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which is generally good play, especially if his partner has played the king, you then thereby make your queen; but by putting on the queen, it shows your adversary that you have no strength in that suit, and, consequently, puts him upon finessing upon your partner throughout that suit.

3. In case you should have the knave, or ten of any suit, with a small card of the same suit, it is generally bad play to put up either of them at second hand; because it is five to two that the third hand has either ace, king, or queen of the suit led: it therefore follows that as the odds against you are five to two, and though you may sometimes succeed by this method of play, yet in the main you must be a loser; because it demonstrates to your adversaries, that you are weak in that suit, and, consequently, they finesse upon your partner throughout the whole of that suit.

4. Suppose you have ace, king, and three small cards of a suit; your right hand adversary leads that suit; upon which you play your ace, and your partner plays the knave. If you are strong in trumps, return a small one in that suit, in order to let your partner trump it: by this means you keep the command of that suit in your own hand, and at the same time it gives your partner an intimation that you are strong in trumps; and, therefore, he plays his game accordingly.

Directions how to play when an Ace, King, or Queen, is turned up on your right hand.

1. If the ace is turned up on your right hand, and you have ten and nine of trumps only, with ace, king, and queen of another suit, and eight cards of ro value, begin with the ace of the suit of which you have the ace, king, and queen, which is an intimation to your partner that you have the command of that suit; then play your ten of trumps, because it is five to two that your partner has king, queen, or knave of trumps; and though it is about seven to two that your partner has not two honours, yet, should he chance to have them, and they prove to be the king and knave, in that case, as your partner will pass your ten of trumps, and as it is thirteen to twelve against the last player's holding the queen of trumps, if your partner has it not, in that case, when your partner has the lead, he plays to your strong suit, and upon your having the lead, you are to play the

nine of trumps, which puts it in your partner's power to be almost certain of winning the queen, if he lies be

hind it.

2. The like method of play may be used, if the king or queen is turned up on your right hand: but you are always to distinguish the difference of your partner's capacity; because a good player will make a proper use of such play, but a bad one seldom, if ever.

3. If the adversary on your right hand leads a king of trumps, and you have the ace and four small trumps, with a good suit, in this case it is your interest to pass the king, and though he should have king, queen, and knave of trumps, with one more, if he is a moderate player, he will play the small one, supposing that his partner has the ace: when he plays the small one, you are also to pass it, because it is an equal chance that your partner has a better trump than the last player. If so, and he happens to be a tolerable player, he will judge you have a sufficient reason for this method of playing, and consequently, if he has a trump left, be will play it, if not, he will play his best suit.

Directions how to play when the Ten ar Nine is turned up on your right hand.

1. When the ten is turned up on your right hand, and you have king, kuave, nine, and two small trumps, with eight other cards of no value, and it is proper to lead trumps, in that case, begin with the knave, in order to prevent the ten from making a trick; and thougn it is but about five to four that your partner ho ds an honour, yet if that should fail, by finessing your nine on the return of trumps from your partner, you have the ten in your power.

2. If the nine is turned up on your right hand and you should have knave, ten, and eight, and two small trumps, by leading the knave, it answers the like purpose of the above case.

3. You must always make a distinction between a lead of choice, and a forced lead of your partner's: because, in the first case, he is supposed to lead from his best suit, and finding you deficient in that suit, and not being strong enough in trumps, nor daring to force you, he then plays his next best suit; by which alteration of play it is next to a certainty that he is weak in trumps: but should he persevere, by playing off his first lead

if he is a good player, you are to judge him strong in trumps, and it is a direction for you to play your game accordingly.

4. Nothing is more injurious to you, than to change suits often; because in every new suit you run the risk of giving your adversary the tenace: and, therefore, though you lead from a suit of which you have the queen, ten, and three small ones, and your partner puts up the nine only, in that case, if you should happen to be weak in trumps, and have no tolerable suit to lead from, it is your best play to pursue the lead of that suit by playing your queen, which leaves it in your partner's option whether he will trump it or not, in case he has no more of that suit; but in your second lead, if you should happen to have the queen or knave of any other suit, with one card only of the same suit, it would be better play to lead from your queen or knave of either of these suits, it being five to two that your partner has one honour at least in either of those suits.

