7
If West leads the singleton diamond he gives up control. East wins and returns a diamond to give West a ruff, but the rest of the hand is easy for South. West switches to the king of hearts, and dummy’s ace wins. Declarer leads trumps until West takes the ace. Then declarer can win any return and draw the rest of the trumps. South easily wins the rest of the tricks. The defenders get the ace of diamonds and two trump tricks. South is in control of the hand throughout.
NO WAY
That is no way for a son-in- law of mine to act. He should assume control by leading the king of hearts. Declarer wins in dummy with the ace of hearts and leads a trump to force out the ace. Back conies another heart, and South ruffs. If South draws trumps, he will have to use all of his own trumps to do so. When the defenders get the ace of diamonds they can take two heart tricks to defeat the contract. If South abandons the trumps to knock out the ace of dia-monds. East returns a heart to make South ruff again. N o w West has more trumps than declarer, and West has enough control to defeat the contract.1 In short, the control – taking: lead defeats the contract wheth-er or not declarer draws trumps. The next time you have a’ serious talk with your son or your son-in-law, be sure to tell him to lead a long suit when he has four or more trumps. It’s the best way to take control.Don’t forget to follow us @
