Lead the key thirteenth card

When the defenders have taken all of their tricks in the side suits, it’s often an astute strategy to lead the 13th card of a suit.

This isn’t a revolutionary idea. It is usually done in the hope of effecting a trump promotion, but there are other possibilities.

South had an awkward rebid over one spade. Three hearts was the logical choice, but when North passed, he had a few nervous moments while awaiting the appearance of the dummy, wondering if a spade contract would have been better.

West led the club six, East capturing dummy’s jack with his ace. Now it became a battle to keep the declarer out of the dummy so that he couldn’t pick up the trump queen with a finesse.

East switched to the diamond nine, top of nothing. Declarer played the king, but West, trusting his partner’s card, ducked to stop the diamond jack from becoming a dummy entry.

Declarer continued with the diamond queen, West ducking once more, and another diamond. West took the trick and then switched to a spade. East won with the king, and declarer unblocked his queen. Next came the spade ace.

The defenders had collected their four side-suit tricks. Following the guideline given above, East found the killing lead of the diamond eight. True, East was hoping for a trump promotion, but the lead had an alternative effect. If declarer discarded his spade and ruffed in the dummy, he couldn’t capture East’s trump queen, whereas when he ruffed in hand, West discarded his last spade. Now dummy’s spade jack was no longer an entry. Pretty.