Defense, Chapter 1.

On the first chapters of these coming articles I will write about important matters on defense.

Chapter 1: When you have to lead to a trick

When talking about your lead, I don't mean the opening lead itself, which is another subject. I mean, the time that a defender wins a trick and needs to lead to another trick. After making up your mind which suit you want to play, you need to choose the right card in this suit*.

*A) and B) are for intermediate level. C) is for advanced.

A) From a remaining doubleton, play high - low

Heart is trump.

You had bid spades during the auction, so your partner leads the ♠A and continues with the ♠3 to your ♠K:

	♠J65
♠A3		♠KT942
	♠Q8

Declarer played the ♠8 on the ♠A, and then the ♠Q to the next trick. Where is the ♠7?

With declarer! If partner would still have ♠73, he would have continued with the ♠7. Play a 3rd spade for your partner to ruff.

B) If you lead your 4th best and you have a suit longer than 4 cards - Play a lower card next, if possible, to show partner you hold a longer suit.

	♠A7
♠3		♠J65
	♠Q

Against 3NT, your partner leads the ♠3, which shows his long suit and promises an honor (without an honor partner leads 2nd best).

Declarer plays the ♠7 from dummy, you play the ♠J and declarer wins the trick with the ♠Q.

When partner won another trick he played the ♠2. That means he originally had 5 cards in spades, headed by the ♠K (♠Kxx32). As the ♠3 was his 4th card in the suit, the ♠2 is his 5th.

If partner would have played a different card (higher than the ♠3), that would mean his original suit was a 4 carder (hence declarer also had 4 spades). Now you know your 3rd spade might be a vital entry for your side to cash 3 spade tricks in defense.

	♠A7
♠K8432		♠J65
	♠QT9

C) If you lead a low card from a new suit, you encourage partner to play that suit. If you play a relatively high card, you want another suit.

Here are 2 hands for advanced players:

1 a)


You lead the ♦3. Declarer played low from dummy, partner played the ♦J and declarer won the trick with the ♦Q, then played a heart.

Plan your defense.

1 b)


You lead the ♦3. Declarer played low from dummy, partner played the ♦J and declarer won the trick with the ♦Q, then played a heart.

Plan your defense.

2 a)

*2♣ = new minor forcing
**2♦ = 2-3-5-3 distribution

You lead the ♣3. Declarer played low from dummy, partner played the ♣J and declarer won the trick with the ♣Q. Next, declarer played a diamond to his ♦J and another diamond to his ♦Q which you won with your ♦A.

Plan your defense.

2 b)

*2♣ = new minor forcing
**2♦ = 2-3-5-3 distribution

You lead the ♣3. Declarer played low from dummy, partner played the ♣J and declarer won the trick with the ♣Q. Next, declarer played a diamond to his ♦J and another diamond to his ♦Q which you won with your ♦A.

Plan your defense.

Answers:

1 a) You lead the ♦3. Declarer played low from dummy, partner played the ♦J and declarer won the trick with the ♦Q, then played a heart.

The ♦J from partner denied the ♦A (else he plays it and returns a diamond). So declarer has 2 sure diamond tricks and 6 club tricks. Now he is trying to establish his 9th trick in hearts.

Partner is almost sure to have the ♠A (without it declarer has already 9 tricks). So defense has the ♠AK and the ♥AQ. You need another trick. This trick is the ♦K. However, playing a diamond from your hand is not good (declarer will make his ♦10). You need partner to play diamonds for you. So, you must play a spade to his hand and let him play diamonds.

Play the ♠8! That card will discourage partner from continuing spades after winning the ♠A and make it easy for him to work out the diamond switch. If you play ♠K and another spade, you will establish a spade as declarer's 9th trick.



1 b) You lead the ♦3. Declarer played low from dummy, partner played the ♦J and declarer won the trick with the ♦Q, then played a heart.

If partner has the ♠A, the defense has the ♠A, ♦A and the ♥AQ. You need another trick. This time you need to establish the ♠Q as a 5th trick for your side. So play the ♠3, to encourage spade continuation. Partner will win with the ♠A, play another spade and declarer is doomed.



2 a) You lead the ♣3. Declarer played low from dummy, partner played the ♣J and declarer won the trick with the ♣Q. Next, declarer played a diamond to his ♦J and another diamond to his ♦Q which you won with your ♦A.

From the 1st trick it's obvious that declarer has the ♣K. As you know declarer's distribution to be 2-3-5-3, partner has 3 clubs too. So you need him to win the lead and play back a club (through declarer's remaining ♣Kx). For that, you need to find him with the ♥A... But that's not enough. After winning the ♥A, he needs to figure out that you want him to play a club (he might continue with another heart).

So... Play the ♥8(!), to discourage heart continuation. Partner will win with the ♥A, return a club and declarer goes 2 down.



2 b) You lead the ♣3. Declarer played low from dummy, partner played the ♣J and declarer won the trick with the ♣Q. Next, declarer played a diamond to his ♦J and another diamond to his ♦Q which you won with your ♦A.

This time you know declarer has the ♣A. He also set up his diamonds and he has 5 spade winners. So your only chance to set before declarer cashes his tricks is to attack hearts. Play the ♥2, indicating you want partner to give up on clubs and continue hearts. Partner wins the ♥A, returns another heart this time and the defense wins 4 hearts and 1 diamond, setting the contract.