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The auction starts nice and gently but suddenly picks up at a frenetic pace. Can you keep up? It is your turn as North to bid…or pass. Any thoughts? Only East/West are vulnerable and everyone is having their say.

 

After a quiet start to the auction, you stick in a club overcall. Your club suit could be better but you have not paid your money to pass a hand of some potential. East is not to be silenced and after West and your partner give minimum support for the black suits, you decide to make it a little harder for your opponents who are just bound to bid 4.

So, you leap to 5, maybe an advanced sacrifice, maybe even a make on some days, with your partner’s club support.

However, East is not in the passing mode and leaps to slam in their opening bid suit. They mean business especially as they are vulnerable. West puts them back to their agreed suit. What say you?

You must love the position of your K: well, “love not” since it will probably succumb to a simple finesse. Indeed, East would seem to have very few cards in hearts and clubs. Does this mean that you should be thinking of sacrificing in 7? You might be thinking about it but you do seem to have some defence to 6. There will be the odd, very rare, occasion when 7 is a successful sacrifice but unless East has a double void (and ten, you could even push your opponents into a making grand slam), it is rather an extreme view to take.

So to the defence. Unfortunately, you are not on lead to 6. Your partner might presume that East is very short in clubs and could therefore try something different. “Might.” “Could”. Why not turn that into “must”? There is one way to get them thinking. There is no reason to presume that a heart lead would beat the slam but it does seem to be a better shot than a pedestrian club. How to get that heart lead?

 

We have featured the Lightner double of a slam before but rarely could it have been more successful than on this deal. It asks your partner to rethink their opening lead, to lead something unusual, certainly not to lead the suit your partnership has bid. The unusual lead tends to point to dummy’s first bid suit, in this case, hearts.

You are normally looking for a ruff but not always. It would seem silly for South to lead a diamond and the double does not request a trump lead. So, being “barred” from leading a club, there is nothing else left but a heart.

Often, the “Lightner Double” sees the declarer heading off to 6NT but that would extremely unwise this time even if South were to lead a club.

Most tables played this deal in a spade game where a declarer will certainly make 11 tricks and probably more, on a club lead. Twice, the stakes were much higher in that South was on lead to 6. With no double, South led Q and even though they scored a trump trick, they were soon writing down -1430.

With the double and South’s opening heart lead, East had to guess the diamond lay-out to escape for one down.

Of course, if you want your partner to lead a club, do not double even if you think you are beating the contract. The double of a slam by a defender not on lead should be reserved either where a specific unusual lead is required or where the contract will fail on any lead.

North did not know that the heart lead would beat the slam but it seemed to have more going for it than a club…and it sure did!

Just a footnote on East’s opening bid. Some may say that the hand has so few losers that it qualifies for a game force 2 opening. East is more likely to get their hand across at a low level by starting off announcing one of their suits. Then, as East did here, they can go leaping once a fit had been established. A 1 opening will never get passed out, with East being so shapely and relatively weak in high card points.

Thus, a day for a Lightner Double.

Richard Solomon  

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