Choosing the Correct Line
By Mike Lawrence

What line did South see that would allow him to make six spades without guessing diamonds?

South felt he had a very strong inference from the opening lead. If West had the KQ of hearts, he might have led one.

Because West did not lead a heart, South thought East was a big favorite to have a heart honor. Believing this, South drew trump and led the ace and jack of hearts. East went up with the king and South ruffed it. A club ruff to dummy let South lead the ten of hearts. When East didn't produce the queen, South discarded a diamond. West won the trick, but dummy's nine of hearts was now good and declarer used it to discard his last diamond loser. South was not unpleased to see West had all the missing diamond honors.

BONUS THOUGHT - EXPERT BIDDING TRICK

When North bid four clubs, East did not double with his K10642 of clubs. He recognized that getting a club lead was unlikely to help the defense. East was willing to have West lead a heart so for that reason, if no other, East did not double.

If you think about it, doubling a splinter bid for that lead is seldom a rewarding effort. Your partner leads that suit and South can now ruff whatever losers he has in dummy.

A better use for a double of a splinter bid is to ask partner to lead one of the other suits. I like to say that the double asks for the lead of the lower unbid suit. Here, doubling four clubs would ask for a diamond lead.

This means that when you double, your partner will get off to the lead you want all of the time. If you do not double, your partner has a negative inference that you might like a lead in the higher ranking of the unbid suits.

Say the bidding goes this way.

South 1D 4C

West Pass DBL

North 1H

East Pass

Opener's four club bid is a splinter bid saying he has a stiff club and a raise to four hearts. Your partner's double says he wants the lead of the lowest unbid suit. In this case, the only unbid suit is spades. His double says that is what he wants. You might have selected a spade anyway, but on this sequence, you know that he really does like them. If he does not double four clubs and you have a wishy-washy spade holding to lead from, you might consider leading something else.

If you use this convention, you have to alert it and you probably should alert when your partner does NOT double because you are getting some strong inferences from his failure to double.