The Ten is led from one combination only:—
The Ace should not be led if it can be avoided; but it is better to lead it from suits of more than four cards, so as to make it at once. If the Ace is accompanied by the King, the King is the card to lead, not the Ace. If the Ace is accompanied by other honours, such as the Queen or Jack, it is better to avoid opening the suit, unless you have five or more cards of it. But if you do lead a suit headed by the Ace, without the King, be sure that you lead the Ace, when playing against a trump declaration, or you may never make it.
All such combinations as the following should be avoided, if possible, as more can be made out of them by letting them alone:—
But with three honours, A Q J, the Ace should be led.
Rules for Leading Short Suits. It will sometimes happen that the only four-card suit in the leader’s hand will be trumps or a suit headed by honours not in sequence, which it is not desirable to lead. In such cases, if there is no high-card combination in any of the short suits, it is usual to lead the highest card, unless it is an Ace or King. Many good players will not lead the Queen from a three-card suit, unless it is accompanied by the Jack. All such leads are called forced, and are intended to assist the partner, by playing cards which may strengthen him, although of no use to the leader. The best card should be led from any such combinations as the following:—
Small-card Leads. If the suit selected for the lead does not contain any combination of high cards from which it would be right to lead a high card, good players make it a rule to begin with the fourth-best, counting from the top of the suit. This is called the “card of uniformity,” because it indicates to the partner that there are remaining in the leader’s hand exactly three cards higher than the one led.