I had a pretty good night playing the North hands. I was declarer nine times, and I made every contract with a total of nine overtricks. However, I made a rookie mistake on this hand that cost us dearly.
Board #12
West dealer
North-South vulnerable
| | North
♠ K 10 8
♥ 8 6 4 2
♦ 7 5
♣ J 10 9 8
| | West
♠ A Q 6
♥ A Q
♦ A 9 8 6 4
♣ 6 5 3
| | East
♠ J 7 3 2
♥ K 9 5
♦ Q J 10 2
♣ Q 4
| | | South
♠ 9 5 4
♥ J 10 7 3
♦ K 3
♣ A K 7 2
| |
|
| | | | |
| South | West | North | East |
| 1N | P | 2♣ |
| P | 2♦ | P | 2N |
| P | 3N | P | P |
| P | | | |
East had about as weak a genuine (as opposed to garbage) Stayman hand as one could imagine. When West denied a four-card major, East rebid 2NT. She probably hoped that her partner would pass, but she took the invitation.
I was on lead. My chunky club suit was rather attractive, but in general a lead of a major is called for unless there is good evidence to the contrary. So, I decided on a heart lead and set the deuce on the table to show partner that I had four.
Declarer played low from the dummy, South inserted the 10, and declarer won the ace. Declarer led low to the ♠J, and I collected my king on the return trip. That was my only entry, and so I knew that there was not much hope of establishing my hearts. By that time I wished that I had started with the ♣J. Oh, well, better late than never. My hopes were high when South's king captured East's queen, but the switch back to hearts sealed our fate. West won nine tricks before we got what was left of our club winners.
At the time I thought that my partner should have figured out that I did not have a heart honor, but I was dead wrong. It was OK for me to lead a heart at trick 1, but I should have led the 8, not the 2. The standard lead from four spot cards against a notrump contract is the top card. My partner was absolutely right to trust that I must have had the ♥Q after West played the ace at trick one.
If I had led the 8 in the first place, he would not know how many hearts I had, but he could be certain that I had nothing higher than the 8. How so? If I had one, two, or three spot cards in hearts, I should still lead the top one. Only with five or more does one lead fourth best. Therefore, my lead of the 2 promised an honor, and the only missing one was the queen.
I suppose that he could have deduced my error once he saw me play the ♣J after winning the ♠K. If I also had the ♥Q, there would only be fourteen points left for declarer.
But this is too much to ask. The idea is to make life easy for your partner when you know that he/she will have difficult decisions to make in the play. I am embarrassed to report that my error did not even occur to me until my Honda was approaching the bridge over the Connecticut River on my way home.
The moral of the story is to think hard not just about which suit to lead but also which card tells the right story. I played for years before I had the standard leads on the bottom of the left side of the convention card memorized. It is worth the effort. What other section of the card is used on half of the hands?