declaration and the double,
but in Auction every player has made at least one announcement which is
more or less instructive.

When there has been considerable bidding it is frequently possible to
accurately estimate the length and strength of the suit of each player
and the trick-taking value of the balance of his hand. When only one or
two declarations have been made, so much information may not be
obtainable, but even then the leader, from the failure of certain
players to bid, may be able to make deductions of considerable value.

The Auction leader, therefore, must remember the various declarations,
draw both positive and negative inferences therefrom, and whenever it
is not advisable to open his partner's suit or his own, should follow
the old principle which, since the days of Pole, has been applicable to
all games of the Whist family, and realize "'Tis seldom wrong to lead
up to the weak and through the strong."

The original opening is materially varied by the character of the final
declaration, the system of leading against a No-trump being quite
different from that employed when a suit is Trump.

HOW TO LEAD AGAINST A NO-TRUMP

When the partner has not shown strength, the leader, against a
No-trump, should open his own long suit. If he have two long suits, he
should pick the stronger except when he has declared it, and has not
received support from his partner, in which case it is generally wise
to try the other. The possible exception to the lead of a long suit
against a No-trump is when that suit has been declared, has not been
helped by the partner, and the No-trump has been subsequently bid to
the right. In this situation, with a tenace in the long suit, it is
sometimes advisable to try, by leading another suit, to get the partner
in, so that he may lead through the Declarer's strength in the suit
called by the leader. This, however, is a dangerous expedient when the
partner has not declared. Should a suit be guessed which the partner
cannot win, one of his high cards is apt to be sacrificed, and not only
nothing gained, but the advantage of the lead transferred to the
adversary. If two high cards be missing from the tenace suit, as in the
case when it is headed by Ace, Queen, Ten, or King, Knave, Ten, and the
Declarer hold the missing honors and one small card, it will take two
leads to establish the suit. It is not likely that a partner without
sufficient strength to declare will be able to get