NORTH
; Q 9
k 7 4 3
l A 9 5 3 2
' A K J
WEST EAST
; J 8 7 6 2 ; 4 3
k K 10 5 k A J 9 6
l K 7 l J 6 4
' Q 6 3 ' 10 9 8 4
SOUTH
; A K 10 5
k Q 8 2
l Q 10 8
' 7 5 2
Vulnerable: Neither
Dealer: South
The bidding:
South West North East
1 'Pass 1 l Pass
1 NT Pass 3 NT All pass
Opening Lead: Spade six
See if you can spot declarer's mistake here, after West led a fourth-highest spade six against three no-trump.
Declarer decided to go after diamonds, so he overtook dummy's spade nine with the 10 and advanced the diamond queen. He intended to take two finesses through West and pick up three diamond tricks if at least one of the honors was onside. West covered with the diamond king. Declarer took the diamond ace and played another, and East hopped up with the jack.
Since West had not overcalled, East knew spades were not likely to come in, so he switched to a low heart. It did not matter whether declarer tried the queen or played low, hoping the suit would block. Either way, the defenders would score four heart tricks.
From declarer's perspective, if the heart honors were split, he would be in bad shape if he lost the lead to East. So, his best bet might have been to keep East off play by letting the spade nine hold the first trick and then leading to the diamond 10. East could not be denied entry if he held the diamond king, but he could be kept out if West had the king, regardless of where the jack was. A finesse of the diamond 10 would force West's king. West would have to shift to the heart five, but now, when East won the ace and returned a heart, declarer could guess to play low, to block the suit. When the heart honors are split, the defense can take four heart tricks if East leads the first heart, but they can be held to three tricks if West attacks the suit initially.
LEAD WITH THE ACES
South holds:
; K 8 7 5 4
k K Q 4
l J
' A 7 6 3
South West North East
1 ; Pass Pass 1 NT
Pass 2 ' Pass 2 l
Pass 2 NT Pass 3 NT
All pass
ANSWER: Lead the spade five. Leading from your five-card suit still seems like the best way to beat a no-trump game, but I admit that this could easily be wrong. Invitational auctions might tend to call for passive leads, but you do not have anything safe, especially when you are expecting four hearts to come down in dummy.
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