(Seealso Appendix B., pp.287-8.)
In the foregoing chapters it has been incidentally stated that you should
The reasons will be obvious to those who are familiar with the previous pages; in the first case, you obstruct the adversaries' suits, and prevent their establishing them; in the second case, you assist in clearing the suit for your partner.
Thus, with ace and queen only of a suit led by your partner, if you win with the queen, play out the ace at once; but, if the suit is led by your adversary, keep the ace in your hand. If you play out the winning card of the opponent's suit in hopes of trumping the next round, which is often done by those who play a trumping game, you do just what the adversaries want; for the lead of the ace gives them valuable assistance towards bringing in their suit when trumps are out.
Though the advantage of getting rid of the command of a suit, of which your partner has declared numerical strength, is recognised theoretically, the application of the principle is much neglected in practice. In order to get rid, at the proper moment, of the command of your partner's suit, a thorough knowledge of the Analysis of Leads is requisite, as the following examples will show:—1. Your partner leads ace, originally, of a plain suit. He has led from ace, queen, knave, &c., or from a suit of five cards at least. You have four of the suit, say ten, nine, eight, two. To his ace, you should play the eight, not the two. All follow suit, and your partner continues with knave, or with a small card. You now know for certain that he led from five at least. You should play the nine, even if the second hand puts on a winning card or a trump. When the suit is led again, you should play the ten. Your partner is left with two small cards, and you do not block his suit; if you had played two, eight, nine, it is very probable that you would keep the command of the suit with the ten. 2. If instead of ten, nine,eight, two, you held, say, ten, nine, three, two, and your partner leads ace and a small one, you should similarly play the nine on the second round. 3. If your partner led from ace, queen, knave and one small one (as you will be informed by his leading queen after ace), you cannot block the suit; but, if you have played the eight to the ace, as in Example 1, you must still play the nine to the queen, or you have called for trumps (seep.125). You lose nothing by this, as you and your partner still retain the winning cards of the suit. If on the third round you find it necessary to play your small card, you have not called for trumps (seeAppendix B, pp.287-8). 4. Similarly, you have king, queen, and two small cards of a plain suit of which your partner leads ace and a small one. All follow suit to the ace; the second hand trumps the small one. You should play the queen, and to the third round the king. 5. Your partner leads knave of a plain suit originally, from king, queen, knave, and at least two small cards. The second hand plays a small card. You (third hand) hold ace, &c. Whether or not you should put on the ace, depends on the number of small cards you hold. Having only one small card, you should play the ace, that you may not block the suit. Having more than one small card, you pass the knave. Suppose the knave wins the trick, and your partner continues with king or queen. If you now remain with ace and one small card, you should put on the ace; but, if you have ace and two small cards left, you should pass again, as you still have the power of getting ridof the command on the third round. 6. To continue the previous example. Say the two rounds of your partner's suit have resulted in the fall of seven cards of it, and that you still have ace and a small one left. Your adversary now leads the suit a third time, that his partner may trump it. You should play the ace, keeping the small card of the suit of which your partner will still hold two cards. 7. If your partner leads a small card of a plain suit originally, and you can tell from the fall of the cards that the card led was not his absolute lowest, you know he led from a suit of more than four (seeAnalysis of Leads), and if you had four originally, you should be prepared to get rid of the command on the subsequent rounds. For example:—Your partner leads eight. All follow suit, and the queen falls. On obtaining the lead again, your partner leads the six, showing that he led from at least five cards. Ace comes out. One adversary does not follow suit. You held, originally, knave, five, four, three, and have played the three and the four. Your partner now has the lead again, and leads the king of his suit. You, holding knave and one small one, would play very badly to retain the knave. You should throw the knave on the king, and your partner's suit is freed. 8. Your hand contains four cards, viz., ace and one small spade (spades not having been led), and two losing diamonds; your partner has nothing but spades, of which he leads the king. If you pass it you cannot make more than two tricks, for the winning diamonds are against you in one hand; but, if you win your partner's king, andreturn the small one, and your partner has led from king, queen, you still win two tricks, and get a chance of making three or four.
A collateral advantage of playing as advised, is that a good partner will often know how many of his suit you still have in hand. Thus, he leads knave, which you pass; he continues with queen, which you win. It ought to be a certainty that you remain with one small card of his suit and no more. If you pass again, it should be equally certain, when your ace comes down in the third round, that you have one small card of the suit in hand. Again: your partner leads ace and knave; knave is won by the adversary with the king. You, holding ten, nine, eight, deuce, have played eight and nine of the suit. If the winner of the trick does not lead a trump, your partner would infer, with tolerable certainty, that you remain with the deuce and ten of his suit, as no one is asking for trumps (seep.125) and no one has played the deuce in two rounds.
