THE LEAD ACHIEVES TWO PURPOSES

Henri Frederic Amiel, a 19thcentury Swiss writer, said, “For purposes of action, nothing is more useful than narrowness of thought combined with energy of will.” That applies to bridge players -- the more unrelenting your concentration and tunnel vision, the better. But today’s deal revolves around using cards for the purpose of telling partner how to defend. What should West lead against four spades after the given bidding sequence? Note that this is the right auction regardless of whether you use Standard American or two-over-one. In two-over-one, because a three-spade rebid by North would be forcing, the jump to four spades limits his hand to a minimum gameforce. West should realize that his partner is probably void of diamonds. Also, when you give your partner a ruff, the card you lead sends a suit-preference signal that tells partner which of the other two side suits to return to get you back on lead, so that you can deliver another ruff. Here, that means West should lead the diamond seven, not because it is top of nothing, but because he wants a heart shift. And that is how it goes. East ruffs at trick one and leads back a low heart to his partner’s nine. West gives his partner a second ruff, gets in again with a heart and delivers a third ruff for down two. Note that if East shifts to a club at trick two, the contract cruises home. Should East or West double the final contract? No! There is a big risk that the opponents will run to five diamonds, which cannot be defeated.