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Part 2.

Well, today, unlike yesterday, you really have nothing, not even one jack over which to gloat! Do not let anyone ever tell you that 10’s are wonderful cards. They are when they are the fifth highest card in a suit: otherwise not that wonderful. You have 2 of them!

As per yesterday, you have a five- card diamond suit and are once again on-lead to a slam in no-trumps. If you got yesterday’s lead wrong, here’s a chance to redeem yourself or if you are on a “leading” winning streak, then keep going…

Lower but worser!

The contract is one level lower and your hand is one hcp “worser”..and, of course, you are on lead again.

 

You still have five diamonds headed by the 10 and have a little more shape this time. 1 was 3+ clubs and 4 and 5 Gerber, the responses showing one ace and two kings. Whoever said that holding 0 or 1 hcp was dull! And your lead is…?

After South’s 3NT bid, North went into a bit of a “tank” and it seemed like they were going to pass. So, with such an attractive collection, you were wondering which suit was best to lead. Surely, a major, to help partner because South has not got a four-card suit in either major suit.

You had not quite reached your decision when North pulled out the Gerber card and a couple of questions later saw you on lead to 6NT. Your hand had not improved…and your partner’s had got a little worse! As per yesterday’s problem, you looked for something safe, which eliminated clubs as you did not want to find your partner’s 3-card suit headed by the queen to be under threat. South’s 3NT call was almost certainly based on longish clubs. South also had still not found a 4-card major… and so West decided on leading one of those. West’s heart suit looked much more passive from which to lead than the spade suit..and so that was the choice made… and the key choice which was to be made by the declarer was no longer a choice as these were the four hands:

 

Bad lead!

After the 8 lead, declarer’s problem in that suit was solved. 10 forced the Q. That left declarer to play clubs and they had to surrender a trick to the Q. Back came a spade and the success of this none-too- secure contract was simply dependent on whether the spade finesse worked. It did and the contract made.

It did not have to be so. On a more passive lead, indeed the most passive diamond lead or ironically on a club lead, even on a spade lead, South had not only to take a successful spade finesse (easy on the spade lead) but had to finesse the correct way for the Q as well.

Could West tell that leading a heart was not the best for the defence? Perhaps. The difference in leading blindly to 3NT and 6NT is that in one case, 3NT, you are hoping to strike your partner’s suit and find a source of tricks. In 6NT, it really is mainly to be safe and while South does not have 4+ cards in a major, they should have a hold, an honour card in each major. Major leads carried a risk.

Thus, if North, and maybe South, held clubs and the majors were dangerous to lead, this was the time to lead one’s holey five-card diamond suit, not nearly as solid as the one we did lead yesterday to 7NT, but ultimately the best of a rather unattractive lot.

Had a diamond been led, South would have needed to be in fine form to make 12 tricks….still possible but then without any help from the defence. You cannot always find the right lead against every contract. You just want to avoid the wrong one as often as you can. Was West unlucky or did they indeed find the “wrong” lead this time?

Did you say 3,partner?

 

They do not always bid your shortage, not that you had one apart from the opposition suit this time. They do not always jump. Partner, this time, made a very welcome noise. What should you bid next?

Richard Solomon

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