Chapter 36

There is no Whist principle which should not be occasionally violated, owing to the knowledge of the hands derived from inference during the play. Some of the more frequent of the cases,where a general rule can be given for departing from rule, may advantageously close this Section.

It is advisable in most cases where the game is desperate, and where it is clear that your partner must be strong in your weak suit to save the game, to lead your weakest suit, notwithstanding Principle 1 (p.56). Your partner should finesse deeply in the suit you lead him, and should not return it, but, actuated by motives similar to yours, should lead his weakest suit, in which you should finesse deeply, and continue your weak suit, and so on.

For example: AB (partners) lead trumps. They win the first three tricks, and show four by honours, and three more trumps remain in A's hand. Consequently, if AB win another trick, they win the game. Y or Z now has the lead for the first time.His lead should be from his weakest suit, on this principle: if his partner has not the command of it, or a successful finesse in it, the game is lost. Say Y leads, and Z wins the trick. Z should not return Y's lead, but should similarly lead his weakest suit.

For an illustration of this coup,seeHand XXVII.

It often happens towards the end of a hand, that an unplayed suit, of which the leader holds (say) four cards, can only go round twice,e.g., there may be two trumps left in in one of the opponents' hands. In such a case, if your suit is headed by queen or knave, you should treat it as a suit of two cards only, and lead your highest, as this gives the best chance of making two tricks in the suit.

In the reverse case, where a suit can only go round once, it is obvious that a small card should be led, so as not to tempt partner to finesse. Thus, holding queen and one small card of an unplayed suit, which you are about to lead, all the opponents' cards but one being winning cards, the proper lead is the small card.

For an illustrationseeHand XXII.

There is another case, known asDeschapelles' coup, where the proper card to lead is not determined by the leader's numerical power in the suit. It is this: all the adversaries' and partner's trumps are exhausted, and the leader's partner remains with an established suit. If the leader (not having any of his partner's suit left) is obliged to open a fresh suit headed by king, queen, or knave, he should lead the highest card, irrespective of the number of cards he holds in the suit, that being the best chance of subsequentlyprocuring the lead for his partner in case his only card of entry in that suit should be an honour, not the ace.

For an illustration of this coup,seeHand XXVIII.

Deschapelles' coup often succeeds in practice, but it may generally be defeated by an attentive player. When the above-described position of the cards occurs, the adversary, if he has the ace of the fresh suit led, should not put it on first round. The suit will, in all probability, be continued with a low card, when the third player will most likely be compelled to play his highest, which will be taken by the ace; and, having lost the card of re-entry, he never brings in his suit, unless he gets the lead in some other way.

This is a case of by no means infrequent occurrence. For example: one of the adversaries has a long suit declared in his favour, which is led a second time. Only one trump remains in, which is in the hand of the second or fourth player. As a rule, the second round of the suit should not be trumped. The third round will probably exhaust the adverse hand, which is numerically weak in the suit. If it so happens that the player who is numerically strong in it has no card of re-entry in any other suit, he will then never bring in his long suit, as his partner, whose hand is exhausted, cannot lead it again, should he get the lead after the thirdround. If there is a card of re-entry in the hand of the player who has numerical strength, he must bring in the suit, whether the second round is trumped or not.

SeeHand XXIX for an illustration of this position.

A similar rule applies, but less frequently, when one adversary has the long trumps, and his partner a long suit nearly established.

For an illustration of this position,seeHand XXX.

When all the trumps are out but two, and the leader remains with the best trump, the losing trump being in the hand of his adversary, the natural and obvious play is to draw the last trump.

But there is a class of cases in which the trump should not be drawn as a matter of course, viz., if one adversary has a long suit established, and his partner has a card of that suit to lead.

The case usually happens in this way: YZ (partners) lead a suit, and after two rounds establish it. They then lead trumps from a suit of four trumps (seep.123). Eleven trumps come out, and A (YZ's adversary) has the lead and the best trump, one of the opponents having the losing trump. The question then arises, Should A draw the trump?

A should draw the trump if he has also an established suit; or, if B (A's partner) has an established suit, and A can put the lead into B's hand. For, in these two cases, A or B cannot do better than bring intheir suit. Again, A should draw the trump, if the adversary who has a suit established (say Z) has also the losing trump, for then, if either Y or Z has a card of re-entry in either of the other two suits, Z cannot be prevented from bringing in his established suit. Lastly, A should draw the trump if Y (Z's partner) has the losing trump, and Z has, declared in his hand, two cards of re-entry. The last case may be dismissed as of but little practical use, as, at the time when A has to decide whether he will draw the trump, he will seldom know enough about the remaining cards to be positive that Z has two cards of re-entry.

