If you are playing “No-Trump” do not blank the Ace in dummy unless you want this suit led to you. Keeping a small card with the Ace may lead the adversaries to believe that you have a high card in your own hand and they may hesitate to lead the suit.
Another point that it is well to emphasize is in regard to being forced to lead disadvantageously from a suit. Be very careful in a case of that kind not to break a possible tenace by leading a high card. For instance with Ace, ten and two small in your hand and Jack and two small in dummy, you are forced to lead the suit from your own hand. Play the small card. Often the adversary makes the mistake of playing a high card second in hand, giving you, perhaps, a tenace over your right hand opponent.
Too much haste in showing ability to ruff by your weak hand frequently brings disaster. In fact a trump lead from you will discourage the trump attack by the adversaries, and they are only too likely to give you the ruff without defining your purpose.
Inference frequently will come to you from the cards held in the combined hands as to what suit will probably be led by the adversaries, but do not expose your weakness by discarding from this suit.
Last, but one of the most important facts of all, decide which of your cards you mean to play before fingering them. Indecision may tell your adversaries exactly what they are most eager to know.
Bear in mind that these suggestions are advanced to try to impress all players with the fact that there may be much more in the hand than it seems to deserve, and that “much more” is the real test of skillful bridge. It is a far greater source of enjoyment than lackadaisically wading through deal after deal, stirring only the surface of the shallow water and not venturing into those more fascinating depths where the secrets of bridge await those who will try for them.
One development of bridge, seldom touched upon, has to do entirely with what may be designated the “lost tricks.”
Hands that play themselves are, to an extent, colorless and featureless accessories of the game; but the “lost tricks” are the “might have beens” of bridge that rankle in the memory long after the rubber is finished.
They are usually found in hands that require a thorough understanding of the score, good judgment and keen perception, and are lost many times because of a lack of understanding between partners.