A Defensive Thought
By Mike Lawrence

There are hundreds of little questions that you must know the answers to if you and your partner will be good defenders. Should you lead, for instance, the king or the ace from the AKx? Are fourth best leads best? What does your partnership lead from the KJ103? You have to know these things. The hand here shows yet another area that needs clarification.

There is an old argument about what card you should lead from various holdings in a suit your partner has bid. Some say that you should lead the three from J93 and some say that you should lead the jack. Do you and your partner know for sure which card you would lead from the J93 when your partner opens the bidding in this suit? Does it make any difference if your suit is headed by the ten or nine or lower?

Look at the North and East hands. East bids a few times and pushes South to five spades. West leads the ten of clubs.

East takes his jack and South plays the five. When East cashes the ace of clubs, declarer plays the seven and West plays the eight. The three of clubs is missing. Should East try to cash a third club trick or should he lead a high diamond? Or do you think it makes no difference?