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.

RETURN LEADS.

When returning a partner's lead, the card to return him is the higher of two remaining, the lowest of three or more remaining. Thus, if you held originally ace, knave, and the three, and your partner led this suit, you should play the ace third in hand, and return the knave. If you held ace, knave, four, and three, you win with the ace, and return the three.

It does not follow that you should return your partner's lead _immediately_. You may wish him to abandon his suit, and to play for one of your own. {196} If so, the correct card of this suit should be led, so that your partner may be informed of the change of policy which you advocate. If he has confidence in you, he will then abandon his own suit and play for yours. To return your partner's lead at once means that you have no better game of your own.

Although, as a general rule, it is advisable to lead from a numerically strong suit, yet to continue this suit when the partner is found to hold no high card in it is not winning play. For example, a player holds six diamonds, headed by the nine; one trump, the five (clubs); three spades, headed by the queen; three hearts, headed by the knave. He leads the fourth best diamond; his partner, third in hand, plays knave; fourth hand wins with queen. The original leader may now feel confident that both the ace and king of diamonds are against him; if, therefore, he win a trick with the queen of spades, it would be useless to lead another diamond, unless he is anxious to force his partner, which, with one trump only, would not be sound play.

SECOND IN HAND.

After the lead, the card to play second in hand is the most important item in Whist. The card played second hand may be to protect your partner, or to inform him of the remaining cards of the suit in your hand. The play second hand in trumps is different from what is adopted with other suits, for the obvious reason that other suits may be trumped. The following Table shows the cards to be played second hand:-- {197}

+-------------------------+------------+--------------------+

Holding--

Card led.

Play, second hand.

+-------------------------+------------+--------------------+

Ace, king, queen

small

queen

Ace, king, knave

small

king

Ace, king, and others

small

king

Ace, queen, ten, &c.

small

queen

Ace, queen, ten, &c.

knave

ace

In trumps

small

ten

Ace, queen, and small

small

small

Ace, knave, ten, &c.

small

small

In trumps

small

ten

Ace and small

small

small

King, queen, knave, &c.

small

knave

King, queen, &c.

small

queen

Queen, knave, ten, &c.

small

ten

Queen, knave, and small

small

knave

Ace and small

queen

ace

King and others small

queen

small

King and one other

small

small

Queen and one other

small

small

Queen and one other

knave or ten

queen

+-------------------------+------------+--------------------+

When a card is led by the original leader, the second player ought at once to draw conclusions as to the other cards in the leader's hand. For example, original leader plays the two of clubs, spades being trumps. The first conclusion is, that the two is the lowest of a four suit. If it were a five suit, the lowest card would not have been led. It may be a three suit; if so, the leader probably holds four trumps, but considers he is not strong enough to lead these. If he held a four suit, not trumps, he would have commenced with the lowest of this four suit.

Judging from the lead, as to the value of the suit from which the original lead has been made, is the result first of observation, then of reason.

{198}

In order to be able to derive all the advantages from observing the first card led, a player should practise sorting his cards rapidly, so as to have these ready before a card is led. Some players sort each suit separately, and thus "go over" their cards four times, and take more than twice as long to arrange their cards as would be required if the four suits were sorted simultaneously. In consequence of this delay, they are looking at the cards in their hand when they ought to be looking at those on the table; they are so much occupied with the sorting of their cards whilst the game is being played, that they cannot observe and draw conclusions from the cards which fall from each player's hand.

WHAT TO PLAY THIRD HAND.

The play of the third hand is much more simple than is that of the second.

The third hand should play his best card, save under one or other of the three following conditions, viz.:--

1. That the second hand plays a card higher than any card held by the third hand; the lowest card is then played.

2. If a sequence be held, such as king, queen, knave; queen, knave; ace, king; &c., then play the lowest or lower card of the sequence.

3. When a finesse is considered desirable.

It is a remarkable fact, but no less a truth, that many persons who have played the game of Whist during several years do not seem to realise what a finesse is.

To finesse is to play a card, not the best in the hand, on the chance that the higher card which {199} might win the trick is on the right of the third player. To take the most simple example, we will a.s.sume that the king of spades is turned up to the right of the player A; B, who is A's partner, obtains the lead, and plays a spade. Z, who was the dealer, plays a small spade; A, third player, plays the queen, holding ace and queen of spades.

If A did not _know_ that Z held the king, he ought yet to play the queen third in hand, on the chance that Z held the king; this would be _finessing_ the queen. If, however, the king had not been turned to A's right, and A led a small spade, which B, A's partner, won with the knave, then A would know that the king of this suit could not be in the hand of his right adversary; and if his partner returned this suit, A must play his ace, third in hand, not his queen. To play his queen would not be a finesse, but would be playing the queen to be taken by the king; when, perhaps, his ace, if the suit were other than trumps, might be trumped in the third round.

When it is known that a certain high card cannot be in the hand of the right-hand adversary, it is worse than useless to play as though it might be there.

Finesses are of two kinds, speculative and obligatory.

The finesse speculative is as follows:--You hold ace, queen; or ace, queen, knave of a suit, which your partner leads. Third in hand, you play the queen, if you hold ace, queen; or knave if you hold ace, queen, knave. This play is adopted on the chance that the king is to your right, and is therefore a speculation.

