containing some reaUy excellent players. This was, no doubt, a "record," but it shows how deeply custom strikes its roots, and how hard they are to eradicate. He understood that leading off a singleton was the proper play, and he did not stop to question why. I have a strong and ineradicable objection to accepting rules without knowing the reasoning upon which they are ESTABLISHING A SUIT. 37 based. I do not believe that anyone wotild ever become a good player, or a good anything else, were he to commit to memory every rule that was ever framed upon the subject in hand, unless he thoroughly grasped the principles and reasoning upon which they are based. The possible com- binations of four whist hands, and the consequent scope for the exercise of judgment, are altogether too numerous to be exhausted even in a book of forty volumes. By leading a singleton you deliberately lay yourself open to having the trumps forced out of your hand, instead of using them for the purpose of making your established suits. The gain of a trick or two by trumping may then often bring about the loss of three or four later in the hand. It is only natural that while the game was in its ' ' hand to mouth" stage, immediate apparent gains should have been obvious, while the resulting losses at the end of the hand should have been put down to unavoidable bad luck. WhUe in the modern systematic play the ' ' end-hand " presents generally the greatest result of sldll, the aim of the whole play being directed to that purpose, in the hap- hazard play the end-hand is a helpless jumble, emphasized by a constant chorus of "hard lines." But even with a weak hand it is best to wait for the single suit to be opened by someone else, which it most probably soon would be, rather than lead it yourseli. The greatest objection to the latter is this : that your partner may mistake it for a lead from strength, and plan his hand accordingly, to your mutual detriment. He may, for instance, open trumps where he otherwise would not, if your single suit should happen to be his strong one, with the object of preventing the opponents from trumping this very 38 ESTABLISHING A SUIT. suit, thinMng that as both yourself and he hold strength in it the opponents can hold but very few. After several such leads your partner will cease to trust to the character of your leads and wiU begin to play haphazard. It is obvious that in order to read a partner's hand properly tolerable uniformity in play must be relied upon. It is best to sacrifice a possible advantage to be gained in a particular hand for the greater all-round gain of being considered a "rehable" partner. But it is questionable if anything is gained at all by lead- ing a singleton. As you only hold one of the suit someone must be strong in it, and if that someone be an opponent, he wiU open the suit himseH at the first opportunity, and you will then have a much better chance of bringing in a trump, as they are much more likely to persevere with a suit of their own choice than with a suit which you have opened. Frequently the opponent who holds the strength win, from his own hand, form a shrewd conclusion of your object (seeing that you cannot hold strength), whereas had he opened it himseK your barrenness would not be suspected. Should your partner hold the strength he will soon find your weakness out for himself. Some players make an exception to this rule when an odd trick only is wanted to win the game. The contention is that as you are not playing for a big game, and as, if you can secure the odd trick, it matters httle how many more you could have made by working the hand out skilfully, it is best to take the shortest road to accomplish that object. It is doubtful if this contention can be made good. From a strong or average hand you incur all the disadvantages enumerated without any particular gain that can be ESTABLISHINC- A SUIT. 39 demonstrated. It is only defensible from a weak hand and would come under the category of desperate chances, when, you must play on the assumption that your partner is strongs else the game is lost in any case. Of course in playing for an odd trick it would be absurd to refuse the certainty of a trick for a great game, such as by finessing or refusing a force ; but, on the other hand, it may often happen that you would have to finesse more deeply than would otherwise be justifiable when you find that the game must be otherwise lost except by the finesse coming off. Hence it would be well not to assume a partner's lead to be from strength whenever you are at the score of four, but to play a close game and wait for further indications. When to give Information. The main objection to leading an only card of a suit has been stated to be that your partner must either take it to be a lead from strength, or, if you repeat such a lead too often, he will simply cease , to place rehance upon the uniformity in character of your leads, and may miss many splendid chances. The question is often put: "But are you not giving away information to your opponents at the same time ? " In the first place it must be pointed out that in most cases this cannot possibly be helped. Either a certain method of play pays best in the long run or it does not. "Whatever the method which is advantageous, it cannot be kept a secret from the opponents. Take the case of leading from long suits. How are you going to prevent your opponents knowing your long suit ? By leading from 40 ESTABLISHING A SUIT. short suits instead? But this will not deceive them for long. They will soon get to know it and will simply say, "Ah, this is the man who leads from short suits." You will have given away an advantage to no purpose. The only way of puzzUng them is to vary your leads, but, in that case, concerted play with your partner is entirely out of the question. He will blunder about in the dark and so will you. But are there not cases where it is distinctly advantageous to mislead the opponents ? Certainly there are. But these cases are fairly well defined, and you must be exceedingly careful not to decide hastily upon such a course. Frequently an attempt to mislead the opponents may result in mislead- ing your partner only. It may be taken as certain that, wherever there is any doubt upon the point, the information conveyed to your partner is of greater value, though your opponents are informed also, than the misleading of the opponents and your partner at the same time. It must be admitted that this proposition is not in all cases as easy to demonstrate on the same clear hues of reasoning as most of the other points dealt with in this book. Its proof is rather empirical, and rests on the unanimous consent of all good players, based on long experience. But take this simple case as an illustration. A small card is led by your opponent on your left ; your partner plays a small card ; third player plays the ten ; you hold king, queen, knave, and a smaU one. It makes no difference to your hand whether you take the trick with the knave or the king. You play the king with the object of deceiving your opponents as to the position of the queen and knave. After another trick or two your left-hand opponent leads the ace ESTABLISHING A SUIT. 41 of the suit, or plays it as third player on the suit being returned by his partner, the rest playing small cards, and follows it up by leading a small card of the suit. Your partner cannot now help concluding that either both queen and knave are in the third player's hand (on his left), or that the knave is on his right and the queen on his left, seeing that you, as fourth player in the first trick, played the king on the ten, which should be a sure indication that you had not a smaller card which could have taken the trick. The proper inference is, that the third player (on your partner's left) holds both, as should he have held originally ten and queen he would not have been justified in finessing the ten ; and the queen cannot be in the first player's hand (on your partner's right) as he would now have led it instead of a small one, it being the best. Having no more cards of the suit your partner may trump the trick. "But," you may say, "how in the alternative of the third player (on your right) holding none at the third lead, instead of my partner ?" Well, what then ? You will have gained nothing by your deception. If it suits his hand to part with a trump he will trump it^ all the same ; in fact, he will have seen through your little ruse immediately he finds your partner plays a small card on the third lead : as should either his or your partner hold the queen it would have been their game to play it, being the best card. When to Mislead. You would be justified in misleading the opponents as much as you can when you find that your partner is utterly 42 ISSTABLISHING A SUIT. weak, and that you must, therefore, fall back on your own hand entirely. This can, of course, happen only after a number of tricks have been played, when you have had the opportunity of gathering information from the play. It wiU foUow from this that the playing of a " false " card may be advantageous towards the end of a hand, where it would not be at the beginning. As a matter of fact, much of the finer play towards the end of a hand consists in ' ' holding up" — i.e., not taking a trick though able to do so — or in leading a losing card though holding the winning one — called ' ' underplay " — in the second or third round of a suit, with the object of capturing an extra trick or obtaining the whole mastery of the suit, of which examples will be given later. There is, then, this important difference between playing a false card towards the end of the hand and at the begin- ning of it : that while in the former case it is done with a definite object in view, based on inferences as to the posi- tion of certain cards, gathered from the play, in the latter it is simply a "leap in the dark." Another point to re- member is, that the fewer cards remain in play the less risk there is of your partner shaping his future play to your detriment through being misled. Nor is he likely to lose confidence in your play, but, on the contrary, he wUl see your object before the hand is over and, if it was sound play, will appreciate it. Not only this, but the good player will be on the look out for such play towards the end of a hand, whereas at the beginning he will rely upon your foUowiag certain general rules. It must, therefore, be understood that the general rules of play become subject to modification with each succeeding ESTABLISHING- A SUIT. 43 trick, as the inferences regarding the position of the cards and general strength in suits become more and more apparent. It might, perhaps, be more correctly stated that skilful play consists in following general rules based upon the balance of probabilities, plus information gathered which approximates the probabilities to certainties. The skilful player will, in fact, be able towards the end of the hand to place most of the remaining cards, and the theory of chances will then no longer enter into the question, but the play will be a matter of exact calculation. A few instances may be given where deceptive play may be advantageous, and though these will by no means exhaust the possible combinations, they will give the reader a guide from which he can reason the rest out for himself. 1. Towards the end of the hand, when all the trumps have been played, you are holding a suit of which only one master card is out against you, which, therefore, another lead must estabhsh. But the only cards with which you can obtain the lead are two masters of an opponent's long suit — say, queen and knave. If, therefore, that suit is led,- whether through you or to you, by alL means put on your queen to give your opponents the impression that you are not holding the knave also. You then lead the losing card which must establish your suit and stand a better chance of the opponents returning the previous suit, each being under the impression that the knave is in his partner's hand. 2. A king is led up to you by the opponent on your left, obviously from king, queen. You hold ace, knave and one or more small ones. If you take it with the ace you may not make your knave, but if you pass the trick the opponent on your left is sure to infer that his partner holds the ace, 44 ESTABLISHING A SUIT. and will continue the lead. You are then not only sure of making your ace and knave but may even establish the smaller card. 3. The opponent on your left opens a suit by leading a small card ; your partner plays the eight ; third player piays queen ; you hold ace, king, nine and one or two small ones. The knave is not in the third player's hand, as his play would have been knave from knave, queen. Not only this, but you should credit the leader with the knave or else you must suppose him to have opened from a suit consisting of nothing higher than ten, seven and smaller ones. For the same reason you do not credit your partner with the knave. What then can he hold — having played the eight ? Either the ten or no more, as you hold the nine yourself. If you are strong in trumps and it pays you to force your partner, you should win the trick VTith the king and return a small one. The player on the left will suppose his partner to have finessed from ace, queen, and wiU play a small one. Your partner must then either bring in his ten or trump the trick. Should he hold the ten, he would, when it won the trick, know that you hold the ace, as it would not have been your left-hand opponent's play to pass the second trick if he held the ace, especially as an opponent's retm-n of a lead often indicates a desire to trump the suit, he having no more left. 4. The opponent on your right leads a trump, which his partner wins with the king, and returns the ace. Your partner drops the ten on the second lead, and you are holding knave and a small one. If you drop the knave you may induce your opponents to cease leading trumps, in the belief that the remainder are between them, and you may ESTABLISHING A SUIT. 45 then trump in with your small one later on. Whether the queen is in your partner's hand or not, your knave cannot make if trumps are led the third time. 5. All the trumps are exhausted. You hold queen, knave, nine, and one or two others in a suit which was opened by your opponents, the ace having been played, and the king most probably being held by the player on your left. The suit is led through you, from your right. Play the queen instead of either knave or a small one. At that stage of the hand it is important that the lead should be thrown in your hand. Either queen or knave must force the king, but if you play the knave your opponent may suspect you with the queen and will not return the suit, whereas if you play the queen he wiU suppose the knave to be in his partner's hand and you with probably no more, and will return the suit. You must then bring in both your knave and nine and probably the small one as well. The Conversation of the Game. If, then, we are now agreed that, apart from certain well-defined exceptions, it is advantageous to give your partner every possible information, we can now enter upon the important part of our subject — how to make this infor- mation as complete as possible. We have already gathered that much information may be conveyed by following certain acknowledged methods of play, such as to open from strong suits ; to avoid leading short suits as far as possible except to return partner's lead ; to open with the highest if compelled to lead from a short. 46 ESTABLISHING A SUIT. suit ; not to win a trick with a higher card when a lower one would have done as well, though it makes no difference to your own hand by reason of your holding a sequence, and so on. But these are far from exhausting the possibilities of giving information. The exact cards to lead off from practically aU combiaations of any consequence, as also the cards with which to foUow up subsequent leads, can be so arranged that, while utilising the hand to the best possible advantage, almost each card played may be made to indi- cate the possession or absence of certain other cards, frequently enabhng your partner to know not only the number of cards you hold in the suit but what those cards are, and, indirectly, the cards of the suit which are held against you. This is sometimes referred to as THE CONVERSATION OF TEE GAME. It is, however, essential that the rules adopted should not be arbitrary, but based on common-sense and logical principles. In other words, a lead of a given card should only convey certain definite information because of a logical deduction from effect to cause, i.e., that the lead of such a ca/rd could not he of advantage to the leader unless he held certain other cards with it ; or, that such a lead could only be ad/oantageous to Mm when he is without certain other cards, as the case may be. The rules governing the play of the second, third and fourth hand should be based on the same common-sense principles. Where a rule is apparently arbitrary in a particular case, it has been adopted because it can be shown to be distinctly advantageous in certain other cases, and is followed up for the sake of uniformity, as being typical of a class conveying a certain kind of information. It ESTABLISHING A SUIT. 47 is only by thoroughly understanding the reasoning upon which the rules are based, that one can hope to remember them all and to apply them intelligently to all cases as they may arise. An important example of a uniform rule adopted as re- presenting a certain kind of information, may here bo advantageously dealt with. Towards the end of a hand you are holding several established cards of a suit of which you know your partner has none left, and ace, king and queen of another suit. Your partner is leading a master trump, which has drawn one from the opponent on your right, this having either exhausted the trumps, or the remaining one being obviously in your partner's hand. AU you have to do is simply to discard, but the question is : "What to discard ? The thoughtless player would probably attach some particular virtue to the high card, though, as a matter of fact, the deuce of your estabhshed suit is just as good as the ace of the other suit If jou discard from your established suit, your partner will have no indication whatever that you are hold- ing masters in the other suit. Discarding the king or queen would be distinctly deceptive, as your partner would probably conclude that you are discarding it because you know it must fall to the opponent's master, and are retaining instead the master in the third suit, which suit he would hasten to lead. If, however, you discard the ace, the inference would be obvious. He must reason, if he reasons at all, that you would not discard the ace unless you held the king also. Even if you think that your partner ought to know from the play that you cannot hold any ca'-^ in the third suit, it is always your duty to make the information as plain as possible, and to provide against an error of judgment or of 48 ESTABLISHING A SUIT. memory. The same applies if tlie ace of a stiit had already been played and you hold king and queen, and so on. It has also been a fairly well-known ruse, long before the game assumed its present scientific development, to play queen as fourth player to the opponent's king led, when holding queen and another only and wanting trumps out. The king going round shows the ace to be in an opponent's hand, and your queen cannot, therefore, make in any case. The opponent, concluding that you hold no more in the suit, may then lead a trump to save his ace being trumped, which is just what you want. This ruse is not hkely to succeed now-a-days, so far as the opponent is concerned, as a good player would not rush into leading trumps if he were weak in them. He would rather play on the defensive, and either follow up with the ace to force you, or open another suit, both with the object of awaiting developments and that his original suit may be returned by his partner, when, if you should trump, he will be able to retain the ace against your partner's possible command. But though your gentle and alluring hint may produce no effect on your opponent, it should do so on your partner. When he sees you play a small card on the second round of the suit he will become aware of your object in playing queen on the first, and should lead trumps. It would, of course, have been better to have induced your left-hand opponent to lead trumps up to you, but as you want trumps led, your partner should take the next best course to get them out of the way. From these and similar strategical devices has been adopted the exceedingly important all-round rule that THE PLAYING OF AN UNNECESSARILY HIGH CARD INDICATES STRENGTH. ESTABLISHING A SUIT. 49 The rule is applied in various ways, the most important of all being the now famous "Call" for Trumps. If you hold a strong hand and want your partner to lead trumps, not having the lead yourself, or because it suits you better that trumps should be led through your right-hand opponent, as when he has turned up the king and you are holding the ace, queen, knave, you can indicate the wish t& your partner in two rounds of a suit. You do it simply by playing an unnecessarily high card on the first round, which your partner will know by seeing you play a smaller card on the second roimd than on the first. You can do it most easily if you happen to be second player in both rounds, but also as fourth player, and less easily as third player. You can never do it when you open a lead yourself, for then the order in which the cards are played is regulated with quite a different object in view — that of indicating to your partner the number of cards you hold in the suit and what those cards are. 1. The opponent on your right hand leads a Mng of diamonds and follows it up with the ace. If on the first round you play the three and on the second the two, your partner will know that it is a call for trumps — it indicates strength. 2. Equally, if the same player opens with a small card which his partner wins with, the ace and returns the suit, the original leader winning the trick with the king. 3. The same illustration will apply if you are fourth player each time that suit is led and cannot win either of the tricks. 50 ESTABLISHING A SUIT. 4. Or if, either as second, third, or fourth player, you wia both tricks, taking the first one with the higher, and the second with the lower of two cards in sequence. 5. Or if you win the first trick and follow it up by lead- ing the next lower card in sequence to the one with which you took the trick. 6. As third player it is your duty in any case to play a high card, and you are therefore precluded from calling except by means of two cards in sequence. 7. If you have no cards of the suit led and your partner wins both tricks, you can call in the same manner by your discards. 8. In addition to the above, a refusal to take a force (trump in) in a case where it is obvious that except for your trumping the trick must go to the opponents, also con- stitutes a call. It shows that you want the trumps for dis- arming the opponents and cannot afford to impoverish your hand and thus diminish the chances of your other cards taking tricks {see p. 143). Of course, it will be necessary in this case to make sm-e that it is a refusal and not a case of being without trumps. You must be careful to distinguish between a card played with the obvious intention of calHng and a card played as a finesse, or as a "card of protection," i.e., to prevent the opponent winning the trick or forcing a high card from one's partner's hand with a small one. For instance : your partner, being second player, plays the queen on a small card. He has probably played from king, queen, or from queen and another only. If his queen forces the ace and the second lead of the suit comes from your right, which you win with knave or ten, your partner, as fourth player, ESTABLISHING A SUIT. 51 ■would, of course, drop a small card and reserve his master, which it is now obvious he must hold, or else the opponents would have played it. Should you find that both ace and king are against- you it is practically conclusive that your partner played from queen and another only (see p. 105). In either case it is not a caU. The rule may, therefore, be laid down that the playing of an honour on the first lead followed by a small one on the second (except the one next to it in sequence) does not con- stitute a call, unless the honour was played when it could not win the trick, a higher card than that having aheady been played. A ten or nine may also have been played from queen, knave, ten, and from knave, ten, nine and others. Some players also play the ten from ten and another only as a card of protection, though the danger of its being mistaken for a caU appears to me to more than counter- balance the possible benefit to be derived from the protec- tion it may afford. The ten or nine may also be played from other combinations, the consideration of which must be deferred until we are a little more advanced. It may be stated as a general rule that when not wishing to call one should be very careful not to play a card which may be in- terpreted as a caU, and should not be hasty in assuming that your partner intended to call if you have any doubt upon the matter at aU, as the consequences of leading trumps when both yourself and partner are weak may prove very disastrous. If you have played a high card with the intention of com- pleting a caU on the second round and then conclude that it would be best not to call, or if you have played the card with another object in view but fear it may be mistaken for D 2 52 ESTABLISHING A SUIT. a caK, you have it in your power not to complete the call, by playing a higher card on the second round. That cancels the call even though you play a lower card than either of the two on the third round. Thus, a seven followed by a six is a call ; a seven followed by an eight and then a six is not a call. It has been stated that, in certain circumstances, a call can only be made by playing first the higher and then the lower of two cards in sequence. It would not be a call if a best card is followed by a third best. For instance, your partner wins the ten or knave with the ace, and returns the queen. This is obviously done with the object of informing you that he holds the Mng also, else he would not have parted with the ace on the knave, and made a present of the queen to the opponents. A Uttle thought wiU show that this is the only way by which the possession of the next master card can be indicated. The same will apply if a ten is won with the king, and the knave is returned. One would, however, not be justified in playing the ace first, without completing the information by returning the queen at once, as otherwise your partner would conclude that you hold no other card which could have taken the trick, and may trump the second trick should it be led from his right and he hold no more of the suit. The application of the principle of indicating strength by playing an unnecessarily high card is also developed in other directions, as will be seen later. We now begin to appreciate more fully the importance of not playing false cards and of imparting information by, the order in which the cards are played. It can make no differ- ence to your hand which you play first from the two and ESTABLISHING A SUIT. 53 three of a suit ; yet by means of these you may deliberately impart valuable information or may carelessly deceive your partner into crediting you with a strength which you do not possess. If you hold ace, king and queen, it makes no difference to your hand which of these you win a trick with ; yet by playing correctly you may impart information, and by playing carelessly you may deceive. The proposition may, therefore, be laid down in the following terms : — Avoid play- ing a false card, however immaterial it may be to your own hand, and however much you may think it unnecessary or impossible to convey information in the particular case. A skilful partner may be able to gather information from indications which are not apparent to you, by means of the cards dropped by opponents taken in conjunction with those he holds himself, provided he can rely upon your playing a straightforward and intelligible game. A skilful player will, indeed, often read the exact contents of an opponent's hand by missing a small card which he considers you would have played had you held it. When you consider the circumstance to have arisen where misleading the opponents is of greater advantage than informing your partner, do so deliberately, but do not do it without sufficient cause. When the cause is adequate, your partner will see it and win not lose confidence in your play. When to Open with a Low Card. The object of leading from long suits being to establish a number of cards in the suit, by getting the higher cards out of the way and thus remain with masters and ultimately 54 ESTABLISHING A SUIT. with one or more "long" cards, it follows that it is advantageous for the holder of the long suit to retain the command so as to bring in his long cards. Thus, in all cases where you are not holding two or more masters, or Cards in sequence, such as king and queen, or queen, knave, ten, and so on, you should lead a small card. This will dispose in general terms of a large number of combinations. Supposing you hold king, knave, nine and sis, or queen, ten, eight, and seven, or any other similar combination, lead your lowest. Your partner may neither hold the best card himself nor be able to force it out for you, but in that case you would probably be no better off had you led your highest, as there would still remain masters out against you. There are always two chances to one against your partner holding any one given card, there being two opponents against one partner, but there is an even chance of his holding one out of any given three. Thus, leading from Mng, knave, nine, and six, your partner should have an even chance of holding either the ace, or the queen to force the ace, or the ten to force the queen. Moreover, it being presumed that the second player will play low unless he holds both ace and queen, and sometimes not even then, your partner's queen may make, or his ten may force the ace, or even his eight may force either queen or ace, as the second player would play low both from ace, ten, and small, and from queen, ten, and small. Immediately the first trick is played you are in a position to gather some information from the fall of the cards. Should you find your partner utterly weak in the suit, you may find it advisable not to persevere ■with it, but to open another suit. ESTABLISHING A SUIT. 5S When to Open With a High Card. It will be obvious that you would not open with a low card if you held sufficient strength in your own hand to enable you to force the master and remain with the command. It would, for instance, be very poor judgment to lead a small one from king, queen, knave, and another. To begin with, your partner has not an even chance of either holding the ace or the ten to force the ace ; but even if the chances in his favour were any number to one, you have no right to risk that one chance when you have the certainty of forcing the ace with one of your honours and of remaining then with two masters. To avoid the possible risk of your partner's ace falling on one of your honours (when it is desirable that he should retain it), you have only to lead the king, when he would, of course, retain the ace, which fact you would learn by your king making (unless the ace is "held up "* against you — not probable in the circumstances at an early stage of the hand). The conclusion is, perhaps, too evident in a case like the above, but a little consideration will show that the same reasoning will apply when your suit is headed by king and queen only. If you lead king your partner will retain the ace if he holds it, and should your king faU to the ace you must remain with the master. Should your partner hold the knave, three or more in suit, he will hold the master after your queen has made, and, better stiU, should he return your lead, he would, if he held no more than three, return the *" Holding up " — refusing to part with the winning card, and thus allowing the trick to go to the opponents, with the object of gaining an advantage later. We had an example of this (p. 43) in refusing to win king led from the left when holding ace, knave and others. 56 ESTABLISHING A SUIT. knave {see p. 94), and you would reserve your queen. Should the ace be held up against you {see p. 43), you could in all probability have done no better had you led a small one. You will have made one of your honours — as much as you can expect to without assistance. True, if you could be sure that your partner holds or can force the ace, it is of advantage that the stiong hand should retain the longest command. But how can you be sure ? If you lead a small one, you stand the risk of letting the fourth player wia with a small card, and you wotild after all be compelled to sacrifice your king to force the ace, -with the possible penalty of your queen being trumped on the third lead. It may be argued that your partner stands a chance of making the ten or forcing the ace with it, as both from knave and others and from ace, knave and others, it is the rule for the second player to play low when a small card is led. Yes, but equally there is the chance of the fourth player winning with the ten. It simply amounts to this : BeJy upon your partner's assistance when you must, but assist yourself when you can. Should your partner hold a card which could have assisted you, it wiU probably take a trick all the same ; and though you may possibly lose the advantage of the master remaining in the hand holding the greater number of cards in the suit, you avoid the risk of cutting up the suit altogether should the first trick be won by an opponent with a low card. The force of this conclusion is lessened as you descend in the value of the cards heading your suit. Por this reason : the further you are away from the mastery of the suit the more powerless you are unless your partner can assist you. If you hold queen, knave and small ones, and your partner ESTABLISHING A SUIT. 57 should hold neither ace, king or ten, it means that both your honours would have to be sacrificed to draw the ace and Mng, and the command would still be against you. You must, therefore, fall back upon probabilities, and if it turns out that your partner cannot assist you, it cannot be helped. You could in any case do little with the suit then ; whereas if he can help you it is best for you to retain the command. You should, therefore, lead a small one. The case is, of course, altered when you hold the ten in addition to the queen and knave. The previous reasoning will then apply, as you are bound to remain with a master after forcing ace and king. If your suit consists of knave, ten, nine and others, the advantage of leading the knave is somewhat doubtful, and the proper lead is disputed. ' ' Cavendish " states that ' ' the result of recent calculations tends to show that the lead of a small one is to be preferred," without giving the calculation, and on the strength of this practically decides in favour of leading low. It will, however, be easy to show that there is at least one combination where it is distinctly of advantage to lead the knave. You hold knave, ten, nine and one other ; second player holds queen and two others ; your partner holds king and two q;thers ; fourth player holds ace and two others. If you lead knave your partner would not put on the king unless second player covers with the queen {see p. 114), and your knave must force the ace. Your partner seeing this ought to know at once that the queen is not in the fourth player's hand, and, from the fact of his holding the king himself, that you must have led from a sequence of knave down- wards and not from knave upwards. The queen must. 58 ESTABLISHING A SUIT. therefore, be with the second player, and your partner should wait for you to lead the suit again. You would lead the ten, and your partner would not put on the king unless second player parts with the queen. The queen must then faU to your partner's king on the third lead, and you will have made two tricks in the suit and remain with the long card. Whereas had you led a small one, your partner's king would have fallen to the ace, one of your sequence must faU to the queen, and you only remain with one trick and the long card. Should your partner hold the ace it would again be ad- visable for him to pass your knave. Then, if your knave forces the Mng, it may be concluded that the queen is in the second player's hand, when it can be hemmed in as in the previous illustration. Should your knave have been won with the queen, it would not be safe for your partner to pass your ten on the second round, in case the fourth player holds the king also, as his ace may be trumped on the third lead. On the other hand, I do not see that much is risked by such a lead, for unless your partner can aissist you, you wiU have to contend single-handed against three masters and can, therefore, do Uttle with the suit in any case. If your partner holds the queen he would, of course, reserve it, and return it when he returns your suit. There is, however, an objection to such a lead on altogether different grounds. There are other combinations which should be opened with the knave — that is, from ace, king, queen, knave, five or more in suit, and from king, queen, knave, five or more in suit (see pp. 76, 81). Supposing your partner to have no cards of the suit and to be also weak in ESTABLISHING A SUIT. 59 trumps — say, three small ones — it might be distinctly to your advantage, in the case of the lower combination, that your partner should trump the suit, as you may thus secure three tricks in it, while the chance of your establishing any- thing without assistance is practically nil. In the case of the higher sequence, even when only up to king, it is, on the contrary, distinctly disadvantageous for your partner to trump (unless the second player vrais with the ace), as you want the master out of the way, and his trumping would only mean the retention of the master against you. But as your partner has no means of deciding from which of the combinations you have led the knave, you put him in a perplexing position, and he might trump just when he should not and refuse to do so when he ought to have trumped. You are, therefore, put to one of these two alternatives. With the object of making the lead of knave convey definite information, it must be adopted in one of the cases only. If you are in the habit of leading knave from the lower sequence, lead king from the higher, irrespective of whether the suit consists of four only or of five or more. Equally, if you adopt the lead of knave from the higher sequence, lead low from the lower sequence. In either case you would sacrifice a possible advantage in one direction for the sake of the gain accruing by instructing your partner when he is likely to lose or gain by trumping. The advantage of leading knave from king, queen, knave, five or more in suit, may not at first be apparent, but a Uttle consideration will show its importance. King is also led from king, queen, and small ones. In such a case, you do not want your partner to part with the ace on one of your high cards, even if he holds ace and one small one 60 ESTABLISHING A SUIT. only, as you have not the command in your own hand. Even with king, queen, knave and one small one you should not count upon exhausting the remaining cards in three leads, so as to leave you with the long card. Whereas with five cards of a suit it is considered highly probable that you can draw the remaining eight cards in three leads. By leading the knave, therefore, you give your partner a note of warning not to retain the ace if it is likely to block your command. You tell him, in fact, that you hold at least two others in addition to the three honours, and should he hold ace and another only he should play the ace on your knave rather than obstruct your command on the next lead, when he would be unable to return your suit. It is not easy to decide with any degree of confidence on which side the balance of advantage Hes. I do not know on what basis the calculation referred to by " Cavendish " is built up, and must confess to being somewhat sceptical about it. One should, therefore, • inform himself of the method of lead adopted in each particular circle — ^whether knave is led from the higher sequence only, the lower sequence only, or from both. A further reason, however, against adopting the lead of knave from the lower sequence will be dealt with later (p. 76). One more point must now be dealt with, and then I con- sider we shaU- have gained a sufficient insight into the higher developments of the game to enter vfith advantage upon an analysis of leads in detail, as also the various ESTABLISHING A SUIT. 61 modifications in the play of second and third hands arising from the inferences drawn from opening leads. Trumps Played Differently from Plain Suits. The reasons for this may be summed up in the following three propositions : 1. Your master trump must make. 2. A trump will secure you a lead at any stage of the hand. 3. The risk of misleading your partner into trumping a suit in which you hold the command cannot apply to trumps. "We have already dealt with examples where it is not con- sidered advisable to hold up a master card, even where there is a possible or probable finesse, in case it should be trumped on the next lead. Other examples we shall come across as we proceed. It is, for instance, agreed that the proper lead from ace and four small ones is the ace, not a smaU one, as the fact of your holding considerably more than the average in the suit involves the risk of your ace being trumped on the second lead. In trumps you would take the more advantageous course of asking for your partner's assistance before rather than after parting with the command. You would also lead a small one from ace, king and two or three small ones ; whereas in plain suits you should lead your masters. You can also finesse more freely when strong in trumps, both in the trump suit and in the other suits. An unsuccessful finesse involves the possible penalty of your masters being trumped on the sub- sequent lead. This, of course, does not apply to trumps, and, when strong in trumps, you have also the power of securing the safety of the masters in the plain suits by dis- arming the opponents. You then incur very little risk should your finesse prove unsuccessful, while you may gain 62 ESTABLISHING A SUIT. considerably if successM, not only in the capturing of an extra trick in the suit but in retaining the command at a later stage, when it may enable you to bring in the other -cards. {See p. 122 as to finessing with a weak hand.) Xeab0 in Detail. We are now prepared to enter into an analysis of leads from various combinations, as also how to foUow up the opening leads, merely premising that the object to be at- tained is to render the information to your partner as definite as may be, whilst utilising the hand to the best ad- vantage. It, has already been explained that this analysis applies to original and, in a lesser degree, to subsequent early leads, when it is understood that you are leading from strength, and with the object of establishing suits. Late in the hand you may be compelled to open a weak suit, and much information will have been gathered by then from the preceding play, which will make the object and significance of your lead more or less obvious. Throughout the remainder of this book we shah suppose the whist table to be formed as above. 