April 21, 2011

This week we will look at an opening lead problem.  E/W are vulnerable and North is dealer.  
As East you hold:

Q 10 6 2
9
J 10 9
A J 7 5 4

The auction proceeds:

          P        P        1H
P        2D*     P        4H

The 2D bid by North was alerted as showing 3-card heart support with 10+ HCP.  What should you
lead as East?  The right lead will set the contract.

South is showing a pretty strong hand here (at least 15 points), but unfortunately you don't know
much about his distribution.  Partner will have at most 7 HCP.   It doesn't seem that the
opponent's have bid their game based on distribution, so I don't think a trump lead is called for
to cut down on ruffing.   Of course it is too early to tell, but given your shortness in trumps, 
partner may have a trump trick coming, and you can hope to take a trick in each
suit.   You just need to get your four tricks before declarer gets his.  The obvious choices are the
Jack of Diamonds  (the top of an honor sequence) and the 2 of spades (4th best).  Though
clubs are your best suit, it is not appealing here (or hardly ever, actually) to underlead an Ace.

Which is better, the Jack or the 2?  I'd be happy to hear the opinions of others on this, because
I don't think it is obvious.   Leading the Jack is a bit more passive and is less likely to give a
trick away, because you won't be finessing yourself.  The 2 has more potential for developing a
quick trick if partner holds a high honor, but you'd hate to see the spade Jack come down in dummy
with declarer holding AK!

If you chose the spade 2, the defense should prevail.  This was board 9 and here is the complete
hand.


                A 8 5
                8 7 4
                K Q 8 3
                Q 6 2
Q 10 6 2                        K J 7
9                                J 10 5 3
J 10 9                                6 4
A J 7 5 4                        10 9 8 3

                9 4 3
                A K Q 6 2
                A 7 5 2
                K

I played this hand as south and got the Jack of Diamonds lead.   Though trumps split badly, I was
able to knock out the club Ace and pitch one of my small spades on dummy's Queen.  I lost only a
club, a trump, and a spade when diamonds split 3-2.

Do you see why a spade lead was crucial?   It would knock out dummy's Ace, and then when 
West won his Ace of Clubs, the defense could cash two spades.

The previous week, Brad and I eschewed (i.e., didn't find) our heart fit, and North played 3NT,
making 3.  This is a safer contract, since even perfect defense cannot keep declarer from scoring
1 spade, 3 hearts, four diamonds, and a club.  However, it didn't score as well as 4H.

A bit later in the week I want to give a very brief explanation of some of the signaling systems
played by members of our club (standard, upside down count and attitude, odd-even,
and Lavinthal).  I agree with Paul that it is best to start with standard signals, but it still will
be helpful (as declarer) to have an understanding of the signaling used by your opponents. 
Paul already alluded to this earlier, when he pointed out how declarer could falsecard at trick
one in an attempt to keep the opponents from interpreting each other's signals.