Mat 2, 1887.] 



♦ KNO^A^LEDGE ♦ 



167 



©ur (IMWt Column, 



By "Five op Clubs." 



MATHEW.S OX WHIST. 

 (_Continned from p. 120.) 

 Leading Trumps. 

 remains that the question of leading trumps should 

 be considered.] 



It is difficult to judge when to lead trumps. 

 The following situations will assist the beginner to 

 reason, and in general direct him properly [though 

 they do not include all the cases in which it is 

 generally proper to lead trumps] : — • 



1. Wiih six trumps, on the supposition that your 

 partner has a strong suit. 



2. If you are strong in other suits, though weak in trumps. 



3. If your adversaries open weak suits. 



4. If your adversaries have scored three,* andyouhave no honour, 

 or probability of making a trump by a ruff. 



[In the fourth case, the lead of trumps is good for the reason that, 

 unless your partner is strong in them, tbe gdme is probably lost, and 

 i£ he is strong in them, you do well to lead them to him.] 



[Mathews says specially that unless you have sis trumps you should 

 not lead trumps, unless either you or your partner have a strong suit. 

 Modern play recognise Bve trumps, with or without strength in your 

 own hand, as usually affording sufficient reason for a trump lead — 

 except when you are playing for the odd trick, when it is generally 

 well to wait before leading trumps, to see whether the required 

 tricks may not be more safely secured by a ruffing game.] 



In playing for an odd trick, you play a closer game than at 

 other scores. You lead from single cards [modern Whist rejects 

 this], and force your partner, when at other times such a course 

 would not be justified [that is, even when you have reason to think 

 he has length in trumps]. Hence it is seldom proper in this case 

 to lead trumps. 



[I must, however, take this occasion to note that the rule 

 often laid down that you should refrain from leading trumps when 

 you require but the odd trick would not be regarded as always to be 

 "followed. The very circumstance that by leading trumps the 

 chance of securing the odd trick through a ruff or two may often 

 be lost, shows that by leading trumps you may often deprive the 

 enemy of the chance of making the odd trick by ruffing ; and if 

 yon prevent the enemy fiom making the odd trick you commonly 

 secure it for yourself and partner] 



Do not lead trumps merely because an honour is turned up on 

 your left, nor be deterred from leading trumps because an honour 

 is turned on your right hand. Either lead is proper if the circum- 

 stances of your hand require a trump lead ; but neither otherwise. 

 [Mathews's dictum is a little too positive. There can be nothing 

 much more absurd than the practices he deprecates — that is, leading 

 or refraining from leading trumps because of an honour turned up 

 to left or right ; yet the fact that an honour certainly lies on your 

 loft may make a trump lead, otherwise inexpedient, permissible, 

 while an honour certainly on your right may make an otherwise 

 expedient trump lead undesirable. The known position of an 

 honour must be taken into accoimt, and dealt with for what 

 it may be worth.] There is a certiin advantage in leading 

 through an honour, as Mathews himself shows, by noting that 

 " it is as advantageous to lead up to as through an Ace ; not so 

 advantageous to lead up to a King as up to an Ace : and disadvan- 

 tageous to lead up to a yueen.'] [Xote, also, that the trump card 

 may cause a deviation from the general rules for leading. Thus, if 

 the trump leader holds Ace, King, ten, nine, with or without others, 

 and the Queen or Knave was turned on his left, be would do well to 

 lead the lowest of the ten, nine, sequence. If the honour is put 

 on, he has at the next round a finesse against but one card. On the 

 other hand, such a lead would be absurd if the Queen or Knave had 

 been turned on the right.] 



If you have the trump Ace, and the circumstances of your hand 

 require two certain leads in trumps, lead the Ace, let the 

 other trumps be what they may. [Be careful about the clrcam- 

 stances, however.] [Per cuntru. if the adversaries lead trumps, and 

 yoQ hold Ace and one or two others, put on the Ace at once ; but] 

 with the Ace and tliree other trumps, it is seldom right to win the 

 first or second trick, unless your partner ruffs some other [when you 

 put on your Ace to give him a ruff]. 



If you have Ace, King, and two more trumps, and your partner 



* Mathews, who deals with long whist, says here, of course, " if 

 your adversaries are at the point of eight," but the same rule would 

 guide in short whist, when they have scored three. 



leads them originally, insure three rounds in trumps ; but if he lead 

 (in consequence of your showing your strength) a nine or any 

 equivocal car<l, pass it tbe lirst time ; by this you have the lead 

 after three rounds of trumps — a most material advantage. 



