False Cards.
False cards are played either in consequence of ignorance, or for the purpose of deception. A player who has never troubled himself to learn the leads is perpetually playing false cards, and deceiving his partner. Thus, with a suit of five headed by one honour (not the ace), a player who leads the lowest of this suit, instead of the fourth best, has led a false card, and has, according to Whist rules, told his partner a falsehood, viz. that he holds only four instead of five cards in this suit.
A player who holds ace, king, and queen of a suit, and leads king then ace, also tells his partner a
falsehood, inasmuch as he makes the cards say: "I don't hold the queen of this suit."
False cards, played deliberately, are those which a player knows he ought not to play according to rule; such, for example, as winning a trick with the ace when it could have been won with the king, or playing the queen of a suit on an adversary's king when the knave was held.
The cases in which false cards can be played with advantage are rare, but sometimes, especially in trumps, success may follow the play of a false card. The following is an example:—A holds ace, king, ten, and eight of diamonds (trumps). When Y, the left-hand adversary, obtains the lead, he plays a small diamond; Z, the right-hand adversary, plays queen third in hand. A may now win with ace, thus stating, in effect, that he does not hold the king.
Y may now conclude that his partner probably holds the king, and, on again obtaining the lead, may play another diamond up to king, ten, eight, when A is certain to make both king and ten.
How to play Whist.
When a player has learnt the leads, and what to play second and third in hand, he can play a fairly intelligent game. In the present day, when there are so many ably written books on Whist, there is no excuse for an habitual whist-player remaining ignorant of such elementary matters as the leads. The skill and general principles of the game may then be studied. The following suggestions should at this stage be attended to:—
Sort your hand as quickly as possible, so as to be