As regards the length of a suit, a player's long suit is rather more likely to be fewer than five than over five. If the dealer has in his hand a suit of five cards including two honours, it is probable that he has a better suit to make trumps than dummy; if the suit is in hearts, and the dealer has a fair hand, he ought to name the trump. As regards strength, the average hand would contain ace, king, queen, knave and ten, or equivalent strength. Hands stronger or weaker than this by the value of a king or less may be described as featureless. If the dealer's hand is a king over the average, it is more likely than not that his partner will either hold a stronger hand, or will hold such a weak hand as will counteract the player's strength. The dealer would not generally with such a hand declare no trump, especially as by making a no-trump declaration the dealer forfeits the advantage of holding the long trumps.
Declarations by Dealer.—In calculating the strength of a hand a knave is worth two tens, a queen is worth two knaves, a king is worth a queen and knave together, and an ace is worth a king and queen together. A king unguarded is worth less than a queen guarded; a queen is not fully guarded unless accompanied by three more cards; if guarded by one small card it is worth a knave guarded. An ace also loses in value by being sole.
A hand to be strong enough for a no-trump declaration should be a king and ten above the average with all the honours guarded and all the suits protected. It must be a king and knave or two queens above the average if there is protection in three suits. It must be an ace or a king and queen above the average if only two suits are protected. An established black suit of six or more cards with a guarded king as card of entry is good enough for no trumps. With three aces no trumps can be declared. Without an ace, four kings, two queens and a knave are required in order to justify the declaration. When the dealer has a choice of declarations, a sound heart make is to be preferred to a doubtful no-trump. Four honours in hearts are to be preferred to any but a very strong no-trump declaration; but four aces counting 100 points constitute a no-trump declaration without exception.
Six hearts should be made trumps and five with two honours unless the hand is very weak; five hearts with one honour or four hearts with three honours should be declared if the hand is nearly strong enough for no trumps, also if the hand is very irregular with one suit missing or five of a black suit. Six diamonds with one honour, five with three honours or four all honours should be declared; weaker diamonds should be declared if the suits are irregular, especially if blank in hearts. Six clubs with three honours or five with four honours should be declared. Spades are practically only declared with a weak hand; with only a king in the hand a suit of five spades should be declared as a defensive measure. With nothing above a ten a suit of two or three spades can be declared, though even with the weakest hands a suit of five clubs or of six red cards will probably prove less expensive.
Declarations by Dummy.—From the fact that the call has been passed, the dealer's partner must credit the dealer with less than average strength as regards the rank of his cards, and probably a slightly increased number of black cards; he must therefore be more backward in making a high declaration whenever he can make a sound declaration of less value. On the other hand, he has not the option of passing the declaration, and may be driven to declare on less strength because the only alternative is a short suit of spades. For example, with the hand: Hearts, ace, kv. 2; diamonds, qn. 9, 7, 6, 3; clubs, kg. 10, 4; spades, 9, 2, the chances are in the dealer's favour with five trumps, but decidedly against with only two, and the diamond declaration is to be preferred to the spade. Still, a hand may be so weak that spades should be declared with two or less, but five clubs or six diamonds would be preferable with the weakest of hands.
Declarations to the Score.—When one's score is over twenty, club declarations should be made more frequently by the dealer. Spades should be declared with six at the score of twenty-six and with five at twenty-eight. When much behind in the score a risky no-trumper such as one with an established suit of seven or eight cards without a card of entry, may be declared.
Declaring to the score is often overdone; an ordinary weak no-trump declaration carries with it small chances of three by tricks unless dummy holds a no-trump hand.
Doubling.—Practically the leader only doubles a no-trump declaration when he holds what is probably an established suit of seven cards or a suit which can be established with the loss of one trick and he has good cards of re-entry. Seven cards of a suit including the ace, king and queen make sound double without any other card of value in the hand, or six cards including king, queen and knave with two aces in other suits.
Doubling by the third hand is universally understood to mean that the player has a very strong suit which he can establish. In response to the double his partner, according to different conventions, leads either a heart or his own shortest suit as the one most likely to be the third player's strongest. Under the short suit convention, if the doubler holds six of a suit headed by the ace, king and queen, it is about an even chance that his suit will be selected; he should not double with less strength. Under the heart convention it is not necessary to have such great strength; with a strong suit of six hearts and good cards of re-entry, enough tricks will be saved to compensate for the doubled value. A player should ascertain the convention followed before beginning to play.