64 LEADS IN DETAIL. The :hand under consideration is always that of A, who has B for partner. The opponents are C and D, respectively on the left and right of A. By this device we shall gain considerably in brevity vnthout in the least impairing the clearness of the argument. Thus, instead of speaking of ' ' your left-hand opponent " and ' ' your right-hand opponent " the reader wiU easily be able to remember that C is the former, D the latter, while B is his partner : and so they will, as a rule, be referred to in future. Scarcely any effort vnU be required to fix this in the memory, and after one or two such references the position will clearly present itself to the mind's eye. Ace and three small ones : lead lowest. Ace and more than three small : lead ace. In trumps, lead small from any number less than seven. The term ' ' small card " is generally intended to include aU below ten ; but for the purposes of our analysis, all cards sufficiently removed from the card heading the suit to justify an opening or second lead of a low, rather than a high card, wiU practically play the part of small cards. Thus, you would open with a small card from ace, queen, ten, six, or from ace, knave, ten, six, but with ace from ace, queen, knave, sis. With an additional lower card in the first two combinations, you would lead a small one after the ace, but from the latter combination you would lead one of your high cards second lead, whether four or more in suit. The reasons, if not already obvious to the reader who has care- fully perused the preceding part of this book, vrill be made clear as we proceed. LEADS IN DBTAIIi, 65 From ace and three others only, you lead lowest for reasons already discussed (p. 53). All you can hope to accomplish with such a suit without assistance is, besides making the ace, to remain with the thirteenth ("long" card) or the best card after thi'ee leads. When your partner re- turns the lead, or when you obtain it yourself, you can make the ace and lead the suit a third time. If the cards were so distributed as to leave you now with the master or long card, you will have attained your object. If not, you could not have done better by opening with ace, but rather worse, if anything, as the retention of the ace may occa- sionally happen to give you the lead at a critical moment, when you most want it, and could not otherwise have got it. When holding more than four, the fact of your suit being so long is held to involve a risk of your ace being trumped on the second lead, You then play to get two leads right off, with the object of remaining, if possible, with two or more established or long cards after the third lead. The information which your partner can gather from the lead of the lowest is indefinite, both as to numbers (unless you lead the deuce — {see p. 85), and as to the card heading your suit, as you would also lead low from a suit headed by king, or by queen, or, in fact, any long suit without the ace when not headed by two or more high cards in sequence ; though he may be assisted to the right conclusion by the cards he holds himself, coupled with those played by the opponents. But when you play the ace on the next round, he wiU have learnt that you opened from exactly four in suit. This is of great importance, as he may thereby be enabled later on to place exactly the remaining cards in the suit out against you, and shape his play accordingly. 66 IjEADS IN DETAIL. When opening with ace, the second lead of a small card will inform your partner that you held not less than five in suit. This will most probably place him in a position later on to know how many of the suit stiU remain in your hand, and if they are master cards. Knowledge of this kind will also assist him to other conclusions of equal importance, by a process of ehmination. Thus, if, when only four cards remain in the hands, your partner knows that you must remain with, say, two diamonds, and two spades, he wiU know that a certain dangerous card in clubs must be against you, and will not lead clubs ; whereas, had he not had the information that your four cards consist of something else, he might have given you credit for holding the club, and might have let in the opponents for a number of tricks. The reasons for leading trumps differently have been dealt with previously (p. 61). But with seven trumps the chance of drawing the next master or masters in the first lead is held to counterbalance the advantage of retaining the ace. With such strength, also, you do not endanger the retention of the command late in the hand. Ace, king and two small : lead king, then ace. In trumps, lead small from less than seven. Supposing your first lead is trumped, or you decide to disTOntinue the lead — e. g. , on account of an opponent drop- ing a high card, making it probable that he would trump the next lead — if you open with ace your partner cannot tell that you hold king, as you may have opened from ace and four small, and so on. Whereas, if you open with king he will, unless trumps it, credit you with the ace whether D trumps or follows suit, allowing only, in the latter case. LEADS IN DETAIL. 67 for the comparatively rare alternative of an opponent (more correctly D) holding up ace, vyith ace, knave, and others {see p. 43). Ace, king, and three or more small ones. ' ' Cavendish " decides for lead of ace followed by king from five or more in suit, as ' ' ace led shows great numerical strength. This is deemed to be of more consequence than the temporary concealment of the king," should ace be trumped or you decide to change the suit. This lead is now adopted in many of the clubs, but a considerable minority of good players in this country still remain imconvinced on the point. The only instances where the lead of ace can be said to have this logical significance are the leads just discussed, from ace and four or more in plain suits, and from seven in trumps, where the lead is agreed to present a balance of ad- vantage on its own merits — a legitimate conclusion from cause to effect. Deriving its special significance from these two leads, it would be perfectly legitimate to extend it arbitrarily to leads from all other combinations, for the sake of uni- formity of method — an advantage, the importance of which can scarcely be over-estimated, both as an aid to the memory and as a ready principle to apply to fresh cases as they may arise- — were such uniformity practicable without incurring other disadvantages which would far more than counter- balance the gain. As a matter of fact, " Cavendish" finds it quite impracticable to carry this arbitrary significance beyond the combination under discussion — ace, king, five, or more. Prom ace, king, queen, five or more, he gives the lead of queen, and from ace, king, queen, knave, five or more, the lead is knave. Prom ace, queen, knave, the lead is ace £ 2 68 LEADS IN DETAIL, even when only four in suit. These leads will be discussed in their proper order, and, curiously enough, it will be seen that the principle upon which the leads are developed is, to make the lead of the lower card from a sequence (both as first and second lead) indicate great numerical strength, while the higher card (including ace) signifies the minimum number. Apart from the concealment of the Mng, another possible objection to the lead of ace deserves some notice. There is a rule followed by many good players that the lead of ' ' ace, king, and stop" — i.e., changing the suit — is an indication that the leader holds no more cards of the suit. Such a lead would, of course, only be justifiable when you want only the odd trick for game, and only then under special conditions. Occasions may, however, not unfrequently arise when such a lead, and the indication conveyed thereby, would present the best chance of securing the odd trick. For instance, your partner dealt, the first lead coming from D, which B wins. You find your hand to consist of ace and king only ui one plain suit, ace, queen and one small in another, five smaU cards in the suit just opened by the opponent, and three small trumps. Your partner now leads the deuce of the suit in which you hold ace, queen, and another — most probably from king, and the lead of the deuce shows that he holds exactly four [see p. 85). You play the queen, which vyins the trick. You now play your ace and Hng, following it up with the ace, and then the small one of your partner's suit. If he wins with the Mng, he vnU give you your suit to trump, and the game is won. Your partner holding no more than four in his suit makes it probable that the third lead wiU go roimd, and your holding only two in your suit makes it very improbable that you LEADS IN DETAIL, 69 ■will be over-trumped. No other lead could present the same chances of success, as your only strong suit is that opened by an opponent ; and by returning your partner's suit before getting rid of your ace and Mng you would be unable to let him in to give you the ' ' force '' after making your ace and king. Many other combinations may occur which would justify a similar strategy, and hence the indication of holding no more of a suit may prove of considerable value. If, therefore, when leading ace, then king, from ace, king, five or more in suit, you should fimd it advisable not to continue the suit, you would be conveying the utterly mis- leading information that you hold no more and are weak in trumps, inviting a "force." Should your king be trumped, B would be in doubt as to the nature of your lead. If, then, the lead of ace, then king, is to indicate five or more, it must be finally agreed upon that, whether you continue or change the lead, it has always the same significance. But whether more is gained by adopting one course rather than the other is not easy to pronounce upon with con- fidence, and is, I think, at least open to further discussion. Many players prefer to open with king from any number, for the reasons dealt with, though you thereby faU to give the information of holding not less than five. What to Lead When Opening with High Cards. It wiU now be advantageous to get a full grasp of the method adopted for indicating the number of cards one holds in a suit when leading from combinations which demand the opening and subsequent leads of high cards. 70 LEADS IN DETAIL. and the reason underlying that method. We have had occasion to discuss previously (p. 59) why knave should be led from king, queen, knave five or more in suit. The significance attaching to the lead of knave in that case is by no means arbitrary, but has a distinctly logical raison d' Stre. When one plays with a partner who is not familiar with the system of leads or who has not acquired sufficient whist acumen to grasp the finer strategy of the game readily, this is the very course one would adopt to induce him to part vrith the ace. It is true that such a partner would play his ace on your knave whether he had only two or more in the suit, but as there is great probability of your drawing the remaining cards in three leads, such a course presents the choice of the lesser of two evils — as, should he obstruct your command late in the hand when you hold no card of re-entry, it may prove to be the loss of several tricks. You would employ the same strategy in the second lead from ace, queen, knave, five or more in suit (where you open with ace), in order to induce your partner to part with his king. Equally, when leading ace from ace, ten, nine, eight and four, if two honours fall to your ace you would lead the eight the second round, so as to induce him to part with the remaining honour, if he holds it, and leave you with the command. (In such a case you would, of course, care- fully consider the advisability of getting out trumps before leading the suit a second time.) From queen, knave, nine, five or more in suit, the first lead drawing either the ace or the king and the ten, you would employ the second lead of nine for the same purpose. The fall of the cards on the first lead wUl present many occasions where the same method would logically be employed. IiEADS IN DETAIL. 71 Hence, tlie lead of a lower card from a sequence has come to acquire the significance of numerical strength. The reader will note that this is the exact contrary of the manner of indicating strength as second, third, or fourth player, where the playing of an unnecessarily high card indicates strength. Here it is the leading of an unnecessarily low card (in sequence) that indicates strength. The method has been adopted, as far as possible, uniformly to first, second, and even to third leads, as a means of indicating the exact number of cards held in a suit. Absolute uniformity is, indeed, impracticable without conceaUng information not only of much higher value, but such as would be more obvious to the average partner — while your effort to indicate numbers may either be meaningless to him or, what is more to the point, he may be without sufficient practice to enable him to register the various items of information. In dis- cussing the various leads we shaU endeavour to grasp thoroughly the pros and cons of the matter, so that iastead of having to commit to memory a meaningless set of rules, the reasoning faculty may stimulate the memory to the performance of its proper function. The method, then, will work out as follows : We will take again as example the lead of knave from king, queen, knave, five or more in suit. You open with knave, which draws the ace. This tells your partner that you have opened from not less than five, and that you remain with two master cards of indifferent value. If you hold five only you will lead king nest time. As you do not employ the lower of the two cards in sequence to indicate strength, he should conclude that you held the minimum number already indicated — i.e., five exactly. If you lead queen, he will know that you 72 LEADS ET DETAIL. held more than the minimmn number — i. e. , not less than six, but possibly more. I shall, I trust, be pardoned for re-stating the point in other words, so as to make sure of it. An opening lead is assumed to be from not less than four. The lead of a higher card out of two or -more which would serve exactly the same purpose, either for winning the trick or for forcing the higher card, and when not employed to impart information of a different kind, indicates the holding of the TniniTTinTin number — i. e. , either the minimum mmaber from which an original lead is opened (four), or the minimum number indicated by a previous lead. But the lead of the lower card indicates the possession of more than the minimum number. When three cards can be employed for this purpose, then the lead of the highest means exactly the minimum, next lower means one card above the minimum , and the lowest means two or more above the minimum. Ace, king, queen, and one small : lead king, then queen. Om' decision for leading king from ace, Mng and small was based on the ground that king will disclose possession of ace, whereas ace would not disclose possession of king. In the opinion of very many excellent players, the informa- tion of the retention of the master card is of primary importance ; and where this clashes with the method of indicating numbers, the latter should give way. But whether the balance of advantage lies one way or the other as between players who can register both kinds of informa- tion with equal facility, it is, in my opinion, scarcely open to argument that the former must prove immensely more advantageous in the lo:^g run. The majority of whist players (I am not speaking of ' ' bumble-puppy ") who have acquired IiEADS IN DETAIL. 73 a sufficient insight into the scientific game to make them desirable partners, have yet no time or inoUnation to climb to the highest rung of the ladder of whist strategy. While this is no reason for relinquishing the attempt at higher development, it is a strong reason against concealing informa- tion which they will more readily register and take advantage of, in favour of other information which they will either wholly fail to grasp, or to remember afterwards. The contention is not that information should be withheld in case one's partner should faU to understand it. When one happens to be mated with a partner who knows nothing of the " conversation of the game," one would obviously not give away information to the opponents uselessly. The argument is, that when the choice lies between two kinds of information, the one precluding the other, preference should be given to that kind which is likely to prove useful in the majority of cases. The critical reader cannot fail to ask — "Why, then, not open with queen, from ace, king, queen, and another?" Queen is also led from queen, knave, ten and others ; but this can scarcely be an adequate reply. No doubt it would be very desirable to make each opening lead bear a distinctive significance were it practicable, but this is obviously impracticable. The lead of queen from the higher sequence must, indeed, be more conclusive as to your holding king and ace than the lead of king is as to holding ace. For while ace may be held up against the lead of king, with ace, knave and others, nothing is gained by holding up against queen; e.g., D having either allowed queen to make, or trumped, holds neither ace nor king ; C would emphatically not pass if he held both, and should not if he holds ace only 74 LEADS IN DETAIL. {see p. 107). King alone he cannot hold, as your partner must then be supposed to have opened with queen from ace, queen and others — a preposterous lead. Tour partner can only remain in doubt if C should trump the queen ; but neither coidd he, in a similar contingency, decide that you hold ace from the lead of king. The only reason we can see as yet for deciding upon the lead of king is, that it is ia conformity with the method for indicating numbers. Granting that the lead of ace has the significance of great nimierical strength, then the lead of the higher of the two other cards in sequence would indicate the minimum number (four), while the lower (queen) would indicate five or more. There is, however, another objection to the lead of queen. Should your partner hold no cards of the suit, and be also weak in trumps, he might, when wanting only the odd trick for game, and with a good hand in the other plain suits, be induced to trimap your queen, thinking it more likely to secure the odd trick by such a course than by waiting for you to establish your ten — after two leads — supposing it to be a lead from queen, knave, ten, etc. Whereas he would scarcely trump a king (taking it to be from king, queen, etc. ), as the one lead must then estabUsh your suit. On the whole, the lead of Mng, then queen, is to be preferred. Ace, king, queen, five in suit. Ace, king, queen, six in suit. ' ' Cavendish " gives the preference to the indication of numbers, the leads, therefore, being as foUows : — Five in suit : queen, then ace. More than five : queen, then king. LEADS IN DETAIL. 75 The lead of queen, as the lower of a sequence, having informed your partner that you hold five, the second lead of ace, as the higher of the remaining two in sequence, will teU him that you hold no more than five ; while the second lead of king, being the lower of the remaining two in sequence, will inform him that you hold six or more. It wiU be noted that a second lead of ace is no longer given the significance of " great numerical strength, " but takes its place as merely one of a sequence. If our previous argument against lead of queen has any validity, then the risk of your partner trumping the queen is stiU greater when you hold five or six — for the more you hold the less there are among the other players. Should it be decided that this risk is so shght or unimportant that it may well be ignored, or that a partner should not trump an original lead of queen under any circumstances whatever, then the lead of queen would seem to be the more advan- tageous even from four only, on the grounds previously stated that the information of command should be given preference over that of numbers. Having given the pros and cons, the decision must be left with my readers. Many reliable players prefer the lead of king, then queen, from any number ; and it may, perhaps, not be too venturesome to suggest that, at any rate, the beginner might be satisfied with this to start with. So long as you can keep your partner informed that you stiU retain the command, you will have accomplished the most important object. "When you hold very long numbers in a suit, the information wiU be obtained by your partner, in the great majority of cases, in a much less roundabout way — from the simple fact of the other players exhibiting their barrenness. Later on, as 76 LEADS IN DETAIL. you find it more easy to follow and give the various indica- tions, you must adopt the rules followed by the other players, else you will be at cross-purposes. Ace, king, queen, knave. Four in suit : lead Mng, then knave. Five in suit : knave, then ace. Six in suit : knave, then king, More than six : knave, then queen. In the lead from four, the king having informed your partner that you hold ace, he vrill know that you would not lead a losing card while holding the winning one, and the second lead of knave will thus inform him that you hold queen also. Any doubt he may have had as to the ace being held up by an opponent, with ace, knave and others, wUl also be removed by the second lead. He cannot mistake your second Isad of knave (the lowest in sequence) for an indication of numerical strength, as in that case you would have opened with knave. From any number above the minimum you open with knave, even it you hold the ten also. The opening lead of knave, where it is not adopted also from the lower sequence of knave, ten, nine, etc. , becomes an exceedingly useful one, as, besides informing your partner of a sequence to Mng or ace, it has the I2frARIABLE SIGNIFICANCE OF NOT LESS THAN FIVE IN SUIT. A rule so easily remembered cannot fail to be of considerable advantage, and is, in itself, a strong reason for not leading knave from the lower sequence. On the other hand, no objection can be made to it on the score of concealing the LEADS m DETAIL, 77 command. The second lead of knave from other combina- tions is also frequently made to indicate five in suit, but this cannot be adhered to uniformly without sacrificing other advantages. Having informed your partner by the first lead that you hold not less than five, you complete the informa- tion in the second lead. Thus, you lead the highest of your sequence to indicate exactly the minimum already signified ; the next lower in sequence indicates one above the minimum, and the lowest, two or more above the minimum. When opening a suit headed by ace, king, etc., after having trumped another suit, you should always open with ace, and follow up with king, and so on downwards. If you lead any but the actual winning card, B, crediting an opponent with it, might trump it if he should happen to hold none of the suit, in order to give you back the suit which you trump, so as .to secure a number of tricks by cross-trumping (called a "cross-ruff"). Ace, queen, knave, and small. Four in suit : lead ace, then queen. Five or more : lead ace, then knave. The reasons for relying upon your own strength to force the commanding card have already been fully discussed (p. 55), as also the logical necessity for the second lead of queen from four only, but of knave from five or more, apart from the mere indication of numbers (pp. 69, 70). Should B have held originally king and two small ones only, he should not play his king on the second lead of queen, though he thereby risks obstructing your command on the third lead. For, as you are showing four only in the suit, the probability is that you would not be able to make 78 LEADS IN DETAIL. your fourth card if C or D holds four in the suit. Your queen making would show that B holds king, and when you lead the suit again you would lead the small one for his king and remain with knave. Before leading a third time you should, however, weigh carefully your strength in the trump suit. With two certain tricks in. your original suit between you, and the probabUity of its being trumped, you would be justified in leading trumps from four {but see pp. 129-133). But on your second lead of knave, B should play his king if he held originally no more than three. Tou are showing five, including the queen ; C (second player) has already played two, and D one on the first trick. This, with the three held by B, account for eleven cards of the suit. D cannot therefore possibly remain with a master card — e. g. , should he hold the two other cards, one must fall to the second trick and the other to your queen on the third lead. There is, however, the risk of D holding no more, and the other two cards remaining with C, in which case C may remain with a master after the third lead. By retaining the king, B could have prevented this, as the third trick would fall to his Mng, while A retains his queen. Such a combina- tion is, of course, possible, but the probabilities are against the five possible cards amongst the opponents being distributed — four in one hand and one in the other. On the other hand should the five cards be distributed three in one hand and two in the other, or should A's lead have been from six (the information being merely not less than five), B's retaining the king cannot possibly do any good, while it may materially injm-e A's hand by obstructing his command later on ; and this risk is considered to be greater than that of leaving C with a master on the fourth lead. LEADS IN DETAIL. 79 Should B have held four originally, he should play a small one on your second lead of knave, unless he particu- larly wants the lead himself, especially if he wants to lead trumps. Eemaining with a small one in addition to the king after the second round, he cannot possibly obstruct your command, but, on the other hand, you do not require the ■ assistance of his king — e.g., you show five, C played two and D one, which together with B's four, account for twelve ; and the remaining one must, therefore, faU either on the second round (from D) or on the third (from C). But the retention of the king, when it cannot injure your hand, may prove valuable to B later on as a card of re-entry after having established his suit and having no other card with which to obtain the lead. He would then make his established cards and afterwards let you in with the smaU one. B's retention of king wiU also impart valuable information, as, whether your knave makes or is trumped by D, you will know that B remains with king and another. If the former, the opponents can hold no more ; and if the latter, C can only hold one more. Ace, queen, knave, ten. Four in suit : lead ace, then ten, Five or more : lead ace, then knave. With such command in your hand you want your partner to get rid of his king whether you hold five or four only. The second lead of knave will indicate five in suit, though it will conceal the ten — a matter of Uttle consequence when remaining with two master cards after two leads. You, therefore, more conveniently employ the second lead of ten to indicate four only. It will be noted that here the method of indicating numbers is reversed, as, according to that 80 LEADS IN DETAIL, method, the second lead of ten, being the lowest of three cards in sequence, should indicate six in suit. This is, however, inevitable, as the proper card to indicate four only would be queen, and this would induce your partner to retain his king when holding three only, and thus obstruct your command on the third leEid. Ace, king, knave and small : lead as from ace, king and small. The arguments previously considered as to leading ace before king to indicate five or more wiU. apply equally to this case (see p. 67). Another stratagem is frequently employed with this com- bination. It is the accepted rule that when king is led (and makes) and then the suit is changed, to understand it as a lead from ace, king, knave, and that it is intended as a request to your partner to return the suit so as to enable you to finesse the knave. This method is adopted by some players on all occasions, but with very Httle justification. It is a poor excuse for opening a weaker suit, and should only be resorted to when you hold another suit of equal strength (more advantageously from a strong hand generally), or when it seems to you that the finesse is the only chance of saving or w innin g the game. The stratagem is, however, of great importance in trumps when queen is turned up on your right, as wiH be obvious. King, queen and small : lead king. In trumps : lead small. If the king makes, showing that B holds the ace (except for its being held up), lead a small one, which B wiU win LEADS IN DBTAIIi. 81 and leave you with the master. From five or more in suit "Cavendish" says, lead queen. But apart from the objections previously urged, the lead of queen would fre- quently conceal your possession of king. If C wins the trick B would presume the lead to be from queen, knave, ten and others — the admittedly legitimate combination from which queen is led — and would place the king in D's hand. Even if D wins the trick, the fact of his having won with ace would not be conclusive that he does not hold king also. With ace, king, and ten, a fourth player would be justified in playing a false card, in order to encourage another lead from you in the belief that B holds the king, when D must bring in his ten. Whereas a lead of king, whether won by C or D, must indicate possession of queen, as king is only led either from ace, king and others, or from king, queen and others. Many good players pronounce in favour of the lead of king from any number, preferring the disclosing of the command to that of indicating mmibers ; and it seems to me that the strength of reasoning is clearly on their side. King, queen, knave and small. Four in suit : lead king, then knave. Five in suit : lead knave, then king. More than five : lead knave, then queen. A similar order of leads has been fully discussed in the leads from ace, king, queen, and knave. King having dis- closed possession of queen, you lead knave next so that your partner may know that you still retain the command. The opening lead of knave will indicate five in suit and a sequence of at least up to king, and you follow that up with king when holding exactly the minimum number disclosed, and with 82 LEADS IN DETAIL. queen when holding more than the minimum. Should your knave make, you would then lead the small one for your partner's ace and retain the two masters. King, queen, knave, ten. Four in suit : lead king, then ten. Five in suit : lead knave, then king. More than five : lead knave, then queen. These leads being modelled exactly on those already dis- cussed, no further explanation is required {see leads from ace, queen, knave, ten). The critical reader may, however, interpose the following pertinent objection : With such command, you want your partner to get rid of the ace even when you only hold four. From five or more the opening lead of knave answers that purpose fully, whether your partner understands the indications from leads or not, while it maintains the uniform significance of the knave lead. But with four only, the proper lead with that object ,in view should be the ten. The answer to this is, that the opening lead of the ten has an important significance from another combination, and is, indeed, reserved for that combination alone. It is, therefore, deemed more advantageous to post- pone asking your partner to get rid of his ace to the second lead rather than destroy the significance attaching to the lead of the ten. King, knawe, ten and others : lead ten. An exceedingly useful lead. It is not led from any other combination, thus rendering the information quite distinc- tive. It must draw one of the two cards standing in the way of your command ; and should your partner hold one LEADS IN DETAIL. 83 or both of them he will be able to utilize them to the best advantage. Thus, with ace, queen and one small, he would win your ten with the queen, lead out his ace, and remain with a card to let you in, while you retain two commanding cards. Should he hold queen and small ones, he can safely pass your ten, knowing that it must draw the ace or win the trick : and if the former he will, should he obtain the lead before you do, at once lead out his queen so as to enable you to retain the two masters. With ace and small ones he may, should he deem such a course advisable, pass your ten, and if the queen should happen to be with C it can be completely hemmed in. If your ten makes, then B should hold either queen or ace or both, as would not pass if he held both, and you would then lead a small one and retain the command. ' If the ten forces the ace, the queen may still be against you, and your next lead is the king. But if the ten forces the queen, or both ace and queen, your king and knave become of equal value, and you then employ the second lead of knave to indicate five or more in suit, but with four only you lead king. Queen, knave, ten and small. Four in suit : lead queen, then knave. More than four : lead queen, then ten. "Where the- "Cavendish" leads of queen from ace, king, queen, and from king, queen, five or more in suit, are adopted, your partner will, in the majority of cases, learn the nature of your lead either from holding king himself or from its being played by an opponent. To be exact, if we leave out of consideration the contingency previously dealt with p 2 84 LEADS IN DETAIL. of queen being trumped, your partner could not be sure of the character of your lesid in thxee out of a possible ten alternatives — that is, presuming the others to play correctly and without any special reason for misleading. Where king is led from the higher sequences, then the lead of queen has but one significance. Queen, hna/oe, ten, nine. Four in suit : lead queen, then nine. More than four : lead queen, then ten. In either of these cases you want your partner's high card out of the way. The lead of queen will disclose the posses- sion of knave and ten, and you then lead the nine to show that you stUl retain those two — and to ask your partner to play his master card. With five in suit, you play the ten to inform your partner of the fact, on the plan adopted in the preceding, the concealment of the nine being here of no consequence. The method of indicating four and five from this combination is contrary to the usual principle adopted {see lead from king, queen, knave, ten), but is the only practicable one, as the lead of knave after queen from four would induce your partner to retain the command against you. The lead of ten being, then, logically employed to indicate five from queen, knave, ten and small, the same method is followed with this combination, thus leaving the nine the only available card for indicating four, whUe at the same time asking your partner to get rid of the master card. Queen, kncwe, and small, lead small. It has already been explained that nothing can be gained by leading a high card from a sequence of two when, unless LEADS IN DBTAIIu 85 your partner can assist you, both would have to be sacrificed to the opponents' higher cards without the certainty of your being left with the command. If your partner can assist you, then it is more advantageous for the hand holding numerical strength to retain the command. Knave, ten, nine and others. This lead has already been fuUy discussed (pp. 57, 76). Where the lead of knave from the lower sequence is adopted, your second lead will be the ten when four only, and the nine when five or more in suit. If lead of knave is reserved for the higher sequences, as seems more desirable, you can make an exception in the trump suit, as the objection on the score of your partner trumping does not apply. From aU other combinations not included in the preceding. Lead a small card. Further variations in the leads from the trump suit wiU be dealt with later. Lead Your Fourth Best when Opening with a Small Card. We have arrived at the conclusion that an opening lead should be from not less than four cards in the suit, when, except from the combinations enumerated, the lowest is led. If you hold a suit of five you lead the penultimate, and from six you lead the ante-penultimate, and so on — in other words, you open with the fourth best. The risk of such a lead resulting in the loss of the commanding card at 86 LJiADS IN DETAIL. the fourth trick is very slight indeed. On the other hand, if your fourth best is sufficiently high to involve a possibility of loss on this score, it has the compensating advantage of being a "card of protection," should your partner prove utterly weak in the suit — i.e., it prevents D winning the trick too cheaply. Suppose your fourth best card to be the eight or nine (it cannot be higher than nine, as the suit must then faU under the combinations from which high cards are led), and you hold the two also. B, third player, plays a high card, and the trick is won by D. It may so happen that one of your opponents also holds five cards in the suit ; and if B cannot return a high card, you are compelled to play out your high cards and remain with the two — a losing card. Had you opened with the two, B would have played the high card just the same, and you must remain with the master after the fourth trick. But it may equally happen that B holds only the three, four, and five, D holds the six, either in addition to the high cards standing in your way, or the high cards being vrith C. D then wins with the s x, and you have still to contend single-handed against what- ever masters may be out agaiast you. Had you opened with the eight or nine, it would have either made or forced a high card, and as your fifth card must in this case remain a ' ' long " card (when a two is just as good as an ace), you may be a gainer by a trick through leading your fourth best, while you cannot possibly be a loser. It may be argued that such a lead is scarcely defensible when the card is one of two or three in sequence. For instance: you hold king, ten, nine, eight, and three, or queen, ten, nine, eight, and three ; B holds knave and LEADS IN DETAIL, 87 others. By leading the eight you induce him to part with his knave, and you thus endanger your command on the fifth lead to no"purpose. Would it not be better to lead the ten, when B would reserve his knave, which would serve, if necessary, to force the remaining master while you got rid of the small card, and you then remain with three commanding cards? But such an objection has already been fully met when considering the lead of the lower of a sequence from numerical strength. The retention of the high card by a partner in your strong suit is more frequently disadvantageous. If he should retain it tiU the third or fourth trick he may obstruct your command, when you would be unable to bring in the rest of your suit. The lead of the fourth best being thus justified on its own merits, it has the additional importance of being a means of imparting information, not alone of the number held in the suit, but of the actual cards in your hand. Your partner will know that you hold three cards higher than the one you opened with. Thus, you open, say, with the seven. Your partner holds eight, ten, and knave. He plays his ten, which is won with the king. He now knows that you remain with the ace, queen, and nine — -the only three possible higher cards besides his knave. When he gets the lead he leads out the knave, which is now of equal value with your high cards, and when you drop a small card on the second lead he knows that you stiU retain the three masters. If he has not had sufficient practice to see through all this readily, he should in any case be able to register the number remaining in your hand. The lead of the fourth best is frequently spoken of as " The American lead." 88 LEADS IN DETAIL. Inferences from Leads. We ■will now invert the order and see what we can learn from the opening and second leads of the other players. Ace led, means a lead from (1) Ace, queen, knave, fomr or more in suit ; (2) Ace, and not less than four small cards ; Additional "Cavendish" alternative, (3) Ace, Mug, and not less than three small ones. When followed by queen, the leader remains with knave and another only. When followed by knave, he remains with queen and not less than two others. When followed by a small one, he remains with not less than three others. When followed by king ("Cavendish"), he remains with not less than three others. When followed by king and suit changed without any reason disclosed by the play, many players intend it as an indication of holding no more in the suit and a desire to trump in. King led, means a lead from (1) Ace, king, fom: or more in suit ("Cavendish" four only); (2) King, queen, four or more in suit ("Cavendish" four only) ; (3) King, queen, knave, four only in suit. LEADS IN DETAIL. 