5. When you have ace, king, and one small card of any suit, with four trumps, if your right hand adversary leads that suit, pass it: because it is an equal chance that your partner has a better card in that suit than the third hand: if so, you gain a trick by it; if otherwise, as you have four trumps, you need not fear to lose by it, because when trumps are played, you may be supposed to have the long trump.

A caution not to part with the command of your Adversary's Great Suit.

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Be very cautious how you part with the command of your adversary's great suit, if you are weak in trumps, and it does not appear that your partner is very strong in them for suppose your adversary plays a suit of which you have the king, queen, and one small card only, the adversary leads the ace, and upon playing the same suit, you play your queen, which makes it almost certain to your partner that you have the king: and suppose your partner refuses to that suit, do not play the king; because if the leader of that suit, or his partner, have the long trump, you risk the losing of three tricks to gain one.

Necessity of remembering the Trump Card.

It is so highly necessary that the trump card should be remembered by the dealer and his partner, that we think it proper to repeat, that the dealer should always so place his cards as to be certain of having recourse to it; for example, suppose it to be only a five, and that the dealer has two more, viz. the six and nine; if his partner trumps out with ace and king, he ought to play his six and nine; because if your partner has ace, king, and four small trumps, in this case, by his knowing you have the five remaining, you may win many tricks.

The manner of playing Sequences explained.

1. In trumps it is necessary to play the highest of your sequence, unless you have ace, king, and queen; in that case play the lowest, in order to let your partner into the state of your game.

2. In suits which are not trumps, if you have a sequence of king, queen, and knave, and two small ones, whether you are strong in trumps or not, it is best to begin with the knave, because by getting the ace out of any hand, you make room for the whole suit.

3. If you are strong in trumps, and have a sequence of queen, knave, ten, and two small cards of any suit; in that case you ought to play the highest of your se quence; because, if either of the adversaries should trump that suit in the second round, by being strong in trumps, you fetch out their trumps, and consequently make the remainder of that suit.

4. For the same reason, if you have a sequence of knave, ten, nine, and two small cards of any suit, play the highest of your sequence.

5. If you have a sequence of king, queen, knave, and one small card of any suit, play your king, whether you are strong in trumps or not; and do the like by any inferior sequence, if you have only four in number.

6. If you are weak in trumps, you must always begin with the lowest of the sequence, in case you have five in number; for suppose your partner to have the ace of that suit, he then makes it. If you are very strong in trumps, you may play your game as backward as you please; but if you are weak in trumps, you must play the reverse.

What is meant by being strong or weak in Trumps. You may be understood to be strong in trumps when you have

Ace, king, and three small trumps.

King, queen, and three smail trumps.
Queen, knave, and three small trumps.
Queen, ten, and three small trumps.
Knave, ten, and three sinall trumps.
Queen, and four small trumps.
Knave, and four small trumps.

If you have only two or three small trumps, you are then understood to be weak in trumps.

A case which often occurs.

If you have two trumps remaining, when the adversaries have only one, and your partner appears to have a strong suit, you should play trumps, although you have the worst, in order to pave the way for your partner's suit, by drawing the trumps from your adversaries.

How to play for an Odd Trick.

If you are elder hand, and have the ace, king, and three small trumps, with four small cards of another suit, three small cards of the third suit, and one small card of the fourth suit; quere, how are you to play? You are to lead the single card, which, if won by the last player, induces him to play trumps, or to play to your weak suit, in which case, you and your partner gaia

the tenace.

The like case for an Odd Trick when your partner is to lead.

Suppose he plays the ace of the suit of which you have only one, and proceeds to play the king of the same suit, and your right hand adversary trumps it with the queen, knave, or ten, you should not overtrump him, but throw away the smallest card of your weakest suit, as this will leave your partner the last player, and give him the tenace in your weak suit.

The like case, supposing you want four or five points, and are elder hand.

Play a small trump, and if your partner has a better trump than the last player, and returns the lead, put in your king of trumps, and then play the suit of which you possess four cards.

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