At a club game, John and I played against a bridge pro (ranked one of the best in the world) and her partner (not too shabby either, with over 8,000 masterpoints.) Fortunately I did not know these facts until we left the table (John knew, but wisely didn’t inform me until the round was over.)
The opponents got to a 3NT contract. I was on lead as West. The hearts had been bid. In any case, even if my lead set up a heart trick in my hand, I most likely would not have an entry any time soon to cash the good heart. Based on the bidding, I concluded my partner ought to have a spades stack, so I led 8♠, a “top of nothing” lead. We took 4 spade tricks off the top.
We didn’t score very well on the hand, mainly because the vast majority of N/S pairs didn’t get to the eminently makeable, albeit aggressive, 3NT contract. (Notice how the doubleton QT♣ conveniently drops, and how Q♥ is on side.) However, the lead did manage to keep the opponents from making any overtricks.
After the hand, the pro player commented that I’d made a good lead… anything else, and she could make 5. Made my year!
Most defenders against a NT contract will automatically lead 4th from longest and strongest. But even if the suit does set up, it does little good if there is no entry to cash the winners. Therefore, think about setting up partner’s suit. In this case, the bidding suggested partner had something, certainly length, in the spades suit. My 8♠ lead struck gold.
Complete hand:
| North ♠ T32 ♥ KT ♦ AK ♣ AK9864 |
||
| West ♠ AKQJ ♥ 952 ♦ J85 ♣ 532 |
East ♠ 874 ♥ Q874 ♦ T432 ♣ QT |
|
| South ♠ 965 ♥ AJ63 ♦ Q976 ♣ J7 |
Interesting side note
Most of us think that professional bridge players treat the game from a business standpoint only. We were pleasantly surprised that this pro had a great sense of humor. During one of the boards we played against her, every time she lost a finesse to me, she playfully slapped me on the arm with her convention card. John, who had witnessed me getting slapped twice already, was prepared when she was about to take a losing finesse into his hand. Before taking the trick, he moved his chair back a good couple of feet before taking the trick, thus avoiding his fate.
The professional happened to be Janice Seamon-Molson. We were playing at the Fort Lauderdale, Florida Duplicate Bridge Club.