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Keeping it a secret.

When we open the bidding at the 1 level, we do so with a hope that our side becomes the declaring side. When that wish does not happen, we are disadvantaged in that we have given some information, indeed often more than “some” useful information to the declarer who can use it to their advantage.

On the following deal, East-West should be at great pains to hide the location of the few honour cards they hold, especially West. Indeed, the very leading of partner’s suit may be the death knell of the defence.

 

You resist the temptation, wisely, of showing any spade support for your partner during the auction though you now find yourself on lead to 5. What is your choice?

9 was led at the table and the mere cover of the 10 seemed to cause some consternation for East who finally played low with South winning with the A. Take a look at South’s problem on the board:

 

With what seemed a certain diamond loser to go with the A, the fate of the contract seemed to depend on playing trumps for no loser. With no opposition bidding, the simple finesse would be the best approach but there had been opposition bidding, East’s 1 opening.

Holding KQJxx, East would have had no trouble in covering 10. The duck suggested strongly that this was not the case. Were East to have a good spade suit, they might have doubled 2: they did not. Indeed, a suspicious declarer might just wait awhile before playing trumps. South might play a heart to the queen and see what East’s return is.

East wins and returns a second heart. Time to play a diamond to dummy and play a second spade. South ruffs as East plays low again with J appearing from West. Had East held KQxxx, they would surely have covered the 10 at trick 1. That therefore is unlikely the position.

So, South could interpret that West did indeed hold the K and with KJ9 and the K, they would surely have bid 2 after South’s overcall. That would have left East with a 9 hcp opening, certainly possible but unlikely. The evidence was such that East was likely to hold the K. Thus, South could lead a club towards the ace and be very happy, and relieved, with the fall of the king.

You could argue that South could always make that play whatever the opening lead since East had opened the bidding. That in itself does not make West honourless. However, the opening bid hugely increases the chance of the finesse failing, the price of opening the bidding.

Opened too wide!

South might wonder if West led a red card at trick 1. One very valid reason is that they were void in spades. Not this time as few East players could resist a second bid holding 8 spades headed by the KQJ. South may wonder if West had something to hide in partner’s suit and reach the correct conclusion.

That does not mean that West should not try and hide the true lie of spade honours. Leading K would surely not be good for the defence though neither did a “small” spade lead. West could not know their partner held singleton K but they might realise that if South knew West’s true spade holding, they could place all other missing honours with East. Balanced against that is that the defence may need to take two quick spade tricks to defeat the contract. Thus, a tough problem for West at trick 1.

The die perhaps was cast when East opened the bidding. That does not mean we are always going to pass as East: we know the pre-emptive value of opening 1. Give South credit for doing a bit of spade investigation before making their decision in the trump suit. However, a non- spade lead might just have made it harder for South to play trumps the right way.

More valuable than an ace?

 

By rebidding 1NT, your partner showed 12-14 hcp balanced, a doubleton heart (no support double) and presumably a hold in spades. Your double was for take-out but partner left it in.

East led J. Declarer won A and cashed Q before exiting with a heart. You rise with K as declarer plays 2 and your partner 3 ( reverse count style). What next? A bottom awaits you unless you can find six tricks for the defence. Can you?

Richard Solomon

 

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