High Card Led Followed by High Card
When you remain with TWO HIGH INDIFFERENT CARDS, lead the HIGHER if you opened a SUIT OF FOUR; THE LOWER if you opened a SUIT OF FIVE or more. (See Analysis of Leads in Detail, p. 64).
The typical example is the combination of ace, queen, knave, and one or more small cards. With four in suit, ace, then queen is led. But with more than four in suit, the knave is led after the ace, because then, if your partner remains with king and one small card, you are strong enough to invite him to win your trick in order to unblock your long suit.
In the same way, if queen is led from queen, knave, ten and small, you proceed with the knave, holding only ten and one small. But, with knave, ten and more than one small, you continue with the ten, the lower of two indifferent high cards, to induce your partner to win it, and so to unblock your suit, should he remain with ace and one small one, or with king and one small one.
Consequently, if your partner is an American Leader, and on the second round of your suit, you lead the higher of two high indifferent cards, he will count your strong suit to have consisted of four cards exactly. On the other hand, when on the second round, you lead the lower of two high indifferent cards, he will count at least three of your strong suit still in your hand. As it is advantageous to your partner to be able to count your hand in this way, whether he has blocking cards or not, you should always pursue the same system. Thus: you lead ten, from king, knave, ten, &c. The ten forces the queen. You obtain the lead again. Your king, knave are now high indifferent cards. If you lead the king, your partner knows you remain with knave and at most one small card of the suit. If you lead the knave, your partner knows you remain with king and at least two small ones.
Or, you lead knave, from king, queen, knave, and two or more small ones. On leading the suit again, if you continue with king, your partner counts queen, and exactly two small ones in your hand. If you continue with queen, your partner counts king and more than two small ones in your hand (see p. 68).
Before deciding which of two or more high cards to lead, be sure whether they are indifferent cards. This information you can obtain by consulting the Analysis of Leads (p. 64). When, in the Analysis, the second lead is given without any qualification, the high cards are not indifferent.
Three objections are urged against American Leads by players who oppose their adoption. The first is,