partner’s leads of high cards in the suit first opened, third hand must
be ready to adapt himself and his play to any change of suit and will
require constant practice in putting himself in his partner’s place,
asking himself what the object is in leading certain cards through
Dummy’s hand. The inferences from the conventional leads should be
sufficiently familiar to need no further explanation; but even good
players occasionally overlook indications that partner holds certain
cards. For instance: A leads a small card; Y, Dummy, holds Q x x, and
plays Q. You play the King and win the trick. This marks not only the
Ace, but the _=Jack=_ in partner’s hand; because the declarer would not
play a twice guarded Queen from Dummy’s hand if he had the Jack guarded
himself.
False cards should be avoided by the third hand as much as possible.
The declarer will give your partner enough to puzzle over without your
adding to the confusion. There are some exceptions in trumps. For
instance: You have K Q x; Dummy has A J x x, and your partner leads.
Unless Dummy plays Ace, you should put on the King, and change the suit.
If you hold Ace and others in a plain suit, partner leading Jack, pass
it if Dummy has no honour. Perhaps by winning the second round you can
give the invited force. With any other honours than the Ace, pass a
partner’s Jack led.
If partner leads you a suit of which he knows, or should know, you have
not the best, he must have a good finesse in the suit which he does not
lead, and you should take the first opportunity to lead that suit to
him.
In returning partner’s suits, some modification may be suggested by the
condition of Dummy’s hand. For instance: With K x x; Dummy having A Q
J x; if you win, third hand, on Dummy’s finesse, you may be sure your
partner’s lead was a weak suit. If Dummy is weak in the two other plain
suits, your partner may have a good finesse in one or both of them.
When your partner wins the first round of an adverse suit, and
immediately returns it, he is inviting a force.
_=Dummy on the Left.=_ When the player is third hand with Dummy on his
left, his chief care will be to divine his partner’s object in leading
certain cards up to Dummy.
The general principles of inference are the same as in the preceding
case, and cards may often be inferred in the same manner from the
evident intention of partner. For instance: You hold K x x; partner
leads J, declarer covering with Queen. A glance at Dummy’s cards shows
him to have 10 x x; so your partner may be credited with A 9. You have
x x; your partner leading Q, covered by declarer with K, and Dummy
having J x x. You may credit your partner with A 10. You have x x; your
partner leads Q and declarer wins with Ace; Dummy holding 10 x x. Your
partner must have J 9 and others, and the declarer has the King.
There are several cases in which you should not allow Dummy to win the
trick. If you have only one card of a suit in which your partner leads
Ace then Queen, and Dummy has the King twice guarded, trump at once, if
you can to prevent Dummy from getting into the lead. Your partner leads
Queen; you holding A 10 x, and Dummy having K x x. Let the King make on
the first round.
If your partner leads a small card up to strength in Dummy’s hand, he
is either inviting a force, or trying to establish a long suit. Under
such circumstances, if you have the Ace, play it, and lead a second
round of the suit immediately, which will settle the question.
If you have Q J 10 of a suit in which partner leads King, play the
Jack, so that he will count you for Q or no more, and will not go on
with the Ace.
_=IN GENERAL.=_ Both the adversaries of Dummy should adopt the usual
tactics for unblocking, etc., especially in no-trumpers, and in some
cases Dummy’s exposed cards will make the matter more simple. For
instance: You hold A Q alone, of a suit which partner leads. If you are
the pone, and Dummy has not the King, play Ace and return the Queen.
_=FOURTH HAND.=_ There is only one difference from the usual methods
in playing fourth hand, and that is in indicating sequences by winning
with the best and returning the lowest to show the intermediate
cards. For instance: Fourth player, holding K Q J x, wins with King
and returns the Jack. Or with A K Q, wins with Ace and returns the
Queen. The reason for this is that the declarer gains nothing by the
information, for he knows from the first what cards are out against
him; but the information may be valuable to your partner, the second
hand. If it is not the intention to return the suit at once, the lowest
of the sequence should be played.
_=PLAYING TO THE SCORE.=_ This is a most important element, and
there is no surer indication of a careless or weak player than his
inattention to the score.
One cannot be too early impressed with the importance of saving the
game before trying to win it; although great risks may be taken to win
a game that cannot be lost that hand.
Never risk a sure contract in the hope of making more; unless the two
will win the game, and the odd trick will not win it. Never risk a
trick that will save the game in the hope of winning more, and always
set a contract while you can.
