Frequently the under card of a sequence is led, or the highest card of a sequence is played second or third in hand, and repeatedly that has cost a trick or two because it conveyed misinformation.
One who continually leads the top of long, weak suits against a declared trump, gives misinformation and often leads his partner to believe that he is opening a short suit, and frequently a trick or two is lost by the dealer obtaining discards.
The player who continually refuses to part with the best trump should bear in mind that ruffing with the commanding trump rarely loses a trick, and often gains one.
Remember that the partner who doubles usually has trump strength, and so do not strew his pathway with obstructions by forcing him when it is most fatal to his chances.
There is one type of partner who is particularly trying. He is that persistent individual who, having acquired the notion of establishing his long suit at “No-Trump” keeps at it with a bland faith that would be amusing were it not so vexing. With little or no chance of ever getting in, he sacrifices the only hope of saving the game by refusing to switch off and see what his partner has got.
Think, too, how your partner must feel when marked with a card of your established suit, and in the lead, he witnesses a discard on your part of one of your good suit, and is met with the feeble apology that you had a “King or Queen to protect.”
It is a maxim in bridge that the weaker hand should always consider itself subordinate to the stronger, ready to sacrifice the high card holding so that it will be a gain to the partner in the end.
How selfishly and at what cost partners will decline to unblock because it appears to them to mean the sacrifice of too high a card. Too long they cling to their Queens and their Kings only to see the great army of “lost tricks” obtain fresh recruits because they would not, or could not, read what their partners were vainly trying to publish before them.
Another rather cool invitation and one bound to be fraught with disastrous results is when you request your partner to play for a suit in which you have neither length nor strength. It would be just as logical to ask him to play for cards in your adversaries’ hands.
It is always good practice in bridge not to attempt to play for too much. To bring in two suits is, of course, a very delightful sensation, but it is a great deal better to confine your efforts to bring in one sure suit than to attempt two with the result of getting neither. Bear in mind that when one is a bit greedy, “lost tricks” are likely to foot up rapidly.