“I’ll not listen to reason…. Reason always means what someone else has got to say.” -

In the first year of the BOLS Tips competition, Rixi Markus offered the following piece of advice: When, as a defender, you are about to attack from a holding such as a doubleton jack, queen or king, consider the possible advantage of leading a low card. It was today’s hand that Rixi used to illustrate her tip.

As South was unwilling to pass his partner’s penalty double of two spades, it seemed clear that the spade strength was likely to be in the dummy. Accordingly, in view of the absence of any re-entry to her own hand, Rixi decided to lead the spade two rather than the queen.

As you can see, declarer could no longer cope with his task. He won with the ace, entered his hand with a club, and led a diamond, losing to East’s queen. Declarer ducked the spade return, allowing the queen to hold, but West was able to put her partner in with the ace of hearts to clear the spades. Now South could take only eight tricks.

It is easy to see that if West leads the spade queen initially, declarer will win with the ace and make the contract, as East will be unable to attack spades effectively. When he shifts to a heart, declarer can win the heart king and drive out the diamond ace to take at least nine tricks. Even if East returns a spade into dummy’s tenace, declarer has enough time to come to 10 tricks.

Bid with the aces

South holds:

Answer: Go to the back of the class if you rebid two spades. Yes, you appear to have a six-card suit, but you should raise partner’s hearts since your hearts are very good and your spades very bad. Always support with support – it keeps partner happy!