_=DISCARDING.=_ This is one of the still unsettled questions of bridge
tactics, some believing in discarding the weak suit always; others
the strong suit always, and others one or the other according to the
declaration. Against a trump declaration almost every one agrees that
it is best to discard the best suit, so that if your partner gets in
before you do, he may have something to guide him as to what your best
chance is for any more tricks.
Against no-trumpers, the majority of players hug every possible trick
in their long suit and discard their weak suits, on the ground that
it is folly to throw away cards that might win tricks. While this is
true, it is also true that in discarding their weak suit they too
often enable the declarer to win tricks that they might have stopped.
For this reason, many players _=discard the suit they are not afraid
of=_; that is, their best protected suit, and keep what protection they
have in the weak suits, even if it is nothing but three to a Jack or
ten. Unfortunately, no one has yet been able to advance any argument
sufficiently convincing for either system to demonstrate that it is
better than the other. Some of the best teachers of the game advocate
the discard from strength against no-trumps; others teach the weak
discard.
_=ENCOURAGING DISCARDS.=_ In order to distinguish between discards
from weakness and those from strength, many players use what is called
an encouraging card. This is anything higher than a six, if they have
protection in the suit, or want it led. A player with an established
suit, and A 8 2 of another suit, for instance, would discard the 8, to
encourage his partner to lead that suit and put him in. In case there
is no card higher than the six, the _=reverse discard=_ is used. With
A 4 2, the play would be the 4 and then the 2. Some use this reverse
or encouraging card to induce the partner to continue the suit he is
leading, but the practice is confusing.
_=THE DECLARER’S PLAY.=_ The chief difference between the play of the
Dummy and partner, and that of their adversaries, is that there is no
occasion for the former to play on the probability of partner’s holding
certain cards, because a glance will show whether he holds them or
not. There is no hoping that he may have certain cards of re-entry, or
strength in trumps, or that he will be able to stop an adverse suit,
or anything of that sort, for the facts are exposed from the first.
Instead of adapting his play to the slowly ascertained conditions of
partner’s hand, the declarer should have it mapped out and determined
upon before he plays a card. He may see two courses open to him; to
draw the trumps and make a long suit, or to secure such discards as
will give him a good cross-ruff. A rapid estimate of the probable
results of each line of play, a glance at the score, and his mind
should be made up. Several examples of this foresight will be found in
the example hands.
Another point of difference is, that the declarer should play false
cards whenever possible. He has not a partner who, if he plays the
King, might jump to the conclusion that he can trump a suit, or has
not the Queen. The more thoroughly the adversaries are confused, the
greater the advantage to the declarer, especially in the end game.
_=With a Trump.=_ When the winning declaration is a suit for trumps,
the declarer’s first consideration upon getting into the lead must be
whether or not to lead trumps. As a rule, the trumps should be led
at once, so as to exhaust the adversaries; but there are exceptional
cases, the principal ones being:--
Do not lead trumps from the strong trump hand if it would be to your
advantage to put the other hand in the lead with a plain suit, so as to
let the trump lead come from the weaker hand to the stronger, as when a
finesse in trumps is desirable.
Do not lead trumps if you have no good plain suit, and can make more
tricks by playing for a cross-ruff.
Do not lead trumps if the weaker hand can trump some of your losing
cards first. It often happens that a _=losing trump=_ can be used to
win a trick before trumps are led.
_=At No-trump.=_ The declarer’s first care in a no-trumper must be to
select the suit that he will play for. Four simple rules cover this
choice:--
1. Always lead from the weak hand to the strong if the suit is not
already established.
2. Play for the suit in which you have the greatest number of cards
between the two hands, because it will probably yield the greatest
number of tricks.
3. If two suits are equal in number, play for the one in which you have
the greatest number of cards massed in one hand. That is, if you have
two suits of eight cards each, select the one that has six of those
cards in one hand, in preference to the suit with four in each hand.
4. Everything else being equal, play for the suit which is shown in the
Dummy, so as to conceal from the adversaries as long as possible the
strength in your own hand.
A suit is said to be _=established=_ when you can win every remaining
trick in it, no matter who leads it. As it is very important that the
hand which is longer in the suit should be able to lead it without
interruption when it is established, good players make it a rule always
to _=play the high cards from the shorter hand=_ first, so as to get
out of the way. With Q 10 and three others in one hand, K J and one
other in the other hand, the play is the K and J from the short hand,
keeping the Q 10 in the long hand.
