A knows Y to have the best heart; also B to have the best diamond and weak spades.
The Play and Remarks.—A leads the queen of spades, and then the losing trump. A takes the only chance of winning two tricks. To accomplish this Y must hold one spade and one diamond, as will appear by placing the unknown cards in any other way. A therefore plays on the assumption that Y holds a spade and a diamond in addition to the trump which is declared in his hand.
For another illustration of leading a losing trump to place the lead see Hand XXXV.
CASE III.
It is the duty of a player to make the game as easy to his partner as he can. The play often depends on the sort of partner. For example:—you lead the ten from king, queen, knave, ten, only, or from king, knave, ten, &c. Suppose the lead to be from the former combination, and that your ten forces the ace from the fourth hand. You obtain the lead again. The proper lead now is the queen. (See Analysis of Leads, p. [67]). But, with an indifferent partner, the better lead is the king, as he may not have drawn the correct inference from the first lead, and knowing the queen is not the best, he may trump it.
However good your partner may be, you should not put him into unnecessary difficulties. For example:—