From ace, king, and small—lead king, then ace.
From ace, queen, knave—lead ace, then queen.
From king, queen, knave, and more than one small—lead knave.
From king, queen, knave, and one small—lead king.
From king, queen, and small—lead king.
From king, knave, ten, nine, etc.—lead nine.
From king, knave, ten, and small—lead ten.
From queen, knave, ten, and small—lead queen.
From knave, ten, nine, and small—lead knave.
After the first trick, the lead may remain with the first leader. His best play, as a rule, is to continue his suit. If the lead falls to another player, his play, as a rule, will be to open his best suit; and so on. If the lead falls to the first player's partner, he has choice of two modes of play. If he has a good strong suit of his own, as, for instance, one of those in the list above, and containing four or more cards, he would, as a rule, open it; if not, he would, as a rule, do well to continue the suit his partner first led; or, as it is commonly called, to return his partner's suit. The object is to strengthen partner by assisting to clear his strong-suit.
In returning a suit, if the player has only two cards of it remaining in his hand, he should return the highest; if more than two, the lowest. The exception is, if lie has the winning card, he should return that irrespective of the number of other cards in the suit. The reason of this rule is that, with but two cards of the suit remaining, the player is weak in the suit, and he is therefore bound to sacrifice his good card to support his partner. But with three or more remaining after the first round, he is strong, and is therefore justified in calling on partner to support him.
This rule of play is most important. It should be carefully observed with even the smallest cards, as it enables partner to count the situation of the remaining cards. For example: A leads a suit in which C (his partner) holds ace, three, and two. In return ing A's suit, after winning with the ace, C is bound to return the three and not the two. When C's two falls in the third round, A will know that his partner has no more of the suit. But suppose C's cards to be ace, four, three, and two. In returning the suit, C is
bound to choose the two, Then after the third round, A will conclude with certainty that C has at least one more card in the suit.
Late iu a hand, the considerations with regard to the lead vary. If there is no indica tion to the contrary, it is best for each side to continue the suits originally opened by them. But the fall of the cards may show that it is disadvantageous to persevere in the suits first led. In such eases, the player must have recourse to other and weaker suits. The general rules to be observed here are—to choose a suit in which there is reason to infer that the right-hand adversary is weak; or—but this is less favorable—one in which the left-hand adversary is strong. In either case, if the suit chosen contains but three cards, none higher than knave, or only two cards, it is generally right to lead the highest.
The second player, as a rule, should play his lowest card, in order to preserve his strength in the leader's suit. The first trick in the suit is left to partner, who has an even chance of holding a better card than the third player. But if the second hand has a strong sequence, lie should play the lowest of the sequence, by which partner's band may be saved, and a high card still remain over the original leader.
following are the principal sequences: With ace, king, queen—play queen.
With ace, king, etc.—play king.
With king, queen, knave—play knave.
With king, queen, etc.—play queen, With queen, knave, ten—play ten, With queen, knave, and one small—play knave.
When a high card is led, it is sometimes advisable for the second player to cover it with a higher one. The shortest rule is to put an honor on an honor, if with but two or three cards of the suit. With king or queen, and four of the suit, it is better to pass an honor led.
When the second hand has none of the suit led, he should, as a rule, trump, if he has but two or three trumps; but he should not trump a losing card if he has more than three trumps, the reason of which will be explained when treating of the management of trumps.