If there is any choice, that suit should be selected which contains the
longest sequence, or the sequence with the fewest breaks. It should be
noticed that the sequence need not be in one hand; for it is almost
as valuable if divided, and it is especially advantageous to have the
higher cards concealed in the declarer’s hand. Its continuity is the
chief point. For instance: Declarer and Dummy hold between them one
suit of K J 9 7 5 4 3, and another of Q J 10 9 8 7 5. The latter should
be selected, because two leads must establish it.
In establishing a long suit it is very important to note the fall
of the missing cards in the sequences. In the first of the two
combinations just given, the declarer should be as careful to watch for
the fall of the 8 and 6 as for the A Q and 10.
_=Leading.=_ It is quite unnecessary to follow any system of leads,
further than to distinguish between the combinations from which high
or low cards are led. But it is important to remember that although
a high-card combination may be divided, it should be played as if in
one hand. For instance: The declarer holds Q J x x x of a suit; Dummy
having A x x. By leading Q or J, Dummy is enabled to finesse, as if he
held A Q J. The declarer holds K J x x x; Dummy having Q x x. The play
is to force the Ace, as if the combination of K Q J x x were in one
hand.
Many opportunities arise for leading the Ace first from a short suit,
in order to secure a ruff on the second or third round.
_=Second Hand Play.=_ If any card is led by the adversaries which the
fourth hand cannot win, the second hand should cover it if possible;
for unless he does so, his weakness will be exposed, and the suit will
be continued. This is especially true of cases in which the second hand
holds single honours, such as Jack and others, or Queen and others.
Even the King should be played second hand in such cases, unless it is
so well guarded that the Ace must fall before the King can be forced
out.
If the fourth hand can win the card led, it is seldom necessary to
cover second hand. For instance: If the Jack of trumps is led, the
dealer holding Q 9 7 4, and Dummy having A 6 3 2; there is no need to
play the Queen. If the King is in third hand, such play would establish
the Ten. If the King is with the leader, it or the Ten must make. If
Dummy were second hand with the same cards, Jack being led, he should
not play the Ace, for third hand must play the King to shut out the
Queen.
With A Q 9, partner having K and others, it is best to play A on J led.
If the dealer has Ace and several others of a suit led, Dummy having
only two small cards, a force may be certainly secured by passing the
first round. If Dummy has the Ace, and passes second hand, the dealer
failing to win the trick, the adversaries will of course see that the
play is made in order to force the dealer on the third round.
If Dummy is weak in trumps, and has only one card of a suit in which
the dealer has Ace and others, the Ace should be played, and Dummy
forced, unless there is a better game.
It is a disadvantage to play in second hand from suits in which each
has a guarded honour. If the dealer has Q x x, and Dummy has J x, they
must make a trick in that suit if they play a small card second hand,
and avoid leading the suit. The same is true of the adversaries; but
they must play on the chance that the partner has the honour, whereas
the dealer knows it.
_=Finessing.=_ This is a very important part of the strategy of the
game for the dealer. The adversaries of the dealer never finesse in
bridge; but the dealer himself relies upon finessing for any extra
tricks he may want.
A finesse is any attempt to win a trick with a card which is not the
best you hold, nor in sequence with it. Suppose you have Ace and Queen
in the hand which is longer in the suit and lead from the shorter hand
a small card. If you play the Queen, that is a finesse, because you
hope to take a trick with it, although the King is against you.
It is usually bad play to finesse when there are nine cards of the suit
between the two hands, dealer’s and Dummy’s, because there is a good
chance that the card you wish to finesse against may fall.
When it will be necessary to take two finesses in the same suit, the
lead must come twice from the weaker hand. Suppose the dealer holds A
Q J and others. If the first finesse of the Jack wins, he should put
Dummy in again, so as to take a second finesse of the Queen. Suppose
the dealer holds A J 10, and finesses the ten the first time. If it
falls to the Queen, he should get Dummy in again, so as to take the
second finesse with the Jack. The idea is to take advantage of the
fact that the odds are against both King and Queen being in one hand.
If they are both on the right, one of them will be played on the small
card led from Dummy, and then the dealer can win it with the Ace and
force out the other high card with his Jack, which will have become one
of the second and third-best of the suit.
