Bridge Column for September 20, 1992
Dealer: West 
Vulnerable: None

                              S: 5 2  
                              H: A J 7 6 2  
                              D: J 6 4     
                              C: 10 4 3 

            S: K 7 6 3          N          S: 10 9 4  
            H: Q 10 9 8      W     E       H: K                   
            D: 10 8 7 3         S          D: A 9 5 2 
            C: 9                           C: Q J 6 5 2  
                          
                              S: A Q J 8
                              H: 5 4 3    
                              D: K Q
                              C: A K 8 7    

                 West    North    East    South
                 PASS     PASS    PASS     1C    
                 PASS      1H     PASS     2NT 
                 PASS      3NT    PASS     PASS
                 PASS      
     West selected the three of spades as the opening lead after
a very normal auction.  A diamond lead is probably better but
your partner will never complain if you elect to lead the fourth
card from your longest and strongest suit.  East played the nine
and Declarer won the jack of spades.  It appeared that the heart
suit was the best possible source of long tricks and if the
outstanding hearts were divided 3-2, nine tricks would be easy.  
     With that thought in mind, South led the three of hearts and
when West played the eight, he called for the jack from dummy. 
East won the singleton king of hearts and returned the ten of
spades, covered by the queen and won by West's king.  West then
led the queen of hearts and the hand fell apart.
     Declarer went wrong very early in the play of the hand. 
While it was true that the heart suit would have to be developed
for long tricks, the suit was never going to provide more than
three tricks because of the weakness of the spot cards.  At trick
two, declarer should lead a small heart from hand and duck
whatever card West plays.  East will win the king return the ten
of spades, covered and won by West with the king.  With no good
play at this point, West may try a diamond but will probably
continue spades rather than break another suit for declarer.  
     In either case, South will eventually be on lead again to
play another small heart and once again duck in dummy.  If East
now produces the queen, the suit has broken as evenly as possible
and the last outstanding heart will fall under the ace.  If East
shows out, as in this hand, South will be able to lead his last
heart and take the marked finesse against East, scoring three
tricks in the suit.
     This is a simple safety play that is missed by many good
players.  And yes, we would much prefer to have West on lead so
that spades cannot be led through the ace-queen-eight, but we
don't have the luxury of that choice on every hand.  In this
case, it is worth the risk to set up the heart suit and bring
home the contract.