Since the appearance of the previous Edition of this work, American Leads have been the subject of much discussion.
American Leads propose a systematic course of play when opening and continuing the lead from the strong suit, as follows:—
When you open a strong suit with aLOW CARDlead yourFOURTH-BEST.
When a four-card suit is opened with a low card, thelowestis the card selected. Instead of calling this the lowest, call it thefourth-best.
When a five-card suit is opened with a low card, thepenultimatecard is selected. Instead of calling this the penultimate, call it thefourth-best.
When a six-card suit is opened with a low card, lead theante-penultimate. Instead of calling this theante-penultimate, call it thefourth-best.
And so on for suits of more than six cards. Every suit of four or more cards, opened with a low card, is to be treated, on the first lead, as though there were no cards below the fourth-best in the leader's hand.
Example:—
LeadFrom Qn, 10, 8,7," Qn, 10, 8,7,6" Qn, 10, 8,7,6, 4" Qn, 10, 8,7,&c., &c., &c.
By following this method, you show your partner, as regards a strong suit which you open with a low card, that youinvariablyholdexactly threecards higher than the one first led; and not infrequently what those cards are.
When you open a strong suit with aHIGH CARD,and next lead aLOW CARD,lead yourORIGINAL FOURTH-BEST.
When ace is led from ace and four or more small cards, after leading the ace, lead the original fourth-best,i.e., the card you would have led if opening with a small card. Thus, in trumps, with ace, knave, nine, eight, seven, an advanced player would begin the eight. In plain suits, the ace would be first led. The second lead of an American Leader would be the eight, the original fourth-best, and not the seven.
By following this method, you inform your partner that youinvariablyremain withexactly twocards higher than the second card led, as shown by the following tabulated example:—
LeadThenFrom Ace,Knv, 9,8,7" Ace,Knv, 9,8,7, 5" Ace,Knv, 9,8,7, 5, 3" Ace,Knv, 9,8,&c., &c., &c.
By leading in this way you not infrequently tell your partner what your remaining high cards are. Thus, with the above combination, if king, queen come out on the second round, and your partner holds the ten, he knows to a certainty that you command the suit, a fact about which he would have been in doubt had you continued with the lowest.
The same rule, when a high card is followed by a low card, applies to king led from king, queen, and small ones, when the king wins the trick; and to ten, led from king, knave, ten and one or more small ones, when the ten wins the trick. These are all the possible cases. With king, knave, ten, nine, if the nine wins the first trick, the leader goes on with a high card.
When you remain withTWO HIGH INDIFFERENT CARDS,lead theHIGHERif you opened aSUIT OF FOUR;THE LOWERif you opened aSUIT OF FIVEor more. (SeeAnalysis of Leads in Detail, p.64).
The typical example is the combination of ace, queen, knave, and one or more small cards. With four in suit, ace, then queen is led. But with more than four in suit, the knave is led after the ace, because then, if your partner remains with king and one small card, you are strong enough to invite him to win your trick in order to unblock your long suit.
In the same way, if queen is led from queen, knave, ten and small, you proceed with the knave, holding only ten and one small. But, with knave,ten and more than one small, you continue with the ten, the lower of two indifferent high cards, to induce your partner to win it, and so to unblock your suit, should he remain with ace and one small one, or with king and one small one.
Consequently, if your partner is an American Leader, and on the second round of your suit, you lead the higher of two high indifferent cards, he will count your strong suit to have consisted offour cardsexactly. On the other hand, when on the second round, you lead the lower of two high indifferent cards, he will countat least threeof your strong suit still in your hand. As it is advantageous to your partner to be able to count your hand in this way, whether he has blocking cards or not, you should always pursue the same system. Thus: you lead ten, from king, knave, ten, &c. The ten forces the queen. You obtain the lead again. Your king, knave are now high indifferent cards. If you lead the king, your partner knows you remain with knave and at most one small card of the suit. If you lead the knave, your partner knows you remain with king and at least two small ones.
Or, you lead knave, from king, queen, knave, and two or more small ones. On leading the suit again, if you continue with king, your partner counts queen, and exactly two small ones in your hand. If you continue with queen, your partner counts king and more than two small ones in your hand (seep.68).
Before deciding which of two or more high cards to lead, be sure whether they areindifferentcards. Thisinformation you can obtain by consulting the Analysis of Leads (p.64). When, in the Analysis, the second lead is given without any qualification, the high cards are not indifferent.
Three objections are urged against American Leads by players who oppose their adoption. The first is,
Even were this stricture true, it is no objection to an intellectual game that it exercises the minds of the players. But it has hardly any foundation in fact. All an American Leader asks his partner to observe is:—
That, when he originally leads a low card he holds three of the suit higher than the card led.
That, when he originally leads a high card and next a low one, he still holds two cards higher than the second card led. And,
That, when he originally leads a high card, and follows it with a high card, he indicates, in many cases, to any one who knows the Analysis of Leads (as every whist player ought), whether his strong suit consisted of four or of more than four cards.
The second objection is,
The answer is that American Leads add little which is new to the game. They only consolidate the received practice, and extend a law of uniformity to cases not previously provided for.
The third objection is,
No doubt it may. But, under other whist conditions, experience tells us that it is advantageous, in the long run, to convey information of strength, notwithstanding its publication to the whole table. It is in the highest degree improbable that a player will be at a disadvantage by imparting too much information.
It should be borne in mind that American Leads, in their integrity, assume not merelyanoriginal lead, buttheoriginal lead of the hand,—the very first lead of all. When a player obtains the lead, for the first time, after one or more tricks have been played, he may open his strong suit in the same way as though he weretheoriginal leader. On the other hand, he may deem it advisable to open a weak suit; or to lead through a strong one, or up to a weak one; or, if great strength in trumps has been declared against him, may wish to conceal the fact that his best suit is only a very long one of small cards (seeHand IX, Tricks 6 and 7); or, if late in the hand, he may conclude that the time for precise exhibition of strength is past and gone (seeHand XIII, Tricks 8 and 9, and Hand XXIV, Tricks 5 and 6). These, however, are matters of judgment, for which no hard and fast rule can be laid down.
[For demonstrations of the working of American Leads, and for Illustrative Hands,see"Whist Developments," by "Cavendish." London:Thos. De La Rueand Co.]
[For demonstrations of the working of American Leads, and for Illustrative Hands,see"Whist Developments," by "Cavendish." London:Thos. De La Rueand Co.]