BY DAVID LINDOP
PLAY OF THE HAND
BY DAVID LINDOP
The defenders have to communicate with each other through the cards they lead and play . As soon as the opening lead is on the table , before making a plan , declarer should take it into consideration .
In notrump contracts , the opening leader tends to follow a number of guidelines :
• Lead partner ’ s suit .
• With a choice of suits , lead the longest and strongest .
• Lead the top of touching honors from solid , broken , or interior sequences .
• With no sequence , lead fourth highest .
• Without a good suit , lead the top of nothing , hoping to find partner ’ s suit .
Declarer can keep all this in mind when analyzing the defender ’ s opening lead . Let ’ s suppose we are South in a 3NT contract with no bidding from the opponents . West leads the ♠6 .
LEAD :
♠6
♠ ♥ ♦ ♣
Dummy 4 3 K 9 6 A Q 9 5 Q 10 5 2
W
N
S
Declarer ( Us )
♠ A 5 2
♥ A Q J 8
♦ J 10 7
♣ K J 9
We have six winners : one spade , four hearts , and one diamond . We need three more . We can get them through promotion by driving out the ♣A ,
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Read the Lead
Part 2
3NT
2 Audrey Grant ’ s Better Bridge | September-October 2023
but that involves giving up the lead to the opponents . They can then take their established spade winners once our ♠A is driven out . The alternative is to try the diamond finesse , hoping West holds the ♦K . That ’ s only a 50 % chance but , if it works , we get all three extra tricks without having to give up the lead .
Should we go for promotion in clubs or take the diamond finesse ? It all depends on how the defenders ’ spades are dividing . If their eight spades are divided 4-4 , then they can take only three spade tricks after gaining the lead . A 4-4 division is against the odds , only 33 %. A 5-3 division is more likely .
West ’ s opening lead of the ♠6 , however , tells us it should be safe to go after promotion in clubs . A defender typically leads fourth highest from a long suit . We can see the ♠4 and ♠3 in dummy , and we hold the ♠5 and ♠2 . West has no spade lower than the ♠6 ! So we can assume West has only a four-card spade suit . The full deal might look like this :
Dummy
♠ 4 3
♥ K 9 6 3NT
♦ A Q 9 5
♣ Q 10 5 2
♠ Q 9 7 6
♠ K J 10 8
N
♥ 10 5 4 3
♥ 7 2
W E
♦ 4 2
♦ K 8 6 3
S
♣ A 7 6
♣ 8 4 3
Declarer ( Us )
♠ A 5 2
♥ A Q J 8
♦ J 10 7
♣ K J 9
If we were to try the diamond finesse , East wins the ♦K and the defenders take three spade tricks to go with the ♣A , down one . Instead , we go for the " sure thing " in clubs and finish with nine tricks , thanks to our observation of West ’ s opening lead .
On this next deal , we again reach 3NT and West leads the ♦7 .
LEAD :
♦7
♠ ♥ ♦ ♣
Dummy K J 6 7 4 2 A Q 10 3 5 3 2
W
N
S
Declarer ( Us )
♠ A Q 9
♥ A K 8 5
♦ 8 5 4
♣ Q 9 4
We start with six tricks : three spades , two hearts , and one diamond . We need three more . We might get one through length in hearts when the defenders ’ hearts divide 3-3 . It ’ s against the odds . To get an extra trick from clubs , we would need East to hold both the ♣A and ♣K , distinctly against the odds , only 25 %.
How about diamonds ? West has led the suit and presumably has some strength in diamonds . If West holds both the ♦K and ♦J , we can finesse the ♦10 at trick one and later finesse the ♦Q . That would give us two extra winners , but we ’ d need the diamonds to divide 3-3 to get a fourth trick in diamonds . That ’ s very unlikely since West chose to lead the suit .
Hold on ! We can do better than that in diamonds if we analyze the lead . If West ’ s ♦7 is a fourth highest lead , we can apply the Rule of Eleven . Subtracting seven from eleven leaves four cards higher than the ♦7 in the other three hands . We can see three in dummy , the ♦A , ♦Q , and ♦10 , and we have one in our hand , the ♦8 . That means East has no diamond higher than the ♦7 .
With this knowledge , we play the ♦3 from dummy and , hopefully , win the first trick with our ♦8 . We then finesse dummy ’ s ♦10 , and later the
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3NT