THE BRIDGE TABLE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20560, 10 May 1930, Page 5 (Supplement)

THE BRIDGE TABLE.

BY MAJOR TENACE.

THE LEAD OF FOURTH BEST.

The lead of fourth best is confined almost entirely to no-trumps. The player who leads a card other than an honour agaijisfc this declaration proclaims that the suit from which lie leads is the best in his hand, and that he has three cards higher than the card he leads. His partner and the declarer, by applying the eleven rule, can also tell how many cards higher than the card led the player does not hold, and one or other of them may bo able, from the small cards in his own hand and dummy, to discover the exact length of the leader's holding. To whom is this information of most use ? Obviously much depends upon the distribution of the suit between the other players, but those who suggest the abandonment of the lead think that, on balance, the declarer benefits most, because, since he has declared no-trumps, he presumably has whatever strength is missing in the leader's suit,® and is, therefore, in a better position than the leader's partner to draw inferences from the lead. Contest of Best Suits. This argument looks well on paper, but it would bo very difficult to find support for it in actual play. A no-tvump bid does not mean that the bidder holds strength in every suit; ho may be weak in one suit, or even in two; and it is simply against all probability that ho holds not only the missing high cards, but tho missing low cards as well of the four or five-card suit from which the opponent on his left leads. The hands upon which a good player will bid no-trumps can bo divided into two classes—those in which no suit is strong enough to bid, though at least three are protected; and those in which there is a strong minor suit and sufficient guards in two other suits fo make the no-trunip preferable to the bid of the minor suit. To make game, the declarer must usually establish and run the best suit between his own hand and dummy, and the strongest defence against a no-trumper is for the opponents to establish and run the best suit between their hands before the declarer can get tho tricks he requires for contract or game. The declarer can see his partner's hand, and need never be in doubt as to which suit he should try to establish. Tho opponents have not this advantage, and must show each other their strength. Jf the opponent .who has the initial lead always held the best suit between the defending hands, ho would not need to give any information about the length of his suit. But, unfortunately, it often happens that the best suit lies not in his hand, but in his partner's, and unless partner knows what his best suit is, he cannot know that his own is better. It would seem, therefore, that the player with the initial lead should give his partner what information ho can about the length of his best 6uit, even at the risk (hat the information he gives may bo of use to the declarer. ■*' Exceptional Oases. * This is the general argument in favour of the fourth best lead, and I think it is the stronger of the two. But, again, when we appeal from theoretical argument to the experience of play we find that the argument is not so strong as it looks on paper. There are many deals in which the lead conveys little or no information to partner, but most vital information to the declarer. I think, however, that writers rather magnify tho number of these deals* Take, for example, the following deal, which nearly every writer has given in ono form or another, to illustrate closo card-reading and deduction:

Against Z's no-trump declaration A leads the four of Bpades. Z knows that the four of spades is A's fourth best, and, seeing the three in dummy and the two in his own hand, 110 knows that A led from four cards. Moreover, since spades is A's best suit, Z knows that A has no suit of more than four cards. Z wins the first trick in dummy, and leads a heart to his own hand. A's jack looks like a singleton, and, to make sure, Z takes another round of hearts. A's discard puts the matter beyond doubt. Z now knows 'that B holds the king of diamonds bare, and that hp can drop it under dummy's ace and make a grand slam without any fiuesse. Deduction From Four Facts, How does he know? Well, if A's longest suit is of four cards and he holds a singleton in one suit, he must hold four cards in each of the two remaining suits. But if A holds four diamonds, B can only hold one, and if Bpades is A's strongest suit, B's singleton diamond must be the king, for A's four spades cannot be headed by anything higher than the queen, and had his four diamonds been headed by the king, he would have led diamonds instead of spades originally. It is difficult to imagine that B could ever derive as much advantage from his partner's lead of fourth best as Z does in this deal; yet the late J. B. Elweli once saved game by a similar piece of deduction. The deal occurred at the Travellers' Club in Paris, and I am indebted for it to Mr. A. E. Manning Foster's "Auction Bridge For All."

Against Z's 0110 110-trump contract, A led tho Uires of spades, and Z won B's nino with tlio queen. Z thou started the diamonds, and B got in with the ace. His obvious lead was the ten of spadesj but Mr. Elwell, who was B, saw that this would not save gamo. Sinco. A had led the three of spades as fourth best, and the two was in dummy, B knew that A held only four spades originally, and no suit of more than four cards. A's eight of diamonds at trick two must be a singloton, for had ho held any card or cards higher than the eight he must have won the trick, and had ho held any card lower he would have dropped it instead of the eight. But if A's best suit is four spades, and he holds a singleton diamond, then he must hold four hearts and four clubs. If he holds four clubs, then Z can only hold one, and it may be the queen. Instead of returning spades, therefoio, Mr. hi well led the king of clubs, and thereby saved the game. On the main question of the advantage of leading fourth best, 1 will conchide with the words of that great card analyst, the late Mr. Enrcst Dergholt: On the whole, I conceive the advantage to bo slightly in favour of the load of fourth best on a no-trump call. At all events, the majority of good players have adopted it, and it is advisable that practice should be uniform."