It cannot be too strongly impressed thatthe primary use of strength in trumps is to draw the adversaries' trumps for the bringing in of your own or your partner's long suit. With great strength in trumps (five or more), you may proceed at once to disarm the opponents, and lead trumps without waiting to establish a suit. For, with five trumps or more, the chance of your succeeding in drawing the other trumps, and of being left with the long trumps is so considerable, that you may then almost always lead trumps, whatever your other cards. The exceptional hands are principally those which contain five trumps without an honour, and five small cards of a plain suit; or five trumps without an honour, and four middling cards of one plain suit together with four bad cardsof another plain suit. But if the adversaries are at the score of three, you should lead a trump with these hands, as your partner must have two honours, or very good cards out of trumps, for you to save the game.
If you are at the score of three, the adversaries being love, one, or two, you should not lead a trump merely because you have five trumps with two honours, if they are unaccompanied by a very strong suit, or by good cards in each suit. For here, if your partner has an honour, you probably win the game in any case; and if he has no honour you open the trump suit to a disadvantage. Some good players, however, do not allow this to be an exceptional case. The turn-up card may sometimes cause you to refrain from leading trumps from five. Thus: you have king, ten, nine, six, and four of spades (trumps); ace, queen, and three small diamonds; and three small hearts. You are four, and the ace of spades is turned up. In the opinion of most players, the ace of diamonds is the best original lead; but, if an ace were not turned up, you should lead a trump.
It is often said, even by pretty good players, "Strength in trumps is no reason for leading them, unless you have a good suit as well." If both you and your partner are devoid of good cards you cannot make tricks; but should your partner hold one good suit out of the three, you will very likely bring it in for him by leading from strength in trumps. For, even if you have a poor hand out of trumps, you will discover in the course of play (i.e., by the suits led ordiscarded by the other players), what your partner's suit is, and will be able to lead it to him each time you get the lead with your long trumps. Besides, if your hand is weak out of trumps, you are placed in the disadvantageous position of leading from a weak suit unless you lead trumps.
You should not be deterred from leading trumps because an honour is turned up to your right, nor necessarily lead them because the same happens to your left; either is proper if the circumstances of the hand require it, but neither otherwise. To illustrate this proposition, take this hand: ace, queen, and three small spades (trumps), three small hearts, three small clubs, and two small diamonds. The king of spades is turned up fourth hand. The best lead is disputed; but the author has no hesitation in advising the lead of a small trump, notwithstanding that there is a certain finesse over the king. A little consideration will render this apparent. By leading the trump suit originally, you obtain the advantages just enumerated, and make the dealer open a suit up to your partner. Your partner, as soon as he gets the lead, will return the trump, and you thus obtain the command of trumps whether the king was forced out in the first round or not.
Bearing in mind the severe consequences of leaving the adversary with the long trump, you must be cautious in leading trumps from less than five; four trumps and a moderate hand not justifying an original trump lead. You should, instead, lead your strong plain suit, and if you establish it, and the adversaries donot meantime show any great strength, as by leading or calling for trumps (pp.125-127), you may then, with four trumps, mostly venture a trump lead. With strength in trumps you may generally finesse more freely in the second and third rounds of trumps than you would in plain suits. In plain suits an unsuccessful finesse may result in the best card being afterwards trumped, which cannot happen in trumps. Moreover, by finessing, you keep the winning trump, and so obtain the lead after the third round. This is especially important when you have a suit established and but four trumps. Here you should, generally, not merely finesse in the second round, but hold up the winning trump, and sometimes at this juncture refuse to part with it even if the trump lead comes from the adversary.
An example will render this more clear. The leader (A) has ace, and three small trumps, a strong suit, headed by ace, king, queen, and a probable trick, say king and another, in a third suit. A should, in the writer's judgment, lead a trump. If B (A's partner) wins the first trick in trumps, and returns a strengthening trump, A, as a rule, should not part with his ace. When A or B obtain the lead again they play a third round of trumps, which, being won by the ace, enables A, by leading his tierce major, to get a force (i.e., to compel one of his adversaries to trump in order to win the trick), in which case nothing short of five trumps in one hand against him can prevent A's bringing in his suit. You must be prepared for similar tactics on the part of the adversaries, and not conclude that theyhave not the best trump because they suffer you to win the first or second round.
With a well protected hand containing four trumps, two being honours, a trump may be led originally. For here the chance of gaining by the trump lead may be taken as greater than the chance of losing. Thus with queen, knave, and two small trumps, a four suit with an honour, say for example, knave, ten, nine, and a small one, king guarded in the third suit, and queen guarded in the fourth, a small trump if it finds partner with an honour is by no means unlikely to win the game. If partner turns out very weak in trumps the leader must alter his plan, and, instead of continuing the trump lead, play to make three, five or seven tricks according to the fall of the cards in plain suits.
Trump leads, without strength in trumps, can only be right in consequence of some special circumstance in the state of the game, or of the score. For instance, great commanding strength in all the plain suits may call for a trump lead; or it may be necessitated to stop across-ruff(i.e., the alternate trumping by partners of different suits, each leading the suit in which the other renounces), in which case it is generally advisable to take out two rounds if possible; so with the winning trump you play it out, whatever your others are. Again, if you have a wretched hand and you are love to three or four, you assume that the game is lost, unless your partner is very strong; and if heisvery strong, the trump is the best lead for him. This doctrine is frequently carried to excess, as, by concealing your weakness, you often stand a better chanceof saving a point, if not the game, than by at once exposing it. If, therefore, you have one four suit, headed by an honour, you would generally do better to choose that.