89 King led by partner (and wins) and the suit changed means a lead from ace, Mng, knave, and a request to you to return the suit, so that he may finesse the knave. No additional information as to numbers can be imparted by the second lead. Queen led, means a lead from (1) Queen, knave, ten, four or more in suit ; Additional "Cavendish" alternatives, (2) King, queen, five or more in suit ; (3) Ace, king, queen, five or more in suit. "When led from the last combination, the second lead of ace means that the leader remains with king and two others exactly ; but the second lead of king means that he remains with ace and not less than three others. Kname led, means a lead from (1) Ace, king, queen, knave, not less than five in suit. (2) King, queen, knave, not less than five in suit. (3) In trumps, also knave, ten, nine, four or more in suit. When followed by ace, the leader remains vyith king, queen, and one more exactly. When followed by king (and it makes) he remains vrith ace, queen, and two more exactly. (If an opponent, holding ace, should have passed the first lead, he would not pass the second.) When followed by queen (and it makes) the leader remains with ace, king, and not less than three others. 90 LEADS m DETAIL. When followed by king, either after the first lead has been won by ace or the second lead drawing the ace, the leader remains with the queen and two others exactly. When foUowed by queen, either first or second lead being won by ace, he remains with king and three or more others. Ten led, means a lead from King, knave, ten, four or more in suit. Small card led, means That the leader holds three cards higher than that led. It a smaller one falls on the second lead (when he either cannot win the trick or it has aheady been won by his partner), he still retains the three higher cards, and so on to subsequent leads. IReturning partner's Xeab. The reader will scarcely need to be told that, when you do not open a suit of your own choosing, you should return your partner's suit, and avoid returning an opponent's suit unless it is your only strong one and you stand a good chance of establishing it against him. If you hold a winning card in an opponent's suit, by all means retain it as long as you can, so as to prevent him establishing the suit. He will then be unable to draw trumps with medium strength in them, as he would have to let you in afterwards. On the other hand, lead out the winning card of your partner's suit at the earliest fitting opportunity, so as to enable him to reserve his strength, even when the risk of obstructing his command with your master card cannot arise. If he should have no means of knowing that the master is in your hand, he may lead a high card to force it, and risk being left with a losing card at the end ; but by leading it you enable him to get rid of the possible losing card. It is, however, an error to return a partner's suit at once, whether or not you hold a strong suit of your own, as so many indifferent players are in the habit of doing. By doing so, you defer estabhshing your suit till late in the hand, thus giving the opponents a chance of establishing theirs first. Suppose your partner leads a suit in which you hold ace, queen, and another. Your queen wins the 92 EETDENING PAETNEE'S LEAD. trick, and you return the ace and then the small one. Your partner's suit is now fully established, but he will probably have to open another suit bUndly, unless he is strong enough to lead trumps with the object of securing the safety of his established cards, or, when an opponent has declared strength in trumps, your partner persists with his suit to force the strong hand. Meanwhile, your suit headed by, say, Mng or queen, with or without other high cards, requires two leads in it to leave you with the com- mand ; but you cannot get these two leads. The opponents get in and establish a suit, and after exhausting trumps, go on making tricks in their established suit. Even if you remain with the long trump, you are obliged to let them in again in your suit. Should an opponent be ultimately compelled to open the third plain suit in which you hold the ace, you still hold no command, and must throw the lead again in their hands. On the other hand, if, when you win your partner's lead with queen, you open your own suit, should your partner win the trick he will return his original suit, which you win with the ace and lead your suit again, when both your own and his suit vrill become estabhshed. Should your partner fail to win the first trick in your suit, and the opponents get in and estabUsh theirs, your long trump wiU enable you to get through the necessary second lead to establish your suit, and your ace in the third suit will procure you a lead later, when your established cards must make. If you remain with a master card only in your partner's suit, it is in most cases advisable to play it out at the first opportunity. Thus, you hold Mng and queen only, and the queen, in the first lead, draws the ace. When you get in EBTUBNING PARTNER'S LEAD. 93 lead out the king and then open your own suit. If you hold ace and king only in your partner's suit, the rule is to ■win the first trick with the ace and then lead out the king. This is an intimation that you hold no more in the suit. The soundness of such play from a strong hand is open to serious doubt, and even from a weak hand the giving away of such information of weakness is by no means an unmixed advantage. If you play the king and it makes, your partner will know that C does not hold the ace. You then endeavour to get out two rounds of your ovyn suit, so as to establish it, and your partner is not Ukely to sacrifice a high card when he leads his suit again, as he would be leading through D, whose game it would be to play the ace if he holds it. The risk of obstructing B's command on the second lead is, of course, much less than if you had to do so on third lead, as he will remain with more chances of obtain ing the lead in the other suits, or an opponent may find himself compelled to let him in, more cards of his suit remaining in their hands. The play in such a case should be contingent upon the merits of the hand and the state of the score. If you want the odd trick only for game and are weak in trumps but fairly strong in the other two plain suits, it wiU be best to give B the intimation that you hold no more of his suit. You then give yourself a chance of trumping in, should B not remain with the full command in his suit, or of discarding a losing card in the other suits. Should the opponents, seeing your desire to trump in, take out trumps, they would probably be playing your game, as you are holding strength in the plain suits between you. If you are weak aU round, it wiU be best to hide the fact as long as you can, and you should, therefore, win with king 94 BETDBOTNG PAETNEB's LEAD. and lead a suit of your own. This you would do at a dis- advantage, but it cannot be helped, as you would have to do the same after playing out the ace and king of B's suit. When, however, you hold no strong suit of your own, and can return a small card of B's suit after' leading out the masters, if any, you will do better to continue his suit ; for though, by doiag this, you give away information of weak- ness, you avoid opening a weak suit to a disadvantage. By returning B's suit you help to establish it, and should D win the trick he must lead up a suit to B. The prompt return of a partner's lead is, therefore, understood to indicate a weak hand. Return the Highest from Three and the Lowest from Four or More. A partner who has not mastered this elementary rule is an abomination. There is scarcely any other whist rule the non-observance of which can confound your partner so much as this. The indications of the number you hold in your own suit he may not expect from you, and ia most cases it will matter little so long as he has the general information that you hold the strength, when the rest will be disclosed as the game progresses ; but he has a right to expect this much of you, nor will the non-expectance help him out of the difficulty. In the first place, you would, by returning the lowest from three, frequently compel him to part with his master while you retain yours to the third lead, when you are EETUENING PAETNEE's LEAD. 95 unable to return the suit. Say your partner leads a small one from king and others, and you hold queen, knave, and three, you play the knave, vsrhich forces the ace, and presently return the three. He must play his king while you remain with queen only. It is true that he would have to play the king when you return a small one from four origiaally ; but you would then remain with a card to let him in after making the queen. The reader will easily be able to apply this to many other combinations. In the second place, you may prevent him irom making a successful finesse. Your partner leads a small one from ace and three others. You hold knave, ten, and another. Your ten forces the queen, leaving it uncertain whether king is with one or the other of the opponents. If you return the small one your partner must play the ace and the opponents king remains master, to which your knave must fall, whereas if you return the knave, your partner may pass it when the state of his hand or the score justifies it, and if king should happen to be with C, your knave wiU make and the king may fall to the ace. It is true that B wiU have to play the ace on your small one when you return from four, leaving the king master, but you then have at least the compensating advantage of remaining with the command on the fourth lead. When the cards remaining in your hand are too small to be of any use in this respect, you can stiU impart important information by your lead. Thus, if you return a five and on the third roimd you drop the four, B wiU know that you hold no more, having returned the higher from the remaining two. If you return the four and on the third lead you drop the five, you remain with at least one more higher than those 96 EETUENIN& PAETNEE'S LEAD. two. Sometimes he would not have to wait for the third lead before deciding whether you held three or more to start with. If you win the first trick and return, say, the six, which B wins, if he is a good player he will watch for the fall of the two and three unless he holds them himself. If the opponents are not calhng for trumps and have not played what is obviously a card of protection, both those cards would be played on the two leads if held by them. The one that does not fall must, therefore, be in your hand ; but as you have returned a higher one, you must remain with that one only. If B holds either or both of those small cards himself, he will watch for the fall of the next lowest in the same way. This is one illustration of the importance of watching for the small cards. A digression may here be permitted to give another illustration. B leads the ace, and the two does not fall on the trick, B not holding it himself. One of the three players is caUing for trumps, and he wiU at once 'be on his guard. If he follows that up with a small one, which you win, and neither of the opponents completed a call {see p. 49), unless D played a card which may possibly be a card of protection, he will know that you are caUing for trumps. The fact of your then opening a plain suit would not contradict it, the correct indication being that you want a trump led through D, he having turned up an honour against which there is a certain finesse, or that you desire a finesse in any case. But important as the information gained from the returned card may be in plain suits, its value in the trump suit can scarcely be over-estimated. One comes occa- sionally across people professing to play a good game at EBTUENING PAETNEe's LEAD. 97 whist who yet have scarcely emerged from the " bumble- puppy " stage. These people are, as a rule, best left to their delusion, for if you dare to hint that there is some- thing yet left for them to learn you will incur their special aversion. When, however, the embryo player seems anxious to learn, or one is egged on to test his knowledge of the game, this is invariably the practical test question I employ. " It suits your partner's hand to get trumps out, and he leads a small one from king and three others. You play queen, which draws the ace, the other opponent having followed suit. On obtaining the lead you return trumps your partner winning with the king, again aU following suit. Partner now leads a third round, when only one opponent and yourself follow suit. Eleven trumps have now been played, your partner remains with the master trump, and there is one more to come. How is your partner to know to a certainty whether the remaining trump is in your or the opponent's hand ? You will see the importance of this knowledge — for if in the opponent's hand he should draw it, but if in your hand he should leave it for you to trump in with if necessary, imless he is absolutely sure that he remains with the whole command. " The answer generally given is something after this style : " Well — h'm — er, he would probably know from the fall of the cards." " How?" "By watching the card played by the opponent in the third lead. " " But supposing he can draw no conclusion from that. Is there not an infallible way of imparting this information ?" " Well, er — I do not see that there is." The reader wiU, of course, require no further explanation. Curiously enough, some of these 98 EETUENING PABTNEE'S LEAD. people will give the correct answer if you put to them the direct question, "What card would you return in your partner's lead ?" This shows how next to useless it is to acquire rules without the reasons on which they are based and the purposes to which they should be appHed ; and it is with the object of enforcing the moral that this piece of egoism has been intruded. The f oUowiug illustration wiU show further how important information can be gained by the return of the highest from three in trumps, together with watching for the fall of small cards. C dealt, turning up the ten. B leads a small trump, say from ace, knave, and two others. You play the queen, which wins the trick. B, holding knave, now knows that the dealer has nothing higher than the ten. You return the sis, on which the dealer drops a small card, B wins with the ace, and D follows suit. Eight trumps have been played, B remains with knave and another, and the dealer stiU holds the ten, which he turned up. Eleven trumps are thus accounted for. But how about the remaining two, viz. , king aad another ? The dealer cannot hold both, or he would have won the first trick with king, but he may hold the small one in addition to the ten. In such case the king must be with D, or you woidd have returned it instead of the sis — holding only three. Or both king and the smaU one may be in your hand, your return of the sis being the lowest from four. Or both may be with D, you holding no more. Or the king may be in D's hand and the small one in yours. Now, it may be of the utmost importance to your partner to know how those two trumps are placed. If two trumps are in an opponent's hand, he must not take out a third lead, even if he can be sure of remaining with the BETUENING PAETNES's LEAD. 99 master afterwards, as his trump may be forced and the opponents would then remain with the long trump and an estabhshed suit. But if they are divided or both in your hand, he should take out another round, as his Temaining trump must obtain him the lead, and the opponents will have no trump left to break through his estabhshed suit. " How is he to know ?" you will say. Why, by watching the fall of the small cards. Suppose the two does not fall on the first lead, or if it does, the three does not fall on the second. The missing card must be in your hand, else an opponent would have played it. The position of the remain- ing trumps is now clear. If you held king in addition to the two or the three which he knows to be in your hand, you would have returned the lower card instead of the six, being the lowest from four originally. But as you have re> turned the sis, you remain with the smaller one only, and the king is with D. The third lead must therefore draw all the remaining trumps and leave your partner with the thirteenth. Had you returned the smaller card no such conclusion Tvould have been possible. The critical reader will see how this result could have been frustrated by the dealer playing the ten on the second trick, as it stands but the most remote chance of taking a trick. It may, indeed, be laid down as a general rule that when trumps are led by an opponent, a high trump which stands no reasonable chance of winning a trick should be thrown away, to mislead the opponents. The above analysis will suggest to the reader another instance when B would be able to acquire the requisite in- formation from the first or second lead. This will happen 'when you are dealer yourself and either lead or return a G 2 100 BETUENING PABTNEE'S LEAD. smaller trump than the one you turned up, when he wiU know that you hold not less than four. This rule of the return lead is, like every other rule, Hable to exceptions. Thus, you return the actual master card whether from three or more originally. Say you hold ace, queen, and two others and win the first trick with queen, you lead ace when you return the suit. There is no certainty of your partner having opened from king, but only a probability, and if the king should be with D you lose the second trick, while the ace may be trumped on the third ; the more so as both yourself and partner hold numerical strength, leaving less among the opponents. Equally, if you hold king and queen, your queen forcing the ace, you lead king when you return the suit. You also return the highest from four if you remain with second and third best. Thus, if you hold queen, knave, ten and another, your ten forcing the ace, you return queen, not the small one. The primary reason for returning the highest from three is to enable your partner to husband his strength ; and conversely, if you hold four or more you are justified in reserving your own strength, and you play, to this extent, as if you were opening the suit. But when holding two cards in sequence which must force the master and leave you with a commanding card, you would lead a high one if it were your original lead. In the case under consideration B should hold the king, but, again, this is not absolutely certain, and you, there- fore, lead a card which will force it if against you. More- over you will remain with a small card to let B in after the third lead. Indeed, it may often happen that, supposing your queen makes on the second lead, the third lead may show that the opponents hold no more in the suit, when it EETUENING PAHTNBE'S LEAD. 101 will be necessary for you to play your knave on your partner's king so as not to obstruct his command. Avoid returning your partner's suit if you won the first trick in it cheaply. The strength lies between B and D and by leading up to D you distress B's hand. On the other hand, if you won a trick cheaply in C's lead you will register that suit as a good one to lead when you have nothing better to lead in your own or B's suit. D being weak, you distress C's hand by leading through it. A suit from which D has originally discarded should also be regis- tered as a good one to lead after trumps have been taken out, or when it is necessary to force D's hand (but see chapter on "Discarding"). The arguments as to returning B's suit assume, of course, an ordinary lead from strength. When B leads what is obviously a strengthening card from weakness (generally later in the hand), you must use your discretion as to returning the lead, based on inferences gathered from the play. Seconb lbanb'6 pla^. We are already familiar with the main reasons for plaj'- ing a low card second hand. Say you hold king and two or more small ones. If C holds ace you would he throwing your king away by playing it, but by holding it up you would remain with the master, as C must play his high card to prevent B winning cheaply. If C holds queen as weU, he wiU. finesse it ; but here also you must lose if you play the king, but will probably make it on the third round if you hold it up. Should B hold the ace, you not only remain with the master, but increase your own and B's chance of establishing another card in the suit, as C would have to sacrifice his high card to draw B's ace, and, shoidd second lead be returned by C, D wiU have to sacrifice a high card to draw your king. Of course, the leader may have opened from ace and three others, in which case you would have made your king on the first lead, but diminish the chance of its taking a trick by holding it up, as it may be trumped on the third lead. There are, however, two chances to one in favour of holding it up. Further, as the leader is presumed to have opened from strength, it is better that the high card likely to stand in the way of his command should remain in your hand rather than in B's, so as to prevent the leader finessing successfully. For instance : you play king, which wins the trick, and leave B with queen and another. If the second lead comes from SECOND hand's PLAT. 103 C, D will finesse the knave and B's queen will then fall to the ace ; whereas, if you hold up king, B's queen will win the first trick and the leader cannot finesse against you. The argument will work out much the same if you hold queen and others or knave and others. With smaller cards you may have no chance, or next to none, of remaining with a trick in the suit, but you stiU observe the same rule : first, because of consistency in play ; secondly, because, as we have seen, a good partner can learn much from the fall of small cards ; and thirdly, it enables you to call for trumps, by reversing the method (see p. 49). It will, however, be obvious that you would not play a small card if you held a sequence of high cards. Thus, with ace and king, or king and queen, or queen, knave, and ten, together with smaller cards, you would in each case play the lowest of your sequence. If you do not hold the actual winning cards (ace and king) your high card prevents G winning cheaply, should B be weak. We may here repeat the maxim used in regard to opening leads : ' ' Ask for your partner's help when you must, but help yourself when you can." When the cards in your own hand can force the master or masters and then leave you with a winning card, you have no right to incur a risk on the mere chance of your partner holding the high card. When your sequence is not such as to ensure your remaining with a winning card after forcing the higher ones, your play depends upon whether you are mnnerically strong or weak in the suit. Thus, with queen, knave, or knave, ten, you should play the lower of your sequence if you hold no more than three, but a small one if four or more. Say 104 SECOND hand's PLAT. you hold queen, knave, and three. If the leader should have opened from king and others and the ace is in B's hand, a small card — perhaps a seven or eight — may force his ace if you do not play one of your sequence. With knave and ten you take a similar precaution in case the leader should have opened from ace, queen, and two small ones, the king heing in B's hand. "With ten and nine, you may save B's high card ifthe leader should have opened from ace, knave, and two small ones, king and queen being in B's hand. It is true that the risk of B's high card being forced is the same if you play a small one from four or more, but then you leave yourself with a good chance of remaining with one or two masters later on. Briefly, with weakness you play to save yom* partner's strength, but with strength you leave him to save yours. Any sequence lower than ten and nine is practically useless for protection, and you, therefore, play the lowest. The playing of the nine or ten as a card of protection involves, however, the risk of B mistaking it for a call, and you should, therefore, take the precaution of contradicting it, if necessary (see p. 51). When holding king and another only, or queen and another only, the preponderance of opinion among good players is to play the small one from the former, but the queen from the latter. You stand to lose by not playing king (1) if B holds the ace and must play it to win the trick, when, even if C has to play a high card to force B's ace, it would have been better to leave B with the command, you being weak. You would also lose (2) if the leader holds the ace and C should win the trick, or (3) if B wins the trick but could have reserved his strength to advantage (say, with queen and three others) had you played king. You SECOND hand's PLAY. 105 stand to win by holding up king (1) if C holds ace, but not queen also, when he would play his ace and leave your king master. Also (2), if B holds ace, knave, and others, and has to sacrifice his queen to draw B's ace, when .the second trick must fall to your king and third to B's knave ; whereas, if you play your king, wiU reserve his queen, and if he returns the lead later, B, crediting the original leader with the queen, must play his ace, and the opponent's queen wiU remain master. Also (3), if B, holding ace and others, wins the trick cheaply and the second lead should come again from D, B would probably remain with ace after the second trick ; whereas, if you play the king, the original leader, should he have opened from quesn, knave, and small, win lead one of his sequence to force B's ace and remain with the command. Also (4), if original leader opens from knave and others, C holds quesn, and B ace, ten, and others ; when, if returns the lead, D will probably play the knave to force your king (as he cannot know that you hold the king only), and your partner's ten will remain master. In any other alternative you would neither gain nor lose by holding up the king. The late Mr. E. A. Proctor's analysis of the possible gains and losses by playing queen from queen and another only is exceedingly curious. Where the play presents neither gain nor loss he calls it " throwing queen away," and classes it amongst the losses. The correct analysis will, I think, be found as foUows, it being understood, of course, that the leader would not open with a small one if he held both ace and king : — D leads, A being the second player. 1. If holds ace and king... ... ... neither gain nor loss 106 SECOND HANDS PLAT. 2. If holds ace and D king 3. If D holds ace and C king 4. If B holds ace and king... 5. If C is weak and B holds ace 6. If C is weak and B holds king 7. If C holds king and B ace 8. If C holds ace and B king In neither gain nor loss )j J) " distinct gain probable gain distinct loss possible loss No. 4 case, your playing the queen enables B to reserve his ace and king. In No. 5, your playing the queen prevents B's ace being forced. In No. 6, you prevent B's king being forced, when it may make on the third round. In No. 7, the king would faU to the ace and leave your queen master. In No. 8, should the second lead come again from D, you would make the queen while B reserves his king. The analysis thus shows a ' ' probable gain " to the good. There is, then, the objection to playing queen that it wiU in most cases expose your weakness to the opponents, and enable them to finesse against you. You should, therefore, be guided to your decision by the general state of your hand and the score. If you are generally weak and it does not suit you that trumps should be taken out of your hand, you had better hide your weakness as long as possible. With knave and another some play knave as a card of protection, but it is open to the objection of exposing your weakness. The expediency of covering an honour wiU also depend upon whether you are strong or weak in the suit. Thus, queen led and you hold king and another only, it would be useless to pass, as C would not play ace on his partner's queen {see p. 113). With three only in the suit your chances of gaining by passing are very small. If B holds ace you do better to let him keep it, whUe if C holds it, your king is SECOND hand's PLAY. 107 completely hemmed in, the lead being in all probabiHty from queen, knave, ten, and others (see p. 83). But with four or more in suit you stand a chance of outlasting D and remain- ing with a master on the fourth lead ; and should ace be in B's hand you have strength to reserve. You apply a similar argument to covering knave with queen (either late in the hand or when led from knave, ten, nine, etc. ). If you hold ace, queen, and others, the same reasoning will apply as to playing queen on a small card first lead. With strength you can do better by holding up, but with weak- ness you take the chance of a finesse. If an honour is led and you hold the ace, you should, as a rule, play the ace. On the second round of a suit you should, as a rule, play your master card, unless you have some special reason for holding up, otherwise you risk its being trumped on the third lead. The conclusions arrived at presuppose, indeed, the absence of special -conditions which may modify every whist rule. Some of these conditions will be dealt with later {see Chap, on "Underplay, and Holding Up"). The reader who has thoroughly mastered the system of opening leads will, however, be able to reason out certain modifications arising from the inferences drawn as to the caids held by the leader. 1. Ten led, and you hold ace, queen, and others. The lead being from king, knave, ten, and others, your queen must win the trick. 2. Nine led, and you hold king and another only. The leader holds three cards higher than the nine, and the lead must, therefore, be either from ace, queen, ten, and nine, or from ace, knave, ten, and nine. (From ace, queen, 108 SECOND hand's plat. knave, and nine the lead -woiild be ace, and from queen, knave, ten, and nine the lead would be queen.) Your king must, therefore, win the trick. With more than two in suit you would pass, in case the lead is from ace, knave, ten, and nine, and B should hold queen, as your king must make on the third round. 3. Nine led, and you hold king, knave, and one small. The lead is from ace, queen, ten, and nine, and your knave must win. If you play the small one you make the opponents a present of a trick. 4. Eight led, and you hold ace, queen, ten, and small. The lead is from king, knave, nine, eight. Your ten must win, and two of his high cards are hemmed in. 5. Eight led, and you hold ace, king, and ten. The lead is from queen, knave, nine, eight. Your ten must make, and you remain with ace and king. 6. Eight led, and you hold king, queen, and ten. The lead is from ace, knave, nine, and eight, and your ten must make. Here it really makes no difference which card you win with, except that by winning with the ten C's weakness is exposed. 7. Eight led, and you hold ace, ten, and a small one. The lead is either from king, knave, nine, eight, or from queen, knave, nine, eight. (From king, queen, nine, eight, with or without others, the lead would be a high card.) Should B hold the remaining honour, your ten must win while he reserves the honour. Your ace wiU. then win on the second round, while B's honour may make either on the third or fourth round ; whereas, if you play the small card, the eight forces B's honour, and you can only make the ace, as D remains with two honours. On the other SECOND hand's PLAT. 109 hand, you can lose nothing by playing the ten if the remain- ing honour is with C. 8. Bight led, and you hold knave, nine, and one small. The lead is from ace, queen, ten, eight. ( From ace, king, queen, eight, or from ace, king, ten, eight, or from king, queen, ten, eight, the lead would be a high card. ) You cannot lose by playing the nine, but if B holds king, your nine will make, and his king may make on the third round ; whereas, if you ido not cover, the eight wiU force his king, and your nine and knave must fall to the ace and queen. 9. Bight led, and you hold an honour, the ten, and one small. Such a lead is from two honours. You can lose nothing by playing the ten, while it may save B's high card being forced, 10. Seven led, and you hold ace, queen, knave, eight, and small. The lead is from king, ten, nine, seven. Your eight must make and all his cards are hemmed in. 11. Seven led, and you hold king, queen, knave, and eight. The lead is from ace, ten, nine, seven, and your eight must make. Here, again, it makes no difference which card you win with, except that winning with the eight vdll expose C's weakness. This is important information, as B will then confidently lead the suit through D, when he has no better lead of his own. 12. Six led, and you hold knave, ten, eight, seven, and a small one. The lead is from ace, queen, nine, six. Should B hold the king, your seven will win the trick, while he reserves 110 SECOND hand's PLAY. his king, which may make on the third round and leave you then with knave and ten. You will be able to draw similar inferences from an opponent's second lead after the lead of ace. Suppose the second lead is a seven, and you remain with king, queen, and nine. The leader, who has opened from five, can only remain with knave, ten, and eight. Your nine must, there- fore, win and leave you with king and queen. With ace, king, knave, and others, you play king on first lead, but if the second lead comes again from D, it is generally advisable to finesse the knave. You do not finesse on the first because the second lead may possibly come from C (though that would be bad play, as you have disclosed holding ace), and you in any case defer the finesse on the chance of being able to gain more definite information. The leader's persistence with the suit is also some small indication of his holding the queen. With ace, queen, knave, you would obviously finesse the knave. With ace, knave, ten, and others, the finesse of the ten is useless, as either king or queen must be with C or B. In trumps, however, the ten is a proper finesse, as a smaU one is led from king, queen, and small. This will suggest further variations in the playing of trumps second hand, on account of their being led differently, thus nullifying some of the inferences which can be drawn from the lead in plain suits ; and also because of the advisability of holding up strength, so as to retain the commanding trump late in the hand. Alterations on account of the "turn up" will be too obvious to need explanation. ^birb 1banb'6 pla^. We have so frequently had occasion to discuss incidentally the play of third hand that the main points will be familiar to the reader. That you should play a high card on a small one led ; that you should not finesse in your partner's suit, except with ace, queen, and others ; that you should be particularly careful not to retain the master card when you have reason to conclude that he holds the second best unless you have a small card remaining with which to let him in afterwards, we already know, and the reasons why. If you know that your partner follows the system of leads previously discussed, you assume that he holds three cards higher than the small one led. By referring back to examples 1 to 12 given in discussing the second hand's play (p. 107), you will then see how the cards in your own hand may frequently enable you to know the exact cards held by your partner. You will then be able to judge accurately the best course to foUow for securing tricks while at the same time not obstructing his command. If he opens with a high card, you wiU infer it to be from the legitimate combination, and play accordingly. This is, in a greater or less degree, subject to the reservation that your partner may have been compelled to open a weak suit, as when his only four-card suit consists of very small cards indeed, or when his suit of moderate strength has been previously opened by an opponent, especially from his right. 