A Thirteenth Card, played by the partner, is usually considered an invitation to put on the best trump. The Second Hand should not trump a thirteenth card unless he is weak in trumps.
AMERICAN LEADS. Advanced players, who have had so much practice that they can infer the probable position of the cards without devoting their entire attention to it, have adopted a new system of leading from the four combinations following, in order to show the number of small cards in the suit:—
From these the King is never led if there are more than four cards in the suit. Having more than four, the lowest of the sequence of high cards is led. From the first this would be the Jack; from the second the Queen; from the third the Ace, (because the King is barred;) and from the fourth the Queen. The Ten is not ranked among the high cards in American Leads.
On the second round, with the first two combinations, the difference between a suit of five or one of six cards may be indicated by following with the Ace if five were held originally; the King, if more than five. Seven cards may be shown with the first combination, by leading the Queen on the second round.
The chief difference these leads make in the play of the Third Hand is that he should not trump any court card led, even if weak in trumps. The misunderstanding as to the meaning of the first lead, especially if it is a Queen, often occasions confusion and loss; but this is claimed to be offset by the value of the information given. Some lead 10 from Q J 10; 4th-best from K J 10.
To the adversaries these leads are often of value, as they are frequently enabled to place the cards very accurately from the information given by the lead itself, regardless of the fall of the cards from the other hands. For instance: Second Hand holds A J of a suit in which King is led; Third Hand plays the Four; Fourth Hand plays the Nine. The leader remains with Q 3 2; Third Hand still has 8 7 6 5; and if he has also the 10, Fourth Hand has no more. Again: The leader shows a suit of six; Second Hand holding two only. If the suit is led a third time it is a doubtful trick, and with four trumps the Second Hand should pass. If the leader shows the exact number of the suit originally led, and then changes to a four-card suit, the adversaries know at least nine of his cards.
So obvious is this that it is an almost invariable rule for a player, on quitting his suit, to conceal the length of the second suit led by leading the highest card of a short suit.
If it were allowable to exercise some judgment in using these leads, they might not be open to so many objections; but they are worse than useless unless the partner can depend on their being uniformly adopted.