How Deep Is It?

	♠ 6 5 3 ♥ J 5 4 3 ♦ 6 5 4 ♣ Q J 5
♠ K Q J ♥ A 10 9 7 6 ♦ 8 ♣ 10 9 7 4	N W E S

You are West. After two passes, South opens 1 NT and everyone passes. The ♠ K is an easy choice for the opening lead; partner plays the ♠ 8, declarer the ♠ 2. A spade continuation seems obvious. Which spade?

Let's look at the world through partner's eyes...

	♠ 6 5 3 ♥ J 5 4 3 ♦ 6 5 4 ♣ Q J 5
	N W E S	♠ A 10 8 7 4 ♥ 2 ♦ Q 10 9 3 ♣ K 8 6

PARTNER: Wow, the ♠ K lead was almost too much to hope for! But we have to make sure that we don't block the suit. Declarer has at least two spades for her notrump opening. Partner wouldn't lead a singleton king, so declarer started with either two or three spades. So there are only three possibilities here:

• If partner had ♠ KQx and declarer ♠ Jx, partner will lead the ♠ Q. If I duck, partner will lead spades one more time. If I overtake the queen, the jack falls. Either way, my spades are good.
• If partner had ♠ KQJ and declarer ♠ xx, I have to wait for the third round of spades so the suit won't be blocked.
• If partner had ♠ KQ and declarer ♠ Jxx, I have to overtake the ♠ Q and lead another spade to knock out the ♠ J while I still have a potential entry to cash the rest of my spades.

Okay, back to you. Which spade?

ANSWER: Lead the ♠ J at trick two. Partner can work it out from there. If you lead the queen, partner will overtake (in case you started with the doubleton) and the suit will be blocked.

THE PRINCIPLE: When leading from an honor sequence, start with the top card in the sequence. But when you continue leading the suit, lead the lowest card so that partner will know how deep the sequence goes. If you recall the mnemonic "Follow The Leader" (lead from the top, follow from the bottom) think of this as "following" low to your original lead.

BONUS MINUTE: Suppose West leads the ♠ Q at trick two. You are East, and correctly overtake the queen with the ace; alas, the jack doesn't fall. Which spade do you play at trick 3 to drive out the ♠ J? Lead a low spade, as suit preference for the lower ranking suit (clubs). Alas, it doesn't matter on this hand, but some other time it will.

	♠ 6 5 3 ♥ J 5 4 3 ♦ 6 5 4 ♣ Q J 5
♠ K Q J ♥ A 10 9 7 6 ♦ 8 ♣ 10 9 7 4	N W E S	♠ A 10 8 7 4 ♥ 2 ♦ Q 10 9 3 ♣ K 8 6
	♠ 9 2 ♥ K Q 8 ♦ A K J 7 2 ♣ A 3 2

-- Ray

Better Bridge in 5 Minutes  Guaranteed! (or the next one is free)