Evening star., 1937-04-18


|HE defense of many hands Is
thrown because OF laziness or
ignorance on the part of the
L opening leaders partner, so
today we shall discuss first principles
OF defense by the third hand against
suit contract, including both his play
TO the first trick and his subsequent
defense. In other words, many third
hand players seem to feel licensed to
sit back with their minds dormant
merely because they are not saddled
with the responsibility of making the
opening lead, while, actually. their
efforts can be of even greater inn
portance to the success Of the defense.
To begin with, partner (of the OPEN
ing leader is in unique position to
diagnose the best defense against the
declarer from his view of the dummy
hand, his knowledge of the bidding,
and the inferences to be cleaned from
the opening lead. 1t may be said that
the leader very often outlines policy
Of defense and it becomes necessary
for the partner to confirm this proce-
dure or point out better one.
II the opening lead is In suit which
you have bid, try to figure out the
leaders holding in the suit and, there
fore, the declarer's. II you do not or
cannot win the first trick, play an en-
oouraging or discouraging card, de-
pending upon whether or not you wish
the suit continued. OF course, should
YOU win the first round, your prob
lem is to decide whether to cash your
high cards Immediately, force the de-
elarer to ruff, attempt to secure ruff
in the leaders hand or shift to an
other suit.
WHEN the opening lead appears to
be short suit, close choice Is
often presented whether to blindly
blay "third-hand high" or to preserve
protection in the suit, and sometimes,
upon winning the first trick, whether
to commit the entire defense of hand
to a possible ruff in the event that the
opening lead was q singleton Cor dou-
bleton, you having won the first two
tricks. However, more often than not
you should attempt the defeat Of the
sontract by cashing your high cards,
II suf1cient in number, which in
oludes leading up to weak suit in
dummy. For example, in most any
hand, if third-hand holds queen-jack-
ten Of suit, and dummy three small,
1t is paramount that the queen be led
at the first opportunity, thereby pos
sibly trapping the declarer's king with
partners ace, or driving out the ace
In declarer's hand so that one or two
tricks can subsequently be cashed.
On the other hand, there are times
when you hold high cards over the
dummy and it is vital that you be
content to play waiting or passive
defense; otherwise, while you are win
ming tricks yourself you will be estab-
lishing other tricks for the declarer and
actually simplifying his play Of the
hand.
In explanation Of the general rule
"third-hand high" This means that
II the lead by your partner is low
card, usually you should play your
highest card unless it is touching or
in sequence with one or more lower
cards. Suppose, for example, that
your partner leads low diamond; the
dummy contains 10, 3, Of the suit,
and you hold queen, jack, 8. If the
or is played from dummy, you
should play the 9; while If the 10 is
played, your proper play is the jack.
Note that under no circumstance
should the queen be played to the
trick, although, subsequently. when