Watch out for a suit blockage

It has been said that the cure for writer’s cramp is writer’s block. The cure for declarer’s contract cramp can be defenders’ suit block. Look at the West hand in today’s diagram. What would you lead against three no-trump after the given auction? This is a tough bidding deal that gets much easier if East cannot resist throwing in a onespade overcall. Then South would rebid either three diamonds or two spades. But when East passes, most pairs would have the given auction.

If spades are 4-4, three no-trump will be cold. Or, here, if West chooses to lead the spade six, the suit will block, and three no-trump will make with an overtrick. If West anticipates the possible problem, he might lead the spade jack and hope partner works out what is happening, which is unlikely. Or West could choose the king. Here, that ought to succeed. East will encourage with the eight, and South will drop the nine. When West continues with the spade jack, East will think his partner started with a doubleton. But if so, they cannot run the spades, because East has no entry card. Also, would South have falsecarded with the nine from Q-9-6? East should win with the ace, and when the queen drops, he can run the suit, then congratulate his partner on the great lead. If you would have led the club five, that could have been right. But against no-trump you should tend to lead majors, not minors, and choose stronger suits rather than weaker suits because you need less from partner to run the suit.