In trumps, the case is somewhat different, as you cannot block your partner's trump suit. It is then only advisable to get out of his way, if you see from the fall of the cards that it is essential he should proceed with trumps. Thus: with ace and one small trump you would not put ace on his knave led, unless very desirous of three rounds of trumps immediately. Moreover, in trumps, your partner can count your hand in another way; for with four trumps you would echo, as will be fully explained under Management of Trumps (p.128).
You help your partner to get rid of the command of your suit by leading the lowest of a sequence,notwithstanding that it heads your suit, when you want him to win your card if he can. For this reason you lead ten from king, queen, knave, ten; ace, knave from ace, queen, knave, and at least two small cards; and so on. In this last case, if your partner has king, whether he should put it on your knave, or not, depends on how many small cards of the suit he holds. If, when you lead knave, he remains with king and one small one, he should win the knave with the king; but if he has king and two small ones remaining, he should pass the knave, for precisely the same reasons as those given in the previous examples. Again, suppose you are left with knave, ten, and others of a suit, of which your partner can only have king and another (ace and queen being out), though it is uncertain whether he does hold the king. You would cause him to get rid of the king by leading the ten; whereas, if you led the knave, he probably would not part with the king.
Experienced players frequently endeavour to steal a trick, or to obtain the entire command of a suit (i.e., to keep a sufficient number of winning or commanding cards in it to make every trick), byunderplaying. Underplay is keeping up the winning card, generally in the second round of a suit, by leading a low card, though holding the best.
Thus, suppose a small trump is led, and you (fourth player) hold ace, knave, and two small ones, and you win with one of the small ones. If, at a later period of the hand, you return a small trump, you will very likely cause your left-hand adversary to believe thatyour partner has the ace; consequently, if your left-hand adversary has the king, he may not put it on; your partner will win the second round with the queen, and you will retain the command of the trump suit.
Underplay is an extempore stratagem depending on observation of the previous fall of the cards, and, therefore, best capable of explanation by examples. Thus: A, finding his partner strong in trumps, leads the seven. The king is put on by Y (second hand), which B (third hand) wins, holding ace, queen, ten, nine, eight. It is evident to B that A's seven was his highest trump, as the only higher one in is the knave, and A would never lead the seven from knave, seven. The king having been put on second hand, B concludes that Y, in all probability, holds at most one small trump more. The knave is, to a moral certainty, in Z's hand. B, by leading the eight in the second round, will probably win the trick, and unless Z had four trumps originally, will catch the knave with the queen in the third round. (Further examples of underplay occur in the hands.)
Players should be on their guard against this manœuvre, particularly when second hand, in the second round of a suit, they hold the second best card guarded, and the adversary has been playing a strong game (as by leading trumps), and is left with the long trump, or is certain to be able to obtain the lead again. Then it is often right for the second hand to stick on a singly-guarded second best card, especially if that is the only chance of making it. In the case stated in the previous paragraph, Z's onlychance of making the knave, if singly guarded, is to put it on second hand. For, if the queen with small ones is in A's hand, A is sure to finesse on the return of the suit by his partner. Again, take this case: A leads the six of diamonds; Y, with knave, ten, and a small one, puts on the ten; B plays the king, and Z wins it with the ace. Presently, A obtains the lead again, and leads the eight of diamonds. A, having led the lowest of his suit in the first round, it may be inferred that he has led from a strong suit—headed in this case by the queen—and that he is underplaying with, probably, queen and nine in his hand. Y should observe this, and in the second round should win the eight with the knave.
Refusing to play the winning card in the first and second rounds of a suit—commonly calledholding up—is, in fact, a species of underplay. For example:—1. Trumps are led by the player to your left; the third player wins with the ace, and returns the suit through your hand. If you are left with king and one or more small ones, you should play a small one, unless the circumstances of the hand are such that you deem it advantageous to stop the trump lead. The original trump leader, not knowing but that the king is in your partner's hand, will probably finesse, and your partner thus has a chance of making the third best trump, even though unguarded. If your partner has neither second nor third best trump, no harm is done, as you will then probably make but one trick in the suit, however you play. 2. Again, ten tricks are played, and each player is left withthree cards of a suit not opened. If the second player puts on the queen (from which it may be inferred that he holds the king also), the third hand should not cover with the ace. For, by winning the trick, he must lead up to king guarded; but, by passing it, he leaves the lead with the second player, and takes the best chance of making two tricks. 3. One more example will suffice: A has the last trump, and ace, ten, and three small cards of a suit not led. The adversary now leads the king, and follows with the queen of that suit. A should pass them both; by so doing he will probably make three tricks in the suit if the cards are equally divided.