This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1896 edition. Excerpt: ...It has several times been assumed that it is advantageous to have the lead at advanced periods of a hand; we now see one principal reason why it is so. The leader knows by observation where the strong and the weak suits lie, and he will generally be able to make use of this knowledge in assisting his partner, ...
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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1896 edition. Excerpt: ...It has several times been assumed that it is advantageous to have the lead at advanced periods of a hand; we now see one principal reason why it is so. The leader knows by observation where the strong and the weak suits lie, and he will generally be able to make use of this knowledge in assisting his partner, or in obstructing his opponents. The principles explained in the preceding pages apply mainly to the original lead, or to leads early in a hand. They apply also to leads generally; but at advanced periods of the hand, and toward its close, their application is frequently modified by inferences from the previous play, and by the state of the score. On the second round of a suit--5. RETURN THE LOWEST OF A STRONG SUIT, THE HIGHEST OF A WEAK SUIT When you return your partner's lead, the card you should choose to lead on the second round depends on the number of cards of the suit you have remaining. Thus, if you remain with three cards, you must have had four at first. You therefore had strength in the suit, and you should return the smallest of the three remaining cards, agreeably to the principle that with strength it is to your advantage to retain the command in your own hand. If you remain with two cards only, you should return the higher one to strengthen your partner; and, similarly, if you have discarded one of a four-suit, and are left with two only at the time you return it, you have destroyed the numerical power of your suit, and should therefore treat it as a weak suit, and return the higher card of the two remaining in your hand. The advantages of this principle are numerous. In the case that you and your partner are both numerically strong, the return of the lowest prevents him from finessing in a suit which must be trumped third...
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