False cards are played either in consequence of ignorance, or for the
purpose of deception. A player who has never troubled himself to learn the
leads is perpetually playing false cards, and deceiving his partner. Thus,
with a suit of five headed by one honour (not the ace), a player who leads
the lowest of this suit, instead of the fourth best, has led a false card,
and has, according to Whist rules, told his partner a falsehood, viz. that
he holds only four instead of five cards in this suit.
A player who holds ace, king, and queen of a suit, and leads king then ace,
also tells his partner a {210} falsehood, inasmuch as he makes the cards
say: "I don't hold the queen of this suit."
False cards, played deliberately, are those which a player knows he ought
not to play according to rule; such, for example, as winning a trick with
the ace when it could have been won with the king, or playing the queen of
a suit on an adversary's king when the knave was held.
The cases in which false cards can be played with advantage are rare, but
sometimes, especially in trumps, success may follow the play of a false
card. The following is an example:--A holds ace, king, ten, and eight of
diamonds (trumps). When Y, the left-hand adversary, obtains the lead, he
plays a small diamond; Z, the right-hand adversary, plays queen third in
hand. A may now win with ace, thus stating, in effect, that he does not
hold the king.
Y may now conclude that his partner probably holds the king, and, on again
obtaining the lead, may play another diamond up to king, ten, eight, when A
is certain to make both king and ten.