_=Re-entry Cards.=_ After a suit has been _=cleared=_, or established,
it will be necessary to get into the lead with it. For this purpose the
dealer must be careful to preserve a re-entry card in the hand which is
longer in the suit. Suppose that Dummy’s long suit is clubs, but that
the Ace is against him, and that his only winning card outside is the
Ace of diamonds. If diamonds are led, and the dealer has the Queen,
he must let the lead come up to his hand so as to keep Dummy’s Ace of
diamonds for a re-entry to bring the clubs into play after the Ace has
been forced out and the suit established. Many of the prettiest plays
in bridge are in the management of re-entry cards.
_=Underplay.=_ When the dealer is afraid of a suit which is opened
against him, and has only one winning card in it, such as the Ace, he
should hold up that card until the third hand has no more of the suit
to lead to his partner. The original leader will then have to get in
himself, because his partner cannot help him; but if the dealer gave up
the Ace on the first trick, it would not matter which partner got into
the lead, they would return to the suit first opened.
_=Ducking.=_ This is a method of play by which the dealer hopes to make
his own suit even when the hand that is longer in it has no re-entry
card. Suppose Dummy holds six clubs to the Ace King, and not another
trick in his hand. The dealer has two small clubs only to lead. If the
two winning clubs are led right out, it is impossible to catch the Q J
10, no matter how those cards lie, therefore the dealer leads a club,
but makes no attempt to win the first round. No matter what is played
by the adversaries he _=ducks=_ the first round, keeping his Ace and
King. Next time the dealer gets in, he leads another club, and now
he is able to win the second and third rounds of the suit, and will
probably catch all the adverse cards and establish it.
The dealer’s play always requires careful planning of the whole hand in
advance.
_=THE NULLO.=_ Although not yet in the official laws of the game, this
bid seems to be a popular one with many players. It is a contract to
lose tricks instead of winning them, and is primarily a defence against
overwhelmingly strong no-trumpers. A bid of three nullos means that the
declarer will force his opponents to win nine tricks, he winning four
only, so that each trick _=under=_ seven counts for the nullo player on
his side.
_=SCORING.=_ There is some difference of opinion as to the proper value
for the nullo, but the general verdict seems to be to put it just below
the no-trumper at 10 a trick, no honours. Two no-trumps will outbid two
nullos. If the adversaries of a nullo revoke, the declarer can give
them three of his tricks, or take 100 in honours as penalty. If he
revokes, they take 100 penalty as usual.
_=SUGGESTIONS FOR BIDDING.=_ The dealer should never bid a nullo
originally, as it gives his partner no information as to the
distribution of the suits. When any player has one long suit good for
either no trumps or nullos, such as A K Q 6 4 2, he should “shout,”
bidding a trick more than necessary. Singletons and missing suits
are valuable parts of a nullo hand, as they afford opportunities for
discards. It is always dangerous to bid a nullo without the deuce of
the longest suit. If the dealer bids a spade, his partner may safely
bid one nullo, because the contract is seldom or never obtained for
less than two or three, but he should not persist in the nullo if
his partner does not assist it. The greater the opposition from a
no-trumper, the more probable that the nullo will succeed, but it is a
dangerous declaration in any case. The player with aces and kings is
sure to win tricks, regardless of his partner’s hand, but deuces and
treys are not sure to lose, as the partner may have all high cards,
although not the tops.
_=SUGGESTIONS FOR THE PLAY.=_ The declarer should count up the tricks
he must win, and as a rule win them early, bunching his high cards as
much as possible. Suits with two small cards and two high ones must
win one trick, but should escape with that. The great point is to lead
losing cards from one hand and discard dangerous cards in other suits
from the other hand whenever possible.
The opponents of a nullo should lead their shortest suits, so as to
get discards later, keeping their eyes on the dummy and forcing it to
win tricks whenever possible, but never allowing it to get a discard.
The partner’s leads should be returned unless a singleton can be led
at once. It is usual to lead the top of two cards, the intermediate of
three or more, and to avoid leading suits that are safe, with small
cards at the bottom.
ILLUSTRATIVE AUCTION HANDS.
Z is the dealer in both instances, but Y makes the winning declaration,
so that B leads for the first trick. The first illustration is straight
auction; the second is a nullo. The underlined card wins the trick and
the card under it is the next one led.
