Who ya gonna trust?

This hand is from last Friday’s Common Game, an event where bridge clubs around the country can play the same hands and compare scores. You know enough about bridge to get this one right, trust me!

South 2 NT

West Pass

North 3 NT

East (you) All pass

An auction like that fairly screams for an opening lead in a major suit; sure enough, partner leads the ♥5. Your partnership leads are top of nothing, and fourth best from length. It is a matchpoint (pairs) event, so every trick matters.

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

After the ♥5 lead, declarer plays the ♥9. Now what?

We all learned the beginners' rule of thumb “third hand high”, but the expert instinct is to duck: a 2NT opening normally has a heart stopper, likely the ♥A. If partner’s lead is fourth best, declarer holds ace-doubleton and you should signal encouragement with the ♥7, keeping the ♥K in place over dummy’s ♥QJ.

How many high-card points does partner have? With your 7 HCP, and 9 in dummy, and declarer’s 20-21 for the 2NT opening, that leaves partner with 3 or 4 points.

By the way, did you notice that the club suit should produce six tricks for declarer with no need for an outside entry?

Okay, enough time for thought. ♥5 was led, and the ♥9 from dummy. What do you play?

ANSWER: Play the ♥K. Partner must have the ♥A in order for her ♥5 to be fourth-best. Using the Rule of Eleven – or simply by examining the heart spots that you can see – if the ♥5 is fourth-best, her only possible holding is ♥ A 10 8 5.

Okay, it is possible that partner’s lead was top of three small (♥5 3 2). That gives declarer ♥A 10 8 and it doesn't matter which heart you play (except in one very specific and unlikely situation). Ditto if partner led from only two hearts. Since it doesn’t matter what you play then, ignore those cases. ADDED CLARIFICATION: It doesn't matter because the declarer can score six club tricks here without an outside entry to dummy. If declarer will need an entry to dummy, then keeping your ♥K in hand is the right play.

If partner’s lead was fourth best from four hearts, then declarer has at most two hearts. If declarer holds ace-doubleton, that means partner led the 5 from 10 8 5 x, or 10 5 3 2, or even 8 5 3 2.

If partner’s lead was fourth best from a five-card suit, then declarer almost certainly has the singleton ♥A. (Opening 2NT with a singleton ace is pretty much routine.)  But that would imply that partner led the 5 from 10 8 5 3 2.

There is a slight chance that partner led low from ace-third, in which case playing the king is the winning choice.

So the challenge for this hand is who do you trust?

-          Does declarer have a heart stopper, and partner led second- or third-best, or

-          Did partner lead correctly, and declarer is missing a heart stopper.

THE PRINCIPLE: When in doubt, trust your partner, not the opponents. Partner is your only friend at the table. What if partner is wrong? Trust partner regardless. Really. Unless you’re 200% positive that partner has made an error, trust her anyway. The benefits to partnership harmony, knowing that you’re both paying attention and trusting each other, far outweigh any short-term gain of maybe being right this time.

The complete hand:

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

This is your only chance to cash two heart tricks; declarer has the rest of the tricks. If you play the ♥K you’ll get an average-plus result. If you duck the first trick, you’ll be bottom-fishing for matchpoints.

BONUS MINUTE: The choice on this hand is clear because of the heart spots that are showing; you can account for every relevant card. Re-arrange the spot cards slightly – give declarer the ♥ 7 6 and yourself the ♥ K 4 3 2 – and it’s a more difficult problem. I think you still have to trust partner and play your ♥K , but in this case trust partner to not have led fourth-best from ten-fourth, an unappealing lead from a hand that holds at most one entry.