Do not, however, except with a fourchette, finesse against Queen or Knave singly guarded, when it is evident that the Declarer and Dummy hold only four cards of the suit, and the Ace or King is marked with the leader.
When playing No-trump, as a rule do not finesse if so doing will block the partner's suit.
The score is a very important incident of the game of Auction, and to keep it properly requires considerable care and skill.
The figures frequently run into high numbers on both sides, and when the rubber continues during three hotly contested games, they become quite voluminous.
The score-sheet should be left on the table, and the writing on it should be of such size that it can be seen at a glance. This saves time and trouble, as it relieves the players from the necessity of asking the state of the score.
In some clubs two scores are kept, so that, in the only too probable contingency of a mistake being made, it may invariably be detected. This, however, is unnecessary, and at times confusing. The extra sheet is also apt to prove annoying, because of the space it occupies upon the table. One score is quite sufficient, if it be competently kept, and each entry, as well as the additions, verified.
There are two totally different types of Auction score-sheets. The one which is used in perhaps ninety per cent. of the private games, and, strange as it may seem, in many clubs, has absolutely no excuse for its existence, except that it was the first to be introduced and has the reputation of being universally used in foreign countries. It requires scoring above and below the line, which is a most cumbersome and dilatory proposition. Keeping tally by this method involves, at the end of a rubber, long mathematical problems, which, as the scorer is then in a hurry, frequently result in serious, and at times undiscovered, mistakes.
The modern system adopted in the up-to-date clubs, in which the game has received its most scientific development, and in the highest class of social games, does away with the antiquated methods and exacting mathematical problems of the above- and below-the-line system, by using a form of score-sheet which allows and encourages the scorer to mentally compute simple sums during the progress of the rubber. By the elimination of complicated figuring, it minimizes the opportunity for mistake, and delay at the end of the rubber.