In the above cases, A, by not drawing the trump, makes his adversaries a present of a trick.

On the other hand, A should not draw the trump if one opponent (Z) has an established suit, which Y (Z's partner) can lead, the losing trump being in Y's hand. And, it is especially incumbent on A not to draw the trump, if either he or his partner has a suit which will probably be established by leading it, and if A can infer from the fall of the cards that Y hasonly one cardof his partner's established suit in his hand, subject, of course, to the qualifications already noted.

The point aimed at in not drawing the trump, is, first to get the commanding card of A's or B's long suit out of the adverse hand. Y or Z thus obtains the lead, and continues the established suit, which A trumps with the winning trump. If, now, Z has no card of re-entry in the fourth—or unopened—suit, he never brings in his established suit, Y not having another card of it to lead.

The case is difficult to carry when stated thus generally; for an illustration,seeHand XXXI.

Cases often happen where it is not advisable to overtrump. Most of these depend on the fall of the cards and on inferences from the play (seeHands XXIII, XXIV), and cannot be generalised. But there is one case in which it isnever rightto overtrump, viz., when three cards remain in each hand, and one player holds the second and third best trumps, with one of which he trumps the card led. If the player to his left has the best and fourth best trumps, he can never gain anything by overtrumping, and may lose a trick, as the following example shows:—

Y9♦,4♦,10♥B 9♠, 8♠, Knv♣Z Kg♠, 6♠,A♦A 3♠,8♥,7♥

The position of the trumps (spades) is known. A leads a heart, B trumps it. If Z overtrumps he loses the other two tricks, but if he throws the ace of diamonds he wins the other two tricks.

This rule for not overtrumping cannot be laid down absolutely when there are more than three cards in hand; but when only four trumps remain in, second and third best against best and fourth, it is so frequently advisable not to overtrump, that the player should consider well the position of the remaining cards before overtrumping.

For an illustration of this case,seeHand XXV.

Since it is so often right not to overtrump under these circumstances, it follows that when the case arises the player who holds second and third best should, as a rule, attempt to defeat the coup by playing a false card—i.e., he should trump with the higher card in hopes of deceiving his left hand opponent as to the position of the third best trump.

This coup presents itself in a variety of forms; the following are selected as likely to be of use.

Whenever you are left at the end of a hand with the tenace in trumps (either best and third best, or second best guarded) over the player to your right, and twoother cards, both being cards of the suit led by him, you, second hand, shouldalwaysthrow the highest card of his lead to that trick. You can never lose by so doing, and may win. For example: you have nine and five of the suit led. Throw the nine. For, in the second round of the suit, it may so happen that you get the lead with the nine. If the cards lie thus, for instance:—

Y 9♣, 5♣,A♥,10♥B Knv♣,Qn♦,8♦,6♦Z Kg♣, Qn♣, 8♣, 3♣A A♣, 6♣,Kg♥,7♥

Y has the tenace in hearts (trumps) over A. A leads ace of clubs. If Y does not throw the nine, and Z plays carelessly and fails to win Y's nine in the next round, YZ lose a trick. Of course, Z ought to win the second round, but it is Y's duty to render itimpossible for Z not to do so (seeRemarks on making it easy to Partner, p.139).

The typical example of this coup is the case where the leader plays the ace, and the second player has king guarded, as in the following example:—

Y A♠, Knv♠,Kg♦,2♦BZA Kg♠, 10♠,A♦,4♦

Spades trumps. There are only four spades in, and Y knows that A has the king, ten. B's and Z's cards are immaterial.

A leads the ace of diamonds. If Y plays the two of diamonds he can only make two tricks; but, if he throws the king to the ace, he still makes two tricks, and, if his partner has the queen of diamonds, he makes three tricks.

This coup may be similarly played in plain suits. For an illustrationseeHand XXXII.

The following fine coup (which occurred in actual play) exemplifies a similar, but more complicated, case:—

Y Kg♣, 5♣, 3♣, 2♣B 9♣, 6♣,10♥,8♥Z A♣, Qn♣,Qn♥,9♥A Knv♣, 10♣, 8♣, 7♣

Score: YZ require every trick. Hearts trumps. It is known that the trumps lie between B and Z.

A leads a club; Y and B play small clubs. Z, knowing that B holds the second best trump guarded, takes the only chance of saving the game, by winning the first trick in clubs with the ace, and returning the queen. Y, seeing his partner's anxiety to get rid of the lead, rightly conjectures him to hold the major tenace in trumps. He, therefore, wins his partner's queen of clubs with the king, and saves the game.

