They Both Played Their Leading Roles

Look only at the West hand in today’s diagram. What would you lead against three no-trump? South has a balanced 15-17 points with a doubleton spade, and North has 10-15 points with five spades (and probably no singleton).

Dame Jane Goodall, world-famous primatologist and anthropologist, said, “Every individual matters. Every individual has a role to play. Every individual makes a difference.”

At the bridge table, the declarer is an individual; the dummy has no active role to play. But each defender might -- or might not -- have to remember their lines, as it were. The best defenses are when both players must make winning choices. How did the defense go against three no-trump in this deal?

AT

The auction followed a very straightforward transfer route, North’s three no-trump asking partner to decide between that game and four spades.

West, with 12 high-card points, knew that her partner had a very weak hand. So, leading a heart or a club rated to cost a trick. A spade couldn’t be right, given the five-card suit in the dummy. So she chose the diamond jack. The defense was still alive!

Declarer, a robot at Bridge Base Online, won with the queen, cashed the diamond king and spade king, and continued spades, putting East in with his jack. After

South had discarded one club and one heart, it was East’s moment in the spotlight -- what did he do?

East found the killing continuation -- he led the club jack. Then the defenders took one spade, three clubs and one heart.

East and West bowed to each other.