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Doubletons can be good leads too!

Many players are taught that doubleton leads are to be avoided, that they help out the declarer with the playing of difficult suits and rarely bring a reward. Of course, that can happen when you lead a doubleton, or indeed when you lead a singleton but the rewards are there to be had. On the following recent deal, the switch to a doubleton occurred not at trick 1 but at trick 2, but the risk was still there:

 

 

1NT promised 12-14 hcp. North used 2 Stayman in case their partner held a 4-card major and when the heart fit was found bid directly to game. They only held 11 hcp but they hoped their partner would not have too many high cards in clubs and that their singleton would prove useful. (We can add 3 points for a singleton when we have found a trump fit.)

West led 5, presumably from a suit headed by the jack. It looked like North’s wish had come true as South had no high cards in clubs. Your Q wins the first trick. Which card would you play as East at trick 2?

The temptation may be to continue clubs, a safe choice, or maybe switch to a trump to try and reduce the opportunity of declarer scoring extra tricks by ruffing club losers. The problem with the latter approach is that with at least 12 hcp outside clubs, declarer may well have other ways to come to 10 tricks. One point to consider is that the high card points are reasonably spread among the four hands. If, for instance, South held only 12, that would still leave 8 for West. At our table, East switched to the apparently harmless 9, the top of a doubleton.

That went to the ace in the West hand. West continued diamonds, no doubt hoping that East had switched to a singleton. Not so as the declarer won the return cheaply in dummy. Was the defence over? Not a bit of it. In fact, the contract could not be made!

 

 

As declarer I went up with K in dummy and led a low heart and refused to take a heart finesse as I would often have a heart loser even if the finesse worked with that particular trump suit and also because I was concerned that one of my opponents, probably East, could score a ruff. So, heart to the ace and then a small heart taken by West’s K. West played a third round of diamonds and my worst fears were realised. The diamond ruff was the fourth trick for the defence.

There was certainly a risk in East switching to a diamond, but only if South held both AT and had a choice of which way to finesse for the missing Q. If West held Q10, there was only one way for South to finesse, the successful way, with J in dummy. So, the risk was not as great as may seem apparent.

Had East not switched to a diamond, the contract would have made easily as one of South’s small clubs could be ruffed in dummy and the other discarded on the fourth round of spades.

“Good switch, partner” West was heard to say at the end of the deal. With spades offering little hope and trumps seemingly breaking favourably enough for declarer, East was wise to try the diamond switch. And if it gave South their contract? Well, East had at least tried a positive way to score 4 tricks. Well rewarded.

So, keep those doubleton leads, or switches, in mind…except against me, please!
Richard Solomon

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