112 THIBD hand's play. when he would have to lead up to strength. You must, therefore, be on your guard against assuming too con- fidently a lead from strength when several tricks have already been played. Should your partner have won the first trick in your lead and returned the suit at once, instead of opening a suit of his own — unless he has returned a winning card with the obvious intention of enabling you to reserve your strength — ^you should conclude that he holds no strong suit ; and if later he gets in and leads a knave or a ten, you assume it to be the highest from a weak suit. When there is no reason for assuming weakness, you have no choice but to credit your partner with having opened from one of the combinations enumerated. To take one or two simple examples : If queen is led and you hold ace, king, and one small, you conclude that your partner remains vrith knave, ten, and at least one other, and win, therefore, play the king on his queen so as not to obstruct his command later. If you hold ace and king only and wish to inform your partner of the fact, you should win with ace and return the king (see p. 93). If he leads knave (where not led from the lower sequence) and you hold ace and another only, you know that he remains with king, queen, and not less than two others, and will, there- fore, win with ace, so as to leave the command in his hand. With ace and two small ones you wiU pass. If ten is led, you know your partner to hold king and knave. Should you hold ace and small ones, you have this problem before you : If queen is with C, you do best to play the ace, as you then enable B to finesse the knave when you return the suit ; whereas if you pass, the queen wins the trick. On the other hand, if the queen is THIRD hand's plat. 113 with D, you do best to pass, when the ten must wm the trick and by leaving B to continue the suit, D's queen is hemmed in ; whereas if you play the ace, his queen will make on the third round. As the chances are quite even, it seems to me you should be guided by whether you want the lead yourself or would rather be led up to. If the latter, you pass, and should C hold queen he must then lead up to you, while if the queen is with D it cannot make except by sheer strength of numbers, in which case a small card would probably have served the same purpose. If you hold ace and queen only, you should win with ace and at once return the queen. This is understood to indicate that you hold no more in suit. If you hold queen and small ones you wiU play a small one. Then, if C holds the ace, the ten wiU force it, and when you obtain the lead you should lead out the queen, so that B may retain king and knave. Should D hold the ace, B's ten must make, and, when he sees that, he wiU follow up with a small card, knowing that the strength hes between D and your- self. When you hold ace, queen, and one small, you should win with queen and open your own suit. When B leads his suit again, he wiU lead a small one, knowing that the ace must be either in your or in D's hand, and if the latter, it would be his game to play it on the second round, unless he holds the nine also. If B leads queen and you hold ace and smaU ones, you should pass the queen. Should king be with D it will then probably be hemmed in, as B would continue the lead with a card from his sequence, when you would still refuse to part with your ace unless D covers with the king. On the other hand, if C holds the king, you could seldom gain any- 114 THIRD hand's play. thing by playing the ace, as he would then retain his king. If B leads knave, and you hold king and small ones, you should also play a small one. The lead not being from the higher sequence (you holding king), is probably a strengthen- ing card from weakness. Then, it D holds both the ace and queen, B's knave will make. If C holds both, your king would be thrown away ; whereas by holding it you may make it later. If D holds queen and C ace, the knave will force the ace and leave your king master. If D holds ace and C queen, your king would have won the trick, but in this case your king must remain master on the third round, and it may prove to your advantage to retain the commanding card against the opponents till late in the hand. A high card led late in the hand, and particularly if B has previously opened another suit, is more probably a strengthening lead from a weak suit. At that stage you will have to exercise careful judgment as to finessing, which should be always contingent upon the general state of your hand, and the score. In the second round of a suit the fall of the cards on the first round wUl probably have furnished some data on which to base your decision as to a finesse. But this will receive separate treatment under the heading of " Finessing. " Ifourtb 1banb'6 pla^. The fourth player has simply to win the trick as cheaply as possible, and if he cannot win, to play his lowest card, unless he wishes to call for trumps (see p. 49). With ace, knave, and others, king led, he may hold up {see p. 43). Some players hold up also with ace, ten, and others to king led. Should C have opened from king, queen, and small ones, and the knave be with B, you wiU make your ten on the second round if C continues the suit. The gain is here somewhat problematical, as should B hold two others besides the knave, he wiU make it on the third round, and you will have taken two tricks in the suit all the same. But should the lead have been from king, queen, knave, and one small one, C, inferring the ace to be with D, wiU probably lead his small one, when your ten will make. If you know that an opponent is in the habit of holding up with such a suit, you should follow up the king with knave. You then make sure of your queen being the winning card on the third round, with the chance of remaining with the long card afterwards ; whereas, by leading the smaU one you would, in such a case, only remain with the winning card on the fourth round, when, unless you are strong enough in trumps to disarm the opponents, it will be trumped. With king, queen, and small ones you have no choice except to lead the small one — and, ace, knave, and ten being against you, you cannot reaUy expect to make H 2 116 POUETH hand's plat. more than one trick in the suit, and the chance of remaining ■with the long card. Occasions may arise late in the hand when fourth player should refuse to win a trick, especially in trumps, or when he should win a trick already won by his partner, either to secure the lead or, primarily, with the object of getting rid of a commanding card in his partner's suit. The necessity for refusing to win a trick will often happen when you hold a tenace — i. e. , the best and third best. Say you remain with ten, seven, and five of trumps, and the opponent leads the nine and remains with eight and six. If you win the nine you must lose the other two, but if you play the five and leave the lead in his hand, you must win the other two. The same will apply to a tenace in plain suits when there are no trumps out against you, or when you hold the master trumps and are sure that your opponent must lead up to your tenace. These points will work out equally when you are second player. Such exceptions, however, depend upon inferences drawn from the previous fall of the cards, and no rules can, therefore, be laid down. Further considerations as to fourth player holding up late in the hand wiU be dealt with more appropriately under the heading "Underplay, and Holding Up." XeaMno from Meak Suits. We already know that when you are compelled to open a weak suit, either as a first lead or later in the hand, you should open with the highest. I need scarcely say that you wiU choose your strongest weak suit. "With a suit of three headed by nothing higher than knave or ten you can lose nothing by leading your highest if B should be also weak in the suit ; whereas, if he should happen to be strong, your high card may enable him to reserve his strength. With queen, knave, and a small one, you should lead the queen. If the ace and king are both against you, the only occasions when you would do better by leading the small one are (1) when B happens to hold the ten bare {i.e., the only one in the suit), which would force the ace or king and leave you with a certain trick on the third round ; whereas, by leading queen, the ten falls on the first trick and you lay yourself open to a finesse if the suit be led through you on the second round. If B should hold (2) ace bare, or (3) king bare, you would also gain by the lead of the small one. With these rare exceptions, you can gain nothing by leading the small card. If B is very weak, your small card would be won with a smaU one. If he holds ten and two others, his remaining with the ten on the third round is just as good as joxir remaining with queen. If he holds ten' and more than two others it is much more advantageous that he should hold the master on the third round. If he holds ten and another 118 LEADING FROM WEAK SUITS. only, you stUl lose nothing by leading queen, as he will retain his ten, and if the second lead comesi through you, you will play the small one, when either his ten must make or yoxn: knave be left master. On the other hand, if he should hold ace, or king, or both, together with others, or even only numerical strength in small cards, you will help him materially by leading a high card. If he holds ace and others and the king is with C, you stand a good chance of capturing the king, as B will pass your queen if C does not cover with king, and you would foUow it up with knave (see p. 113). From queen and two small ones opinion is stUl somewhat divided as to the best lead. It is contended that, should B be weak, you gain nothing by leading the queen, but run the risk of establishing the opponent's suit. Granting that you could have done no better by leading the small one, so far as securing a trick with the queen is concerned, you have the advantage that the opponents cannot be sure of their suit being established until they get out two more rounds. On the other hand, there is the objection that the lead of a small card will deceive your partner into assuming it to be from strength. No very confident opinion can be expressed upon the matter. There is also some difference of opinion as to the lead from king and two small ones ; but here, I think, the argument is in favour of leading the small one, as, in addition to avoiding the risk of establishing the opponent's suit at once, you have a chance of making the king later, even if B is weak also, should the ace happen to be with D. From ace and two smaU ones you should lead the small one. If you are compelled late in the hand to open from king and another only, or from LEADING FEOM WEAK SUITS. 119 queen and another only, you should lead the king or queen respectively. There are, however, occasions when you should certainly lead your king or queen from three in suit. When B has shown strength in trumps, by leading or calHng, and the opponents have shown strength in two plain suits, you conclude that B's strength must be in the third plain suit, and you should then unhesitatingly lead your king or queen of that suit. Thus, B leads a trump, which C wins anid opens a suit. You win the trick and lead out your only remaining trump. This is won by D, who now opens another plain suit, in which you get the lead. You should now lead your king or queen in the third plain suit. Again, D opens a suit ; C wins the trick and leads a suit of his own. Two rounds are then played, and B completes a call. When the lead faUs into your hand later, when you either have no more trumps to lead or it is not desirable to take out another round of trumps, you will lead your king or queen in third plain suit. You foUow the rule of opening with the highest from three even if the card is too smaU to assist your partner, for the sake of imparting information. This your partner will generally be able to gather from the second round, when you either yourself lead a smaller card than the one you opened with, or even when you drop a smaller one on an opponent's lead, as by that time he will probably be able to know that you could not have held five in the suit {see " Leading Fourth Best"). When you open with a high card he will also in most cases know that you have not opened from the legitimate combination in strength, either from a card in his own hand or from one played by an opponent. 120 LEADING FEOM WEAK SUITS. and will, therefore, conclude that you have led a strengthen- ing card from weakness. Thus if you lead ten and either knave or king is disclosed, he vdU know that it is not a lead from the legitimate combination. It you lead knave he wiU know it when either queen or king is disclosed {sSe " Inferences from Leads"). Ifincssing, ant> plaining to tbe Score. The term "finessing" has a somewhat ambiguous signifi- cance. When, for instance, you attempt to win a trick with queen as second player, holding ace, queen, etc., on the chance of king being with D, you are finessing ; and you are also finessing when you similarly play queen of trumps, king having been turned up by D. Obviously, the latter, being a certainty, can lay no claim to being a finesse, in the usual meaning of the term. To coin a fresh term covering such a case would, however, be impracticable, as a finesse is in the majority of cases based on inferences drawn from previous play, constituting various degrees of probabihty, from a slight presumption to a virtual certainty. The mere fact, for instance, of the player on your right having opened an original lead from a suit in which you hold ace and queen, offers some indication of his holding king, he being credited with having opened from strength. Now take the other extreme. B opens a suit in which you hold ace, queen, and knave, and your knave wins the trick. If he leads the suit again, your queen should be a certain trick. This, of course, does not amount to the certitude given by the knowledge of D having turned up the king. C may have some special reason for holding up king ; or he may be one of those who play carelessly ; or one of those who hold their cards jumbled up anyhow, instead of 122 FINESSING, AND PLATING TO THE SCORE. sorting them carefully, and has just managed to overlook that he holds the king.* Now take a case of a finesse on the mere chance. You open a suit headed by king, knave ; B wins with ace and returns a smaU one. The queen is certainly not in B's hand, but whether on your right or left no inference whatever can be drawn. Finessing on the mere chance should, speak- ing in general terms, be confined to the following cases : — 1. When you can lose nothing by the finesse proving unsuccessful. 2. When vnthout the finesse you must lose the odd trick, but will win it if the finesse should succeed. You then often choose the finesse, though if it should prove un- successful you wiU lose two instead of one. But this wiU depend upon the state of the score. If your opponents are at three, you should let them make the odd trick and make sure of saving the game, rather than attempt to win the odd trick and risk losing the game outright. 3. When a successful finesse wiU vyin you the game, but you can only make the odd trick without it. You may then finesse, though the penalty of non-success is giving the odd trick to the opponents. This, again, wiU obviously depend upon the state of the score. If the opponents are four to your three, you had better be sure of making it four all than risk losing the game. You would finesse aU the more readily if your opponents are at love, one, or two. 4. You will always finesse when it is your only chance of saving the game. When your opponents are at four and a * While on this point, it would be as well to impress upon the learner that the hand should not 'Only be sorted in suits, but the cards in each suit placed in proper rotation according to their value, and the colours kept alternately, as clubs- diamonds — spades — hearts. FINESSING, AND PLATING TO THE SCOEB. 123 successful finesse is your only chance of securing the odd trick, you finesse, however remote the chance of its proving successful may be — you can no more than lose in any case. 5. Finally, you should not finesse when you can make sure of the odd trick without the finesse, but may lose it if you finesse unsuccessfully, unless it is to win a game, as the loss of the odd trick makes a difference of two to the score. This is what is meant by playing to the score, and one can scarcely impress it too strongly upon the beginner to accustom himseU to look to the board and play accordingly. Simple as the thing looks on paper, experience has proved that it takes a considerable amount of drilling before one gets to appreciate it and to act up to it habitually. Indeed, every player begins with the fault of "trick grabbing," without any view to the consequences to the two hands or to the game as a whole. Their horizon is too circum- scribed, but it constantly widens out with practice and an intelligent grasp of the points involved. But finessing is not the only problem presenting ifself as a consequence of the position of the score. If you see that the game must be lost unless your partner holds a certain card or cards, or unless certain given cards are distributed in a particular way, you straightway play as if you knew such to be the fact. Take one or two simple illustrations. The score is at four all ; both sides have made five tricks ; you remain with two losing trumps and a long card ; the two winning trumps are with the opponents, but whether in one hand or divided there is nothing to show. If' you lead the long card you must lose, but if you lead a trump you win if the other two are divided, and can no more than lose if both are in one hand. But if you are at the score of 124 FINESSING, AND PLATING TO THE SCOEE. four to the opponent's three, you should make sure of four all rather than attempt to win the game and risk losing it, and you would lead yoiu- long card. The score is at four all ; you have five tricks and the opponents four ; you remain with a losing trump (heart), a losing diamond, and the tenace in spades. You know that C holds the winning (and only other) trump, and the remaining two spades. What his fourth card is and how the remaining cards are distributed is uncertain, except that B cannot hold any master, he having previously allowed C to win cheaply both in diamonds and clubs. If you lead the master spade you must lose the other three tricks and the game. If you lead the trump, you in aU probability also lose, as C is sure not to lead spades up to you if he can help it, but would lead his fourth card to let D in, when he must make all the tricks. There is, however, just the chance that his fourth card may be a master card, when after making it, he would be compelled to lead up to your tenace in spades, and you take this odd chance. But should the score stand at your four to the opponents' three, your game would be to make sure of " four aU " rather than risk losing the game. If the opponents are at love, some would prefer to make a bid for game at the risk of losing two instead of one. But even early in the hand you may have to play on the assumption that your partner is strong, as otherwise the game is lost in any case. There are some players who do not habitually lead out " singletons," but yet always lead their single trump. If asked why, the answer is, "I'd only got that one " — another illustration of the absurdities one is led into by getting hold of a meaningless rule. It FINESSING, AND PLATING TO THE SCORE. 125 often is advisable to lead out a single trump, but this must be justified by the state of the score and one's hand. When you see that there is no chance of saving the game unless your partner is strong all round, you straightway assume him to be so, and in such case a trump lead is what he wants. Nothing else will justify the leading out of a single trump, as the chances of strength are two to one against your partner, and you would more often than not play the opponents' game for them by leading out the trump. Whether you should finesse or not wiU often depend upon your strength in trumps. An unsuccessful finesse involves the rislc of your master card being trumped on the next round. But with strength in. trumps you have the power of disarming the opponents when you next obtain the lead. As finessing depends upon inferences drawn from the fall of the cards, anything Uke a systematic analysis is, of course, impossible. A few of the more salient instances may, however, be advantageously dealt with. 1. When you hold second and fourth best you should (practically) always finesse. Thus, you open from queen, ten, and others ; B wins with king and returns a small one. The ace being certainly in C's hand, you should finesse the ten. If he holds knave also you can do no better by playing queen ; but should knave be with D, the ten must force the ace and your queen remains the best card ; whereas, had you played the queen, the knave would remain master. 2. Similarly when B opens with ace and follows it with a small one, D playing a smaU, one, and you holding queen and ten. The king is marked with C, since B has not led it and D played a small one. You can lose nothing i£ the knave is also with C, but gain if it be with D. 126 FINESSING, AND PLATING TO THE SCORE. 3. If you hold a hand that is good to be led up to, such as tenaces, or kings guarded, you should finesse freely, as, if unsuccessful, C must lead up to you. 4. If B shows weakness you should generally finesse deeply in trumps, it being your only defence. 5. You wiU also finesse readily in a plain suit if B's lead is obviously a strengthening card from weakness. Thus, if B leads the ten and you hold ace, knave, and others, you wiU do right to pass. Then, unless C holds both king and queen, you wiU make the ace and knave, holding a certain finesse against D. Similarly, if B leads knave and you hold ace, ten, and others. In both these cases the cards in your own hand show that B's lead cannot be from the legitimate combinations, and must, therefore, be from weakness. 6. If B shows weakness in your suit by returning what is in aU probability the higher card from his remaining two, you are frequently compelled to finesse, however unHkely it is to succeed, it being your only chance of securing a trick in the suit. Thus, you lead a small card from queen and three small ones. G plays king, and B and D smaU ones. When B gets the lead he returns the nine, D playing a small one. The ace is marked with C, and there are also the knave and ten to come. Nevertheless, you have no choice but to finesse the nine, on the chance of the knave and ten being on your right, when the nine will force the ace, othervnse you cannot make a trick in the suit. Again, you lead the two from knave, seven, four, and two. C plays the queen and B wins with ace. Presently B returns the eight. C is marked with king, and there are also the ten and nine to come. You must, nevertheless, finesse the FINESSING AND PLAYING TO THE SCORE. 127 eight, else you give up all chance of taking a trick in the suit. 7. If you lead a suit and B wins cheaply, a finesse on the return lead is obviously useless, as the strength must be with C. If D renounces, the finesse is worse than useless, as he will probably trump your master on the third lead. 8. There are, however, occasions when you should finesse even when D renounces. Thus, B leads knave, D re- nounces, and you hold king and others. Ace and queen are certainly with C, and you can gain nothing by playing the king, but may take a trick with it later if you can get trumps out, or if D should hold no trumps ; or it may prove a useful card to force D's hand with. 9. A finesse to a partner's lead of trumps is generally bad. But if it is an original lead (first in the hand) and his small card led shows that he holds no more than four, it may be his only four suit, and you then defend your hand as much as possible by finessing. 10. If D leads knave and you hold ace, queen, and others, it is useless to cover with queen, the king being certainly either with C or B. You then take your chance of B holding the king. If C holds it, he will not put it on D's knave, but this cannot be helped. If the lead comes agaiu from D, the king not having been played on the first round, you must put on the ace, else C's king wiU make and your ace may be triimped on the third round. tTbe flDanaGcment of trumps. The various stages of development through which every whist player has to pass sooner or later are by no means an uninteresting psychological study. That the beginner should start with a tendency to "nurse" trumps is only natural. The immediate capture of a trick by trumping is very palpable ; whUe the resulting loss will not be at- tributed to the right cause vnthout some analysis. That it is possible by means of trumps to make small cards in plaia suits as good as trumps, would naturally not occur to a player until after considerable experience. If the oppo- nent returns the compliment and trumps one's trick, the blame is shifted on to the shoulders of that weU-knovm scapegoat "Hard Hues." Presently the learner begins to see that his opponent would be prevented from trumping if trumps were got out of his hand. Out then come trumps, irrespective of strength in them or the general strength of the hand. When later on he begins to grasp the importance of using trumps for the protection of the other suits, he generally goes to the other extreme and leads them out at every opportunity. And when subsequently he has advanced stiU further and learnt the call for trumps, he is frequently Hke the boy with the penny trumpet, shouting it both in and out of season. THE MANAGEMENT OF TEUMPS. 129 When to Lead Trumps. The reader who has carefully perused the preceding pages will scarcely need to be told that very careful judgment should be exercised in leading or calling for trumps. Before starting to protect the other suits you should make fairly sure (1) that you hold something worth protecting, (2) that you can get the lead after the protection is completed, and (3) that you are strong enough in trumps to complete the protection. It can scarcely be too strongly insisted upon that you may often more effectually complete the pro- tection by giving away one or two tricks in your plain suits in order to weaken an adverse strong hand — a point which most learners fail to see. It is generally right to lead trumps from five — even if only small ones — and an average hand in the plain suits. If you find B with three or more trumps, you are hkely to secure one or two tricks in them, besides remaining with the two long trumps. If B is very weak in trumps, the next lead would as a rule have to come from D, and this will conduce more readily to your establishing the suit which he must now lead through you, as C wOl have to part with a high card, which, whether B wins it or not, wiU in any case be out of your way without the necessity of wasting any of your strength. B will also have the advantage of being fourth player. If your plain suits are very weak, say three small cards each in two suits and two small cards in the third, you should stiU lead trumps from five, for your partner's protection. If you open a weak suit you put him to the 130 THE MANAGEMENT OF TBtJMPS. disadvantage of being third player, but by leadiag a trump you will probably leave him fourth player on the second round. Should he be fairly strong you assist him by getting out trumps ; and if he is as weak as yourself you can in all probability do very httle good or harm whatever you lead. It is not, of course, asserted that a trump lead must prove advantageous in aU such cases. It is simply a question of general probabilities. You should not open a trump lead from five small ones if your plain suits are, if anything, rather below the average strength but yet present a fair chance of establishing a suit. Thus, with king, knave, and two others, and two smaU cards each in the other plain suits, you would do better to open your king knave suit and wait for further indications from the play. No hard-and-fast Unes can, of course, be drawn for all possible degrees of strength, and the decision must be left to the player's discretion. You would also be influenced by the state of the score. Thus, if you are three to the opponents' love or one, you may decide to make a bid for game and lead trumps ; whereas if you are three aU or four aU you shoidd play a guarded game. You would also refrain from leading a trump from a hand of moderate strength if ace is turned up on your right, but would lead it more readily if turned up on your left. The mere fact alone of C having turned up an honour is, however, not suflScient reason for leading a trump through it, as so many players are in the habit of doing. With ace, queen, and three small ones, king turned up on the right, some players object to lead trumps, as there is a certain finesse against the king. But the poHcy of opening another suit on that account only is extremely doubtful. THE MANAGEMENT OP TEUMPS. 131 Under the most favourable conditions, three rounds must be played before you can complete a " call " to which B can at once respond — that is, when your first lead is won by D, who then opens a suit of his own, on which you play an unnecessarily high card ; C winning the trick and returning the suit, which B wins, and you complete the caU. Given other conditions, such as your being third player on the second round and fourth on the third round, you may sometimes be unable to complete a call at all. Meanwhile, whether you open a weak suit or a strong one which you are anxious to protect against being trumped, you open to a disadvantage. The opponents are not likely to lead trumps, as your holding strength indicates a probability of their being weak in them, and your only chance then is of B having some reason of his own for leading trumps. On the other hand, if you lead a small trump, B wiU be fourth player on the second round, and if he wins the trick he will return trumps at once, or, in any case, as soon as he gets in. You would then finesse the queen and lead the ace, when in aU probability the adverse trumps wiU be exhausted. If you hold ace, queen, knave, and two others, king turned up on your right, your play will depend on the strength of the hand. If very strong your best play would he to lead the ace and follow up with knave, so as to get three leads out as soon as possible. If very weak it would be best to wait and try to secure four tricks with trumps. With medium strength the lead of a small trump might be advisable, so as not to part with the command, and then leave it to B to return the trump. Many other variations may present themselves on account of the " turn up, " aU of which it woiild not be possible to 1 2 132 THE MANAGEMENT OF TETJMPS. emimerate, and on which differences of opinion are likely to arise. Thus, ace turned up and you hold king, knave, and small, the lead of a trump is risky, as fourth player may win cheaply and still retain the command. It would then be better to open your strong plain suit. With four trumps only and a moderate hand, you should open your strongest plain suit. When you have established the suit, or your partner shows strength in other suits, you would lead trumps. You would also be guided by watch- ing to see if the opponents call for trumps. If not, the trumps are probably divided evenly and you may safely lead trumps. Much will, of course, depend upon the degree of strength in the trumps and the plain suits, which must be left to the player's discretion. If your trump suit is headed by two honours and the plain suits are above the average, you would lead a trump. With an exceptionally strong hand in the plain suits you would lead trumps even if weak in them. The lead of a trump as a desperate expedient, when you are very weak and the opponents want one odd trick for game, has already been discussed. One need only say that the forlornness of the hope must be commensurate with that of the expedient. If B opens a suit in which you hold strength yourself, you should bear in mind the risk you run on that account of its being trumped, and, if your other suits are fairly protected, should lead trumps to disarm the opponents. Thus, if B leads knave and you hold ace, ten, and two others, one suit of three headed by king, another headed by queen, and three trumps, it will generally be advisable to win with ace and lead trumps. Some players carry this to excess, and always lead trumps when they happen to be unusually THE MANAGEMENT OF TRUMPS. 133 strong in tke suit opened by a partner. They argue that the risk run is not alone that of an opponent trumping the suit, but of both opponents holding no more, when one would trump and the other discard his losing cards in another suit, and this would enable him to trump your masters in that suit later on. The reasoning is sound enough ; still, a fair balance should be struck between the possible gain from the protection and the loss from leading a trump up to an opponent's strength. He probably also holds a strong suit, which you assist him to protect by leading a trump. When you lead a trump and find one of the opponents void of trumps, it is best not to draw two of yours for one of theirs, but rather to play to make your trumps separately. On the other hand, if the opponents lead trumps, and your partner renounces, it is frequently right to lead trumps each time you get in, so as to draw two of theirs for one of yours. Bearing in mind that an opponent would employ similar tactics when his partner happens to be without trumps, you have an additional reason for not leading them yourself in such a case, as it is more advantageous for you that an opponent should lead them. When it is advisable to lead trumps though an opponent renounces, the renouncing hand should be led up to, so as to distress the second player, who must play a high card to prevent third player winning cheaply. If an opponent trumps your strong suit, a trump lead is generally advisable from four. With less than four it would be better to lead a strengthening card from a short suit and wait for further indications. If B has strength he wiU lead a trump ; but if not you will probably do Uttle good by 134 THE MANAGEMBNO? OP TBTJMPS. leading them, and will generally do better by forcing tbe opponent. It is almost always right to lead a tnimp to stop a cross-ruff — i.e., the alternate trumping of two suits by the opponents. In such cases you should lead out your master trump, if you hold it, irrespective of numbers, so as to get out two leads at once. When you find it advisable to get out trumps, you should always use careful judgment as to taking out a third or fourth round of trumps. If an opponent remains with the winning trump, it is no use wasting a trump to get it out, and you will rather endeavour to force it with your strong plain suit. But it may frequently be advisable to leave an opponent with a losing trump, and endeavour to force it or establish your suit first, rather than weaken your command. If, however, you hold tenaces or kings guarded, and C holds the winning trump, you should lead a trump in order to place the lead with him. Much of the finer play towards the end of the hand con- sists injudiciously "placing the lead." As example, take this simple case — ^by no means an exceptional one. Both sides are playing a close game for the odd trick ; you have already gathered sis tricks, and want one more for game. B now leads a trump, probably having nothing but trumps left, D plays a small one or renounces, and you hold trumps only consisting of king and small ones. The thoughtless player, remembering only that third player should play high, would play his king. But, by playing a small one, you make absolutely sure of the game, as C will then have to lead to your king guarded ; whereas, if you play the Mng, you may find C with ace, queen, etc., who wiU then take the remaining tricks. If you remain with THE MANAGEMENT OP TEUMPS. 135 one or two plain cards as well, you would employ the same stratagem when D renounces. Then, even if C holds a plain card with which he can throw the lead in D's hand, you are still sure of the odd trick if you remain with king and two small ones, as, by trumping D's trick, C must over- trump and lead to your king guarded. We already know that one may finesse more freely in the trump suit when strong in it. Your master trump must make, and you may often be the gainer of a trick by reserv- ing it till your plain suit is estabHshed, when you would lead your master trump and go on with the estabHshed suit. Should an opponent tlien still remain with a trump, your established card will force it and leave you with the long trump and the rest of your established cards. RETURN A TRUMP LEAD AT ONCE. A partner's lead of trumps should, as a rule, be returned at once, even if you hold a suit which one lead must establish. The opponents are now on the alert to prevent you taking out trumps, and if your lead should let them in, they wiU do all in their power to give each other suits to ruff, or will force B's hand and thus destroy his attack by weakening his trump suit. If, however, you hold a strong suit headed by ace and king and are weak in the other plain suits, it will generally be advisable to lead out your king and then continue trumps. B may also be strong in one suit and weak in the other two, and you thus direct him to your strong suit. When, however, your suit is too long, you run the risk of the first lead in it being trumped, and had better return trumps. 136 THE MANAGEMENT OP TEUMPS. If B has led a trump through the ace turned up by D, it ■will also be advisable not to return trumps if you are weak yourself or only moderately strong, but leave B to continue the trump lead. So, too, if you win the &st lead cheaply, when, C being weak, you leave B to lead through D's strength. W^hen to Call for Trumps. The strength of a hand justifying a call for trumps should, if anything, be greater than that from which you would lead a trump yourself. It may sometimes happen that be- fore you can get in to lead a trump the faU of the cards •win present some reason why you should not carry out your first intention ; but if you commit yourself to a call your partner has no choice but to respond to it when he gets the lead. Some players always call from five ; but five small trumps and a weak hand do not justify a call, though they justify a lead in preference to opening a weak suit. A call for trumps is a peremptory command to your partner to trust you with holding strength and to give up his own game to that extent for yours. It should, however, be clearly understood that the peremptoriness applies only to an original call. When you have had an opportunity to lead trumps or to call and have not done so, a subsequent call only indicates that, judging by the cards already played, you think it advisable to get trumps out. Your partner would then use his judgment, and if he thinks he can use his trumps better for trtmapiog in or by waiting for you to lead, he would be right not to respond. THE MANAGEMENT OP TEUMPS. 137 In response to a call you should always lead from the highest downwards if you hold no more than three, but the lowest from four, except when you hold the ace, when it is better to lead that, so as to make sure of two rounds at once, or when holding three high cards in sequence. If you held four trumps originally but have been forced to trump in, you still lead the highest from the remaining three, the principle involved being that with weakness you play to enable B to economise his strength, but with strength you also economise your own. With five trumps you lead the fourth best, so that on the third round your partner will know that you remain with two trumps. Thus, you lead a five, which B wins and returns a small one, on which you play a higher one than the five — no matter what. He then knows that you have opened from not less than four. When on the third round you play a smaller one than the five, he knows that you remain with two more, for otherwise you would have opened with the smallest. If you have turned up your smallest trump, the information that you led from five, will generally be completed on the second round. If B caUs, and D does the same, it is advisable not to respond to the call, so as not to lead up to strength. B, having noticed D's call, will know why you have not responded. On the other hand, if C calls, you will respond aU the more readily. Good players will sometimes make a misleading caU when they see one made on the other side, on purpose to prevent a response. If you know that your opponents are aware of this ruse, you should be on your guard. If the opponent began his call at the same time as your partner and before he could have known that your 138 THE MANAGEMENT OF TEUMPS. partner intended calling, you may take it as genuine ; otherwise it may be mere bluff. You would employ the same reserve if B calls after C has done so, and will suspect it to be rather a ruse than a request for you to lead trumps. The point is rather a delicate one to handle, as it may often mislead one's partner. Many players who never fail to see a partner's call, being keenly on the watch for it, yet frequently, if not constantly, miss an opponent's call unless the shout is exceptionally loud, such as an honour followed by a small card. Then, again, if, in spite of an opponent calling, you find yourself strong enough to want trumps led, your partner wiU refuse to respond, taking it for a ruse. Altogether, it wiU. be best not to employ such a ruse at aU imless under very exceptional circumstances and with a partner upon whose acumen you can fully rely. Use the call for trumps sparingly when the opponents hold the lead. As soon as they see it they will do all in their power to frustrate your intention, and will proceed to force you, or to give each other a ruff. To be most useful, a call should be completed just when it can be immediately responded to. You should, therefore, hold up the winning card in C's lead when the card played .by B is sufficiently high to suggest the probabihty that he has started a call for trumps. Thus, C leads king, B plays the seven or eight (and, of course, any card higher than these), and you hold ace and small ones. You will generally do well to pass and give B the chance of completing his call on C's second lead, when you wiU win with ace and lead trumps. If it turns out that B is not calling, having really nothing smaller than the card he played, you wiU seldom lose anything by passing the first trick. THE MANAGEMENT OF TBUMPS. 