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Andrew:
If you can choose the danger hand, avoid the one winning a subsequent lead
Usually you (South, as declarer in notrumps) have no choice as to which opponent is the danger hand and which is the safe hand. But consider:
North
xx
South
AJx
Say West leads this suit to East’s king (marking West with the queen) and it looks as if West has five cards and East three. You have two possible strategies: (i) Win the ace immediately. (ii) Duck the ace until the third round.
Strategy (i) makes East the danger hand, leading through your jack.
Strategy (ii) makes West the danger hand, with his two long cards.
Question: Which strategy is better?
Answer: It depends on which opponent (if any) will win a subsequent lead
Click to play this deal
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South Deals None Vul |
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| West | North | East | South |
| 1 ♣ | |||
| 1 ♦ | 1 ♥ | 2 ♦ | 3 NT |
| Pass | Pass | Pass |
| 3 NT by South |
| Lead: ♦ 5 |
| Made 3 |
What happened?
West’s ♦ 5 lead went to East’s ♦ K and declarer ducked. He ducked ♦ 9 to ♦ J and ♦ Q and won the third round with ♦ A. Needing tricks from clubs, he crossed to ♠ K and ran ♣ 10. No good: West won ♣ K and cashed two diamonds. Down one.
What should have happened?
Because the club finesse is being taken through East, only West can win the lead in the suit. Appreciating the power of ♦ J, you as declarer should immediately win ♦ K with ♦ A. This makes West into the safe hand, so that when you cross to ♠ K and run ♣ 10 to West’s ♣ K, there is nothing he can do to hurt you. If West follows with ♦ Q and a third diamond, you win ♦ J and cash your winners, emerging with ten tricks. Better for him is to return a passive major suit, but you still score nine tricks. Game made. Note that if you swap your clubs with dummy’s, the club finesse would be taken into East, in which case it would be correct to duck the ace of diamonds until the third round to exhaust him of diamonds (making West into the danger hand).
Tip: If you can choose which opponent to make the danger hand, choose the one who will not win a subsequent lead.
