Daily Mail

BRIDGE MASTERCLAS­S

- PETER DONOVAN

What should West lead?

Without the double, you would choose the ♣ 10, a nice safe lead from the top of a sequence. With the double, however, you must make a different choice.

this is another lead-directing double; the rule is that if a player doubles a No trump contract when neither he nor his partner has bid previously, he is requesting a lead of the suit bid by dummy.

this is not quite an absolute command, as in the previous example, but it should only be ignored if you happen to have a good suit of your own, or if the bidding suggests that dummy’s suit is solid.

Neither of these situations exists in this case, and doubtless East wants to be sure of not wasting a defensive ‘tempo’ on the lead of a club or diamond.

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