139 Bearing in mind the necessity of being able to respond to a call as soon as it is made, another interesting problem presents itself for consideration. You open the first lead with ace, from ace, queen, knave, etc. , on which B discards the eight of another suit. It is highly probable that he is calling for trumps. But suppose that it is not intended for a call, it then means that with thirteen cards divided amongst only three suits he holds nothing smaller than an eight. He must, therefore, hold a strong hand. If we may use a paradoxical expression, a discard like this is a call if it is not a call — i.e., such disclosure of strength justifies a lead of trumps apart from an actual demand for them. If you lead the suit again in order to establish it and to give B a chance of completing a call, you let the opponents in (or force B), when it is no longer in your power to respond to the call. If your lead is from ace, king, etc., you will still do right to lead trumps at once, rather than run the risk of one opponent trumping your second lead while the other remains with the master card, and do better to retain the winning card against the opponents ; With ace, king, queen, and one small one, a second lead may be advisable, to give B a chance of completing a call, but with five or more in suit, you should lead a trump. A similar discard on a second round (B having followed suit on the first) wiU generally also justify a lead of trumps. The considerations dealt with in the last two paragraphs will suggest a position where an opponent's probable call may be taken advantage of to further your ends. Thus, C leads king, D plays the eight, and you hold ace and one or two small ones. In addition, you hold the tenace and three others in trumps, and a very strong suit. D is 140 THE MANAGEMENT OF TEUMPS. probably calling for trumps, and you would, therefore, win the trick and return C's suit. C will take it as a confes- sion of weakness and a desire to trump the suit, when it wiU not be his game to finesse, especially as he is weak himself (assuming D to be strong). When C wins the second trick and D completes the call, C will lead a trump to your tenace. If he leads a strengthening trump, you should pass it and leave the lead with him. On the second round of trumps you will in all probabihty capture D's high trump and remain with two masters and another in trumps and the lead. You cannot then fail to bring in your strong suit. The "Echo" of the Call. When your partner leads or calls for trumps and you hold four or more, you should echo — i. e. , repeat his call — at the first opportunity. Thus, C leads king, which wins the trick, and follows it up with a small one, D winning with ace. B has completed a call in these two leads. You held originally, say, the seven, four, and two in C's suit, and played the two on the first trick. As soon as you see B complete the call you should begin your echo by playing the seven on the second trick. When the opponent returns the lead and you play the four your echo is completed. If you obtain the lead before you can complete an echo, you will, of course, indicate the number of trumps you hold by your lead, but if the first round in trumps is won by an opponent and you have the chance of making or completing the echo afterwards, you should do so, as the indication from your lead is as yet incomplete. You should also echo in the THE MANAGEMENT OF TEtTMPS. 141 trump suit when B leads them. Thus, if he leads the master trump, or if the second player played a trump on the small one led, which, being higher than any held by you, you cannot cover, you should play your penultimate one from four, unless the card is too high and stands a chance of taking a trick. You would also echo in the trump suit when you are forced to trump in after your partner has called. Thus, if you trump in with a sis and then lead the highest of your remaining three, when a smaller card than the sis falls on the second round, your partner wiU know that you held originally exactly four trumps, and that you now remain with one trump. Had you held five originally you would have led your lowest after trumping in (being left with four), and with three originally you would have trumped with your lowest. Here, again, you would not trump in with the penultimate one if the card stands a chance of taking a> trick later. Thus, with knave, nine, eight, and two, you should not risk trumping with the eight ; but with knave, nine, five, and two, you should trump with the five. When, however, you take a force without a call from your partner, the trumping with the penultimate card indicates five, the same method as you would employ in leading trumps. When you have to play a high trump as third player to your partner's lead, you can only echo by means of two cards in sequence. Thus, you hold queen, knave and two small ones. You play the queen, which forces the ace. When B gets in he leads the king and then a small one, which you win with knave. He now knows that you are left with a trump, as otherwise you would have played the knave on the first lead instead of the queen. 142 THE MANAGEMENT OF TEUMPS. If you have been forced to trump before your partner made the call, you should still echo if you held four originally, though you now remain with only three. You have no other means of informing your partner that you held four originally, for should you have to lead trumps to your partner's call you must lead the highest from the remaining three, so as to enable him to economise his strength, having no strength left yourself. The absence of an echo will similarly impart information. Thus, if you had a chance of sounding an echo but did not do so, it shows that you hold no more than three. The importance of the information which the echo enables you to impart has already been strongly insisted upon when dealing with the same information imparted by the return of the highest from three originally and the lowest from four. Whether or not your partner draws a trump unnecessarily from your hand under the impression that it is with an opponent, or fails to draw it from an opponent under the impression that it is in your hand, will frequently make a difference of the game and the rubber. You should, therefore, be keenly on the look out for aU indications in the trump suit. An echo is understood not to have the significance of an original caU — i. e. , it does not mean that you want trumps led on the strength of your own hand, but you are simply giving information of the number of trumps you hold. Should your partner have reason to alter his tactics on account of his own hand, he wiU know that he is not justified in assuming you to hold strength merely on account of your having echoed. THE MANAGEMENT OF TBUMPS. 143 Forcing, and Taking a Force. If D leads a high card of which B may or may not hold the master, you being void in the suit, you should not trump if strong in trumps. By doing so you would weaken your trump suit and diminish the chance of bringing in your long suit. But, by discarding from your weak suit you give B the information (1) that you have strength in trumps, and (2), by showing him your weak suit, you direct his attention to your only strong one. If the card led is the actual master, or when the high card is led by C, B having played a small one, the decision whether you should trump or not will depend upon the strength of your trump suit and whether your opponents can continue to force you. If you hold five or more trumps, you are strong enough to take the force and lead trumps. If you hold four only, and the opponents can continue to force you, such as C leading king, on which B and D play small ones, you had better accept the situation and adopt such other tactics as remain to you, rather than exhibit your reluctance to trump in. Ace, king, and queen being probably with the opponents, they can keep up at least four leads in the suit ; and if on the fourth or fifth lead B runs short and trumps in, D will probably over-trump and you will stUl be in the same position. But if there is a probabiHty that the opponents cannot continue to force you, you should refuse the force. Thus, if C leads ace and then a small one, which D wins with king, you should not trump the king, as queen may be with B, who, if he wins the third trick, will at once respond to your call. With four trumps only and a strong hand, it 144 THE MANAGEMENT OP TBUMPS. would also be advisible not to over-trump D, who will then have to lead up to B. Conversely, if you are weak in trumps, you should not only trump a doubtful trick, but even when the indications are that B holds the winning card. Thus, D has previously led a small card, which C won with acs, D now leading the knave. The lead was evidently from queen, knave, and small ones, and B holds the king. Nevertheless, you will generally do well to trump the knave, so as to enable B to retain the winning card in D's suit. FORCE AN OPPOSSNTS STRONG BAND. From the considerations just dealt with, we gather that, when an opponent shows strength, either by calling or by leading trumps, or by refusing to trump a certain trick, or even only a doubtful one, you will do right to force bim as much as you can. Do not be deterred from doing so because of his trumping your winning cards. By weaken- ing his trump suit you will often gain an advantage which wiU more than counterbalance the loss of the trick or tricks. If, however, you find the second opponent is also destitute of the suit, you should not force them, as the weak hand will trump in while the strong hand discards losing cards. You wiU then generally do better to lead trumps, when you win probably leave B fourth player on the next round. DO NOT FORCE TOUR PARTNER IF YOV ARE WEAK IN TRUMPS. If you are weak yourself and have no indication of your partner's strength, you should not lead a suit of which you know him to be void, unless you lead the master cards, THE MANAGEMENT OP TEUMPS. 145 and thus enable him to discard losing cards. By weakening his trump suit you enable the opponents to draw his remaining trumps and bring in their suit. On the other hand, if you are strong in trumps, you should force him readily, so as to enable him to make his trumps separately — i. e. , without both your trumps falling together. If he can rely upon your play, he will know that by deliber- ately forcing him you indicate strength, and will accept the force willingly, irrespective of his strength in trumps leaving it to you to disarm the opponents. Conversely, if he knows that you can force him but refuse to do so, he will take it as an intimation of weakness, and wiU play a defensive game. There are, however, special circumstances when you would be justified in forcing your partner though weak yourself. These are : — 1. When he has shown weakness in trumps {a) by trump- ing a doubtful trick, (6) by objecting to force you, (c) by re- turning your lead promptly, showing that he holds no strong suit of his own, and (d) by preferring to force an opponent rather than lead trumps or (in a less degree) by abstaining fromi leading trumps though he has shown a great suit. 2. When you have a cross-ruff. You may then secure a number of tricks at once, while the chance of bringing in a suit of your own may be doubtful. 3. When your partner has already been forced, and has not led a trump. i. When strength in trumps is declared against you. This, however, should be used with considerable caution. If the opponent's trump lead is probably from four only, it is best not to break up your partner's possible defence. 146 THE MAKAGEMENT OF TBUMPS. 5. When wanting only the odd trick for game, some players play a close game. This, however, should be judged rather on the merits of the hand. 6. When the trick wiU save the game. When you want only that trick to win the game, you will, of course, take the shortest road to get it. Occasionally, also, when the force wiU secure you the odd trick, but would risk losing it by playing a bolder game. If B leads a thirteenth card, or a card of a suit which he knows both yourself and C to be void of, whether you should trump it or not will depend upon indications from the previous play. If you know B to be strong in trumps, he wants you to trump it with your master trump, so as to make it separately, or to force the master trump from C, so as to remain with the command, when you should trump with the highest trump in your hand. If B is weak, he probably wants to force C's hand and leave you fourth player on the next round, when you should pass. The correct play of a thirteenth card involves very considerable skiU. Trump Leads. The retention of the command in trumps being of great importance, the leads adopted from suits headed by high cards differ from those of plain suits as below : — Lead a smaU card from Ace and small ones, unless more than six. Ace, king. King, queen. THE MANAGEMENT OP TEUMPS. 147 If yoTi hold the ten in addition to the king and queen, lead as in plain suits. "When an intermediate card has been turned up by D, lead the card higher than the turn-up, whUe not parting with your highest. Thus : Ace, queen, ten, etc., knave turned up, lead queen. Kins, knave, nine, etc., 1 , , -, i 3 i ^ r tfiJi turned up, lead knave. Queen, knave, nine, etc. J Knave, ten, eight, etc., nine turned up, lead ten. From knave, ten, nine, etc., some lead knave. Do not lead the fourth best in trumps i£ the card is too high, involving the possible loss of a trick later on. K 2 2)i6carbing. The essential characteristics of the modern game may be summed up in these two points : 1. Combine your hand ■with that of your partner, assisting each other to make tricks, instead of playing your hand on its own merits, and leaving him to do the same with his. 2. Play to establish your long suits. A two and three, when they are " long cards," are just as good as an ace and king, if you can draw the trumps and then obtain the lead. It is true that long suits are not always, nor even frequently, brought in, so much depending upon the distribution of trumps and cards of re-entry in other suits. But even when you cannot bring in your long suit, the established cards vrill frequently force the adverse trump hand, and thus leave your partner vrith one or more tricks which he otherwise could not have made. On the other hand, if the strength in trumps between you should prove adequate, the long suit system of play will result in a big game. In the beginning of a hand, there- fore, when there are no indications from the fall of the cards to guide you, the play should be directed to that object. If you are weak in trumps yourself, your partner may be strong, and by directing him to your strong suit, he may presently enable you to bring it in. The reader, who mUst by now have grasped the situa- tion thoroughly, will scarcely need to be told that, when he caamot follow suit, and is not trumping the trick, he should DISCABDING. 149 discard from his numerically weak suit, except, of course, when the short suit consists of master cards. The un- tutored beginner will do this with the object of trumping later the suit from which he is discarding. We know, however, that this is the least useful way of employing trumps, the main object of discarding from weakness being to reserve the strength in the long suit. The suit to discard from will, however, not always be so obvious as this seems to imply. Suppose you hold five hearts (trumps), five clubs, headed by king and queen, two small diamonds, and one spade, none but the very thought- less player indeed would need to be told to discard a diamond on the second lead of spades. Now, let the diamonds be king and another. Leaving bare the king reduces, of course, its chance of taking a trick. Neverthe- less, you should unhesitatingly do so, as with such strength in trumps the deuce of your long suit is more valuable than the king of your short one. Now, reduce your trump suit to four, and give yourself two small spades. What, in such a case, should you discard on the third lead of spades ? The decision becomes some- what more difficult. You would probably reason the matter out something after this fashion : ' ' The opponents hold no special strength in trumps, not having led them. On the other hand, my partner holds no special strength in trumps, not having called. There is, therefore, a probability that the other nine trumps are evenly divided, hence I am strong enough to disarm the opponents. Further, strength in spades lies with an opponent, I hold strength in clubs, and the only suit my partner can be strong in is diamonds. In such a case, even though I bare the king, I still stand 150 DISCAEDINQ. a chance either of making it or of forcing the ace with it and thus establish the suit in my partner's hand." Should the first two leads have come from both opponents alter- nately, you have strong negative evidence that your partner is strong in diamonds -.e.g., C (the original leader) has declared spades to be his strong suit, and D, by returning his partner's lead promptly, has declared weakness in all suits. In either case you would readily unguard the king of diamonds and retain the strength in clubs. Now reduce your trump suit to three, five clubs as before, queen and two small diamonds, and two spades. The play now assumes an entirely different aspect. Strength in trumps having been declared neither for nor against you, the probabiHty is that one of the players holds four trumps and the others three each ; but whether your partner or an opponent holds the four trumps there is nothing to show. It is useless to attempt to bring in a long suit when you are weak in trumps yourself and your partner, though having the chance to do so, has not declared strength. You, there- fore, abandon the idea of an attack and play purely on the defensive. It now becomes important to protect your weak suits, and you should, therefore, discard from your strong club suit and retain the double guard to your queen of diamonds. This, of course, assumes that B has either already won the third round in spades, or you know him to hold the master : e.g., D leads a small one ; C wins with ace and returns the suit ; which D wins with king and leads again. B must then hold the queen, as C would have finessed it on the first lead. If the trick is doubt- ful you would, of course, trump it and open your strong club suit. DISCAEDING. 151 These considerations guide us to a general principle as to discarding. Holding strength in trumps yourself, or B having declared strength, you play the attacking game, unhesitatingly unguarding an honour and retaining the full strength in your long suit. Conversely, if you are weak in trumps, and B does not declare strength, and particularly when the opponents have declared strength, you play on the defensive and protect your weak suits as much as possible. But suppose you have nothing in your short suit worth protecting — e.g., two or three very small cards. Should you not then discard from your weak suit even though trumps are declared against you ? Several interesting con- siderations here present themselves. 1. You must remember that you now stand nest to no chance of bringing in your long suit, and the retention of the strength is in all proba- bility quite useless. 2. The only chance you have of making any stand against the opponents is for your partner to be strong in your weak suits ; and in such a case it is important for you to retain cards with which you can lei him in in his strong suit when you take a trick in your strong one. 3. Adopting the method which we have applied throughout our previous conclusions, we carry a course of action which under given conditions has a logical significance from cause to effect into a conventional method of imparting information. The conclusion arrived at was, that with strength in trumps the advantage lies on the side of discarding in all cases from your weakest suit, even though you have to unguard an honour ; and that with trumps against you it is necessary to keep guards to the honours, and discard in 152 DISCAEDING. preference from the strong suit. Your partner is on the alert to gather every indication he can from your play. Suppose you have either led or called for trumps, or he has done so. Your opponents get the lead and you make a discard. He wiU. at once register that as your v^eak suit, and will thus be directed to your only strong plain suit, vsrhich he wiU lead later on. Now take the opposite case. Your opponents have declared strength in trumps, and subsequently you make a discard. He must conclude that you are now probably protecting your weak suits, and have discarded from your strong one ; and when he gets the lead wiU lead you the suit you have discarded from. Unless, then, you keep uniformity in your discards, you may mislead your partner into leading you a suit in which you hold nothing ; and should he lead you a strengtheniag card, sacrificing his high card in order to enable you to reserve your supposed strength, a double injury will result. The rule, therefore, is — "Discard from your weak suit when strength in trumps is on yomr side, but from strength when trumps are declared against you." You will thereby be able to direct your partner to your strong suit in either case, whUe, in most cases, the discard from the strong suit when weak in trumps vrill be advantageous on its own merits. Hence, you should be very careful to interpret your partner's discard correctly in the hght of the declara tion as to strength in trumps. * * * Discarding is altogether one of the most difficult points the player has to contend with. Before any declaration of strength in trumps is made on either side, you can only judge of the discard on the merits of the hand alone DISCAEDING. 153 in many cases. Now, not only is such decision frequently very difficult, but you run the risk of misleading your partner whichever you do. Thus, D opens with ace, and follows it up with a small one. You now have to dis- card, holding four small trumps, a moderate suit of five, and a suit of three. Such moderate strength would scarcely justify unguarding a queen, and you would then more advantageously discard from your long suit ; but should your short suit consist of small cards only, you would discard from that. Now, let your short suit corsist of knave, ten, and six. Such a suit presents a fair chance of taking a trick, and the choice is by no means always an easy one. The second trick being won by C, he now leads trumps. D wins with ace and returns a strengthening trump, which B wins with king, C being now marked with queen and knave. The fact of your having passed the doubtful trick should show that you held four trumps. The character of yoiu- discard is, however, inconclusive, in view of C's strength, making it probable that your discard would rather depend upon your holding a card in your weak suit worth guarding. Should B be weak in both suits, he would not know which to lead, and may do wrong whichever he leads. Many other combinations may present themselves where the discard would be difi&cult to decide upon on its own merits and might deceive your partner. The fact of an opponent having led ox called for trumps would not be sufficient reason for discarding from strength if "your partner has called also, or the faU of trumps has shown him to hold strength in them. If an opponent leads a strengthening trump with the obvious intention of protect- ing his strong suit, you should also discard from weakness. 154 DISCAKDING. The significance attaching to a discard applies to an original discard only. If you have preiriously opened a suit, you have declared strength in that suit, and a subsequent discard from that suit would not alter that declaration, ex- cept in informing your partner that you have something to guard in your weak suit — which he should avoid leading. Also, if you have originally discarded from a suit, a subse- quent discard from another one does not alter the signifi- cance of your first discard — whether of strength or weakness in the suit originally discarded from, as the case may be. Further considerations to be borne in mind are these : It is frequently very disadvantageous to discard a singleton, as the card may possibly prove your only means of letting your partner in late in the hand ; and also because it ex- poses your poverty on the first lead of the suit. It is also risky to leave bare an ace (holding ace and another only), as you may thereby obstruct your partner's command later on ; and it will also expose your poverty if the lead in that suit comes from D. You would, in such a case, place C in a favourable position, by enabling him to reserve his strength in the suit, instead of having to play a high card, which B might have won, leaving you then with the ace. When the ace of a suit has already been played, leaving bare the king presents a similar risk of obstructing your partner's command. You should be on the alert to gather information from the opponents' discards. Whether an opponent's discard is from weakness or strength (judged by the rule just dis- cussed), it gives you information of your partner's strong suit, by the process of elimination. Thus, C has led spades and D has discarded diamonds (from weakness) : your DISCAEDING. 155 partner must be strong in diamonds. If tlie diamond discard is one from strength, then your partner must be strong in the remaining plain suit. When D discards from weakness, you should register that suit as a good one to lead, and B, having noted the discard, should finesse freely. It is a fairly well-known ruse to discard from a suit in which you hold a tenace when the lead will come next from C, in order to induce him to lead up to what he wiU conclude to be your weak suit. You should, therefore, be on your guard against a similar ruse from D. A discard late in the hand will nearly always depend upon inferences gathered from previous play, wherein the good player will always exhibit his superiority. It is within the knowledge of every whist player that the difference between the right and wrong discard towards the end of the hand — a matter which careful observation of the cards played ought, in the great majority of cases, to have made perfectly clear — has frequently made the difference of the game and the rubber. A partner's discard of a moderately high card on the first or second round in the hand should be taken as being in aU probability a call for trumps ; and where there is the risk of the next round putting the lead with the opponents, a trump should be led. For a fuller treatment of this point see p. 139. The following extension of a logical method of discarding under certain conditions into a conventional means of im- parting information is here submitted for acceptance. Though limited in application, the convention may occasionally be made to yield information which would prove of considerable value. 156 DISCAEDING. It win sometimes happen that, after six or seven tricks have been gathered, the fall of the cards will show that you remain with three or fom- long cards of your suit and three cards of another suit hitherto unplayed. For instance : C leads a spade, which you trump, and lead the ace and then the king of diamonds, on which B discards. You then lead the queen of diamonds, C plays the knave, B discards, and D trumps. It is now evident that you remain with four long diamonds. D now leads a trump (hearts), to prevent you trumping spades and then forcing him with diamonds. They win the three rounds in trumps, the third round coming from C, on which B and D foUow suit. All the thirteen trumps have now been played, and B knows that you must remain with four spades and three cards of the unplayed suit (clubs). Your discard on the third round of trumps wiU ia the majority of cases depend upon the cards you hold in the club suit. Thus, if you hold ace and two small ones, both your first and second discard vnR be clubs. As soon as you can get in with the ace of clubs aU your long diamonds are certain tricks, and you wUl, therefore, not part vnth any diamonds if you can help it, but will hasten to get rid of your losing clubs. Now let your clubs be ace, king, and a small one. Your first discard wiU stiU be your small club, but the second discard wiU. be the ace to show B that you hold the king. If you hold the ace, king, and queen, you would discard the ace and then the queen, to render the information as definite as possible. Now let your clubs consist of king, queen, and a small one. You would stiU discard the smaU club, as your king and queen must obtain you the lead on the second round DISCAEDING. 157 of clubs, but your second discard would be a diamond. Now let your clubs consist of Mng and two small ones. It wiU then be preferable to discard from diamonds and keep a double guard to the king — -your only chance of bringing in any of your long cards dejpending upon re-entry in clubs. If your clubs consist of queen and two others you wiU of course keep double guard to the queen, and would discard diamonds. We now see how important inferences can be gathered from your discards. When yoiu: partner sees that you are discarding from the unplayed suit in which he knows you to hold exactly three cards, he wiU have grounds for assuming that you hold either the ace or both the king and queen, else you would keep guards to your high card. If your second discard is also from the unplayed suit, it is highly probable that you hold the ace and have got rid of your losing cards. But when_ he sees that you are dis- carding from your long cards, the inference is that you do not hold the ace of the unplayed suit, nor yet both king and queen, and are therefore keeping guard to one of these two. But suppose you hold only three small cards of the un- played suit. It does not then matter to your hand which you discard, as you cannot possibly make another trick. Nevertheless, you should discard from your long cards, to give your partner the intimation that you do not hold the ace, nor yet both king and queen of the unplayed suit. It wiU. still be open for him to suppose that you are probably keeping guard to one of those two cards, but this cannot be helped ; nor would it be desirable to give the opponents information of your utter weakness when the chances of the intimation being of use to your partner are so very small. 158 DISCAEDING. Your partner will krlow that you hold no certain trick in the unplayed suit, and •will be on his guard. Hence the rule should be that, when holding the long card or cards of one suit and three cards of an unplayed suit, a discard from the unplayed suit denotes possession of either the ace or of both king and queen ; but a discard from the long cards denotes the absence of ace or of both king and queen, and may mean the possession of one of those two or no possible trick at aU. The conditions under which such information may prove of value may arise, perhaps, not less frequently than some of the " coups" which we shall have to discuss presently. For an appUcation of this principle see Hands VI. and X. TUnberpIai?, anb IboIbiriQ lap. An example of underplay was given on p. 44. You there infer from the card played by B, taken in conjunction with those in your own hand, that he holds a certain intermediate card. By leading a losing card on the second round, though holding the master, you lead C to infer that the winning card is in D's hand. C will then play a small card and B will win with his intermediate one. The observant player will frequently be able to gather indications of this character from the faU of the cards, and will take advantage of them. Take this example : C leads queen ; B plays the six ; D plays the two ; you hold ace, king, eight, and seven. The lead being from queen, knave, ten, etc. , B either remains with the nine only, or holds no more, or is calling for trumps. If you are strong in trumps, you should win with ace and return the seven. C will infer king to be with D, and will play a small one. If B is calling for trumps and the nine is with D, you lose nothing, as, both B and yourself being strong in trumps, your king is bound to make. If B is not calling for trumps, then he wiU either win with the nine or trump the trick. If, however, you are weak in trumps, you should not risk forcing your partner. This ruse would be particularly good in the trump suit, it being free from the risk of the master card being trumped subsequently, and the retention of the master trump being frequently of great advantage. The alternative of B calling 160 UNDEEPLAT, AND HOLDING UP. being now precluded, you give him the only chance of taking a trick in trumps. If C is a good player, he will probably suspect your ruse and will be able to defeat it by playing his ten. But here, again, you stand to win by it, as, should the ten and nine faU on the second round, as is then probable, and the lead subsequently come again from C, you wiU make both your king and eight. You should, indeed, nearly always underplay in the trump suit whenever D shows weakness or it can be inferred that he does not hold the third best trump. C will then in all probability play a small one, and B will make his intermediate trump. Thus, earlier in the hand C led a trump, which you won cheaply and remain vdth ac3 and others. When later it suits you to lead a trump, you should lead a small one. C will probably try a finesse, and B stands a chance of winning the trick. This is, perhaps, too obvious, but take this example : C leads a small trump, on which D plays the knave. You hold ace, king, nine and four. You should win with ace and later return the four. D does not hold the ten (having played knave), and if C should have led from queen and small ones, B's ten wiU win the trick, as C would not part with his queen. Should C hold both queen and ten, you still stand to vrin by it, as, both yourself and C being strong, the second round will probably exhaust D's trumps, and by leaving C to lead trumps again (which he wiU have to do sooner or later) you will make both your nine and king. This will be particu- larly good play if you hold a hand that is good to be led up to. Or take this example. In response to your call, B leads the eight of trumps, D plays the king, and you hold ace, UNDERPIiAT, AND HOLDING UP. 161 queen, ten, nine, and seven. B has led his highest trump, as he cannot possibly hold three higher than the eight, the only higher trump out being the knave. D, having played king second player, either holds no more, or at most one small trump. It is practically certain that the knave is is with C. Winning the trick with the ace, you should return the seven, as C will in aU probabihty not put on the knave, and your seven will vnn the trick. The good player will be on his guard against a similar ruse from an opponent. Thus, D has shown strength, and is now leading a second round of a suit which he previously opened. If you hold a second best card singly guarded, it will often be right to play it, unless B's play on the first round leaves it to be inferred that he holds the best card. Underplay is really a form of the finesse. A finesse proper is against D, who has already played to the trick. In underplay you finesse against C, by misleading him as to the position of the best card, thereby enabling B to vdn with a third or fourth best card. * * » Holding up is, again, a form of underplay. One always holds up as second player with ace and small ones on the first lead of a smaU card. You then give B a chance of winning with queen should D have led from king and others, distress C's hand, and retain the master againslj D. You do not hold up on the second round, lest the ace should be trumped on the third. Hence, in the trump suit, it will occasionally be advisable to hold up on the second or even third round. Equally so in plain suits when you remain with the long trump or trumps, or when all the trumps have been played and you are sure of re-entry. If the ace L 162 XJNDEKPIiAT, AND HOLDING UP. of trumps has already been played, you would hold up the king, and so on. The holding up as fourth player with ace, knave and others, against king led by C, as also with ace and small ones when you infer that B is probably calling for trumps, has abeady been discussed (pp. 43, 138). It is, however, generally advisable not to hold up the winning trump on an opponent's second lead when you are weak in trumps and hold a strong suit, either with the fuU command or cards which one lead must establish. It is then best to stop the trump lead as soon as possible and lead the strong suit. If you succeed in forcing the strong trump hand you weaken, and sometimes quite break up, his attack. But it is rather towards the end of a hand, when the previous play has furnished indications, more or less certain, of the position of the remaining cards, where holding up can be most usefully and surely employed. The observant player who carefully registers the information rendered by the fall of the cards may frequently be the gainer of several tricks by holding up at the right moment. Take this end- hand (Diagram I.) from Hand VI., p. 213 : — All the trumps (diamonds) have been played. A knows the above distribution of the remaining cards (how gained wUl be seen from the play). Where the suit alone is given there has been nothing to show the actual cards held by the players. C led the queen of hearts, B renounced, and D played the two. A plays the seven and holds up the ace. For this reason : B, having discarded from his established suit (spades), does not hold the ace of clubs (see pp. 155-158). If D holds the ace of clubs, A can only make the ace of hearts, however he plays, it being certain that C will lead his remaining heart, after DIAGKAM I. 164 UNDEEPLAT, AND HOLDING UP, which D gets in with the ace of clubs and brings in the rest of his hearts. But should C hold the ace of clubs, A gains three tricks by holding up the ace of hearts. If he wins the queen, he must then let C in on clubs, who will then lead his remauiing heart, and D must make the rest of the tricks. But by holding up and leaving C to exhaust his hearts, A compels him to return him clubs. The play towards the end of the hand wiU be further dealt with in the next chapter. Mbcn to Mltbbolb 3nformation. In the course of our previous arguments, we have had numerous occasions of dealing with individual instances where deceptive play may prove advantageous. Holding up, underplay, winning vrith the higher card of two or more in sequence, throwing away the highest trump on an opponent's lead, etc., may aU be classed under "deceptive play." So that, while the necessity of giving information is strongly insisted upon, the whole play seems to be honey- combed with a network of "concealing information." The student will probably feel inclined to ask for some general rule by which he may steer his course between these apparently conflicting principles. And the only answer that can be given him is that, hke snakes in Ireland, "there is none." Eules are intended to apply to general cases, and before the inferences gathered enable one to frame ' ' a rule of his own " applicable to each individual case. It is the ability to find out when and to what extent rules should be modified or departed from wherein the fine player rises superior to the crowd of average or even good players. Even if I were able to exhaust every recorded condition where modification of rule is requisite, hundreds of others would still crop up during the course of play. The following general hints wiU, however, be found useful as a guide : 1. Proclaim your strength. 