When with a very strong suit you lead trumps, hoping your 

 partner may command them, show your suit first. But it you have 

 strength in trumps in your hand, lead trumps first. With only four 

 trumps, do not lead one unless your strong suit is established. 

 With tierce major and another trump, however, and a sequence of 

 three or more to the King, it is well to lead trumps twice, and then 

 the Knave [or lowest of the head sequence] of your suit, continuing 

 till the Ace is out. [It is only advisable, however, to lead the 

 lowest of the head sequence in the plain suit, when you hold five 

 cards or more in it.] 



Play Second Hand. 

 There are points where good players disagree. Some play what 

 is called a forward, others a more timid game. Some commonly 

 put on a king second, others but rarely. In these cases a man may 

 play either way without committing error, but where all good 

 players are of the same opinion it should be received as an axiom. 

 So good player puts on a Queen, Knave, or ten second ; of course, 

 this should be on all occasions carefully avoided. [It seems clear 

 that though Mathews includes the case of the Qaeen, Knave, or ten 

 with but one small one, he is here speaking generally, as in deahng 

 with the play of King second hand. It would appear that in his 

 day for play second hand the old-fashioned rule, •' King ever. Queen 

 never," was held as a general rule, where it was held ai aU. 

 Nowadays, except where a s-maller honour is led, no one thinks of 

 putting on King, Queen, or Knave second hand, if holding two or 

 more small cards. Nor does any recognised whist authority now 

 sanction the play of King, Queen, or Knave second band when there 

 is but one small card— except when a lead is specially wanted.] 

 On this point Mathews deals specially elsewhere, saying, with King 

 and one more good players sometimes put on King stcond, some- 

 times not. If it is the tiump card it should invariably be put on 

 [this is no longer held], and generally it is good to play King, from 

 King one other, in trumps. [This held till Clay's time, but is now 

 discountenanced.] Queen or Knave should never be played [from 

 Queen or Knave, one other], except in trumps, when a superior 

 honour has been turned up on the right. It is interesting to notice 

 thus how early the rule now accepted by all good players was 

 recognised by skilful whist strategists as soucd. 



With Ace, Queen, ten of your right-hand adversary's lead, put on 

 the ten. [The modern rule is, the ten in trumps, the Queen in plain 

 suits.] With Ace, Queen, and others, not including the ten, put on 

 a small one, unless he leads the Knave in which case put on the 

 Ace invariably. No good player with King, Knave, and ten will 

 begin with tiie Knave; so that of course it is finessing against 

 yourself to put on the Queen, as the King is certainly behind yon. 

 If fourth player holds it yon give away at least the lead, and in any 

 case can secure no possible advantage. 



With King, Queen, &c., of your right-hand adversary's lead, put 

 on one of them [the Queen unless you wish to deceive all round] ; 

 with Queen, Knaie, and another, the Knave; with two or more 

 small ones, the lowest. [Modern play enjoins the ten from Knave, 

 ten, and another : some add the nine from ten and another ; but 

 that is running it rather close : the chance of helping fourth player 

 is not equal to the chance of mischievously misleading him.] 



With only three of a suit, put an honour on an honour, with four 

 play your lowest. But the Ace should always be put on the Knave. 

 [In Bohn's edition of Mathews, he is made to say " except the Ace 

 should not be put on the Blnave ; " but the context, and what he says 

 elsewhere, agree in showing that he said, or intended to say, here, 

 the Ace should be put on the Knave second hand, even if you hold 

 four in the suit. 



If your right-hand adversary has led, and, his partner putting on 

 Knave or Queen, your partner wins with the King — should a 

 [small] card of that suit be again led on your right, if you have the 

 ten put it on. It is probable that by doing this you keep the com- 

 manding card in your partner's hand, and prevent the second best 

 from making. 



NOTE ON THE CALL FOR TRDMPS. 

 In the good old days of Hoyle and Mathews unnecessarily high 

 cards were not unfrequently played. But they were not played to 

 inform partner. The old players would proljably have included 

 any practice of the sort among the offences contemptuously classed 

 in their time as "Piping at Whisk.'' What Hoyle or Mathews 

 would have said by the way, of the not uncommon extension of the 

 signalling system where a partner hesitates before playing a small 

 card to his partner's Ace or King lead, with the idea of either 

 forcing his attention to the signal, or of showing (as the case may 

 be) that though very strong, he is not qxitc strong enough to signal, 



