In selecting a card for a first and original lead, this card should be from
the longest suit as a rule. _Numerical_ strength is the kind of strength
which is most to be considered. Thus a suit of five, though headed by a
ten, is a better suit than one containing ace, king, and one small card.
When a suit is headed by high court cards, the leads are different from
those which should be adopted when the highest card in the suit is a ten or
a single court card (not the ace). In the case of a long suit not headed by
the ace, and with only one court card, _the lead should be the fourth best
card of the suit_, that is, the fourth card counting from the top
downwards.
When the suit from which a lead has to be selected is of three cards only,
the highest card of this suit should be led, unless such highest card be
ace, king, or queen; then lead the smallest. It frequently happens that the
leader holds four small trumps, and an honour, say king or ace, has been
turned up to his right. The original leader cannot lead from his
numerically strongest suit, which is trumps, up to this honour; he must
therefore open a weak suit, and he should select that in which he is
strongest.
One of the first principles in leads is to lead through {192} the strong up
to the weak. At the first lead it is impossible to tell where the strength
and where the weakness may be, except in trumps when an honour is turned
up. After the first round of a suit, a fair idea may be formed as to the
position of the strength and weakness.
When the original leader possesses two or more honours in a suit, the order
in which these are led conveys important information to an intelligent
partner. The second lead of the same suit will in some cases indicate the
number of cards in the suit, from which the original card was played. For
example, original leader plays knave of spades, which wins the trick. He
follows with king of spades. The leader's partner now knows (see Table of
Leads, _post_) that the original lead was from king, queen, knave, and at
least two small spades; because leading knave, then king, shows five at
least in the suit. If the leader held only four spades, he would have
commenced with the king.
Another piece of valuable information may be gained by the lead of the
knave from king, queen, knave, and two others, which is as follows. The
leader's partner, if a good player, and holding the ace and one other spade
only, will take his partner's knave with the ace, and will then return the
small spade. He plays this ace to "unblock," or get out of the way of his
partner. If, however, he does not play his ace on the knave, but does play
it on the king, it may be assumed that he holds a third spade, and played
his ace to prevent blocking his partner's suit. Only a very feeble player,
with ace and one other, would fail to play this ace on the original lead of
knave. {193}
The leader will now know whether either adversary holds another spade. If
he led from six spades, neither adversary holds a spade. If he led from
five, one adversary may hold a spade, unless his partner originally held
four; and, from the cards that fell from his partner's hand, he can tell
whether three or four were originally held. The partner knows that, as he
held, say, three originally, and the original leader showed five, one of
the adversaries, after two rounds of the suit, cannot hold a spade. This is
one among numerous cases proving the advantage of informing a partner, by
the lead, of the number of cards in the suit from which the original lead
was made. When the accepted leads are known and practised, a game of Whist
proceeds like a well-oiled machine, the intelligence being employed to take
advantage of the information given. When the leads are not known, and
incorrect cards are played, there are perpetual catastrophes, losses and
surprises, which usually culminate in losing a rubber which ought to have
been won.
After the Laws of the game have been learnt, the next proceeding is to
learn the leads. No man can ever hope to be more than a very indifferent
player who does not know the leads; yet, from a long Whist experience, it
can be stated that at least one-third of those who have played the game of
Whist, probably during twenty or more years, have never become familiar
with them.
The following Table gives the original leads now adopted, and the second
lead:[63]--
{194}
+------------------------------+--------+------------------------+
| Holding, in plain suits-- | First | Second lead. |
| | lead. | |
+------------------------------+--------+------------------------+
| | | |
| Ace, king, queen, knave | king |knave |
| Ace, king, queen | king |queen |
| Ace, king, and others | king |ace |
| Ace, king only | ace |king |
| King, queen, knave, with one | king |knave |
| small one | | |
| King, queen, knave, and more | knave |king, if five; queen, |
| than one other | | if more than five |
| Ace and four or more small | ace |fourth best of those |
| | | remaining |
| King, queen, and others | king |if king wins, fourth |
| | |best of those remaining |
| Ace, queen, knave, with or | ace |queen |
| without one small one | | |
| Ace, queen, knave, with two | ace |knave |
| or more | | |
| King, knave, ten, nine | nine |king, if ace or queen |
| | | falls |
| King, knave, ten | ten | |
| Queen, knave, ten, nine | queen |nine |
| Queen, knave and one small | queen | |
| Queen, knave, and two or | fourth | |
| more | best | |
| | | |
| | | |
| In trumps. | | |
| Ace, king, queen, knave | knave |queen |
| Ace, king, queen | queen |king |
| Ace, king, and five others | king |ace |
| Ace, king, and fewer than | fourth | |
| five small | best | |
+------------------------------+--------+------------------------+
These leads give the majority of cases that occur; there are many other
combinations of the cards, but the general principle will be understood
from those which have been given. To deviate from these leads is to court
disaster, since random leads tend {195} to puzzle a good partner, and to
conceal from him the number and value of the cards in the leader's hand.
These leads refer primarily to the first lead of the suit only. When a
_second_ lead of that suit is adopted, the card to be played may depend on
the cards which fell in the first round.
The first lead of a suit, and the card to lead, belong to the mere
elementary routine of Whist. These leads require no skill and no reason.
They may be learned as the alphabet is learned, and committed to memory. To
know them renders Whist a much more easy game to play than if they are not
known. A player whose turn it is to open the game with the lead ought to
know at once what card to lead. If he has to consider whether he ought to
commence with this, that, or the other card, he too often plays the game
from beginning to end in opposition to the well-established principles,
which have been proved to be those best adapted for gaining success.