166 -WHEN TO WITHHOLD mFOEMATION. 2. Conceal your weakness, 3. WitKhold information when the opponents have shown strength. 4. Play a deceptive game when your partner is utterly weak. 5. Play deceptive cards towards the end of the hand. (1. ) This is practically the saUent principle of the modern game, and has been fully discussed. At the beginning of the hand you render information to your partner, though weak yourself, so that if he should be strong he will be able to utilize the information ; and this will result in a big game. If you find him weak, you then alter your tactics. (2. ) If you are weak in a suit, strive to conceal the fact as long as you can. If you disclose your weak suit, C vtUI keep on leading it, while D wins cheaply or distresses B's hand. (3. ) "When you find the opponents to be strong, you should not show the number of cards you hold in your suit. You should, however, generally show your partner that you retain the winning card, unless with the special object of inducing a lead from C, or, towards the end of the hand, of inducing the return of the suit by either opponent. (4. ) As yorur partner cannot assist you, you must fall back on your own hand, and play a defensive game. (5.) The risk of prejudicially affecting your partner's future play being minimised or entirely eliminated, by reason of few .cards remaining in the hands, you would unhesitatingly play a false card, e.g., disregard convention, where no direct advantage is probable by following it while you may gain by withholding information. Thus, the con- ventional rule is to lead the highest from three, even WHEN TO WITHHOLD INFOEMATION. 167 though the card is not high enough to assist your partner in establishing his suit — e.g., an eight or nine. But towards the end of a hand, if you have to open from three small cards of a hitherto unplayed suit, you should lead your lowest. If the opponents can infer that you led your highest, or when they make sure of it on the second round by seeing you drop a smaller one than the card you opened with, C wiU not finesss, and will endeavour to lead the suit each time through B, when D will just cover B's card and no more, so long as it is higher than the one you first led. But if you lead your lowest, the opponents will suspect you with a high card. C will then probably attempt a finesse, which B may win ; D will endeavour to lead the suit through your supposed strength ; and should C have to lead it, D wiU part with his master card, or play a high one to force your supposed high card. If, late in the hand, you hold king, queen, etc. , of a suit led by D, you should play yom: king, to induce a return of the suit by G. If, when all the trumps have been played, you hold ace, ten and three others of an unplayed suit, of which leads the king, you should pass that, as also the second lead if he leads the queen. "When the third round comes to you, you will in all probabiUty take the other three tricks, but would not have stood an equally good chance of doing so if you had taken the king or queen and had to return the suit. Again, the players remain with three cards each of an unplayed suit. B leads a small one, D plays queen, evidently from king, queen and another, and you hold ace and two small ones. You should pass the queen and also his next lead of a small card. Then, if B holds the knave you will make two tricks in the suit; 168 WHEN TO WITHHOLD INFOSMATION whereas, if you win the queen and have to return the suit, B must play his knave to force the king and the opponent's ten will win the last trick. D should, of course, have played his king instead of the queen, but his bad play gives you a chance of a clever stroke. « » w If you play with a partner who knows nothing of the ' ' conversation of the game, " you would, of course, ignore aU conventional rules the advantage of which lies in the information they would impart to a partner capable of understanding them, and adopt those only which present a balance of advantage on their merits. Thus, you would lead the ace from five in suit, or the knave from king, queen, knave, five in suit, and so on ; but would not lead the fourth best when opening with a small card, or the highest from three, or return the highest from your remain- ing two, unless the card is sufBciently high to present a chance of saving your partner's high card, or of being a card of protection. In short, you would not give away information to the opponents uselessly. There are, of course, many degrees in bad as in good play, and it would certainly be unjust to class aU players who do not play the modern scientific game in the same category. Many players of the old school play a shrewd game, wiU interpret information relating to the retention of command correctly, and are capable of occasional clever strokes. You should, therefore, try to adapt your play to your partner's knowledge of the game. Thus, if you lead a king, which wins the trick, almost any partner will credit you with holding the ace. If you then lead a trump, he would be a dull player indeed who failed to see that you wish to WHEN TO WITHHOLD INFOEMATION. 169 protect your great suit which you have disclosed by your first lead. Should you be mated to a partner whose play has no redeeming feature at all, you should bear the infliction in silence as best you may. It is no use grumbling. Your partner is doing the best he knows, bad as that best maybe. A little friendly discussion and analysis between the deals is exceedingly useful, and is indeed, in many cases, the most effective means of improving both your own and your partner's play. For this we have the authority of many of the finest players, including that of the late Mr. James Clay. It is, however, no use discussing with one who has not yet grasped the mere elementary notion of the game. Such a one should first read some of the hterature on the subject. At the conclusion of the rubber, a polite fiction, such as pleading a sUght headache, may, perhaps, be pardonable. If the frequency of such a regrettable affliction amongst players at the same table with himself should at last cause the novice to take the hint, and he be led to study the game, the end will, perhaps, have justified the means. 1i, when cutting for partners, you should happen to cut in with one of whose play you know nothing, it will be permissible to ask him if he plays " the book game. " Put in this form, the question will generally elicit a definite reply, without giving offence. If he teUs you frankly that he has never read anything on the subject, you may take it that he knows nothing of the modern game, and wiU withhold information. Don't ask your partner if he plays "a good game." " Good " and " bad " are relative terms ; and one may be a good player of the old school but yet 170 WHEN TO WITHHOLD INFOEMATION. know nothing of the modem game. Even if he is fooUsh enough to commit himself to the boast that he does play a good game, you are no wiser than before. On the other hand, if a partner volunteers you the information that he is a bad player and cannot remember the cards, you should generally take him at his word — he is in all probability conscious that an apology is needed. Coups. A " COUP " may be defined as " a rule for departing from rule. " Eules assume general probabilities and conditions only. Special conditions will frequently justify or necessi- tate a departure from rule to effect a clever stroke of play. These will arise (1) when the inferences from the previous play show that you must gain by it ; or (2) that a gain is probable or possible, but that the failure of your device cannot result in a loss ; or (3) that failure will result in a small loss (when it does not involve the loss of the game) but that success may result in a big gain. Finally (4), when the state of the score is such that the game must be lost unless the cards are distributed in a certain way, you do not wait for inferences, but base your play on the assumption that the cards are so distributed — e.g., you fall back upon the only alternative, however remote, which wiU save you the game, as you can no more than lose in any case. You may also occasionally faU back upon a like assumption towards the end of a hand in an attempt to secure the odd trick, which must otherwise go to the opponents, though failure will involve the loss of two tricks (but see p. 122). Many of the points dealt with under the headings of "Finessing," "Underplay," etc., are entitled to the name of " coups." We have now to deal with some of the finer strokes of play, the conditions under which they may arise 172 ooDPs. being of sufSciently frequent occurrence to enable us to classify them as "rules for departing from rules." Many others will arise in the course of play, which, however, are of too isolated a character to be reduced into rules, or are perchance awaiting the genius of a Hoyle for their proper synthesis. When by careful observation and a correct estimate of the alternatives involved you effect a clever stroke of play, you may rely upon it that you wlU derive more gratification from that than from winning several rubbers by sheer strength of cards. The Grand Coup. You moAj have a trump too many, and should try to get rid of it. The begiimer wiU probably look askance at such a statement ; yet a Uttle consideration will show that this may happen not unfrequently. Take a simple example. Four cards each remain in the hands. Yours consists of the tenace and another in trumps (hearts) and a small spade ; and the previous play has shown that D remains with the second-best and another trump, the other eight trumps having been played out earlier in the hand. B now leads the winning diamond and D foUows suit. If you discard your spade, you must win the next trick and will then have to lead up to D's second- best trump guarded, which must then take a trick. You should, therefore, trump your partner's winning diamond and lead your small spade. If B wins the trick he will then lead through D, and you must take the last two tricks COUPS. 173 with your tenace, thus making the four tricks. Even if you know nothing of the disposition of the remaining spades, by playing in this manner you give yourself a chance of taking the four tricks, and must make three in any case ; but if you discard the spade you cannot possibly win more than three of the tricks. Now vary the above example sUghtly. Seven trumps only had been played previously, C having renounced on the second round of trumps. You now remain with, say, the ten, eight and six of trumps and a small spade. C leads diamonds, B trumps with the three, and D follows suit. B having previously returned a higher trump than the three, in response to your original lead of trumps, is marked with no more, and the nine and five of trumps which are still to come are certainly in D's hand. You should overtrump with the six and lead your spade. StiU another variation : The position is similar to that given in the above paragraph, except that B trumps with the six and you hold the ten, eight, and three. You should undertrump with the three, retain the spade, and leave the lead VTith B. If B leads a winning card you can discard your spade, and the lead being stiU with B, you must take the last two tricks with your tenace ; whereas, if you discard the spade on the tenth trick, you are left with trumps only, when you must vnn the eleventh trick and then lead to D's second-best trumps guarded. Such condi- tions are by no means of rare occurrence, and a player should be on the look-out for it when he starts originally with five trumps, especially if D led trumps. This coup will apply equally when you hold a superfluous master card in a plain stiit. Thus, you remain with the 174 COUPS. tenace in trumps and the ace (or any other card being the best) and a small spade, and D is marked with the second-best trump guarded. B now either leads himself the winning club or puts it on a club led by C. If you discard the small spade and B should lead a spade next, you must take the lead and D must win one of the tricks. But if you discard the ace, B may hold the second-best spade, or another trick in clubs or diamonds, and you may thus win the four tricks, while you cannot win less than three in any case. Discarding a Useless Trump. Take this example (Diagram IE. ) : — Clubs are trumps and the rest of the trumps have already been played. Your spade and diamond are both masters, and there is one mora of each in play. A heart having been led, D trumps it, hence his fourth card must be either a spade or a diamond. If you discard one of your master cards, you must do so at random, and risk leaving D with the thirteenth card of that suit. On the other hand, your trumps are of no use to you, as D will certainly proceed to draw them. By discarding one of your useless trumps you may be able to gain information in the next round as to the plain card held by D. Thus, D leads a trump, on which B discards the remain- ing spade. You now know that D holds the diamond. If D leads another trump, you discard the queen of spades and remain with a certain trick. DIAGRAM n. 176 COUPS. Deschapelles' Coup. All the trumps have been played, and B remains with an established suit, in which, however, you cannot let him in, holding none of the suit. It is now exceedingly impor- tant to give B a chance of obtaining the lead, to enable him to bring in his long suit. If you have to open a fresh suit headed by king, queen, or knave, you should lead your highest whatever the number of cards you hold in the suit. If you lead a small one and B holds a high card other than the ace, you compel him to part with it, and thus probably take away his only chance of obtaining the lead in that suit. But by leading your highest, you enable bim to reserve his high card, and leave him with a better chance of obtaining the lead in the suit subsequently. This coup can, however, frequently be defeated by D if he should hold the ace of your suit. Thus, you lead the king, and B reserves his queen. D should hold up the ace. On the second round B will in all probability be compelled to play his queen, when his chance of obtaining the lead in the suit win be gone. There is, however, the chance that D may fail to see through your object, and play the ace on your king ; or he may hold the ace and another only, when he win probably be compelled to throw the lead into B's hand, whether he holds up or not. If the ace is with C, he will seldom gain anything by holding up — for, if he refuses to part with it on the first round, he must do so on the second round and leave B with the queen, unless, indeed, B held queen and another only. By leading your high card you thus take the best available chance of leaving B with a master in the suit. COUPS. 177 The object of leading a small card from a long suit is to reserve the command, so as to enable you to establish the suit and bring it in later on. But if towards the end of a hand you remain with an unplayed long suit and you know that aU but two tricks must go to the opponents, it is no use attempting to establish it, and you adopt the best means of getting the two possible tricks. If you remain with a suit of five headed by queen, and an opponent remains with three certain tricks — e.g., the long trump and two long cards of another suit — you should lead the queen, it being your best chance of taking the two possible tricks. Should B hold the ace he wiU not put it on your queen imless covered by king, and if king should be with C, and B holds the knave also, you will make the two tricks. On the other hand, you can lose nothing by the lead if the cards are distributed unfavourably. If your suit is headed by king, you should lead a small one. You do not improve your chance of taking two tricks by leading the king, but may jeopardise your chance of taking one. Thus, C holds the queen, B the knave, and D the ace. If you lead a small one C may not put on the queen, when B's knave wiU force the ace and leave your king master ; but if you lead the king, the opponents' ace and queen must make. If your suit is headed by knave, you would not improve your chance of taking two tricks by leading it, but may stand a better chance of taking one, if C should play badly. Thus, should C hold the queen, B the king, and D the ace, if C does not cover, B will not put his king on your knave {see p. 114). Your knave wiU then force the ace, and B's king will make. C should, of course, cover with queen. His 178 COUPS. queen can only take a trick on the third round (knowing that B will not play the king) ; but as in this case there are only two tricks at issue, he gains nothing by retaining it, and risks the above contingency. On the other hand, if aU but one trick must go to the opponents, you should lead your small one though you hold queen and another only, so as not to tempt B to hold up the ace if he should ha^jpen to be unaware that it is your only chajice of taking a trick. Refusing to Draw the Losing Trump. When only two trumps remain in, you holding the best and an opponent the losing trump, the obvious course is to draw it. But there are cases when you should refrain from doing so, though you thus allow the opponent to take a trick with it. The principle involved is the same as that considered on p. 162 regarding the holding up of a winning card in a plain suit. We there see that one opponent (D) remains with a long suit (hearts) which wUl become established as soon as you '-part with your master of- that suit, while the other opponent is leading an intermediate card of the suit and remains with one more. If you part with your master card while C stiU retains a card of the suit, he will lead it as soon as he gets the lead in another suit, when D will get in and take the rest of the tricks. But by holding up the master tUl the next lead, C will have exhausted his cards of that suit, and cannot let D in, but is compelled instead to return your suit. COUPS. 179 Exactly the same principle wUl apply to the point under consideration. Thus, you have the lead. C remains with an established, suit (dianionds), .and D holds the .losing trump and one diamond — or, it may be, vice versa, li you draw the trump and D afterwards gets in, he lets C in on the diamonds, who then brings in his long suit. Instead of doing this, you should lead from your strong suit, endeavouring to force the opponents' master in that suit. An opponent gets in and leads diamonds, which you trump with your best trumps and go on with your estabhshed suit. This D wiU trump sooner or later, but he has now no diamond left with which he can let C in, and C's chance of re-entry is reduced to the third plain suit only. Perhaps the previous play has shown that C holds no master in the third plain suit ; but in any case you take the best chance of forcing D to throw the lead into your hands. If D should happen to hold two diamonds, you should not only refuse to draw his tnimp, but when he gets the lead in your suit and leads a diamond, you should hold up your trump to the next lead, when D's diamonds will be exhausted. This coup wiU require the e^xercise of cayeful judgment in actual play. In a general way, it may be stated that when one opponent holds an estabhshed long suit and the other holds thq losing trump, you should not draw it if you hold a suit of your own which one lead will probably establish. Whichever opponent gets the lead will then lead his estabhshed suit, which you should trump exactly when the opponent who holds the remaining trump has played his last card of that suit, and you then reduce their chance of bringing in the long suit to a minimum. For an illustration of this coup see Hand V. , p. 209. M 2 180 COUPS. Refusing to Overtrump. It will be obvious that wben the conditions are as those just dealt with except that, instead of your having the lead, B has led and D has trumped, you will refuse to overtrump while D remains with a card of C's estabHshed suit. If you leave the lead with him, he wiU lead his last card of C's suit. You will then trump in, when D will no longer be able to throw the lead in C's hand with that suit. When three cards each remain in the hands, cases will not unfrequently occur when you would lose by overtrump- ing. This will generally happen as foUowS : — ■ You hold the best and fourth-best trumps, and a long (or best) card ; D holds the second and third-best trumps, and a long card ; and C holds one trump smaller than either. D now trumps a trick. If you overtrump, you leave your- self with a losing trump and the lead. If you then lead the losing trump, D wins and makes his long card ; and if you lead yom: long card, C trumps it and D remains with the best trump. But if you refuse to overtrump, discarding your long card instead, you remain with the tenace, and, D having the lead, you must make both tricks. The following example (Diagram III. ) will make this clear : — Diamonds are trumps. C leads a heart, which D trumps with the eight. If you overtrump you lose the other two, but if you throw the ten of clubs you win the otKer two tricks. D plays badly in trumping with the eight. He should have tried to prevent the coup by trumping with the ten, so as to mislead A. A might then infer that C holds both the remaining trumps, in which case he can DIAGRAM III. 182 COUPS. gain nothing by holding up ; or that B holds the eight, in which ease he may make you a present of a trick by not overtrumping. As a general rule, however. A, if he is a good player, would know at this stage of the hand that his partner does not hold a trump. He should then refuse to overtrump, as he can lose nothing if C holds the other two trumps, and provides against the probable ruse on D's part. Throwing High Cards to Avoid Taking The Lead. The principle here involved is similar to that already discussed under several aspects. The more obvious form imder which it will frequently present itself is as follows : Four cards each remain in the hands, you hold the tenace in trumps and the king (or any other card remaining the second best) and a small one of another suit. D holds the second-best trump guarded, the other trumps having been played, and he now leads the ace of your plain suit. If you drop the small one, and D continues the suit, you get the lead and must then lead a trump to his second-best guarded, and wiU theoi makfe two only out of the. four tricks. But if you throw the king on D's ace, B may hold the third-best card of that suit, who will then win the next trick and lead through D's trumps, when you must make your tenaee, thus winning three out of the four tricks ; and should the third- best be with an opponent you will still make two of the tricks. COUPS. 183 Now reverse the position of the trumps. Let D hold the tenace and you the second-best guarded, and king and another of" a plain suit. D now leads the ace of that suit. If you throw the small one, and D leads the suit again, you get the lead and must then lead trumps to his tenace, and can only take one trick. But if you drop the king, B may win the next trick and then lead through D's tenace, when your second-best trump must make. You thus give your- self a chance of winning two out of the four tricks, and must take one in any case. Or take this example : You hold the tenace in trumps and ace and nine of another suit, and D holds the second- best trump guarded. C now leads a card of your plain suit and all play small ones. You should win with the ace and lead the nine. If you win with the nine, you must keep the lead, and wiU. then have to lead a trump to D's second-best guarded. But if you win with the ace and lead the nine, if B can win the second trick you will make all the four tricks and cannot in any case win less than three. If your two plain cards are the ace and queen, you should still win with ace and lead the queen. B, seeing that you are anxious to get rid of the lead, ought to understand that you want to make your tenace, and should put his king on your queen, and then lead though D's second-best trump guarded. The point involved in this, as in most of the other coups, is really that of "placing the lead," and may present itself in numerous forms. When occurring rather earlier in the hand it requires an acute perception to see through it properly. For a further illustration see Hand XIV. , p. 250. 184 COUPS. The Desperate Game. The opponents, being at the score of four, lead trumps. They win the first three tricks and one of them is now marked with the three long trumps. To save the game, you will have to make aU the tricks in the plain suits. You must now reverse the order of play, and lead from your weakest suit, in which you assume B either to hold the full command or to be able to finesse successfully against C each time you lead the suit. When B wins the trick, he should lead his ;weak suit, on the same assumption. If B leads you a suit in which you hold the full command, you should Xiot persist with it, but again lead your weak suit, so as to give him a finesse, and so on alternately, each finessing deeply. Such a coup wiU but seldom succeed, but when it does you wiU have ■ the satisfaction of knowing that you \iave saved a game by a clever device, and you can no more than lose if it should, fail. This coup will be best illustrated by actual play, for which the reader is referred to Hand IX., p. 227. Compelling a Discard. It is as a rule bad play to lead out the thirteenth trump. If you hold a possible losing card in your plain suits, the long trump will obtain you the lead afterwards and enable you to bring in your remaining cards ; but if you lead out your trump and then lose the lead an opponent may bring in his established suit. Even if you are quite certain that DIAGRAJI IV. DIAQKAM V. COUPS. 187 you hold the full command, or that the lead of the trump camiot affect the result, it is stUl better to play a straight- _forward game, so as not to encourage a weaker partner to make a similar lead on some other occasion in the mistaken impression that he holds the full command. Occasions will, however, arise when the lead of a thirteenth trump wiU gain you a trick, by compelling a discard from an opponent on your long trump. This will be seen in the end-hand (Diagram IV. ) from Hand VII. , p. 218 : — Hearts are trumps, and A has the lead. The previous play has shown A the above position of the remaining cards. If he leads one of his plain cards, D must win one of the tricks ; but if he leads his long trump, unless B plays very badly, A and B will win the five tricks. The reader will, no doubt, see through this problem without much effort. The somewhat more difficult problem in Diagram V. is presented for the reader's solution : — Diamonds are trumps. A to lead, and A and B win the six tricks, however C and D play. This is understood to be an end-hand in a double-dummy game {see p. 273). Mbi6t riDemori?. A FEW remarks on the question of " whist memory " will usefully conclude this part of our subject. One often hears the remark, " I shall never be a good whist player — I have no memory," or, that So-and-so is an excellent player because he has such a splendid memory. If this were so, it would follow that aU good players are men of exceptional mnemonical powers. This, however, is far from being the case. There are many excellent players who are by no means blest with a superabundance of this useful faculty ; and, on the other hand, many of the modest seK-deprecators possess very good memories, and wiU rattle you off strings of dates and events with a glibness positively alarming. It is an entire delusion to suppose that one cannot become a good whist player without the gift of an exceptional memory. The intellect accomphshes its memorising by means of association of ideas. Every impression that the mind receives throughout its mundane existence (to say nothing of the supermundane) remains inexpimgeably stored up somewhere within its unfathomed depths. Many of these may remain dormant — below the surface of menta- tion, as it were — for years, or may never come to the surface at aU. But whatever ideas are brought to the surface are done so by means of other ideas present in the mind as a result of either a direct impression or the active mental WHIST MEMOET. 189 process consequent thereon. Each mental state links itself on, as it were, to some other mental state with which it had been at some time associated in thought — in all proba- biUty reproducing, in a greater or less intensity, the actual physical molecular vibrations and groupings of the original impressions. To give a personal illustration. I have a bad memory for dates, but I never forget the date of the Great Fire of London. As soon as I think of it, it becomes associated in my mind with the alliterative hissing sound of " sixteen sisty-sis. " Now, I utilise that date as a useful peg for sundry other dates. When I want to remember, for instance, the date of the Battle of Hastings, I can recall the " ten centuries," and I then tack on to that the " sisty-six " of the " fire " date. Of other events, of which almost any school-boy could give you the date, but for which I can find no useful peg to hang them to, and are not otherwise dis- tinctly marked, as by the beginning or middle of a century, my recollection of the dates is of the haziest description — " there or thereabouts. " Let us see how this applies to whist. The beginner picks up a hand in which there is a suit of ace, ten, and three others. All that this suit means to him is a certain trick with the ace. As soon as he has made that, his attention is transferred to another suit in which he happens to hold an ace, or perhaps a king, which he looks upon as the next probable trick. The hand is to him so many isolated probable tricks. Who can wonder that he forgets the cards that have been played ! But when he begins to see that a suit like that should, with the assistance of trumps held by himself or his partner, 190 WHIST MEMOEY. be looked upon as a probable three tricks, he will begin to register all the cards above the ten which are stiH ui play and obstructing his command. Moreover, he wiU begin to observe and register the probable number of trumps in his partner's hand which may assist him to bring in his suit. In short, the fall of the cards is remembered not as mere isolated facts, but as having reference to and associated with other cards in the players' or his partner's hand, which he is endeavouring to make tricks with. At first you wiU remember only the higher cards, perhaps down to the nine, and the number of the cards of your suit stUl in play. But a httle practice and the habit of observing and drawing inferences will gradually enable you to remember most of the essential points of the game. As you become accustomed to note the simpler positions easily, the mind will become free to concentrate itself upon the higher developments of the game. You may not possess the acute perception and keen analytical faculty requisite to the making of a Master of the Science, but you wiU. become a good player. The exceptionally brOliant in anything are few and far between. When you have reached the stage of being a good player and a desirable partner, you wiU find that the game will yield you an amount of gratification, as well as a mental relaxation from your ordinary avocation, which you will always look forward to with lively satisfaction. 3IIU6trative Ibanbs. THE PLAY. The following illustrative hands are selected from a large number of which record has been kept, extending over a very considerable time. Choice has been made of those hands which will illustrate some of the more important principles discussed in the preceding pages. As heretofore, the hand under consideration is always that of A, supposed to be sitting at the end of the table nearest the reader. Facing him is B, and C and D are respectively on his left and right, corresponding to the reader's left and right. A's hand alone is known at the beginning of the hand, and the inferences drawn from the fall of the cards as to those held by the other players are -given, ;as nearly as -possible, as they were made in the actual play. Where the play depends upon the state of the score, the respective scores are given. In the rest of the hands the play is understood not to have been influenced by the position of the score, but simply by the rules of the game plus inferences gathered. An arrow indicates where the lead comes from in each trick. 192 ILLUSTBATIVB HANDS. HAND I. Showing the Call foe Teumps by the Discaeds ; AND Teumping a Paetnee's Teick. Trick 1. Trick 1.— It being very improbable that B played queen from queen and another only (A holding none), B is marked with either king or ace of diamonds. A begins his call. ILLUSTEATIVE HANDS. 193 Trick 2. Trick 3. Triok 2. — B is obviously returning the opponent's lead to ascertain if A is calling (having discarded a nine), while giving him a chance of discarding another losing spade. A completes the call. Trick 3. — B is obviously leading his highest trump from three or less. A plays the 4 instead of the 2 to show five trumps. Trick 4. — • D's reason for trumping his partner's trick is obvious. He is weak in trumps, and A is marked with king and queen {see last trick). If he lets A win the trick with a small trump, he will drawhisten; but by trump- ing with the ten, he forces T " i 4 the queen from A, and leaves C with a better chance of bringing in one or two trumps. D cannot, therefore, now remain with more than one trump. 194 ILIiUSTEATIVE HANDS. Trick 5. Trick 6. Trick 6. — lu face of the declaration of weakness in trumps by both B and D, some would consider a trump lead risky, lest C should be strong and should bring in his diamond suit ; and would prefer endeavouring to estabhsh the heart suit first. A rightly, I think, prefers the bolder game. There is a probabihty of D holding another trump, and of B holding a trick or tricks in diamonds. As to the spades suit, there are as yet no indications. M M o Q? o a K \/ '.,' ^ o 4k Trick 7. Trick 8. ILLUSTEATIVE HANDS. 195 "t- #' V> ■©> v> # «!l> * ^ ft (A Trick 9. Trick 10. Trick 11. — C is marked with the long diamond (see the fall of the diamonds), and it is highly probable that he holds the nine of trumps, else B would have trumped at trick ten. Should C hold the ace of spades, he will make the remaining three tricks if A passes. Should B hold the ace (but not queen also) and D the king, A and B can stiH only take one of the tricks, as on the return lead, if A trumps C will overtrump. As it happens, B holds both ace and queen, and A loses a trick by trumping ; but the chances for and against are rather in favour of trmnping, as the odds are against B holding both ace and queen. N 2 Trick 11. 196 IIiLUSTEATIVE HANDS. ■4,1/Vlj' ^^1 ♦ « ^^ • • 9 QJ" * Y » 2< ♦ ♦ \ Trick 12. Trick 13. — C makes the nine of diamonds. A B -win three tricks. Below are the other three hands : C's Hand. B's Hand. D's Hand. + A. 9. 5. Ku. 6. 10. 8. 3. ♦ K. 9. 8. 6. 5. 3. A. Q. 10. 4. 2. Kn. 7. ♦ Kn. 10. A. Q. 8. 3. K. 7. 5. 4. 2 ¥ Q. Kn. K. 7. 10. 3. 2. Note. — D saves the game by trumping his partner's trick. If he passes, A B win the game if they play correctly — e. g. , if they observe the fall of the cards and draw the proper inferences. ILLUSTEATIVE HANDS. 197 HAND 11. The Echo. ♦♦♦ fiTxt?'. * * f lr Trick 1. Trick 1. — A's strength justifies a trump lead. 198 ILLUSTBATIVE HANDS. Trick 2. Tricks 2 and 3, — The two rounds in spades make a con- siderable difference in A's position. He has no card of re- entry in spades. C has evidently no more spades, otherwise he would have led a spade at trick 4, to force A's strong hand, A having shown by his play of king on trick 3 that he holds no more spades. D in all probability remains with an established long spade suit, his lead of the three being no indication of the number he holds in the suit (on the as- sumption that he led his fourth best), as he would not disclose numbers when strength in trumps is declared by an opponent. Without an indication from B, A's play, when he obtains the lead at trick 4, would be very difficult. If D should remain with three or more trumps, persevering with the trump suit would probably enable D to bring in his long spade suit, and it would be preferable to open the .diamond suit. B, however, solves the problem for A by his echo on tricks 2 and 3, and A's play is now obvious. Had B failed to echo, it would have equally imparted informa- tion, and A would be on his guard. ILLUSTEATIVE HANDS. 199 e? (c! '"■. A rij -^ tr-^ ^■"M"< % ^& ~r^\ UFt i^t)| Trick 4. Tricks 5 to 13. — A leads queen and knave of clubs, leaving himself and B with a trump each. He then leads the king of diamonds, which D wins and leads a spade. This A trumps, and then makes three tricks in diamonds and the ace of hearts, the last trick falling to B's trump. A B score three tricks. Below are the other three hands : C's Hand. B's Hand. D's Hand. ♦ 9. 5. 4. 8. 6. 3. A. 7. 2. + 10. 7. K. 8. 5. 2. A. 9. 3. y Q. 10. 8. 6. 5. 3. 7. 4. Kn. 9. « A. Q. 9. 7. 4. 2. Kn. 10. 8. 5. 3. 200 ILLUSTEATIVE HANDS. HAND III. Finessing, and Leading a Losing Tkump TO Place the Lead. * r nLJn Trick 1. Trick 2. ILLUSTRATIVE HANDS, 201 ■'- <8t /•v 'i?J' Trick 3. Trick 4. — A's strong suit having just been opened by C, A returns the highest of the remaining two cards of his partner's suit. This en- ables B to reserve his queen, with which he is now marked, A's knave having won the trick, A sums up the position as follows: B's other club may be the ten, or the opponents may hold one club each, in which case B will remain with the long club after making the queen. He also holds probably a trick or two in hearts (see trick 1) ; and strength in trumps has not been declared by the opponents. A, therefore, decides to lead a trump. * a] ^ ^ * * Trick 4. 202 ILLUSTBATrVE HANDS. 4 • , Trick 5. Trick 6. Trick 6. — x\'s finesse is compulsory. C is marked with the ace : If he holds the knave also, A can gain nothing by playing the king ; but if knave is with D, A' s ten will force the ace and leave him with the master trump. / ;r CP / ft "'A o o Trick 7. Trick 8. Trick 8. — B does not hold another trump, or he would have led it. ILLUSTEATIVE HANDS. 203 <> €> o . "' <^ c M» 4k • Trick 1. Trick 2. 206 ILLUSTEATIVE HANDS. ^ » » ♦♦♦ ♦ Trick 3. Trick 4. Trick 4. — It is almost certain that C holds no more trumps, else he ■would have returned his partner's trump lead. *A* o ^ A A o ^M ♦♦♦ *4* o o o ^^^ « « « « ) f^p ♦^ V « ♦♦♦ « 4 <^ <;■> ^^^ A Im. \ ♦ ♦ Trick 5. Trick 6. Trick 5. — B, having played the ten on the knave, holds no more clubs, and A can place four more clubs in C's hand. Trick 6. — A leads a club for B to trump and force D's strong trump hand ; he cannot lead hearts or trumps with advantage. ILLUSTBATIVE HANDS. 207 ■■'i> ♦ Trick 7. Trick 8. ""■-^ X \ i \ A A A A A * A A f'^O A A ♦a* %i P 9 ^^ '" 9 & ^ % Qi*Sift Trick 9. Trick 10. Trick 10. — A refuses to overtrump. If he does so he remains with a losing trump (the seven) and a losing heart, as B, having played the king of hearts on the knave, cannot hold the queen. But by discarding the ten of hearts, A makes sure of the Last three tricks, whether D leads hearts or his last trump — the ten. 208 ILLUSTRATIVE HANDS. Tricks 11 to 13. — D leads the three of hearts, which A wins with ace, then draws D's ten of trumps with the knave, and makes his seven of trumps. A B win two tricks. Below are the other three hands : C's Hand. B's Hand. D's Hand. ♦ K. 9. A. 3. Q. 10. 8. 5. 4. 4. A. Q.-Kn. 8. 4. 3. 10. 6. 7. » Q. Kn. 6. 5. K. 9. 4. 8. 3. 2. ♦ 5. A. K. Q. 9. 8. 2. 10. 7. 4. 3. ILLUSTEATIVE HANDS. 209 HAND V. Holding Up the Best Teump and Eefusing to Dkaw THE Losing One. M. ♦ 4 « It ♦ Trick 1. Trick 2. Trick 1,— It is to be inferred from B's play of the king that he holds either one more or no more clubs {see p. 104). o 210 ILLUSTMATIVB HANDS. /^ ••• i * • • Trick 3. Trick 4. Trick 4. — D remains with the nine of trumps. His trmnp leads from four were obviously intended mainly for the pro- tection of the club suit. Trick 5. — D's return of the two of clubs is evidently the lowest from four or more, and C has shown not less than five clubs, having led the six (trick 1), and now played the four. A refuses to draw D's losing trump. From D's return of his partner's suit it may be inferred that he holds no long suit of his own ; but his taking out trumps points to the con- clusion that he holds tricks in hearts and diamonds. C D have already taken four tricks, and if, after A takes out the last trumps, D can get in on diamonds (their fifth trick), as is more than probable, he will let C in on clubs, who must then take three tricks, ♦ *(m ^ Tiick 5. ILLUSTRATIVE HANDS. 