The trump lead is so much more important than any other that you should almost always return your partner's lead of trumpsimmediately, except he has led from weakness, when you are not bound to return it unless it suits your hand.
If you find one of the adversaries without a trump, you should mostly proceed to establish your long suit, and abstain from drawing two trumps for one; to say nothing of the probability that the adversary who has not renounced is unusually strong in trumps. Besides, when he has the lead, he will very likely lead trumps in order to draw two for one; and it is more advantageous to you that the lead should come from him. On the other hand, if your partner has no trump, it is often right to endeavour to weaken the adversaries by continuing even their trump lead.
It is a common artifice, if you wish a trump to be led, to drop a high card to the adversary's lead, to induce him to believe that you will trump it next round, whereupon the leader will very likely change the suit, and perhaps lead trumps. Thus, if he leads king (from ace, king, and others), and you hold queen and one other, it is evident that you cannot make the queen. If you throw the queen to his king, he may lead a trump to prevent your trumping his ace; but if he goes on with the suit, and you drop your small card, it may fairly be inferred that you have beenendeavouring to get him to lead a trump. Your partner should now take the hint, and, if he gets the lead, lead trumps; for if you want them led, it is of little consequence from whom the lead comes. By a conventional extension of this system to lower cards it is understood that, whenever you throw away anunnecessarilyhigh card, it is a sign (after the smaller card drops) that you want trumps led. This is calledasking for trumpsorcalling for trumps.
When you ask for trumps, you command your partner to abandon his own game, and to lead a trump; and you promise him, in return, if he has reasonably good cards, either to win the game or to make a considerable score. It has been laid down, that the minimum strength in trumps which justifies you in issuing such an order to your partner is four trumps, two being honours, or five trumps, one being an honour, accompanied by such cards in your own or your partner's suits that you are reasonably secure of not having a suit brought in against you. This rule, however, only applies to anoriginalask. If you have had the lead, and have not led a trump, or if you have had an opportunity of asking and have not asked, and you then ask for trumps at a later period of the hand, the ask is not a command, like an original one, nor does it necessarily imply the possession of the minimum strength above stated. It merely means that, from the fall of the cards, you consider a trump lead would be very advantageous. For example: you hold ace and a small spade; king, ten, and two small hearts (trumps); queen and two small clubs; andknave, ten and two other diamonds. You lead a small diamond; your partner plays the queen; the fourth hand plays the ace. A small club is now led through you. You should ask for trumps.
When your partner asks for trumps, and you have four or more at the time you obtain the lead, lead the smallest, unless you have the ace, or three honours, or queen, knave, ten; if you have only two or three trumps when you obtain the lead, lead from the highest downwards, whatever they are.
Before answering the ask, be sure that the higher card, previously dropped, isunnecessarilyhigh. For instance a higher card is often played before a lower, to show that you command the suit, or that you hold the intermediate cards, or to get out of your partner's way. It is very important to distinguish between covering second hand and discarding an unnecessarily high card. For example: with knave, ten, and one other (say the three), it is usual to play the ten second hand on a small card. When your three comes down in the next round, it is not an ask for trumps, unless your partner can infer that you do not hold the knave. Moderate players, who know of the ask, never consider this; so with them the choice of the least evil is generally not to cover, for you otherwise run the terrible risk of having a strengthening trump led to you with a weak hand. To ask for trumps, second hand, with knave, ten, and one other, you must play the knave.
When your partner leads a trump, or asks for trumps, if you have numerical strength in trumps, youshould ask at the first opportunity. This is called theecho of the call, though it is made use of also in response to a lead.
The advantages of the echo are manifold. Your partner being strong in trumps may hesitate to take a force, but your echo enables him to do so without fear, and to persevere with the trump lead. Or, your partner may be in doubt after the second round of trumps as to the policy of playing a third. But if he can count two more trumps in your hand he will be directed. Thus: eight are out, your partner has three more; you have echoed. He will know that the other two are in your hand, and will not draw two for none, as without the echo, he might do.
The negative advantage of the echo should not be overlooked. Thus: to take the same case of eight trumps being out, and the leader with three more trumps. You (his partner) have had the chance of sounding an echo, but have not done so. The leader knows that you have not both the remaining trumps, and he will regulate his game accordingly.
To your partner's trump lead you echo in the trump suit; the same if partner calls, and you are forced. Thus: you have eight, seven, five, two of trumps; your left-hand adversary leads king, ace of a suit of which you only hold one. Your partner calls. You echo, by trumping with the five, and you then lead the eight. On the second round of trumps, when your deuce falls, the echo is completed. Your partner knows that you have one more trump, either the six or the seven. If you had not echoed, he might not beable to tell for certain whether you hold another trump or not. (SeeHands XXXIV., XXXV.)
If you have four trumps and are forced, and your partner then leads or asks for trumps, you should echo, notwithstanding that you no longer have numerical strength. This case can best be illustrated by an example. (SeeHand XXXVI.)
The use of strength in trumps being to disarm the opponents, it follows that you should as much as possible husband your strength for that purpose. Therefore when second player,