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the wisdom of...Tom Jacob.

20 years after..doubled!

One lead you cannot get right…and one you cannot get wrong!

Which would you like first? Hah, I am not going to tell you! What I will tell you is that they both occurred in the “20 Years After” feature in December 2004…which means they both occurred in late 1984! (I am sure your maths is good enough to work that out!).

What they have in common is the contract: 6x. Not a time to get the lead wrong!

So, two lead problems for you.

 

2NT was game-forcing with spade support.

and then:

 

You may wonder whether West had a little doze during the bidding. Perhaps the strong jump shift 2 frightened West from trying a cautious 3 or a more adventurous 4. 5 showed 1 ace and 6 was an offer to play, an offer declined.

So, what are your choice of opening leads as West?

Lightner Doubles

Did you get the first lead right? Having told you it was a Lightner Double, you can immediately eliminate the suit you overcalled and your partner raised aggressively, diamonds. Also, the Lightner should put you off a trump lead.

So, it’s 50: 50 between the suit in which you hold K9 or JT62. What’s your choice? Well, it’s normally the one in which you have the most cards so that you give partner a ruff. So, that’s easy …but to save you working out the score, that lead gives you -1210!

 

So which heart did you have to lead? It would not have mattered as your partner ruffs and cashes an ace, not the one at which you are looking, for +100. Don’t you hate those bidders who manage to hide their 11 card side-suit fit!

The unfortunate East- West pair, Bob Scott and Michael Sykes, are no longer with us though the cunning North-South players certainly are, Michael Johnstone and Chris Ackerley. A few hands later, they played in 5x in a 6-3 fit ignoring their 6-4 spade fit on the side. Naturally, this contract made, too.

So, feeling bad about Lightner Doubles? Do not when you have Tom Jacob as your partner at the table. You just cannot go wrong. Trust me..or Tom!

 

 

You see that Tom, East, knew far more than his partner. Looking at the North hand, 3 may seem an unusual rebid. However, the jump shift 2 promised a long strong suit (in a strong hand) and so North judged his support adequate.

South was always intending to return to diamonds (“so why confuse with 2 then?”) and did after getting a 1-ace response. However, North did kind of make a wise choice in returning to spades since a heart lead from East beats 6 played by North.

From his diamond holding and South’s wish to play there, Tom guessed his partner was very short in diamonds. Were West to have one, Tom wanted that suit led so that he could give his partner a ruff when in with the A. After all, the first request of a Lightner Double is to lead dummy’s first bid suit. Perfect!

Less perfect for West sitting there with a big void in the suit he was required to lead. After a piece of hair-pulling, West chose a heart. However, he was forgiven when he ruffed the first round of diamonds after Tom won A. Nice deduction, Tom.

Oh, yes, South could have retreated to 6NT, cold as long as South was declarer but the club position was unclear to South and the heart position unclear to North.

With 6 going down at the other table, there was just a 2 imp gain to the doubler of 6..but would West have led a diamond if they held one?

Anyway, how neat to have an opening lead one cannot get wrong!

 Richard Solomon

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