One of the most frequent mistakes made on defense is the automatic
return of partner's opening lead. Here is a hand that shows it
pays to stop and think.
Scoring: Matchpoints (Pairs Game)
Hand #17
Dlr
W
Vul
None
103
J85
KJ1063
A96
KJ64
K1094
542
52
987
AQ32
Q7
10843
AQ52
76
A98
KQJ7
West
North
East
South
Pass
Pass
Pass
1NT
Pass
3NT
Pass
Pass
Pass
BIDDING: North could have
only invited but he decided to add a point for the five-card diamond
suit and South was quickly in game.
PLAY: West led a low
spade from his strongest suit. Declarer won with the ten in dummy
as East followed low. With only eight tricks, declarer needed to
find the diamond queen but his play of ace and a low one lost.
East started to routinely return a spade but stopped to think more
about the hand. It was clear South was still holding two (or
more) spade honors for West would not have underled three honors.
He also knew West had started with only four spades: he had led the
four, the three was in dummy, and declarer had followed with the deuce
at trick one. Still, West could hold the AQ over declarer's KJ so
a spade might be right. Instead, East decided to cash the ace of
hearts to get a reaction from West. That reaction was the
encouraging ten. The defense soon took four hearts along with the
diamond to defeat the contract. Note that a spade continuation
allows declarer to claim ten tricks.