211 and the game is lost to a certainty. A's only chance of saving the game lies in retaining the trump until D has exhausted his clubs (on the assumption that he held four clubs only), and of his being able to take not more than one trick in diamonds. A, in short, takes a remote chance of saving the game in preference to a practically certain loss. A (trick 6) leads diamonds. * Oc:f,r> Trick 6. Trick 7. Trick 7. — A's queen of diamonds having forced D's ace at trick 6, it is to be inferred that B holds the king. A holds up the trump to let D lead out his (assumed) last club, and when C plays the five of clubs it becomes certain that he still remains with three clubs {see p. 85) and D can, therefore, only hold one more club, which A trumps with his best trump on trick 8. o 2 i^ Q 9 <€i a a Trick 8. 212 ILLUSTEATIVE HANDS. ^#0 o o o <'^ c^ a \ Trick 9. Trick 10. Tricks 11 to 13. — D leads a heart, ■which A wins with ace, and makes his knave and ten of diamonds. C D win the odd trick only, and A B save the game. Below are the other three hands : C's Hand. B's Hand. D's Hand. ^ 10. 8. 7. 6. 5. 4. K. A. Kn. 3. 2. V 10. 3. Q. 9. 7. 6. i. 2. K. Kn. 5. * K. 8. 10. 7. 2. A. Q. 9. 4. » 8. 7. 5. K. 6. 3. A. 4. ILLUSTRATIVE HANDS. 213 HAND VI. Holding Uf. 4' if) O yjt) 9 «5 ® 1© & i^ s Trick 1. Trick 2. 214 ILLUSTBATIVE HANDS. Trick 3. — -A discards a club instead of a heart. He is not strong enough in trumps to bring in his long suit, and prefers keeping the small hearts on the chance of getting a cross- ruff. Trick 4. # O Trick 6. ri^^^^ <[> # ^^^Xm ^M^^^^ wt\ o <0 Trick 5. / ?r * • o f-pS^ <|^ 1^ «E>0«> ®l Trick 7. ILIiUSTKATIVE HANDS. 215 Trick 8. — We now come to the end hand discussed on p. 162. A, observing the fall of the cards, infers the posi- tion of the remaining cards as follows: C's return of the queen must be the highest of his remaining two, or his only heart, hence D must have opened hearts from not less than sis. But a little closer analysis shows him that D must have opened from six exactly, and not from seven, and that, therefore, G holds another heart. This conclusion is arrived at from D's opening lead of the six. Had he opened from seven hearts, he must hold the nine and eight in addition to the king and ten with which he is now marked (C's play of the knave on the first round showing that he does not hold the ten). But in that case the eight would have been D's fourth- best card, not the six. C, there- fore, remains with either the nine or the eight of hearts, and his other four cards must be clubs ; and D remains with four hearts and one club {see fall of the spades suit). B is clearly marked with the two long spades and three clubs, but his discard of spades shows that he does not hold the ace of clubs {see pp. 155-8). A's play is now obvious. If D's one club should happen to be the ace, A cannot possibly make more than the ace of hearts. Thus, if he wins C's queen, he must then throw the lead in D's hand on the next round, who will then make all his hearts. If he holds up the ace, C is sure to /r * • 1 A • df flS' Trick 8. 216 ILLUSTRATIVE HANDS. lead his remaining heart, compelling A to win and throw the lead into D's hand. But should the ace of clubs be with C, A gains three tricks by holding up the ace of hearts. If A wins the queen of hearts and leads clubs, C wiU win with ace and then throw the lead into D's hand with his remain- ing heart. But by leaving C to lead out his last heart, he will be compelled to return clubs after winning with the ace, when A wiU win three tricks in clubs. The analysis as to D having opened from sis hearts exactly, and not from seven, is not at all essential. If C should hold no more hearts, A can still lose nothing by holding up, as he must lose his seven of hearts in any case ; but he risks the loss of three tricks by not holding up if C does remain with another heart. Tricks 9 to 13. — C leads the eight of hearts, which A wins, and leads the king of clubs. This C wins with ace and returns clubs, and A takes the last three tricks. A B win three tricks, but would have lost the odd trick if A had not held up. Below are the other three hands : C's Hand. B's Hand. D's Hand. V Q. Kn. 8. None. K.IO. 9. 6. 3.2. + A. 8. 6. 4. 7. 3. 2. 9. ♦ A. K. Q. 5. 9. 6. 4. 10. 8. 2. 4 9. 7. A. K. Q. 10. 8. 4. 3. Kn. 6. 2. Note. — If B had discarded two of his useless clubs on tricks 7 and 8, A might have inferred that B is saving his ILLUSTEATIVE HANDS. 217 four long spades in order to bring them in ; but as B's only chance of entry is with the ace of clubs, he must be concluded to hold it. In that case, A would lose a trick by holding up, as, if he wins C's queen and lets B in with a club, B must make the last four tricks with his long spades. By discarding from his long spades B makes it clear that he does not hold the ace of clubs. 218 ILLUSTEATIVE HANDS. HAND Vn, Compelling a Discabd • * 9 ♦ J Trick 1. Trick 2. Tricks 1 and 2. — Much informatiou is gathered from these two tricks. C, having led the two, has opened from four spades exactly. D, having won with knave and returned the king, is marked with the queen. C has shown a very weak hand by having opened a four suit ILLUSTRATIVE HANDS. 219 headed by nothing higher than a nine ; and D having promptly returned his partner's suit has probably no very strong suit of his own. ^ ♦ 4k ♦♦♦ 4 « * ♦ ♦ Trick 3. Trick 4. Trick 4. — B remains with queen and knave of clubs (see Leads, p. 82). C, having played the nine, holds no more, and the seven and six of clubs are with D. A wins B's ten with ace so as not to obstruct his command, and decides to lead trumps to prevent C trumping the clubs. T\ q? Trick 5. It •' .iii''''-''| # <> K Trick 2. Trick 3. SM. .■1> # ^i> €> €■ Trick 4. Trick 5. ILLU8TEATIVE HANDS. 225 Trick 6. — A's lead is difficult. The fight is for the odd trick. B has declared his strong suit to be diamonds, and is probably weak in spades. A lead of spade from king and knave only would be very bad, nor would a trump lead be much better, C having led them. C is marked with the other two hearts in play — the knave and six. If A leads his king of hearts, D will trump it while C reserves the master heart — the knave. A, therefore, underplays a second time. He will there- by compel B to trump the trick and be overtrumped by D, but this is of little consequence, as B's one or two trumps (he must be weak in them) will probably be taken out in any case. A will thus retain the master heart against C, who will have to lead his losing heart later on, after getting out trumps. *** !|M te ^ {^^"^'V iM^" IP Q K Trick G. A** * * • :♦; * j^ Trick 7. Trick 8. 226 ILLUSTEATITE HAOTDS. 4k * Trick 9. Trick 10. Tricks 11 to 13. — C makes the ace of trumps and ace of spades, and A (trick 13) makes the nine of trumps. A B win the odd trick and the game. Below are the other three hands : C's Hand. B's Hand. D's Hand, V Kn. 6. 5. 4. 10. 7. Q. 3. 4. A. 10. 4. 2. 8. 5. Q. Kn. 7. 4 K. 3. Kn. 10. 7. 5. 2. Q. 9. 6. 4. « A. 10. 4. 9. 6. 5. 3. Q. 8. 7. 2. ILLUSTEATIVi; HANDS. 227 HAND IX. The Despebate Game. 4b ;r*t * 4 4 Trick 1. Trick 2. p 2 228 ILLUSTEATIVE HANDS. A 4k 4k IP ♦ / /> # ♦ •it) lU* 4k 4 / * 4 4 B Trick 3. Trick 4. # O €•■• ■©■a® O \ I o © Oil Trick 5. Trick 5. — C and D have taken three tricks, and C is marked with the three long trumps. To save the game, A and B must take all the tricks in the plain suits except those which fall to C'a trumps. To do this, B must be able to finesse successfully against C in diamonds, and A against D in spades and hearts. A assumes such to be the case (see p. 184), and promptly returns diamonds. ILIiUSTBATIVB HANDS. 229 * « ^ — ♦ * Trick 6. Trick 6. — A can see from his own hand that B has grasped the position and is leading his highest from a weak suit. The king and knave being against him, A plays on the assumption that D holds them, and finesses the nine. Trick 7. Trick 8. 230 ILLUSTEATIVE HANDS. M. o o o j^a * • -^ Trick 9. Trick 10. Tricks 11 to 13.— C leads the ace of clubs, on which B and D discard hearts, and A discards the ace of spades. C then leads the queen of diamonds, which B wins with ace and then leads a heart, which A wins. But however C plays, the result must be the same. A B save and win the game. Below are the other three hands : C's Hand. B's Hand. D's Hand. ♦ 9. 9. 6. 4. A. Kn. 8. 7. 10. 5. f 4. 9. 8. 5. K Kn. 7. 2. V 6. 3. 7. 5. 2. Q. 10. 9. 8. 4. 4- A. Q. 9. 8. 6. 2. Kn. 4. 3. K. 10. ILLUSTRATIVE HANDS, 231 HAND X. Leading the Highest feom Foue. (Desohapelles' Coup.) Trick 1. 232 ILLUSTEATIVE HANDS. Trick 2, Trick 2. — B has no more spades. Trick 3. >r © <3> Trick 4. Trick 5. Trick 4. — B remains with king, queen, and at least two other diamonds. ILLUSTBATIVE HANDS. 233 Q & ^ 'D n Trick 6. Trick 6. — C holds no more trumps, since he returned the sis and is now playing the two, hence D holds the nine of trumps. 4c <£> * * i J/ o ^O €> o o Trick 7. Trick 8. * • • • 234 ILLUSTEATIVE HANDS. <^^^ « # # .^K W .ifc. 1? 9^ ♦^^^^ v^v ••» A. A \ « 4 « 4 « 4k » ♦ V / ♦ ♦ ♦ ^ \P Trick 9. Trick 10. Tricks 9 and 10. — At trick nine, A can place the cards as follows : B remains with the king and queen of diamonds and two clubs ; and his persistently discarding from his estabUshed diamonds shows that he does not hold the ace of clubs, and that he is in aU probability keeping guard to his king of clubs (see pp. 155-158). C, having discarded the eight and nine of diamonds, holds no more of that suit, and must remaiu with four clubs. D must remain with the seven and eight of diamonds and two clubs. There is, however, nothing to show whether C or D holds the ace of clubs. A is in a difficult position. The opponents have already taken six tricks and must take another with the ace of clubs. Unless, then, B can get in and make his king and queen of diamonds the game is lost. If holds the ace of clubs, the lead of queen will lose the game should C hold up the ace. On the second lead of clubs, which would then come from A, C plays the ace, when B's king must fall, and his chance of obtaining the lead is gone ; whereas if A leads a small one, should C hold up the ace, B would ILLUSTEATIVE HANDS. 235 play the king and then make his diamonds, and if C plays the ace, B gets in with the king on the second round. On the other hand, if D holds the ace of clubs, the lead of queen saves the game, as should D hold up the ace to the second round he must then lead diamonds himself ; whereas, if A leads a small one, B is practically compelled to part with his king, which D wins and returns clubs, and C D must win the game. A chooses the latter alternative, having the additional recommendation that should C hold the ace he will probably play it on A's queen led. Tricks 11 to 13. — D returns a club, which B wins with king and makes his king and queen of diamonds. Below are the other three hands ; C's Hand. B's Hand. D's Hand. 4 9. 6. 5. Kn. 7. A. K. Q. 4. ¥ Q. 6. 2. K. 8. A. Kn. 9. 5. 4- Kn. 10. 9. 4. K. 6. 5. A. 7. ♦ A. 9. 8. K. Q. Kn. 10. 4. 2. 7. 6. 5, 236 ILLUSTEATIVE HANDS. HAND XI. Playing to the Scoek The Position op a Small Cakd Infeeeed feom a Caed Plated by an Opponent. Trick 1. Trick 2. ILLUSTRATIVE HANDS. 237 ?r ^ (5? ft Trick 3. Trick 4. c (2) ^ ® £) ® Trick 5. Trick 6. Triok 7. 238 ILLUSTRATIVE HANDS. ^ !&'• Trick 8. Trick 8. — C D have taken six tricks, and A B two. C is marked with the three long hearts, and his other two cards must be clubs. B is marked --^ with the knave, ten and nine of spades (see tricks 6 and 8), but whether he holds the three of spades also (the only other spade beside those in A's hand) is not shown by his leads, but A infers this to be the case from D having played the six on the first lead of spades, as he would have played the three had he held it. Hence B holds one club, and D remains with five clubs. Trick 9. — A departs from rule and plays the ace on a small card led, as he has a spade to let B in, who must then take the remaining tricks . Allowing for D having possibly played a false card at trick 6, making the posi- tion of the three of spades uncertain, A has yet no other course open to him. From B's discard of the six of clubs at trick 4 it may be concluded that he does not hold the queen of clubs, else he would have kept double guard to the queen, and would have discarded a spade instead. If B holds Ml ♦ itr" Trick 9. ILLUSTBATIVB HANDS. 239 the king and another club, A B must win the game whether A plays the ace or not. If B holds two small clubs, A B must lose the game, however A plays. The only alternative when A would lose by playing the ace is, should D hold the king and B the queen, but B's discard makes this very im- probable. But i£ B holds the three of spades and one small club, A throws the game away if he does not play the ace. Tricks 10 to 13. — A leads a spade and B takes the remain- ing tricks. A B just win (and save) the game. Below are the other three hands ; C's Hand. B's Hand. D's Hand. •J. A. K. Q. A. A. K. Q. 10. 9. 7. 5. K Q. Kn. 10. 5. 4. 2. Kn. 10. 9. 8. 7. 3. None. 9. 6. 8. 7. K. 6. Kn. i. 3. 10.8.7.5.3.2. Note. — B's discard of a club at trick 4 is another good instance of departure from rule. C's declaration of strength would, without a good reason to the contrary, demand a discard from the strong suit {see chapter on "Discarding"). But B remains with the two long trumps, and if A can only assist him in the spades suit, B has a good chance of bringing in the suit. Moreover, C's lead of the king of hearts is either from king, queen, etc., or from ace, king, etc., and if the latter, B vyiU be compelled to trump the next lead, when he will be in a position to disclose his strong suit by his lead. 240 ILLUSTEATIVE HANDS. HAND XII. Plating to the Scoee. "~^ \ ^ / ^ * ♦ / • i M Trick 1. Trick 2. ILLUSTEATIVE HANDS. 241 ■ • • * • ^ V / B. Trick 3. Trick 4. Trick 4. — C, who has led the two and then the seven of spades, is marked with the knave and eight exactly — the only two higher spades than the seven besides those in A's hand. A, therefore, holds the tenace against C. '^ (ft liilll Trick 5. Trick 6. 242 ILLUSTEATIVE HANDS. C' r "■' ~^' 9 ^ (5? <© C7 •si/ LJ Cj Trick?. Trick 8. Trick 8. — Both sides have taken four tricks each. If A could have drawn the two other trumps the game would have been certain ; but not having succeeded in his object, A is in a difficult position. He remains with a losing trump and a losing diamond, and unless he can compel C to lead spades up to him, he must also lose a spade and with that the game. o ^ ^ # o <& o O <}> Tnck9. ILLUSTEATIVE HANDS. 243 Trick 10. — After making the ace of diamonds, A leads the losing trump to place the lead with C. By carefully observing the fall of the cards, A makes the following inference (at trick 9) as to the position of the remaining cards. D, who led the six of diamonds (trick 3) and now plays the four, must have led from five diamonds exactly. Had he led from six, the diamonds in his hand now would have to consist of the king, knave, nine, and eight, but in that case his original lead would have been the eight (his fourth best), not the six. He, therefore, remains with three diamonds, and his other card 7nust be a club, probably a small one, but possibly the queen. B has disclosed a lead from five clubs {see tricks 1, 7, and 8), and must there- fore remain with three clubs and a diamond other than the king {see trick 3). C is marked with the knave and eight of spades and the ten of trumps, and his other card is most probably the queen of clubs, otherwise his lead of the knave at trick 7 would be unaccountable. If C should hold a small club, then C D must make the remaining tricks, as the queen must then be with D, who will get in and make his diamonds ; but if C holds the queen of clubs, he must lead up to A's tenace in spades after making his queen. As the score stands, A has no other course open to him except to play this coup, even if he could make no inference Q 2 ^ W^9 **♦ A Jk • ''■'"'.111 ♦ ♦ Trick 10. 244 IIiLUSTEATIVE HAKDS. whatever as to the card held by C. Any other lead nmst lose the game, and he is therefore compelled to adopt the only alternative which can possibly save (and win) him the game. Had the opponraits been at the score o£ three,- it wonld have been A's duty to lead the king ol spades and make sure of saving the game rather than risk losing it in the attempt to win it. Tricks 11 to 13. — C makes the queen of clubs, and is compelled to lead up to A's tenace in spades. A B win the odd trick and the game. Below are the other three hands : C's Hand. B's Hand D's Hand. + A. Q. Kn. , 10. 9. 8. 5. 3. 7. 6. 4. 2. » K. 10. 9. 6. A. Kn. 5. 2. « Kn. 8. 7. 2. 6. 4. 3. A. 10. ♦ Q. 5. 8. 7. 3. K. Kn. 9. 6. 4. Note. — G plays badly at trick 7. He should have returned his partner's suit and kept the two masters in the opponent's suit. ILLUSTRiTIVB HANDS. 245 HAKD Xni. Getting Eid op a Supeepluous TEtnip. (The Geand Coup.) it" dS,, ■#■ O <3> # Trick 1. 246 ILLUSTEATIVE HANDS. <8> ^ o <3> 4t> # Trick 2. Trick 2.— A's finesse is compulsory. C is marked with the ace. If he holds knave also, A gains nothing by play- ing queen ; but if knave should be vrith D, the nine must force the ace. D is now marked vsdth the eight (which he turned up) and knave, the only two other trumps in play as should B have held it he would have led it, being the highest from his remaining two. /r~i ^ & (if ^ o Tiick 3. tllp 9 w 9 ^ A ^^ m Trick 4. ILLUSTEATIVE HANDS. 247 Trick 7. V 1® 'Piiim} J^ Trick 8. ^ O ^ Trick 9. 248 ILLUSTEA.TIVE HANDS. Trick 10. Trick 10. — A plays the Grand Coup, trumping his partner's trick, as otherwise he will find himself with a trump too many. B is marked with the ace of hearts and the queen of clubs, and his other card is almost certainly the long spade, D's lead of the knave of spades (trick i) being evidently a strengthening card from a weak suit. D holds the second best trump guarded. If A discards his nine of hearts, he must trump the next trick and lead up to the second best trump guarded, when D must win one of the tricks, unless he trumps B's lead and is overtrumped by A. But by trumping B's trick and then throwing the lead in his hand with the nine of hearts, A makes sure of the last three tricks. Tricks 11 to 13. — A leads the nine of hearts, which B wins with the ace and leads the queen of clubs. This D trumps with the eight, A overtrumps with the ten, and theE makes his queen. A B score two tricks. ILLUSTBATIVE HANDS. Below are the other three hands ; 249 C's Hand. B's Hand, D's Hand. 4> A. 8. 6. 2. K. Q. Kn. 10. 9. 7. 5. ♦ A. 7. K. 6. Kn. 8. 5. 2. # K Q. 10. A. 9. 8. 3. Kn. 7. 5. » K. Kn. 7. 3. A. Q. 6. 10. 4. 2. Note. — At trick 4, D does not return a heart on account of A being weak in hearts, the strength being therefore between C and B, as he would thus lead up to strength. At trick 8 C has a "Hobson's choice" between leading hearts or clubs, the strength in both suits being declared with B. 250 ILLUSTEATIVE HANDS. HAND XIV. Playing to the Score, and Thbowd^g a High Caed TO Avoid Taking the Lead. /r 1 / /> 1> I'll? <3> # / (© G" (!!il Trick 1. Trick 2. Trick 2. — C is evidently leading trumps to protect his strong diamond suit, B having dropped the king on the ace. ILLUSTEATIVE HANDS. -^ 251 M 1^ 1 • • 9 W # IB • • j/ Trick 3. Trick 4. Trick 6. Tnck 7. 252 ILLUSTRATIVE HAiroS. Trick 8. Trick 9. Trick 9. — A plays the king on D's ace, though holding the six. CD have already taken five tricks and this will be their sixth. C is marked with the knave and ten of diamonds. If A drops the sis of clubs, he must take the lead on the next round, and must then lead diamonds (either before or after leading the long trump) when C will win two tricks in diamonds, and the game. But by getting rid of the king he gives B a chance of winning the next round with the queen, who will then make the ace of spades, with which he is marked, and the game is saved ; or should D hold the queen and B the knave, the game is also saved. If the queen should be ■with C, A B can no more than lose. But had the score stood at C D two, A should retain the king, as he then makes sure of saving the game, but risks losing it if C should hold the queen. Tricks 10 to 13. — D leads a small club, which B wins with queen and makes the ace and seven of spades, the lasi trick falling to A's long trump. ILLUSTRATIVE HANDS, 253 A B not only save the game, but ■win the odd trick. Below are the other three hands : C's Hand. B's Hand. D's Hand. 4- 9. 7. Q. 0. 4. A. Kn. 10. 8. 3. 2. 4 A. Kn. 10. 9. 7. K. Q.5. * 10. 8. A. K. Q. Kn. 7.6. 5. 3. 2. ? K. Kn. 10. 7. Q. 6. 5. A. 3. A book on Whist woxdd scarcely be complete without giving the following two celebrated hands. The one is known variously as " The Duke of Cumberland's Hand " or "The Duke of York's Hand," and the other is known as " The Vienna Coup," the principle there involved having already been discussed in the preceding pages. The former is merely a whist curiosity, and the authen- ticity of the hand is open to considerable doubt. In a Double Dummy game, A (representing the Duke of York or Cumberland, as the case may be), seeing the position of the cards, would not lead a trump ; while in an ordinary game, when A would certainly lead a trump, it is difficult to understand why D should play as he is supposed to have done. If authentic, A must have played with a partner, while C had D for Dummy. The latter is admitted to be quite authentic, the player of the hand, whose name is imfortunately lost to posterity. 254 IIiLUSTKATIVE HANDS. having been the first to discover the coup, which has since been applied in hundreds of cases. The play of the hands is omitted, by way of testing the reader's familiarity with the contents of the preceding pages, who should then find very little difficulty in solving the play for himself. HAND XV. The Duee of Cumbeelakd's Hand. A leads the seven of spades, and C D take the thirteen tricks. C's Hand. B's Hand. D's Hand. * A. Q. 10. 8. none. 6.0.4.3.2. * none. Kn. 10. 8. 5. 4. 3. 9. 7. 6. 2. + none. 10. 9. 7. 5. 3. 8. 6. 4. 2. ♦ 10. 9. 8. 7. 6. 5. 4.3. 2. Kn. 10. none. IIjIiUSTBATIVE SANDS. 265 HAKD XVI. The Vienna Coup. This is a Double Dummy game, the position of all the cards being known. After some little consideration, A, 256 LLLUSTEATIVI! HAITOS. haviag the lead, asserted that he would take thirteen tricks. Heavy bets were made against his doing so, but A was as good as his word, nor can the opponent escape the result, however he play his cards. TTbe Xawa of Mbist (Club Cobe.) The Rubber. 1. The rubber is the best of three games. If the first two games be won by the same players, the third game is not played. Scoring. 2. A game consists of five points. Each trick, above six, counts one point. 3. Honours, i.e., Ace, King, Queen, and Knave of trumps are thus reckoned : If a player and his partner, either separately or con- jointly, hold — I. The four honours, they score four points. II. Any three honours, they score two points. m. Only two honours, they do not score. 4. Those players, who, at the commencement of a deal are at the score of four, cannot score honours. 5. The penalty for a revoke takes precedence of aU other scores. Tricks score next. Honours last. 6. Honours, unless claimed before the trump card of the following deal is turned up, cannot be scored. R 258 THE LAWS OF WHIST. 7. To score honours is not sufficient ; they must be called at the end of the hand ; if so called, they may be scored at any time during the game. 8. The winners gain — • L A treble, or game of three points, wlieii their adversaries have not scored. n. A double, or game of two points, when their adversaries have scored less than three. TTT. A single, or game of one point, when their adversaries have scored three, or four. 9. The winners of the rubber gain two points (commonly called the rubber points), in addition to the value of their games. 10. Should the rubber have consisted of three games, the value of the losers' game is deducted from the gross number of poiats gained by their opponents. 11. If an erroneous score be proved, such mistake can be corrected prior to the conclusion of the game in which it occurred, and such game is not concluded until the trump card of the following deal has been turned up. 12. If an erroneous score, affecting the amount of Hie rubber, be proved, such mistake can be rectified at any time during the rubber. Cutting. 13. The ace is the lowest card. 14. In all cases, every one must cut from iihe same pack. 15. Should a player expose more than one card, he must cut again. THE LAWS OF WHIST. 259 Formation of Table. 16. If there are more than four candidates, the players are selected by cutting : those first in the room having the preference. The four who cut the lowest cards play first, and again cut to decide on partners ; the two lowest play against the two highest ; the lowest is the dealer, who has choice of cards and seats, and, having once made his selec- tion, must abide by it. 17. When there are more than six candidates, those who cut the two next lowest cards belong to the table, which is complete with six players ; on the retirement of one of those six players, the candidate who cuts the next lowest card has a prior right to any aftercomer to enter the table. Cutting Cards of Equal Value. 18. Two players cutting cards of equal value, unless such cards are the two highest, cut again ; should they be the two lowest, a fresh cut is necessary to decide which of those two deals. 19. Three players cutting cards of equal value cut again ; should the fourth (or remaining) card be the highest, the two lowest of the new cut are partners, the lower of those two the dealer ; should the fourth card be the lowest, the two highest are partners, the original lowest the dealer. Cutting Out. 20. At the end of a rubber, should admission be claimed by any one, or by two candidates, he who has, or they who B 2 260 THE LAWS OP WHIST. have, played a greater number of consecutive rubbers than the others is, or are, out ; but when all have played the same number, they must cut to decide upon the out-goers ; the highest are out. Entry and Re-entry. 21. A candidate wishing to enter a table must declare such intention prior to any of the players having cut a card, either for the purpose of commencing a fresh rubber, or of cutting out. 22. In the formation of fresh tables, those candidates who have neither belonged to nor played at any other table have the prior right of entry ; the others decide their right of admission by cutting. 23. Any one quitting a table prior to the conclusion of a rubber, may, with consent of the other three players, appoint a substitute in his absence during that rubber. 24. A player cutting into one table, whilst belonging to another, loses his right of re-entry into that latter, and takes his chance of cutting in, as if he were a fresh candidate. 25. If any one break up a table, the remaining players have a prior right to him of entry into any other, and should there not be sufficient vacancies at such other table to admit all those candidates, they settle their precedence by cutting. Shuffling. 26. The pack must neither be shuffled below the table nor so that the face of any card be seen. THE LAWS OP WHIST. 261 27. The pack must not be shuffled during the play of the hand. 28. A pack, having been played with, must neither be shuffled by dealing it into packets, nor across the table. 29. Each player has a right to shuffle, once only, except as provided by Eule 32, prior to a deal, after a false cut, or when a new deal has occurred. 30. The dealer's partner must coUect the cards for the ensuing deal, and has the first right to shuffle that pack. 31. Each player, after shuffling, must place the cards, properly collected and face downwards, to the left of the player about to deal. 32. The dealer has always the right to shuffle last ; but should a card or cards be seen during his shuffling or whilst giving the pack to be cut, he may be compelled to re-shuffle. The Deal. 33. Each player deals in his turn ; the right of dealing goes to the left. 34. The player on the dealer's right cuts the pack, and, in dividing it, must not leave fewer than four cards Lq either packet ; if in cutting, or in replacing one of the two packets on the other, a card be exposed, or if there be any confusion of the cards, or a doubt as to the exact place in which the pack was divided, there must be a fresh cut. 35. "When a player, whose duty it is to cut, has once separated the pack, he cannot alter his intention ; he can neither re-shuffle nor re-cut the cards » 262 THE LAWS OF WHIST. 36. When the pack is cut, should the dealer shuffle the cards, he loses his deal. A New Deal. 37. There must he a new deal — I. If, during a deal, or during the play of a hand, the pack be proved incorrect or imperfect. EL If any card, excepting the last, be faced in the pack. 38. If, whilst dealing, a card be exposed by the dealer or his partner, should neither of the adversaries have touched the cards, the latter can claim a new deal ; a card exposed by either adversary gives that claim to the dealer, provided that his partner has not touched a card ; if a new deal does not take place, the exposed card cannot be called. 39. If, during dealing, a player touch any of his cards, the adversaries may do the same, without losing their privilege of claiming a new deal, should chance give them such option. 40. If, in dealing, one of the last cards be exposed, and the dealer turn up the trump before there is reasonable time for his adversaries to decide as to a fresh deal, they do not thereby lose their privilege. 41. If a player, whilst dealing, look at the trump card, his adversaries have a right to see it, and may exact a new deal. 42. If a player take into the hand dealt to him a card belonging to the other pack, the adversaries, on discovery of THE LAWS OF WHIST. 263 the error, may decide whether they will have a fresh deal or not. A Misdeal. 43. A misdeal loses the deal. 44. It is a misdeal — I. Unless the cards are dealt into four packets, one at a time ia regular rotation, beginning ivith the player to the dealer's left. n. Should the dealer place the last {i.e., the trump) card, face downwards, on his own, or any other pack. in. Should the trump card not come in its regular order to the dealer ; but he does not lose his deal if the pack be proved imperfect. IV. Should a player have fourteen cards, and either of the other three less than thirteen. V. Should the dealer, under an impression that he has made a mistake, either count the cards on the table, or the remainder of the pack. VI. Should the dealer deal two cards at once, or two cards to the same hand, and then deal a third ; but if, prior to dealing that third card, the dealer can, by altering the position of one card only, rectify such error, he may do so, except as provided by the second paragraph of this Law. Vn. Should the dealer omit to have the pack cut to him, and the adversaries discover the error, prior to the trump card being turned up, and before looking at their cards, but not after having done so. 45. A misdeal does not lose the deal if, during the dealing, either of the adversaries touch the cards prior to 264 THE LAWS OP WHIST. the dealer's partner having done so, but should the latter have first interfered with the cards, notwithstanding either or both of the adversaries have subsequently done the same, the deal is lost. 46. Should three players have their right number of cards — the fourth have less than thirteen, and not discover such deficiency until he has played any of his cards, the deal stands good ; should he have played, he is as answer- able for any revoke he may have made as if the missing card, or cards, had been in his hand ; he may search the other pack for it, or them. 47. If a pack, during or after a rubber, be proved in- correct or imperfect, such proof does not alter any past score, game, or rubber ; that hand in which the imperfection was detected is null and void ; the dealer deals again. 48. Anyone dealing out of turn, or with the adversary's cards, may be stopped before the trump card is turned up, after which the game must proceed as if no mistake had been made. 49. A player can neither shufSe, cut, nor deal for his partner, vslthout the permission of his opponents. 50. If the adversaries interrupt a dealer whilst dealing, either by questioning the score or asserting that it is not his deal, and fail to estabhsh such claim, should a misdeal occur, he may deal again. 51. Should a player take his partner's deal, and misdeal, the latter is liable to the usual penalty, and the adversary nert in rotation to the player who ought to have dealt them deals. THE LAWS OF WHIST. 265 The Trump Card, 52. The dealer, when it is his turn to play to the first trick, should take the trump card into his hand ; if left on the table after the first trick be turned and quitted, it is liable to be called ; his partner may at any time remind him of the liability. 53. After the dealer has taken the trump card into his hand, it cannot be asked for ; a player naming it at any time during the play of that hand is liable to have his highest or lowest trump caUed. 54. If the dealer take the trump card into his hand before it is his turn to play, he may be desired to lay it on the table ; should he show a wrong card, this card may be caUed, as also a second, a third, etc. , until the trump card be produced. 55. If the dealer declare himself unable to recollect the trump card, his highest or lowest trump may be called at any time during that hand, and, unless it cause him to revoke, must be played ; the call may be repeated, but not changed, i.e., from highest to lowest, or vice versa, until such card is played. Cards Liable To Be Called. 56. AU exposed cards are Uable to be called, and must be left on the table ; but a card is not an exposed card when dropped on the floor, or elsewhere below the table. 266 THE LAWS OP WHIST. The following are exposed cards : — I. Two or more cards played at once. II. Any card dropped with its face upwards, or in any way exposed on or above the table, even though snatched up so quickly that no one can name it. 57. If any one play to an imperfect trick the best card on the table, or lead one which is a winning card as against his adversaries, and then lead again, or play several such winning cards, one after the other, without waiting for his partner to play, the latter may be called on to win, if he can, the first or any other of those tricks, and the other cards thus improperly played are exposed cards. 58. If a player, or players, under the impression that the game is lost — or won — or for other reasons — throw his or their cards on the table face upwards, such cards are exposed, and Uable to be called, each player's by the adversary ; but should one player alone retain his hand, he cannot be forced to abandon it. 59. If all four players throw their cards on the table face upwards, the hands are abandoned ; and no one can again take up his cards. Should this general exhibition show that the game might have been saved, or won, neither claim can be entertained, unless a revoke be estabhshed. The revoking players are then Uable to the following penalties : they cannot imder any circumstances win the game by the result of that hand, and the adversaries may add three to their score, or deduct three from that of the revoking players. THE LAWS OF WHIST. 267 60. A card detached from the rest of the hand so as to be named is Uable to be called ; but should the adversary- name a wrong card, he is liable to have a suit called when he or his partner have the lead. 61. If a player, who has rendered himself hable to have the highest or lowest of a suit called, fail to play as desired, or if when called on to lead one suit, lead another, having in his hand one or more cards of that suit demanded, he incurs the penalty of a revoke. 62. If any player lead out of turn, his adversaries may either call the card erroneously led — or may call a suit from him or his partner when it is next the turn of them to lead. 63. If any player lead out of turn, and the other three have foUowed him, the trick is complete, and the error camiot be rectified ; but if only the second, or the second and third, have played to the false lead, their cards, on dis- covery of the mistake, are taken back ; there is no penalty against any one, excepting the original offender, whose card may be called — or he, or his partner, when either of them has next the lead, may be compelled to play any suit demanded by the adversaries. 64. In no case can a player be compelled to play a card which would obhge him to revoke. 65. The caU of a card may be repeated untU. such card has been played. 66. If a player called on to lead a suit have none of it, the penalty is paid. 268 THE LAWS OP WHIST. Cards Played in Error, or not Played to a Trick. 67. If the third hand play before the second, the fourth hand may play before his partner. 68. Should the third hand not have played, and the fourth play before his partner, the latter may be called on to win, or not to win the trick. 69. If any one omit playing to a former trick, and such error be not discovered until he has played to the next, the adversaries may claim a new deal ; should they decide that the deal stand good, the surplus card at the end of the hand is considered to have been played to the imperfect trick, but does not constitute a revoke therein. 70. If any one play two cards to the same trick, or mix his trump, or other card, with a trick to which it does not properly belong, and the mistake be not discovered until the hand is played out, he is answerable for aU consequent revokes he may have made. If, during the play of the hand, the error be detected, the tricks may be counted face downwards, in order to ascertain whether there be among them a card too many : should this be the case they may be searched, and the card restored ; the player is, however, liable for aU revokes which he may have meanwhile made. The Revoke. 71. Is when a player, holding one or more cards of the suit led, plays a card of a different suit. THE LAWS OF WHIST. 269 72. The penalty for a revoke — I. Is at the option of the adversaries, who, at the end of the hand, may either take three tricks from the revoking player — or deduct three points from his score — or add three to their own score ; n. Can be claimed for as many revokes as occur during the hand ; III. Is applicable only to the score of the game in which it occurs ; IV. Cannot be divided, i.e., a player cannot add one or two to his own score and deduct one or two from the revoking player ; V. Takes precedence of every other score, e.g., — the claimants two — their opponents nothing— the former add three to their score — and thereby win a treble game, even should the latter have made thirteen tricks, and held four honours. 73. A revoke is established if the trick in which it occur be turned and quitted, i.e., the hand removed from that trick after it has been turned face downwards on the table — or if either the revoking player or his partner, whether in his right turn or otherwise, lead or play to the following trick. 74. A player may ask his partner whether he has not a card of the suit which he has renounced ; should the question be asked before the trick is turned and quitted, subsequent turning and quitting does not estabhsh the revoke, and the error may be corrected, unless the question be answered in the negative, or unless the revoking player or his partner have led or played to the following trick. 270 THE IiAWS OF •WHIST. 75. At the end of the hand, the claimants of a revoke may search all the tricks. 76. If a player discover his mistake in time to save a revoke, the adversaries, v^henever they think fit, may call the card thus played in error, or may require him to play his highest or lowest card to that trick in which he has renounced ; any player or players who have played after him may withdraw their cards and substitute others ; the cards withdrawn are not Uable to be called. 77. If a revoke be claimed, and the accused player or Ms partner mix the cards before they have been sufficiently examined by the adversaries, the revoke is established. The mixing of the cards only renders the proof of a revoke difficult, but does not prevent the claim, and possible establishment, of the penalty. 