OF course, if you happen to be Usat number four, and hold the ace guarding that king in dummy, you will take meticulous care, in' ense you are thrust into the lead at the trid sot the hand, to discard all that suit except the nce, But not too soon! Because then a watchful foe, Haying the dummy hand, may lead up to your bare ace, and, if he ety in on your following lead, with trump perhaps on some other suit, having carefully refrained from playing his dummy's king the first ime, when your bare ace fell, will proceed gaily to make that king. These are the little niceties of keen Avetion Bridge play that make worth living. And that brings me another point of great moment. The calling during the preliminary suction must be a valuable guide to your finessing. If you have won the Udding, und the player on your Tete has called hearts, you will naturally expect him to hold top honours in that ssu So if he opens with a heart I and you have the king in dummy, locks pretty good. If you have king and one other only in dummy your only chance of making that icing, of course, is to play him right away, unless you hold the queen in your own hand. In that ease you tan please yourself, though normaly, if your queen is guarded by more than one small card, the king from dummy is your best and obvious play, A favourite trick with old fands, if they suspect a weakness in the player's game, is a low lead from an ace suit, particularly if they have not called it. The player may then, if he has the king in dummy, get the wind and pass enabling the queen in number four's hand—number three in actual erder of play on that oceasion—t core, This may not greatly matter some cases, but on the other hand ig may be erucial—if- number four has queen and another only, and lends it promptly back as most assuredly he would! Dummy"s nice little king would then be beyond all hopes of insurance at Lloyds even as an outside risk, Beware of "Boiling? that Ace Another very elementary tip for novices! If a suit is led of which and you hold te about play as quickly ax you otherwise you run a very which amounts to a dummy holds any. Trumps at all, of "boiling" that good see. And few things make you look yo like an Auction Bridge version vf an immature Boy Scout in short Ix an cee.
hurts your prestige enormously, ind makes your partner restive. One of the most important things at Auction is to retain your pa confidence; and to deserve it exception to this rule, of planking down the ace at once on which dummy holds one only, is manifestly a no-trump call. Then, na less it is your partner's lead, as here is no fear of being trumped, and a possible danger of at once Parting Words establishing the player's longest suit, it may be worth your serious consideration whether to hold back fa bit. But, even at no-trumps, beware of "oiling" aces or kings If you are playing the dummy hand, whether at no trumps or on 'a suit call, do not too hastily take a trick in one hand which gives you an option of taking it in either. Ponder most astutely first where you may went the lead retained. Disaster after disaster, particularly but by no means exclusively at no-trumps, has followed under precipitancy, and lack of clear prevision, in this matter. If dummy has some suit that, once established promises several scoring tricks, your bloodthirsty opponents are bound, if they are worth their tobacco, to make san instant dead set, as you must never fail to do yourself similar circumstances, at getting all cummy's cards of re-entry. out' of the way. This they will do. order later on to have the agreeable spectacle—to them!—of a number of ide winning cards in dummy's which, owing to dummy's hand' having no possible card with which to get in and lead, are doomed to shed theft sweetness on the desert it. This situation, so painfully apparent to your partner, the most absorbed spectator present, is heart-king! rom the word "Go", when the first lead ig made, decide where you want to retain the cards of resntry, if you fortunately have several. The player who deliberately throws mway dummy's cards of re-entry, [when he obviously has lots of Iatejon tricks to feere from the dummy hand, fs one whoce obituary notice real cardplayers set to jazz musie! There is one excellent ture that all serious Auction Bi tayers should thoughtfully bear in' mind. Some fairly good exponents oceasio ally seem {0 forget its ures. Sup-hold, in your own hand, matters not, a longish ich, between' you, you assess the ace and king without the queen. It is a common enough situation, especially at no-trumps, and worth attention, It may be that you should make very trick but one in that suit, and, unless it -is cleared on the' first Jead, you may never be able to get xoing. This is the position when
cards in tha hand of the two holds only two "Ducking"
Say you, as the player, hold seven and three only, and "dummy holds ace-king five "or six. times. Obviously, if you play out the ace and king, you are going to lose that lead, unless you fortunately have cards of re-entry in dumm; the third Te: three cert In that ease resort to simple device known ing." Lead your seven from your own hand, and pass it in dummy. Four cards will thus fall. Next time you are "in," either yourself or in dummy, lead' out the king and ace, It is rank bad luck, most unprovidential distribu: tion of the cards, if the jack and queen do net drop on the second of dummy's top-honour leads, and thus enable you to make every card in the suit except the first one you so cunningly let the enemy score.
A right glorious sensation—when it comes off. And, believe me, the odds are on the coup every time. Besides, if you can get your call only by' making all but one of that what alternative have you, as a sober sen there is only one way of getting home with a call, and all other ways spell disaster, is it commonsense to hesitate about taking an odds—or gamble? There is another little trick, which is not ¢0 safe and not so orthodox, but nevertheless sometimes comes off. Suppose you have one 2 no-trump call, porsitly taking unusual ricks in order to stave off 2 possible rubber call by the enemy.
And when the dummy!
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.