+------+-----+-----+----+ +------+-----+-----+-----+
| A | Y | B | Z | | A | Y | B | Z |
+------+-----+-----+----+ +------+-----+-----+-----+
| _Q♠_| 2♠ | 9♠ |♣2 | 1 | _A♢_| Q♢ | J♢ | 9♢ |
| _A♠_| 6♠ | 8♠ |♡3 | 2 | _K♢_| 6♢ | 8♢ | 5♢ |
| _K♠_| 10♠ | 4♠ |♡7 | 3 | _10♢_| 4♢ | ♡A | 3♢ |
| 5♠ | _J♠_| 3♠ |♡J | 4 | J♠ | 3♠ | 9♠ | _A♠_|
| 2♢ | _Q♢_| 4♢ | 5♢ | 5 | 5♠ | Q♠ | _K♠_| 6♠ |
| 10♢ | 9♢ | 7♢ |_J♢_| 6 | ♣Q | ♣6 | ♣J |_♣K_ |
| ♡ 4 | 3♢ | 8♢ |_A♢_| 7 | 7♢ |_♡J_ | ♡5 |♡10 |
| 7♠ | ♡5 |♡ 9 |_K♢_| 8 | 10♠ | ♡7 |_♡Q_ |♡ 9 |
| ♡ 8 | ♣3 |♡ 2 |_6♢_| 9 |_♣ 5_ | ♣4 | ♣2 |♣ 3 |
| ♣ 4 |_♣Q_ |♣10 |♣9 | 10 | _7♠_| 2♠ | 4♠ |♡ K |
| ♣ 5 |_♣A_ |♡ 6 |♣7 | 11 | ♣10 | ♡4 |_♣A_ |♡ 8 |
| ♣ 8 |_♣K_ |♡10 |♡Q | 12 | ♣ 8 | ♡3 |_♣9_ |♡ 6 |
|_♣ J_ | ♣6 |♡ A |♡K | 13 | ♣ 7 | 2♢ | 8♠ |♡ 2 |
+------+-----+-----+----+ +------+-----+-----+-----+
In the first example the dealer, Z, bids a heart. A says one royal
and Y two clubs. This bid of Y’s denies any support for his partner’s
hearts, but shows a supporting minor suit, in case Z is strong enough
to go on with the hearts. B bids two royals as he can stop the hearts
twice and ruff the clubs. Z cannot pursue the hearts, but shows his
supporting minor suit, bidding three diamonds. This says to Y, “Go no
trumps if you can stop the spades.” When A passes, having bid his hand
on the first round, Y goes two no trumps and makes game. B leads the
top of his partner’s declared suit, and A leads a fourth round, hoping
to get in with the club jack. At tricks 8 and 9, B signals control in
hearts. A keeps the protection in clubs to the end and saves a trick by
it. Y keeps two clubs in dummy, so that if club is led, he will have
one to return after he has made his diamonds.
In the second example, they are playing nullos, Y declaring. The points
in the play are holding the spade queen, so as to lead a diamond or
a spade at trick 6. This B prevents, hoping to force two clubs on Y
and Z and set the contract. At trick 7, if the hearts are split, the
queen must win the ten. If not, Z must win one heart trick. Y makes his
contract, losing four odd.
BRIDGE.
The difference between straight bridge, as it is sometimes called,
and auction is in the method of selecting the trump, which must be
declared by the dealer or his partner, the opponents having nothing to
say except to double the declaration if they think it will not win the
odd trick. Another point is that either side can score toward game by
getting the odd trick or more, there being no penalties for failure to
make the odd except losing the value of the tricks because the dealer
never declares to make any given number of tricks on the hand.
There are some irregularities which are peculiar to straight bridge
that would not apply to auction. These are fully covered by the
following description of the game, all other matters, such as the
correct card to lead and the manner of combining the hands, have been
fully described in connection with auction.
_=MAKING THE TRUMP.=_ This is the chief peculiarity in bridge. The
trump is not turned up, but the suit is named by the dealer or his
partner, after they have examined their cards. In order properly to
understand the considerations which guide them in making the trump, one
should first be familiar with the values attached to the tricks when
certain suits are trumps. The first six tricks taken by one side do not
count; but each trick above that number counts toward game according to
the following table:--
When Spades are trumps, each trick counts 2 points.
” Clubs ” ” ” ” ” 4 ”
” Diamonds ” ” ” ” ” 6 ”
” Hearts ” ” ” ” ” 8 ”
” there is no trump, ” ” ” 12 ”
Better to understand the importance of this variation in value, it
should be noticed that the game is 30 points; so that if two partners
won 3 by cards with no trump, or 4 by cards with hearts for trumps,
they would win the game in one deal. On the other hand, if either of
the black suits were trumps, they could not lose the game, even if a
slam were made against them.