One of the first points for the dealer’s consideration is the
advisability of the trump lead. As he usually holds the balance of
trump strength in the combined hands, generally speaking the dealer
should lead trumps.
A common excuse for avoiding the trump lead is that the hands contain
no long suit; if this is true, why not try to establish your trump
suit? If you hold five trumps in one hand, the chances are that
three rounds will leave you with two long trumps and the adversaries
powerless to “ruff” any high card you may hold; by refusing to lead
trumps you may enable the opponents to “overruff” your strong
hand and make their trumps separately. It may be to your advantage to
have the other suits led by the adversaries and your trump lead will
often force them to do this.
At times you will have the choice of two ways of playing the hand.
One, to trump losing cards in your weak hand; the other to exhaust
trumps and discard your losing cards on the commanding cards of a
long suit. If your trumps are strong and your long suit established,
the trump lead is preferable. With an established suit and high
trumps against you, postpone the trump lead until you have allowed
your weak hand to “ruff” the losing cards.
However, with five trumps in the strong and four in the weak hand,
as you will probably exhaust trumps in two rounds, it is safer to
lead the trumps first. You can then “ruff” in your weak hand without
danger of being “overruffed.”
If you hold seven or more trumps in the combined hands, do not make
the fact that your strong hand has been forced an excuse for not
leading trumps. If you are protected in the adversaries’ suit and
can lead the trumps advantageously from the weak to the strong hand,
always lead them.
To lead trumps with this number is the rule, not the exception, but
occasionally when they cannot be led from the weak hand it is better
to make as many trumps as possible by “ruffing.”