Maintaining control

You are sitting East, the opponents are vulnerable. Partner is the dealer.

  ♠ J 6 5 2    ♥ A K 7 4   ♦ 8 6 5 3   ♣ 7

West		North	East (you)		South
1 ♣ 2 ♥		1 ♦ 3 NT	Double All Pass		1 NT
North
♠ 10 8 3 ♥ 2 ♦ A K Q J 9 7 2 ♣ 6 4
				East (you)
				♠ J 6 5 2 ♥ A K 7 4 ♦ 8 6 5 3 ♣ 7

Partner leads the ♥8 to your ♥K. Now what?

ANSWER: Switch to the ♣7. Yes, it’s usually a good thing to return partner’s lead. Especially when defending notrump, and in a suit that you and partner have bid and raised. But partner’s ♥8 is a top-of-nothing lead, denying any heart honors; declarer has them!

Note that declarer has 7 diamond tricks, and after you cash both top hearts, she’ll have 2 heart tricks. Not to mention whatever tricks she has in the black suits.

So which tricks does declarer have in the black suits? We can’t tell; she probably has a club stopper for her 1NT bid, and she might have a spade trick as well. But partner did have an opening bid, and it obviously didn’t contain any red-suit honors. All of partner’s strength is in spades and clubs, so you need to lead through declarer’s hand in those suits. By switching now, partner can get back to your hand with the ♥A so that you can lead a black suit again.

THE PRINCIPLE: When defending notrump, don’t cash top tricks in a suit if that would set up tricks for declarer. Maintain control of the suit, and save those high cards for use as entries.

The complete hand:

	North
	♠ 10 8 3 ♥ 2 ♦ A K Q J 9 7 2 ♣ 6 4
West		East (you)
♠ A Q 4 ♥ 8 6 5 3 ♦ 10 ♣ A Q 10 8 3		♠ J 6 5 2 ♥ A K 7 4 ♦ 8 6 5 3 ♣ 7
	South
	♠ K 9 7 ♥ Q J 10 9 ♦ 4 ♣ K J 9 5 2

You switch to clubs, partner wins as cheaply as possible, and returns her highest heart (the ♥6) showing preference for spades. You then switch to spades, partner wins two spade tricks and another club trick for down two.

BONUS MINUTE: By convention, after the 1♦ overcall your negative double promises both major suits, at least 4-4. With only one major suit, just bid it naturally.