The finesse obligatory is as follows:--You hold king, ten, seven, and three of a suit, and you lead {200} the three; your partner plays the queen, and wins the trick, and returns a small card of the suit. From the fact of the queen winning, you know the ace is not held by your right-hand adversary; you also know your partner does not hold the knave. When your partner returns a small card of the suit, you know he does not hold the ace. If both the ace and knave are to your left, it matters not whether you play king or ten third in hand. If, however, the knave be to your right, your ten draws the ace, and you remain with the king, the best card of the suit.

Hence you are obliged to play the ten third in hand in order to give yourself one chance--viz., that the knave is to your right; consequently, this is called the finesse obligatory.

Before a speculative finesse is attempted, the state of the score should be considered; if only one trick is required to win the game, and you hold ace, queen of a suit, the ace should be played, unless there is a certainty of this ace being trumped. Also a player should consider whether it is specially desirable that he obtain the lead, when he has the chance of a finesse. If the lead is important, the finesse should not be made; if the lead would be detrimental, it should generally be attempted.

What a finesse really is should now be comprehended. It is not merely playing the queen third in hand when holding ace, queen, but it is playing the queen on the chance that the king may be in the hand of the second player. If the second player hold none of the suit, no finesse can be made; the ace _must_ be played by the third player, if second hand has not trumped. It is curious how often bad players will commit the error of playing queen third {201} hand, holding ace, queen, when the second player has failed to follow suit, and has refused to trump.

THE PLAY OF THE FOURTH HAND.

The fourth player has to win the trick if he can, with the lowest card in his hand. If he cannot win the trick, he plays his most worthless card.

WHIST CONVENTIONS.

From an examination of the leads, it will be seen that one main object is to convey information to your partner. The king is led before the ace, so that your partner may fairly conclude that, if the king wins the trick, you hold the ace. If, after the king, the queen be led, he obtains an additional piece of information. The science of Whist is in great measure based on this principle of giving information to your partner by means of the cards you play.

Among the conventions now universally adopted, perhaps the most important is--

THE CALL FOR TRUMPS.

If a player be desirous to obtain a lead of trumps from his partner, he can intimate such desire by playing _an unnecessarily high card_ to a trick.

It must be distinctly understood that the play of an unnecessarily high card means a demand on the partner to lead a trump. What, then, is an unnecessarily high card?

If a player, second or fourth in hand, play, say a six, and on the second round of the same suit play a {202} two, three, four, or five, he has played an unnecessarily high card, and has called for trumps. If a player third in hand win with the ace, return the king, and then play a small card, he has intimated, by playing the ace, that he wishes his partner to lead a trump, the ace being an unnecessarily high card.

The play by the second hand of a high, then a low, card may not indicate that an _unnecessarily_ high card had been first played. For example, second hand holds queen, knave, and two of a suit; the three is led, second hand plays knave, and, on the return of the suit, plays the two. Some unreasoning partners would at once jump at the conclusion that this was a call for trumps, because a high, then a low, card was played by their partner. If the second player wished to call for trumps, he would play his queen, not the knave, under the above conditions.

Some partners are so dense in these matters that it is dangerous to play a protecting card second hand for fear they may a.s.sume this to be a call for trumps. If one holds knave, ten, and a small card, and the ten, which is the correct card to play second hand, be put on, a bad partner will conclude, when he sees the small card played in the next round, that his partner must have asked for trumps, because a ten, then a small card had been played. This erroneous conclusion is usually arrived at when the partner is only superficially acquainted with the card that ought to be played second hand.

The player who calls for trumps intimates to his partner that he is so strong that if trumps are led to him he is prepared to undertake all responsibility for the consequences. To ignore such a signal is unjustifiable. {203}

It is a serious step to call for trumps, even with five trumps and two honours, if the other suits are very weak. When, however, the player holds one or two queens, with such other cards in those suits as to render it probable that the queen may be trumped in the third round by one of the adversaries, then a "call" may be allowable.

When calling for trumps, the card selected with which to call should, if possible, be a middle card, so that, if necessary, the call may be temporarily concealed. For example, suppose one holds the six, five, and four of diamonds, and five or six trumps (clubs), and one is second player.

Original leader starts with the diamond suit; second player, wishing to call, should play the five, not the six; third hand plays queen; partner drops ten. Ace of diamonds is returned; partner drops knave, and thus shows no more diamonds; original caller may now, with advantage, conceal his call by playing the six. When the original caller obtains the lead, he may play his four, thus allowing his partner to make a small trump, and, at the same time, showing that the five which he originally played was a call.

THE ECHO TO THE CALL.

If partner has called for trumps, and you are able to lead trumps to him, lead the highest of three, the lowest of four, unless the ace be one of the four, when lead the ace, then the lowest. If your partner lead winning trumps, and you hold four, play to his leads, first, the lowest but one, then the lowest. This shows four trumps at least. Also if, before either you or your partner obtain the lead, you have {204} the chance of playing an unnecessarily high card which does not damage your hand, do so, if you hold four or more trumps and your partner has called. If the adversaries either "call" or lead trumps, then, conceal the fact that you hold four. It is even sometimes advisable, if you know your partner is weak in trumps, and the adversaries are leading trumps, and you hold only three, to play these as though you held four; the strong hand may then draw his partner's last trump, under the impression that you hold it. Such "false-carding,"

however, should not be attempted until one has acquired proficiency in the game.

DISCARDING.

It is a most important matter to know what to discard, when you hold none of the suit led, and either cannot or do not think it desirable to trump.

The discard may be grouped under three heads:--