Chapter XIII: Appendix: A

AMERICAN LEADS.

Since the appearance of the previous Edition of this work, American Leads have been the subject of much discussion.

American Leads propose a systematic course of play when opening and continuing the lead from the strong suit, as follows:--

LOW CARD LED.

_When you open a strong suit with a_ LOW CARD _lead your_ FOURTH-BEST.

When a four-card suit is opened with a low card, the _lowest_ is the card selected. Instead of calling this the lowest, call it the _fourth-best_.

When a five-card suit is opened with a low card, the _penultimate_ card is selected. Instead of calling this the penultimate, call it the _fourth-best_.

When a six-card suit is opened with a low card, lead the _ante-penultimate_. Instead of calling this the _ante-penultimate_, call it the _fourth-best_.

And so on for suits of more than six cards. Every suit of four or more cards, opened with a low card, is to be treated, on the first lead, as though there were no cards below the fourth-best in the leader's hand.

Example:--

|Lead|
From Qn, 10, 8, | 7, |
" Qn, 10, 8, | 7, | 6
" Qn, 10, 8, | 7, | 6, 4
" Qn, 10, 8, | 7, | &c., &c., &c.

By following this method, you show your partner, as regards a strong suit which you open with a low card, that you _invariably_ hold _exactly three_ cards higher than the one first led; and not infrequently what those cards are.

HIGH CARD LED FOLLOWED BY LOW CARD.

_When you open a strong suit with a_ HIGH CARD, _and next lead a_ LOW CARD, _lead your_ ORIGINAL FOURTH-BEST.

When ace is led from ace and four or more small cards, after leading the ace, lead the original fourth-best, _i.e._, the card you would have led if opening with a small card. Thus, in trumps, with ace, knave, nine, eight, seven, an advanced player would begin the eight. In plain suits, the ace would be first led. The second lead of an American Leader would be the eight, the original fourth-best, and not the seven.

By following this method, you inform your partner that you _invariably_ remain with _exactly two_ cards higher than the second card led, as shown by the following tabulated example:--

Lead| |Then|
From Ace,| Knv, 9,| 8, | 7
" Ace,| Knv, 9,| 8, | 7, 5
" Ace,| Knv, 9,| 8, | 7, 5, 3
" Ace,| Knv, 9,| 8, | &c., &c., &c.

By leading in this way you not infrequently tell your partner what your remaining high cards are. Thus, with the above combination, if king, queen come out on the second round, and your partner holds the ten, he knows to a certainty that you command the suit, a fact about which he would have been in doubt had you continued with the lowest.

The same rule, when a high card is followed by a low card, applies to king led from king, queen, and small ones, when the king wins the trick; and to ten, led from king, knave, ten and one or more small ones, when the ten wins the trick. These are all the possible cases. With king, knave, ten, nine, if the nine wins the first trick, the leader goes on with a high card.

HIGH CARD LED FOLLOWED BY HIGH CARD.

_When you remain with_ TWO HIGH INDIFFERENT CARDS, _lead the_ HIGHER _if you opened a_ SUIT OF FOUR; THE LOWER _if you opened a_ SUIT OF FIVE _or more_. (_See_ Analysis of Leads in Detail, p. 64).

The typical example is the combination of ace, queen, knave, and one or more small cards. With four in suit, ace, then queen is led. But with more than four in suit, the knave is led after the ace, because then, if your partner remains with king and one small card, you are strong enough to invite him to win your trick in order to unblock your long suit.

In the same way, if queen is led from queen, knave, ten and small, you proceed with the knave, holding only ten and one small. But, with knave, ten and more than one small, you continue with the ten, the lower of two indifferent high cards, to induce your partner to win it, and so to unblock your suit, should he remain with ace and one small one, or with king and one small one.

Consequently, if your partner is an American Leader, and on the second round of your suit, you lead the higher of two high indifferent cards, he will count your strong suit to have consisted of _four cards_ exactly. On the other hand, when on the second round, you lead the lower of two high indifferent cards, he will count _at least three_ of your strong suit still in your hand. As it is advantageous to your partner to be able to count your hand in this way, whether he has blocking cards or not, you should always pursue the same system. Thus: you lead ten, from king, knave, ten, &c. The ten forces the queen. You obtain the lead again. Your king, knave are now high indifferent cards. If you lead the king, your partner knows you remain with knave and at most one small card of the suit. If you lead the knave, your partner knows you remain with king and at least two small ones.

Or, you lead knave, from king, queen, knave, and two or more small ones. On leading the suit again, if you continue with king, your partner counts queen, and exactly two small ones in your hand. If you continue with queen, your partner counts king and more than two small ones in your hand (_see_ p. 68).

Before deciding which of two or more high cards to lead, be sure whether they are _indifferent_ cards. This information you can obtain by consulting the Analysis of Leads (p. 64). When, in the Analysis, the second lead is given without any qualification, the high cards are not indifferent.

Three objections are urged against American Leads by players who oppose their adoption. The first is,

_That they complicate the game._

Even were this stricture true, it is no objection to an intellectual game that it exercises the minds of the players. But it has hardly any foundation in fact. All an American Leader asks his partner to observe is:--

That, when he originally leads a low card he holds three of the suit higher than the card led.

That, when he originally leads a high card and next a low one, he still holds two cards higher than the second card led. And,

That, when he originally leads a high card, and follows it with a high card, he indicates, in many cases, to any one who knows the Analysis of Leads (as every whist player ought), whether his strong suit consisted of four or of more than four cards.

The second objection is,

_That they seldom affect the result._

The answer is that American Leads add little which is new to the game. They only consolidate the received practice, and extend a law of uniformity to cases not previously provided for.

The third objection is,

_That the information afforded may be of more use to the opponents than to the leader's partner._

No doubt it may. But, under other whist conditions, experience tells us that it is advantageous, in the long run, to convey information of strength, notwithstanding its publication to the whole table. It is in the highest degree improbable that a player will be at a disadvantage by imparting too much information.

It should be borne in mind that American Leads, in their integrity, assume not merely _an_ original lead, but _the_ original lead of the hand,--the very first lead of all. When a player obtains the lead, for the first time, after one or more tricks have been played, he may open his strong suit in the same way as though he were _the_ original leader. On the other hand, he may deem it advisable to open a weak suit; or to lead through a strong one, or up to a weak one; or, if great strength in trumps has been declared against him, may wish to conceal the fact that his best suit is only a very long one of small cards (_see_ Hand IX, Tricks 6 and 7); or, if late in the hand, he may conclude that the time for precise exhibition of strength is past and gone (_see_ Hand XIII, Tricks 8 and 9, and Hand XXIV, Tricks 5 and 6). These, however, are matters of judgment, for which no hard and fast rule can be laid down.

[For demonstrations of the working of American Leads, and for
Illustrative Hands, _see_ "Whist Developments," by "Cavendish."
London: THOS. DE LA RUE and Co.]