78. A revoke cannot be claimed after the cards have been cut for the following deal. 79. The revoking player and his partner may, under all circumstances, require the hand in which the revoke has been detected to be played out. 80. If a revoke occur, be claimed and proved, bets on the odd trick, or on amount of score, must be decided by tbe actual state of the latter, after the penalty is paid. 81. Should the playfers on both sides subject themselves to the penalty of one or more revokes, neither can win the game ; each is punished at the discretion of his adversary. 82. In whatever way the penalty be enforced, under no circumstances can a player win the game by the result of THE LAWS OF WHIST. 271 the hand during which he has revoked ; he cannot score more than four. {Vide Eule 61. ) Calling for New Cards. 83. Any player (on paying for them) before, but not after, the pack be cut for the deal, may call for fresh cards. He must caU for two new packs, of which the dealer takes his choice. General Rules. 84. Where a player and his partner have an option of exacting from their adversaries one of two penalties, they should agree who is to make the election, but must not consult with one another which of the two penalties it is advisable to exact ; if they do so consult they lose their right ; and if either of them, with or without consent of his partner, demand a penalty to which he is entitled, such decision is final. This rule does not apply in exacting the penalties for a revoke ; partners have then a right to consult. 85. Any one during the play of a trick, or after the four cards are played, and before, but not after, they are touched for the purpose of gathering them together, may demand that the cards be placed before their respective players. 86. If any one, prior to his partner playing, should caU attention to the trick — either by saying that it is his, or by naming his card, or, without being required so to do, by drawing it towards him — the adversaries may require that opponent's partner to play the highest or lowest of the suit then led, or to win or lose" the trick. 272 THE IiA^VS OF WHIST. 87. In all cases where a penalty has been incurred, the offender is bound to give reasonable time for the decision of his adversaries. 88. If a bystander make any remark which caUs the attention of a player or players to an oversight affecting the score, he is liable to be called on, by the players only, to pay the stakes and all bets on that game or rubber. 89. A bystander, by agreement among the players, may decide any question. 90. A card or cards torn or marked must be either replaced by agreement, or new cards called at the expense of the table. 91. Any player may demand to see the last trick turned, and no more. Under no circumstances can more than eight cards be seen during the play of the hand, viz. , the four cards on the table which have not been turned and quitted, and the last trick turned. Dummy. Dummy is played by one player against two. The hand facing him, which he plays himself in heu of a partner, is exposed on the table. The preceding laws apply to Dummy, with the foUowing exceptions : — I. Dummy has the first deal in each rubber. U. No penalties for a revoke by the Dummy hand can be exacted. The hand being exposed, the adversaries should have seen and rectified the error. Having THE LAWS OP WHIST. 273 failed to do so before the trick is turned and quitted they can neither exact penalty or rectification, but the game proceeds as if no revoke had been made. III. Dummy's partner is not liable to penalties which are intended to prevent the player's partner benefiting by the errors. Thus, he may expose some or all of his cards, it being entirely to his own disadvantage. He may also declare that he has the game, or the trick, and so on, without incurring any penalty. He is, however, subject to the penalty provided in Law 62 if he lead from his own hand when he should have led from Dummy's, or vice versa. Double Dummy. This is played by two players, each having an exposed hand for a partner. The laws are the same as in Single Dummy, with the following exception : There is no mis- deal, as the deal is a disadvantage. Etiquette of Whist. "Whist laws are not intended to provide against inten- tionally unfair play, which should be met by exclusion from the whist table. Nor is it possible in all cases to penalise irregular conduct, which, whether intentional or not, is none the less unfair. The following rules belong rather to the recognised etiquette of whist, and would scarcely need stating were it not that their infraction is a matter of almost daily occurrence. The adversaries are justly entitled to any advantage they may derive from your partner's bad play, or bad judgment, 274 THE LAWS OF WHIST. or lapse of memory ; and any information you render him by word, gesture, or emphasis, whether as to the general strength or weakness of your hand, or in reference to any one trick, or to the state of the score, is distinctly unfair to them. Leading a winning card, do not begin to draw a second card, or take hold of another card as if waiting to lead it, until your partner has played to the trick, as you thereby give an intimation that you have led the winning card. A demand to see the last trick, or for the cards to be placed, should be made for one's own information only, and not with the object of calling partner's attention. Having revoked in error, it is unfair to revoke a second time in order to conceal the first. Any dispute as to a question of fact — as to who played any particular card, and so on — should readily be referred for decision to a bystander who has no interest in the result of the game. It would be advisable for each club to appoint a referee or referees, to whom all questions of law on points which are either not clearly expressed in the preceding laws, or are wholly unprovided for, should be submitted, and whose decision shoxdd be final. It would be presumption to tell bystanders that they should pass no remarks, or give intimation by word or gesture as to the state of the game, until the game is concluded and scored ; but it may not be out of place to remind them that walking roimd the table overlooking the different hands is often disconcerting to some players. Players who desire to make bets should give the pre- ference to the adversaries before betting with bystanders. Two packs of cards are invariably used at clubs. Hppenbiy. The methods of play adopted in the modern game may be classed broadly under two headings : — 1. Those which are agreed to present advantages on their own merits, apart altogether from the information which they convey to one's partner — the latter being merely inci- dental and supplementary. Thus, the lead of a high card from two or more in sequence would be advantageous though it conveyed no information. It needs no argument, for instance, to convince anyone that the lead of the two from queen, knave, ten, nine and two must prove disadvan- tageous in the long run. Supposing, then, you adopt the lead of the lowest of the sequence, you withhold information, but you stUl gain the advantage that it must force the king or ace. By leading the queen, however, you obtain exactly the same protection without weakening the suit, and in addition put your partner in a position to reserve his king. The information which he is able to gain of your holding the knave and ten is merely incidental — i.e., a deduction from the fact that you can afford to sacrifice the queen for securing the protection. The lead of the fourth best, when the card is of moderate value, is also more or less protective. 2. Those which are purely informatory, as the lead of the fourth best when the card is a very small one, or the trump signal, and so on. But though purely informatory, they are s 2 276 APPENDIX. not arbitrary. Each convention is merely a continuation of a method of play which is advantageous on its own merits in some cases. Thus, when the fourth best card happens to be an eight, it stands a chance of proving protective. When it is only a three, it cannot be that, but it establishes a uniformity in the method of leads and is thus capable of conveying information, while it cannot weaken the suit. It is indeed open to question whether purely arbitrary signals would not approach dangerously near to unfair play. It is generally contended that aU signals are fair provided they are not the result of a private understanding between two players, but have been pubhshed or otherwise made known to all who choose to make themselves familiar with them ; and provided the information is conveyed by the cards played and not by the manner of playing them.* Without entering into a fine argument on the ethical aspect of the question, it wiU be obvious that there is an important difference between a conclusion arrived at deductively as to the position of a certain card or cards from a consideration of the motives which must have actuated the player in play- ing a particular card, and that of an arbitrary signal pure and simple. If my partner leads a king (won by ace) he is not signalling to me that he holds the queen. I know that by inferring his motive for leading king instead of a small one. The one is within the legitimate field of intellectual activity, and is a result of experience analytically and syn- thetically applied. In this the untutored player will be at a disadvantage only in so far as he is wanting in that * Some players, for instance, will tliump the table when they throw a ni^ister card, or convey information of strength or weakness by some other gesture or expression. They mostly do it from mere impulse, and sometimes unconsciously. It need scaicely be pointed out how grossly unfair this is to the opponents. APPENDIX. 277 experience and in availing himself of past experience. He cannot reasonably complain of this, it being no more than is the case in every other affair in life, whether of business or recreation. "While the other is an artificial contrivance not depending on logical deduction, placing a player at a disadvantage (assuming the advantage of those signals to be demonstrable) not because he is wanting in the logical faculty or the experience to apply it correctly, but because he happens to be unaware that someone had invented a set of arbitrary signals. Granting, then, the fairness of the adoption of fresh developments or signals, whether as extensions of methods already logically employed, or of a purely arbitrary character, the necessity of their being first widely published and discussed is beyond question. This serves the double purpose of estimating their proper value, and of bringing them within the knowledge of aU who take an interest in the scientific game. It need scarcely be stated that the development of the game has not reached finality, any more than has development in any other department of physical or mental activity. Following, therefore, the usual custom, certain proposed developments not generally accepted, but which are more or less engaging the attention of players in this country, are briefly stated in an appendix for further consideration and discussion. It is not, of com'se, always easy to pronounce with any degree of confidence as to the general acceptance or non- acceptance of any one particular development. The great bulk of the principles discussed in the preceding pages have met with practically the unanimous consent of aU players in this country who have given the subject any thought at 278 APPENDIX. all. But some few of the more advanced developments are still more or less dissented from. In absence, however, of any organisation amongst whist players in this country, and an of&cial organ to represent their views, as is the case in America, one's means of gauging the volume of opinion amongst players generally on any given question is strictly limited. As a case in point, take the leads of queen from Mng, queen, five in suit, and from ace, king, queen, five in suit. I gave my reasons for objecting to them, and ventured to make the statement that many good players still prefer the lead of king. On further discussing the subject with various players, I should strongly feel inclined to amend my statement by saying that a decided majority of good players object to the leads, and that they have no claim whatever to being the generally accepted method. But, then, one has no right to speak for the thousands of players all over the country whose opinion one has no means of finding out. The leads in question may possibly be of those that " are agreed to by most good judges" but, as I can lay no claim to the abiUty to decide who are the good judges, some doubt upon the point may, perhaps, be pardonable. There are stUl some lingering objections to the lead of the fourth best, and to one or two others of the more recent developments. The final justification of any method of play is, of course, the sufficiency of the reasons advanced in favour of it. Beyond this, all that one can say is, that, as far as one's personal knowledge and inquiries go, the objections to the lead of the fourth best are daily diminish- ing, and that, at any rate, in most of the whist circles in London where the scientific game is played, it is an accepted APPENDIX. 279 part of the modern game almost as much as the return lead of the highest from three. The Sub-Echo. The echo (p. 140) informs your partner that you hold not less than four trumps ; and when you refrain from echoing, though having an opportunity to do so, he is informed that you hold less than four. When leading trumps yourself in response to your partner's call, you always inform him that you hold less than four by leading your highest ; and when returning a partner's lead of trumps, if the card is suflEiciently high to show your partner that you cannot hold two trumps higher than the one returned, he wiU know that you held less than four. In aU cases, however, the information of holding less than four, stops short at that — i.e., it does not inform him whether you hold three trumps or only two, and after the second round he cannot tell whether you remain with a trump or not. It will be obvious that if this knowledge could be obtained, it might occasionally prove of considerable value in instruct- ing the player whether or not he should take out a third round of trumps. This is proposed (by " Cavendish," I believe) to be done by means of a sub-echo. By " sub-echo " is meant an echo after having previously refrained from echoing, or after your play has shown that you do not hold more than three trumps. 1. One of the opponents opens a suit, in which they win the first two tricks, and B completes a call. The other opponent now leads his strong suit, in which they take out 280 APPENDIX. three rounds. Say you hold the two, three, and four of that suit. On the first round you play the two, and on the second round you play the four. You have not echoed, hence you do not hold four trumps. When on the third round you drop the three, you have suh-echoed. Should you hold less than three trumps, you would play the two followed by the three and then the four. 2. In response to B's call, you lead a trump which is sufficiently high to show that you cannot hold three higher than that one (but see p. 137 as to leading the ace, and a high card from a sequence). Having shown that you do not hold four trumps, you echo at the first opportunity to show three trumps. 3. B led a trump, on which you played your highest, and are now returning the highest from yoiir remaining two. If you can conclude "from the fall of the cards that B is in a position to know that you cannot hold two trumps higher than the one you returned and that you cannot, there- fore, remain with more than one trump, you echo at the first opportunity to show that you do hold one more trump. 4. B led a high trump, or D played a high one on B's small one led which you cannot cover. If you play the two, or when you play the three and the two falls from C, you are not echoing (but see p. 141), and therefore hold less than four trumps. A subsequent echo will show you to have held three trumps exactly. 5. B called, and you have trumped an opponent's trick with the two (but see p. 141). You have refrained from echoing, and a subsequent echo will show you to have held three exactly. The absence of a sub-echo would then give the negative information of holding less than three. APPENDIX. 281 In case 1, the opportunity of completing a sub-echo after showing that you have refrained from echoing will occur but very seldom indeed, the above example of being able to do so in the first five tricks being about the most favour- able condition. In cases 2 and 3, if the card led or returned leaves it open to doubt whether B would be in a position to infer from it that you did not hold four trumps, the adoption of the sub-echo is open to a two-fold objection. Your in- tended sub-echo may be mistaken for an echo, indicating four trumps ; and if you refrain from sub-echoing lest it should be mistaken for an echo, it may be taken to mean that you are refraining from sub-echoing, indicating less than three trumps. In cases 4 and 5, it is open to the objection that you also play or trump with the lowest though holding four trumps when the third best trump is too high to be employed for echoing {see p. 141). By adopting the sub-echo you exclude the echo proper, as your echo would then be mistaken for a sub-echo. But by excluding the sub-echo your echo can have but one significance. The development is of but very limited application, and in the hands of any but the most skilful players may lead to constant misunderstanding. The Second Lead of the Original Fourth Best after Opening with a High Card. Holding ace and four or more small ones, the generally- accepted leads are ace followed by the lowest. The 282 APPENDIX. proposition is that the second lead should be the original fourth best. It is claimed for this : (1) That it will occasionally put your partner in a better position to count the exact number of cards of the suit in your hand, (2) that he wiU be better able to determine the value of the two higher cards remain- ing in your hand, which will put him in a position to know when he is to get rid of a high card which would otherwise obstruct your command, and (3) that he wiU. frequently be able to decide whether you remain with the command of the suit. The lead of the ace having disclosed possession of not less than five in suit, it is much to be doubted whether the dis- closure of more than five in suit is either facilitated by the second lead of the fourth best, or is at all necessary, as with such numerical strength the information will in aU proba- bility be more readily gathered from the faU of the cards. As regards the other claims, there is something to be said for and against. The proposition being, however, yet scarcely seriously entertained, an attempt at a careful analysis is deferred. " Cavendish " proposes to amend this to the lead of the remaining fourth best instead of the original fourth best. This practically does away entirely with the two latter advantages claimed for the lead, and is intended merely to assist the indication of numbers — ^an altogether unnecessary elaboration in the cir- cumstances, in my opinion. The same remark will apply to the second lead from king, queen, and small ones, the king having won the first trick. INDEX. PAGE Abandoning the game Law 59 ... 266 Absence of " Echo " indicates less than four trumps 142 Accept a force readily when weak in trumps 144 Ace, danger of blanking it (by discarding) ... 154 Danger of retaining it against partner's command 60 Is lowest in cutting ... ... ... Law 13 ... 258 Should be put on 2nd player on second round 107 Should cover an honour (1st round) 107 Should not be played 3rd hand if holding queen also ... 23, 111 When fourth player may hold it up ... 43,115 When it should be led {see Leads). When it should be led in tnimijs ... ... 146 Ace, queen : Leading from suit headed by ... 25 and two small ones : What to lead from ... 118 Knave, etc. : Holding up when king led from left 43 Advantage in being fourth player ... ... ... ... ... 20 American leads : Leads of 4th best and from sequences 60, 85 Antepenultimate {see FOURTH Best). Asking for trumps {see Call for Trumps). Best card {see MASTER Card). Suit {see Strength, Strong, Suit). Blanking an ace (by a discard) disadvan- tageous ... ... ... 154 High cards (see Keeping Guard) 157 Blocking partner's suit 18 Breaking up a table Law 25 ... 260 Bringing in a suit 140, 148 284 INDEX. Bystanders Call for trumps Calling a siiit Attention to trick (see Penalties). For fi'esh cards Honours Cancelling an intended call Card : calling highest or lowest of a suit ... Deficient or too many in a trick Deficient or too many in a hand Deficient or too many in a pack Of protection : meanmg of Of protection : danger of its being mis- taken for a call The ti'ump cai'd... Throwing a high, to place the lead . . . Cards : All must cut from the same pack . . . Faced in pack In sequence How many may be seen How shuffled {see SHUFFLING). How to be cut Imperfect pack Liable to be called New packs may be called for Placing them in a trick Played in error Two, played to a trick Cavendish leads {see Leads). Chance element in Whist ... Finesse : when it should be made and avoided ... Chances against partner holding any given card In favour of holdera of 4 by honoui'S ... Changing suits to be avoided ... Claiming penalties {see Penalties). Combinations : Leads from various {see Leads). Combined game — self and partner ... Command of a suit ... Opponent's suit to be retained Partner's suit to be got rid of Compelling a discard Laws 8S-89 I'AUK 272-4 ... 49, 90, 136, 139 Laws 56-66 265-7 Law 86 ... 271 Law 83 ... 271 Law 7 ... 258 ... 52 Law 86 ... 271 Laws 69, 70 ... 268 Law 40 ... 264 Law 47 ... 264 50, 86 ... 51 Laws 52, 55 ... 265 ... ... ... 184 Law 14 ... 258 Law 37 ... 262 ... 103 Law gi ... 272 Laws 34-36 ... 261 Law 37, 47 2C2, 464 Laws 56-66 265-7 Law 83 ... 271 Law 85 ... 271 Laws 67-70 ... 268 Law 70 ... 268 3,4 ... 122 ... 54 ... 3 24, 54 13, 18 ... 18 ... 102 ... 92 ... 166 INDEX. 285 PAGE Conceal your -weakness 40 Consent of players : as to cutting in ... ... ... ... 5 Consultation : as to exacting penalties ... Law 84 ... 271 Contradicting a call {see Cancelling). Conversation of the game 45 Correcting errors : in points of a game ... Law 11 ... 258 In score of a rubber ... Law 12 ... 258 To prevent revoke ... Law 74 ... 269 Coup: meaning of ... 171 Coups: Compelling a discard ... ... 184 Deschappelles' coup 176 Desperate game ... ... ... ... ... ... 184 Discarding a useless trump .. . ... 174 Grand couji ... ... ... ... ... 172 Play of coups (see HANDS). Kefusing to draw a losing trump 180 Throwing high cards to avoid the lead 184 Covering an honour 106 Ci'oss-ruff=Cross-trnmping 31, 77 Cutting Laws 13-15, 29, 34-36, 43 In Laws 18-22, 24, 25 259, 260 In : Suggested amendment of law 5 Out Laws 20, 21 259,260 Deal : when a new deal may be claimed ... Laws 38-42 ...262 When it must stand good Law 48 ...264 When there must be a new deal ... Law 37 ... 262 Dealing : method of, and cutting Laws 33-36 ... 261 Out of turn Law 48 ... 264 Deceptive play : when it may be advan- tageous 43, 166 Decision : as to penalty {see Consultation). Of bystander on points of fact ... 272-4 Of doubtful points should be left with referees 274 Defensive game when weak in trumps (as to discards) 151 Deschappelles' coup 176 Detached cards ... Law 60 ...267 Deuce = two, of any suit. Disadvantage of being third player 20 Of opening a suit 24 Disarming the opponents 32 Discard : from an established suit indicating absence of ace of un played suit 156-8 286 INDEX. Discard : from a tenace suit with a view of inducing lead Of a high card by partner on an early lead Of a singleton not always advan- tageous Of small card, leaving ace blank ... Original discard the important one When strong in trumps When weak in trumps Disputes to be decided by bystander To be submitted to referees Double-Dummy Double-Ruff {see Cross-kufp). Winning a, = game of two points . . . Doubtful trick : when to pass or tnimp Drawing inferences {see Inferences). Two tramps for one Dummy Echo : has not the significance of a call Meaning of Eight cards only may be seen at one time ... Enforcing rights {see Penalties). Entry to a table {see Players). Equal cards {see Cutting). Erroneous score Error, cards played in .. . Established suit : when discarded from showing absence of ace of unplayed suit... When it becomes so Establishing a suit Examining the tricks {see Revoke). Exposed cards : if exposed in cutting If exposed in dealing Liable to be called Face downwaids : card dropped — not an ex- posed card Trump card dealt — is a misdeal False card, play of a : How it may cause loss to partner... False cut {see Cutting). Finessing ... 155 ... 139 ... 154 ... 154 ... 154 ... 148 ... 157 ... 272 ... 274 ... 273 Law 8 ... 258 143-4 ... 133 ... 272 Law 6i ... 142 ... 140 ... 272 Laws 11, 12 Laws 67-70 ... 258 ... 268 156-8 ... 25 ... 13 Law 34 Law 37 Law 56 ... 261 ... 262 ... 265 ... ... 266 Law 44 ... 263 40, 42 21. 24, 121 INDEX. 287 Finessing : depending upon strength of hand In a partner's lead On the mere chance Partner's card First hand's play {see LbaDS). Shuffle : Who has the light to Law 30 Five or more in a suit signified by original lead of knave Forcing ... Opponent's strong hand Partner: when permissible Partner: though weak Forming tables Laws 16-20 As to good and bad players Fourth best : Card to lead when opening with small card Hand's play Player : advantage of being Function of trumps Game: consists of five points Law 2 Value of : single, double, or treble Law 8 Correcting errors before the end of ... Law 11 May be two or three to a rubber . . . Law 1 When it cannot be won Law 82 When ended (for purposes of correct- ing erroi-s)... Law 11 Getting rid of superfluous trump ... Giving up your own game for partner's when he calls for trumps Grand coup Guard («e6 Keeping Guard) Half-score for honours : suggested amend- ment ... Hand, imperfect Law 46 Hand showing: call for trumps Hand i. Compelling a discard „ vii. Desperate game ,, ix. Duke of Cumberland's (or York's) hand ... „ XV. Echo „ ii. Finessing » iii- Getting rid of superfluous trump (Grand Coup) ... „ xii. Holding up ,, vi. 288 INDEX. Hand showing : holding up host trump ... Hand Leading highest from four (DeschappeUea'coup) ... Leading losing trump to place the lead Playing to the score Playing to the score Playing to the score Position of smaU card in- ferred Eefusing to draw losing ti'ump Eefusing to overtrump Returning opponent's lead... Throwing away high card... Trumping partner's trick ... Underplay Vienna Coup High card : discarded by partner on first lead=call Led late in the hand assumed to be from weakness When to open with High cards : throwing (^ee Coups). What to lead when opening with G9 Highest card of a suit : when it may be called (see Calling). Card : when to be played [see Leads : First, Second, and Tliird Hands' Play). Tramp: when it may be called ... Law 55 ... 265 High trump tlirown away on opponent's lead 90 Holding up '. 42, S5, 161 Ace when king led from left 43,115 Example (illustrated) showing gain of three tricks by 163 As fourth player when high card played by partner 138 Winning tnuup on an opponent's second lead inadvisable ... ... ... ... 163 Honours : arguments against scoring by 1-S How scored Laws 3-6 ... 257 Improperly played cards {see Penalties). Imperfect pack Laws 37, 47 262,264 PAGE V. ... 209 X. ... 231 iii. ... 200 xi. ... 236 xii. ... 240 xiv. ... 250 xi. ... 236 V. ... 209 iv. ... 205 iv. ... 205 xiv. ... 250 i. ... 192 viii. ... 233 xvi. ... 255 ... ... 139 ... 114 ... 55 INDEX. Imperfect trick Inducing partner to get rid of command ... Inferences, from a small card not falling ... From leads From opponent's discards Information: When to give ... When to withhold Jack = Knave. Keeping guard to high cards King and another only : second hand's play from And another only : what to lead from And two small ones : what to lead from When led originally {see Leads). When put on by second player Knave : Importance of leadihg it from a higher sequence (to king or ace) when holding five or more in suit Lead of — has the invariable signi- ficance of five in suit ... Led by partner and you hold king, Law 57 Ten, nine, and others ; arguments as to best lead from Late leads : high cards led assumed to be from weakness Law of averages Lay suits ... ... Lead lowest from three small cards towards the end of hand Trumps from five : when to Trumps from the highest downwards when holding less than f our Leading from long suits From short suits From weak suits Lower card of a sequence indicates strength ... A singleton A single trump Out aces and kings ... Leads (original), in plain suits : from : — A. and three small 289 PAGE ... 266 70 96 88, 107-10, 112 154 39 165 ... 157 ... 104 ... 118 118, 119 ... 103 59, 70 ... 76 ... 114 57-60, 76 ... 114 ...9-12 ... 15 ... 176 129, 130 137 ... 19 ... 28 ... 117 LEAD. lowest ... 71 ... 36 ... 124 13, 18 ... 64 290 INDEX. Leads (original), in plain suits : from : — A. and four or more small A., K., and small (" Cavendish," ace from five or more). A., K., Q., and small ("Cavendish," queen from five or more) . A., K., Q., Kn and othei's ... A., Q., Kn., and one small and two or more small A., Q., Kn., ten and small A., K., Kn., and small K., Q., and small ("Cavendish," queen from five or more). K., Q., Kn., and one small and two small and three small ... K., Q., Kn., ten K., Kn., ten, and others Q., Kn., ten., and another and two or more small Q., Kn., ten, nine and others All other combinations IN TRUMPS leads ditter as foUow :— A. and small, if not more than six in suit A., K., and small do. do. K., Q., and small do. do. K., Q., ten and small When high card turned up on the right : — A., Q., ten, etc., knave turned up ... K., Kn., nine, etc. 1 ^ Q., Kn., nine, etc. J ^ Kn., ten, eight, etc., nine turned up Fourth best lead in trumps subject to exceptions Long cards : assuming value of trumps Cards, meaning of Whist Looking at cards ... Lowest from four : to return in partner's suit Exceptions to above rule LEAD. Ace King King ... 64 66, 67 72,74 King, then Knave 76 Knave 76 Ace, then Queen 77 Ace, then Knave 77 Ace, then ten 79 Ace, then Knave 79 King 80 Kmg 80 King, then Knave 81 Knave, then King 81 Knave, then Queen 81 King, then ten ... 82 ten 82 Queen, then Knave 83 Queen, then ten 83 Queen, then nine 84 Queen, then ten 84 Fourth best ... 85 small 146 small 146 small 146 King 147 Queen 147 Knave 147 ten 147 147 27 14 1 Laws 41, 44 262 263 94 100 INDEX. 291 Management of tramps (see TeumpS) Marked card Marking board : look to it, and play to the score ... Master cards ... ... Cards in partner's suit to be got rid of Cards in opponent's suit to be re- tained ... Cards to be played on second rounds Memory Misdeal : penalty for (see Penalties) When it is a Misleading call : Meaning and object of ... Mistake in card played {see Kevoke). In order of play In scoring ... Naming card, not necessary to constitute exposed card Card, without being asked to place it Trump card (see Penalties). New deal, when it may be claimed ... Deal, when there must be a Nixmerical strength ... ... weakness (see Leading). "Nursing" trumps: absurd habit of Obstructing partner's command Odd trick Odds of chances : meaning of One card only of a suit (see SINGLETON) ... Open a fresh suit, when to Opening a suit, disadvantage of ■ A suit headed by ace and queen ... A suit with high card (sec Leads). A suit witli low card {sec Leads). Opponent's suit : Keep Command of Original discard (see DisoAKD) Lead (see Leads). Partner, consulting with — re penalty (iet rid of command in liis suit . . . How selected Keturning bis lead ... Beturu his trump lead at once ... PAGE ... 128 Law 90 ... 272 ... 123 ... 15 ... 92 ... 102 ... 107 ... 188 Law 43 ... 263 Law 44 ... 263 ... 137 Laws 67, 68 ... 268 Laws 11, 12 ... 258 Law 56 265-6 Law 86 ... 271 Laws 37-42 ... 262 Law 37 ... 262 19, 25 ... 128 ... 60 ...Law 2 ... 257 ... 10 ... 36 ... 54 ... 24 ... 25 ... 102 ... 154 Law 84 ... 271 ... 92 Laws 16-25 259-60 ... 91 ... 135 T ii 292 INDEX. Passing a doubtful trick Penalties, cannot compel a revoke For calling attention to card or trick For deficient hand For detached card ... For exposed cards For exposed hands For leading out of turn For misdeal For naming wrong card For not playing to a trick For playing out of turn ... For playing to imperfect trick . . . For playing two cards to a trick For revoke For showing wi'ong tnimp May be demanded until paid May not be consulted about, ex- cept revoke ... Reasonable time for exacting When deemed paid When game abandoned ... When they must be claimed Penultimate {see Fourth Best). Placing the cards in a trick The lead on your left Plain suits = other than the trump suit Players: how selected ... Who is to deal Playing to the score... Points: how they are scored Popularity of WhLst in America "Pretty positions," with and without honours " Proclaim youi- strength " Proctor's (E.A.) analysis of second hand's play from queen and another only Protection: cards of ... Queen : when led originally {see Leads). Queen and another only, what to lead from And another only, second hand's play from And two small ones, what to lead from PAGE ... .. 143 Law 64 .. 267 Law 86 .. 271 Law 46 .. 264 Law 60 .. 267 Law 56 265-6 Law 5S .. 266 Law 62 .. 267 Law 43 .. 263 Law 60 .. 257 Law 69 .. 288 Law 68 .. 268 Law 57 .. 266 Law 70 .. 268 Law 72 .. 269 Law 54 .. 265 Law 65 .. 267 Law 84 .. 271 Law 87 .. 272 Law 66 .. 267 Law 59 .. 266 Laws 44, 78 263, 270 Law 85 .. 271 .. 134 .. 15 Laws 16-25 259, 260 Law 16 .. 529 .. 121 Laws 2-lU 257-8 3 5 .. 165 .. 105 50, 86 .. 118 .. 105 118, 119 INDEX. 293 mm Queen, lead from higher sequence : further remarks on {see also Leads) Led by partner and you hold ace, pass Quitting (sce'l'UENING AND QUITTING) ... Ee-cut lie-entry: Cards of to table Referees should be appointed by clubs Kefusing a force A force when strong in tnimps ... To overtrump {see Hands) To play winning card {see Holding up). .Remembering the cards Kenouncing (not following suit) Repeating claim for penalty ... Ke-shuflBe Responding to a, call : when to do so and when not to Returning opponent's lead when weakness on your right Return the highest from three The lowest from four... The exceptions to above rules Trump lead at once, except when an opponent renounces Partner's lead : When to do so Partner's lead : When best to avoid Revoke ... ... La Ruff = tmmping in. Rules should not be arbitrary Those based on uniformity of method Without reasons Scoring ... ... Searching the tricks for revoke Second hand's play Sequences, leads from {see Leads). Meaning of 103 Play lowest of — second, third, and fourth hand Short suits, useful for getting lead late in the hand 18 Suits, what to lead from I 28-29 117-20 Suits, when to lead from J ' .. ■ ..• ... 278 ... 118 ... 5265, , 269, 272 Law 15 ... 258 ... 30 Laws 21-25 ... 260 ... 274 ... 35 ... 143 ... 144 ... 188 Law 74 ... 269 Law G5 ... 267 Law 32 ... 261 1S6-7 ... 101 ... 94 ... 94 ... 100 ... 133 ... 91 ... 101 ws 71-82,84 268-271 46, 276-7 47, 276 ... 36 Laws 2-12 257-8 Laws 75, 77 ... 270 102-10 294 INDEX. Shuffling, after cards have been cut not allowed For partner ... Laws asto... Signalling (see Call for Trumps : Echo) Singleton, leading a Single, a : game of one point Trump, leading a Small cards : inferences gathered from their not falling Sorting the cards : how it should be done... Strengbh of a suit : what it consists in Of other hands judged by their leads {sec Inferences) Of other hands judged by their discards ... Strengthening card, from weakness .. . Strong hand injured by trumping in Hand justifies deeper finessing Sub-echo... Substitute player : when allowed Suit: avoid changing suits ... Lead originally from your strongest Leading from weak suits Ketuming opponent's and partner's suit [sec KKTURNIKU : liBTUKN;. What constitutes a stronsj suit AVhen a suit may be called ... Superfluous trump Surplus card Systematic play necessary Table, exposed card must be left on How formed Laws 16, Taking a force : when to do so and when to retrain 143 Ten : led originally only from king, knave, ten, and others (see Leads) ... ... ... 82 Useless as a finesse, second player, with ace, knave, ten, etc ... ... ... 110 When put on second hand ... 108 Tenace: meaning of 116 Eefusing to win a trick when holding a 116 Test of efficiency 5,97 Laws 35-36 261-2 Law 49 ... 264 Laws 26-32 260-1 ... 46, 96, 136, 139 ... 36 Law 8 ... 258 ... 124 ... 96 ... 122 19, 25 ... 88, 107, 110, 112 ... 154 ... 120 30, 35 ... 125 ... 281 Law 23 ... 260 24, 54 ... 19 ... 117 19, f5 Laws 61-63 ... 267 ... 172 Law 69 ... 268 39-40 Law 56 ... 265 6, 17, 20-25 359, 260 FAQS ... Ill ... 20 ... £0 ... 184 Law 87 ... 272 vs 38, 39 ... 262 Law 8 ... 258 ... ... ... 123 Law 2 ... 257 Law 67 ... 268 Law 91 ... 272 Law 70 ... 268 Law 69 ... 268 Law 7U ... 268 INDEX. 295 Third hand's play Player : disadvantage of being Player must play a liigli card... Throwing away a high card ... Time (reasonable) tor exacting penalties ... Touching card during deal ... Treble: Game of three points " Trick grabbing " Trick : one point for each above six Cards not played to a trick Last one turned may be seen Mixing another card with a trick . . . Omitting to play to a trick Two carets played to a trick When one or more play to a lead out of turn Law 63 ...267 When one or more cards of a trick may be placed Law 85 ... 271 When one or more cards of a trick may be placed without request... Law 86 ... 271 When one or more players may be required to win or lose a Tricks : counting tricks to discover error . . . No more than two can be seen at one time Score after penalty for revoke Score before honours Trump card, if dealer cannot recollect Card, if dealer looks at Card, if dealer shows wrong Card, if faced in the pack ... Card, if dealt face downwards Card, player maynot ask what it was Card, turn up of, concludes preced- ■ ing game Lead : when an opponent holds none Lead : when an opponent trumps your strong suit Lead : when your partner opens a suit in which you hold strength Lead, to stop a cross-ruff Lead, to be returned at once Lead, from highest downwards if holding less than four .. . ... ... 137 Leads, where they differ from plain suits 146 Laws 57, 86 236, 271 Law 70 ... 268 Law 91 ... 272 Law 5 ... 257 Law 5 ... 257 Law 55 ... 265 Law 41 ... 262 Law 54 ... 2B5 Law 37 ... 202 Law 44 ... 263 Law 53 ... L65 Laws 6, 11 257, 258 ... 133 ... 133 ... 132 ... 134 ... 135 296 INDEX. Trumping in (see Taking A Force : Forcing) Strong hand injured by Weak hand benefited by Trumps, function of If strong in, pass doubtful trick If weak in, trump doubtful trick Drawing two for one Management of Played differently from plain suits (5ee Call FOR Trumps : Forcing). "When to lead ... Turn, dealing out of Law 48 Up card : information conveyed by its retention Up card : modifying tnimp lead ... ... 130- Turning and quitting : what is ... ... Laws 73, 91 And quitting : when material Laws 52, 73, 74 Two points for the rubber Law 9 Unblocking, meaning of Underplay ... ... In the trump suit... Unguarding («ee Keeping Guard) Uniformity in the discards essential In method of play essential Unnecessarily high card, the playing of Untutored partner, playing with Upwards: cards dropped face Law 56 Hands thrown down face . . . Laws 58, 59 Watching the fall of email cards Weak hand benefited by tmmping ... In tmmps : accept a force readily In trumps : do not force partner Suits (see Leading). Weakness to be concealed When to call for trumps To lead trumps To withhold mformation Whist code : Laws of Whist Code : general revision desirable Memory Winning Cards : improperly led Wrong card : naming a (see PENALTIES) Trump card : showing a Penalties) Law 57 (sec PAGE ... 143 30, 35 30, 35 ... 30 ... 143 ... 144 ... 133 ... 128 ... 61 ... 129 ... 264 98, 99 132, 147 269, 272 265, 269 ... 258 ... 18 42, 159 ... 160 ... 157 ... 152 ... 38 ... 48 ... 168 ... 265 ... 266 96, 98 30, 35 ... 145 ... 145 ... 166 ... 136 ... 129 ... 165 ... 257 ... 7 ... 188 ... 266 ... 257 ... 265 Catalogue of Practical Handbooks Published by L. Upcott Gill, lyo. Strand, London, IV. C. American Dainties, and How to Prepare Them. By an American Lady. In paper J price Is., iyy post 1«. 2d. Angler, Book of the AU-Roiind. A Comprehensive Treatise on Angling m both Fresh and Salt Water. In Four Divisions as named below. 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