cards. If the top cards of the opening suit
form one of the fol owing pat erns, lead to the first and second
tricks as indicated below:
from lead
AKQJ
K thenj
AKQ-
K then
AK-J
K then
A-QJ
A then
-KQJ
j
From any other Ace holding, lead the King if you have it,
otherwise Ace then fourth best (as it was before the Ace was led).
Holding neither Ace nor King, lead fourth best of the suit – for
example, the Seven from Q9873.
You may lead trumpsifyou hold fiveor more, the appropriate
signals being:
from lead
AKQJ
J then Q
AKQ-
Q then K
AK…
if 7+ held, Kthen A, otherwise fourth highest
The rule of eleven Leading the fourth highest (counting from the
top down) enables a partner to get a good idea of the lie of the
cards by applying the ‘rule of eleven’. Assuming your partner to
have led fourth highest, you subtract its face value from eleven to
discover how many higher cards are lacking from his hand. By
further subtracting the number you hold yourself, you discover how
many lie with the other side, and may thereby be able to place key
high cards. For example: your partner leads the Seven of a suit of
which you hold King-Jack. Seven from eleven means there are four
cards against him that lie above the Seven, of which you hold two.
He cannot have the Ace, or he would have led it, so it must lie with
an opponent. So his original holding must have been any four cards
out of QT987 (regardless of anything lower), and the opponents
hold between them the Ace and any one of QT98.
Whist variants
The game described above is the classic form of English Short
Whist. Also to be noted are:
Long Whist
Until about 1800 the game was played up to 10 (sometimes 9)
points, and was subsequently known as Long Whist to distinguish it
from the faster 5-point game, which many experts considered too
chancy.
American Whist
Honours are not counted, and game is 7 points. Very logical.
Suit-value Whist
Odd tricks score 1 point each with spades as trump, 2 with clubs, 3
with diamonds, 4 with hearts. No honours. Game is 10 points.
Drive Whist
At Whist Drives, and in the home game if preferred, it is usual not
to turn a card for trump but to have fixed trumps for each cycle of
four deals, respectively hearts, diamonds, spades, clubs. Sometimes
also every fifth hand is played at No Trump. Suitably pre-printed
scoresheets are obtainable for this purpose. In tournament play it is
usual for each person or partnership to play a predetermined
number of deals, each scoring the total number of odd tricks they
have taken over the number of deals played.
Cayenne
Dating from about 1860, this is worth perpetuating as a stage in the
evolution of Suit-value Whist to Bid Whist to Bridge.
At each deal a suit is established as the cayenne suit by cut ing
either the playing pack or, preferably, a second pack and noting the
either the playing pack or, preferably, a second pack and noting the
suit of the top card of the bot om half. This establishes an order of
suit preference as fol ows:
if the cayenne suit is
×4 if trumps
then second colour is
×3 if trumps
third colour is
×2 if trumps
fourth colour is
×1 if trumps
Deal thirteen each in batches of 4-4-5. Dealer either announces
trumps or passes this responsibility to his partner, who may not
refuse. Whoever decides announces one of the fol owing six
contracts: cayenne, second colour, third colour, fourth colour, grand,
nul o. Naming cayenne or a colour contracts to win a majority of
tricks (7+) with that suit as trump. Grand is a bid to win a majority
of tricks at no trump, nul o to lose a majority at no trump. At nul o,
an Ace counts as the lowest card of its suit unless its holder specifies
otherwise upon playing it. Eldest leads to the first trick.
The side taking most tricks in a suit contract counts a basic 1
point per odd trick taken, and whichever side held the majority of
honours (AKQJT of trumps) scores a basic 2 if they held
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