December 2010 - 47

intermediate players section

Boehm on Bridge
Boehm mots No. 5
One main ingredient for success at
tournament bridge is to develop and
maintain concentration. In particular,
it takes a disciplined person to con‑
centrate throughout a session when
holding bad cards. The tendency is
to think, "No exciting hands, lots of
boring defense." Well, that is not a
winning attitude. The other players
in your seat are holding the same bad
cards. Someone in your seat is going
to win a section top, at the very least.
Why can't it be you? Try to remain
focused because one of the game's
charms is that you may be required to
make a key call or play at any time.
Suppose you are dealt:
7 4

Q 9 8 6 5 3 2

8 5

9 3.

Right‑hand opponent opens 1NT
(15-17) and LHO raises to 3NT -
what do you lead? Many players have
already mentally folded their tent;
they lead a fourth‑best heart and
crawl back into their cocoon. If we
reason before leading, it might be
illuminating.
What are the odds on running
hearts? RHO presumably holds at
least a doubleton heart. To open 1NT
with a singleton king or ace isn't un‑
heard of, but it's relatively rare.
How many hearts will the dummy
produce? A singleton is unlikely be‑
cause LHO didn't show a long minor
or both minors with 5-4 or 5-5. Even
in the very remote case that your side
holds as many as 10 hearts, the oppo‑
nents, with the majority of the HCP,
often hold the ace‑king.
Let's analyze the possibilities when
your side has nine hearts (the op‑
posing hearts are split 2-2). Even if

partner holds the K, you won't get
very far; declarer simply holds up,
severing your communications. To
run hearts, partner needs doubleton
ace. (Note that doubleton A-K doesn't
work.) Furthermore, the opposing
hearts must be split very specifically.
Doubleton king in dummy facing two
low cards in declarer's hand makes
the heart lead a winner; declarer can
hardly withhold the king. Suppose
that dummy has the K J, and declar‑
er 7 4, or dummy could hold K 4
and declarer J 7. In both cases, for
the heart lead to win, declarer must
misguess at trick one. In brief, the
chances for the heart lead to gain are
very small because so many specific
conditions must be met.
On the other hand, it's easy to see
how the heart lead might lose. The
most obvious way is to surrender a
trick to the jack. For example, per‑
haps declarer has A-K-J, or A-J-4
facing dummy's K-7, or K-J-7 facing
A-4, or partner is void.
There's a different way for the heart
to lose: If there is a productive lead,
you've blown the opportunity to find
it. Which lead might work instead?
Begin with the obvious: Partner
rates to win most or all of the tricks
for the defense. Accordingly, lead on
partner's behalf - try to guess his
longest suit. On the auction, either
opponent might be concealing a long
minor. Dummy will rarely hold as
many as four spades (no Stayman),
however, and some players shy away
from a 1NT opening holding five
spades, so the odds tilt in favor of
spades being partner's longest suit.

August Boehm

Accommodate him by leading the 7.
Would this line of reasoning be af‑
fected by the form of scoring? Would
you lead differently at matchpoints
or IMPs? Matchpoint players might
prefer to stay with the field, fearing
that a non‑heart lead might pickle
partner's holding. For instance, the
spade lead won't work well if partner
has Q-x-x-x or a three‑ or four‑card
holding headed by the A J or K J.
In the average duplicate, a heart lead
will surely be the people's choice, so,
in those circumstances, if you're seek‑
ing an average, lead a heart. If you
need a good board, try the spade.
Playing IMPs, where the main
objective is to beat the contract, it
seems clear to try a non‑heart, with
spades leading the hit parade. But one
thing is sure - this problem is not a
no‑brainer. What a shame if you sort‑
ed your cards, tuned out, and thereby
missed the chance to exercise your
imagination and probably improve
your score.
r

December 2010 Bridge Bulletin

47
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of December 2010