It being known that the remaining trumps lie between B and Z, Y would be right to win the second round of clubs under all circumstances of the score.

For another illustration of this coup,seeHand XXXIII.

On a similar principle, the leader not infrequently leads a losing plain card, or a losing trump, at the end of a hand, in order to place the lead. For illustrations,seeCase II, p.138, and Hands XVI, XVII, and XXXV.

TheGrand Coupconsists in throwing away a superfluous trump. At the first glance it appears impossible to have a superabundance of trumps; but cases sometimes happen where a player hasa trump too many. To get rid of this trump—as by undertrumping a trick already trumped by your partner, or by trumping a trick which he has won, or which you know he may win—is to play thegrand coup.

The opportunity for playing thegrand coupgenerally happens in this way. Two rounds of trumps come out, leaving five trumps in, two in the hand of (say) B, and three in the hand of Z (the player to his left). If B has the best and third best trumps, or the second best guarded, and trumps are not led again, nor used for trumping, it is clear that at the eleventh trick Z must obtain the lead, and must lead up to the tenace in trumps. If, before the eleventh trick, Z trumps a trick of his partner's (or, in the case of only seven trumps coming out in two rounds, undertrumps atrick already trumped by his partner), and the lead at the eleventh trick can thus be kept in—or put into—Z's partner's hand, thegrand coupcomes off, as in the following example:—

Y Qn♠,5♥,3♥, 6♣B 10♣, 7♣,5♦,3♦ZKnv♥, Knv♣, 9♣, 5♣A 8♠, 6♠,10♦,9♦

Clubs trumps. Z knows that B has ten and another trump. A leads the ten of diamonds; Y trumps with the six of clubs; Z undertrumps with the five. If he retains his three trumps, and B refuses to trump the queen of spades next led by Y, Z loses a trick in clubs.

The opportunity for playing thegrand coupis often missed. A player should always be on the look-out for it when he has five trumps, especially if a trump isled to his right. It should be added also, that if the player who attempts it retains a high card in his hand, he may be just as badly off as though he remained with three trumps. Thus, holding three trumps against two, and ace and another card of another suit, it is not sufficient that he disposes of one of his trumps; he should also get rid of his ace (seeRemarks on Throwing High Cards to place the Lead, pp.147-151). The following example will render this more clear:—

YKnv♥,5♥, 5♣,Knv♦BQn♥,6♥,A♦,5♦ZQn♦,10♦,9♦,8♦A 8♣,Kg♦,7♦,6♦

Hearts trumps. B has already got rid of his superfluous trump. A leads the eight of clubs. B should throw the ace of diamonds to it. For, if B has the lead after the next trick, he might just as well havekept his third trump. If A has the king of diamonds, B wins a trick by discarding the ace; and, if A has not the king, B loses nothing by throwing the ace.

An exception to this rule is when A has winning cards to go on with. Thus, if A had another club, B need not discard the ace of diamonds. This is too obvious to require working out.

The following is another aspect under which thegrand coupmay present itself:—

Y 7♣,9♦,6♦,5♦B 8♠,Kg♥,Qn♥,Knv♥Z Qn♠,5♥,4♥, Qn♣AKnv♦,10♦,8♦,7♦

Hearts trumps. It is known that B has king, queen, knave of trumps, and a losing spade or club—but uncertain which.

A leads the knave of diamonds. B trumps it.

Z should throw away a small trump, undertrumping B in order to keep two winning queens. If he discards a queen, he must do so at random, and perhaps throw away the suit of which B has the small one. By discarding his useless trump (which B would proceed to draw) he defers parting with either queen till after the next round, when the fall of the cards may assist him. B now leads a trump, and Y discards the losing club. B then leads another trump, and Z now knows that he ought to keep the spade. This case actually occurred in the presence of the writer, but Z, instead of undertrumping, discarded the wrong queen at random, and eventually lost the rubber in consequence.

For further illustrations of theGrand Coup,seeHands XXXVIII and XXXIX.

If the foregoing principles are reflectively perused, it will be seen that they mould the Theory of Whist into a harmonious whole. The Theory of Whist tells you how to play your own hand to the greatest advantage, how to assist your partner, and how to weaken and to obstruct your opponents; in short, it teaches how to take the best chance of making the greatest number of tricks. This knowledge constitutes asoundplayer. If to theoretical perfection you add the power of accurate observation, and of acute perception, together with a thorough comprehension of the whist capacities of partners and of opponents, you have all the elements necessary to form a Master of the Science.

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