Mark Twain said, "Be careful when reading health books; you may die of a misprint."
Be careful when leading partner's suit; your chances may die if you select the wrong card.
Take the West hand. What would you lead against three diamonds?
Note the disciplined auction. East has a perfectly respectable one-spade opening, but when West can offer only a single raise, East should not go higher, because he has no extra values or spade length. Equally, West said his piece on the first round.
North's double was for takeout, showing spade shortage and length in the other three suits. For experts, there is a good case that if South advances with two no-trump, it is not natural but scrambling. It says that he has at least two possible trump suits in mind and asks partner to choose.
You should lead a spade, and because you have no honor in the suit, you should select the seven. (You would lead the three if you had not supported partner in the bidding.)
If you do this, East stands some chance of finding the right defense. He must win with his spade king and immediately shift to the club king. A moment later, when you get in with the heart ace, a club continuation gives your side five tricks: two spades, one heart and two clubs.
If you lead the spade three, East will assume you have a spade honor, which must be the jack. Then it would be safe to start with two spade winners before switching to clubs. Here, though, that is fatal because South discards a club from the dummy on his spade jack.
Be careful when leading partner's suit; your chances may die if you select the wrong card.
Take the West hand. What would you lead against three diamonds?
Note the disciplined auction. East has a perfectly respectable one-spade opening, but when West can offer only a single raise, East should not go higher, because he has no extra values or spade length. Equally, West said his piece on the first round.
North's double was for takeout, showing spade shortage and length in the other three suits. For experts, there is a good case that if South advances with two no-trump, it is not natural but scrambling. It says that he has at least two possible trump suits in mind and asks partner to choose.
You should lead a spade, and because you have no honor in the suit, you should select the seven. (You would lead the three if you had not supported partner in the bidding.)
If you do this, East stands some chance of finding the right defense. He must win with his spade king and immediately shift to the club king. A moment later, when you get in with the heart ace, a club continuation gives your side five tricks: two spades, one heart and two clubs.
If you lead the spade three, East will assume you have a spade honor, which must be the jack. Then it would be safe to start with two spade winners before switching to clubs. Here, though, that is fatal because South discards a club from the dummy on his spade jack.