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For Junior, Intermediate and Novice players… and others! It’s Matariki Day.

Being a Real Nuisance!

Sometimes you make a bid without real expectation of making your contract but in order to make life harder for your opponents. That may well have been the case when your partner raised your Weak Jump one level. Take a look at the bidding below because it is your turn to lead.

 

Your partner was a passed hand when they raised the bidding one level. It was unlikely that they were inviting you with a weak jump overcall to game. However, 3 might make it harder for your opponents to find their best contract. North had already made a take-out double and may not know what to do next. They elected to try for the heart game.

You have really a choice of 2 leads, your highest spade or your singleton diamond. You could try a high spade, hopefully win a trick or two in that suit and then switch to your singleton. That assumes your partner holds A. No guarantees. Gaining 4 tricks with your partner a passed hand and your hand without a trick outside spades seems unlikely if you rely mainly on spade tricks. So, be brave and lead your singleton. This should be a good lead if your partner has either the A or a quick heart trick (A or KQ).

 

Dummy has lots of honour cards but it is your partner who plays A and who returns 4. Even though you bid spades, they knew you had a reason to lead a diamond…and so played a diamond back. You ruff as South follows but what do you play next?

Your partner gave you an idea to help you out. When they played their second diamond, they played 4. If you know or suspect that you are giving your partner a ruff,  return your lowest card in the suit to indicate it would be best to continue with the lower of the remaining two non-trump suits and a highish card to suggest the higher.

4 had to be their lowest since 2 and 3 were in dummy. It pays to look at the cards in dummy in the suit you have led. Surely to suggest the lower suit, clubs, East must hold A. So, at trick 3, you play one of your clubs. Your partner wins the ace and plays back another diamond:

 

Two aces and two diamond ruffs beat the otherwise very cold game. Had you started with K, declarer would draw trumps and just lose one spade and both minor suit aces to make their contract.

Notice how difficult the 3 bid made it for the opposition. South might have bid 4 or 4 themselves though they felt they were too weak to do so. In a sense they were correct because both 4 and 5 can be beaten, 5 by you leading K: it’s wrong to lead a singleton when it is a trump.

North was too strong to pass 3 and hoped their partner had some decent hearts. Note that they could beat 3 by one trick had they passed. However, they tried for a game their way, very often the correct decision when their side is known to have 25 or more high card points.

That was not so on this occasion because the “real nuisance”, the "star" for your side, was not your partner but you! You found the only lead to beat the opponents’ game. Leading singletons does not always work. When you do and your partner gives you a ruff, remember to look at the card they play back as one ruff was not enough to beat this contract. Great defence: you got two.

Richard Solomon

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