“Nothing leads the scientist so astray as a premature truth.” _ Jean Rostand

In the tournament world many players deviate from “fourth highest and top of a sequence.” There are those who play third and fifth leads from length, not fourth highest, and that has an impact on their honor leads.

Specifically, the lead of the 10 or nine would typically be from shortage, or the top of a sequence. But it also could be third from an interior sequence, perhaps K-J-10 or Q-10-9 respectively. The lead of the jack denies a higher honor. While this agreement can make defending easier, declarer also can make use of this information, as in today’s deal.

In a match where both tables declared four spades, at one table the club jack was a “normal” lead. Declarer tried dummy’s queen at trick one and won East’s king with his ace. Declarer next played a diamond, but West won his ace, cashed the club 10, and switched to a heart. South eventually had to lose a trick in each suit.

At the other table West’s lead of the jack denied a higher honor, so declarer did not waste dummy’s queen; he won the ace and played a diamond. Now West could win his ace but was stuck. If he played a heart, declarer would win with dummy’s ace and discard his club loser on a diamond. So West played a club to his partner’s king, but East could not attack hearts profitably. After declarer had cleared trumps, he could discard all his hearts on dummy’s diamonds.

Bid with the aces

South holds:

Answer: Nothing is ideal here, but I believe that a raise to two spades is least misleading. You must bid, and the doubleton K-Q is surely better support than three trumps headed by the four, right?

Anyway, you have enough values to make up for your short trumps.