The play of a twelfth or a thirteenth card is one requiring careful
consideration. A player may hold the twelfth card, and he may know that his
partner does not hold the thirteenth. He may know, and ought to know,
whether his card is the higher or lower of the two remaining. He ought also
to know, from the leads and return leads, whether the right or left
adversary holds the other card of the suit. A player who does not note such
details would be better employed in a game of Beggar-my-neighbour than at
Whist, the former game being more suited to his intellectual capacity.
The least dangerous form in which the twelfth card can be played is when it
is the better of the two, and when the thirteenth is in the hand of the
adversary on the right. The most dangerous, except when placing the lead
for a specific purpose, is when the twelfth card is the lower of the two,
and the best is held by the left-hand adversary. When the right adversary
holds the better card, to play the losing card affords the left-hand
adversary the opportunity of discarding a worthless card. A trick {219} is
frequently lost by the eagerness of an inexperienced player to play his
losing twelfth card in order to allow his partner to make a trump. Before
playing this twelfth card, winning cards should be played in order to
prevent the second player getting rid of a loser and then trumping the
winning card. For example, two rounds of hearts have been played, ace and
king being out. A holds the queen of hearts and a losing twelfth card.
Left-hand adversary holds small heart and small trump. When the losing
twelfth card is played, he discards his heart, and is thus enabled to trump
the queen. If the queen of hearts had been played first, an extra trick
would have been won.
The play of a thirteenth card means one of two things. It is either a
demand on your partner to trump with his best trump, or it is an attempt to
place the lead. It is for the partner to use his judgment as to which of
these proceedings should be adopted. To lead a thirteenth card merely
because, as some persons assert, they "did not know what else to do," is an
exhibition of feebleness of intelligence.