The play of a thirteenth card means one of two things. It is either a demand on your partner to trump with his best trump, or it is an attempt to place the lead. It is for the partner to use his judgment as to which of these proceedings should be adopted. To lead a thirteenth card merely because, as some persons assert, they "did not know what else to do," is an exhibition of feebleness of intelligence.
Maxims.
Those persons who desire to become whist-players, and not mere players at Whist, should bear in mind that Whist is a combination of well-established rules, which should be obeyed; of observation, which is usually misnamed memory, and of reason, which is one of the most essential items towards becoming a whist-player. In order to put as little strain as possible on the reasoning powers, it is advisable to
become acquainted with certain maxims which can be committed to memory like proverbs, and can then be acted on during the game. The following will be found useful:—
1. Note whether you hold a sufficient number of winning cards in your hand to make certain of saving the game. If you do, you may run risks in order to win it.
2. Be very careful that you do not make a mistake and imagine that the game cannot be lost, when, by some unusual combination of cards, it may be lost.
3. Immediately your partner leads a card, examine the cards of the suit in your own hand, and form a preliminary opinion of the strength of the suit from which he led. For example, your partner leads the six of spades; you hold ace, queen, and five. The second hand plays the two, you play the queen, fourth hand plays the seven. You thus find the three and four have not been played. Where are they? If the fourth player hold either, he is calling for trumps. You return the ace of spades, the then second player plays the ten, your partner plays the three, and the last player plays the eight. You ought now to know just as well as if you had seen it, that your partner led from king, knave, nine, six, four, and three, and started with the fourth best card. To take a third round of this suit would be childish, as one adversary would make a small trump, the other get rid of a worthless card, and thus show his partner his weak suit.
4. If very strong in two suits, and your partner lead from the third suit, in which you are weak, lead him a trump immediately you gain the lead, although you hold only one or two small trumps.
5. Never hesitate to give your partner the chance of a ruff, unless he has led trumps, or has "called." To refuse to give him this chance merely because you are weak in trumps, is to play a losing game.