WHIST.

Press, Volume LIII, Issue 9430, 30 May 1896, Page 4

WHIST.

Weekly Press and Referee."

I THK LEADS (Coktinoed). Tub Queen Leads. The queen is led from (1) Ace, king, queon, aud two or more others. (2) King, queen, and three or more others, (i>) Queen, knave, ten, and one or more others. It will at once appear that the load of the queen is the most ambiguous one that exists, and many players are endeavouring to get an alteration made that wonld greatly simplify the matter, but until it is adopted by" Cavendish," it would ba better not to iutroduce it in such elementary notes as these. In many cases the first round is quite Bufiioietic to show fcoin which combinatiou the queen is led, for if the third hand holds the king, or that card is played, then the lead must be from (3), whereas if he holds knave or ten, or either of those cards is played, then he must D 9 leading from (1) or (2) again, if the queen wins the first trick, and the third hand has not the ace, then the lead must be from (1). Aβ to the reasons for leading the qneen in each case, we need only remark about (1) i that that card shows the possession of entire command of the suit directly it has won the 1 first trick, as either opponent would be running a most iujudicious risk by not putting on the ace if he held it, and so the fact of the queen winning places the ace and consequently the king with two others at least in the leader's hand, \Vith (2) we have already dealt under the " King Leads," and we then showed that as king or queen must be led to force out the ace if against you, and as the king was suitable to lead from a suit of four so now the queen will show a suit of five or more. In the case of (%) the reasons are very simple, for oue of the three .high cards must be led to force out the ace or. king, and for this purposethe queen, as being the highest, is the natural one to select. Ths Knavb Lead. The knave is led from king, queen, knave and two or more others, and. the reason for this is based on the. general, principle , previously stated, viz., that-it is necessary to | ensure the original leader having the lead on ' the third round when the lead is established and so being able to utilise the two small j cards left. The knave will force out the ace ' from the adversaries, and the third hand, grasping the sitnation, should take care, if he holds the ace, not to impede his partner. Fuller details about this will be given undor the " Third Hand."

I . The Ten Lxad. The ten is led from—king, knave, ten, and one or more others. Tor this the reason is that yon wish your partner to get rid of the queen if he holds it, as well as hoping to force out the ace (which iho might not do if either of the other high cards were led) thus leaving you with the suit possibly established and the very desirable command on the third round. There is, however, one case which in an exception to this rule, viz.—from king, knave, ton, nine, the nine should be }ed, as it runs no risk of loss and gives better information to your partner! . . . Vj ' -f The eight leads that we have,given are the ones quite indispensable to making' a correct start in the game when leading from a strong suit of four or more, but we now have to, consider the cose in which a lead is from three cards only, which may happen in various ways. Thus, an original leader may hold three of each plain sqit and four tramps. Now, it there is a fair show of. strength throughout, a tramp lead is generally advisable, but if the hand is very weak a plain suit must be opened. Again, if an opponent hag already opened your strongest suit you probably would not wish to continue it, preferring to be led up to, and th*n..a threecard suit must be selected. Irt .choosing which card to lead of three, if the two top ones are in eeqaenoe it is best to lead the higher of them, as it will force out a still higher card, and leave you in a better position, but if there is no ?2ch lead sequence and the suit is headed by ace or king or queen the lowest is usually led so as not to abandon command of the suit altogether. If the top card is lower than a Queen it, is better to lead it at once as there is this peculiar advantage in leading a knave, ten or nine from weakness, viz.: That your partner can generally detect yonr weakness after the first round and will not imagine that it is any use looking to you to bring in a strong suit. If you have any reason to think your partner may be strong in a suit of which yon hold three, then you lead him the highest at once so as to husband his high cards by using yours to force the opponents. Such a case might easily arise as follows:—Supposing your two adversaries in the first few rounds had shewn strength in two plain suits and yon, on obtaining the lead, hold only three of the third plain suit, there is a good probability of your partner being strong in it and in such a case you should lead your highest card whatever it may be.

When to Lead Tbumpb, There is no more advantageous position.in which one can be placed than as the holder of all the unplayed trumps as yon hold the power to trump your opponent's strong suit and bring in your o\rn. Now. with five tramps the probability of being left in thie situation is ao great that it may be generally accepted as a rule that they should then be led. With four tramps the probability is very much smaller, and then i; is better to delay leading them until you or your partner have a salt established, and, of coarse, not even then if your opponents in "sroy way ehoWu ekenutii iv trumpa. Though these

are the general rules on the subject, yet one should always be on the look out for the numerous chances which occur 'of leading trumps to advantage; for example, take the following hind:— Spades (trumps) 3,2, Hearts ..a, kg, 7, 3, 2, Clubs ..a, kg, q, Diamonds .. a, q, kn. Now here the strength in plain suits is so great that no danger is to be apprehended except in trumps, and so to get them out of the way as soon as possible they should be led at once.