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It is evident Willy could happily take the first seven tricks for +300 and that should be the end of this story, but not so fast! Polly played the ♥8 rather than the Jack – apparently she didn’t know about this ditching an honor thing. Willy concluded that Polly denied the Jack but likely held doubleton 8x. He could hope that his partner had an entry and her heart switch would crush declarer’s contract. On the other hand, North’s six card club suit would run if declarer held the A-Q. Perhaps he should cash his high hearts before they got away. Willy Nilly continued to dilly dally but that did not appear to help.
Then everything went topsy-turvy. Willy elected to play the ♦J and hope for the best. Ten tricks later he was still hoping, as declarer chalked up six clubs, two diamonds, the Ace of spades and then the Queen when Willy’s stiff King appeared. The saddest part occurred when Polly pitched her ♥J while declarer ran his clubs. Willy began to scream and cry simultaneously, as one can do only when playing bridge online, dejectedly realizing that he could have collected the first seven tricks!
After the game Willy asked his partner why she failed to play the Jack when he led the Ace of hearts – he was pretty sure they had discussed this lead. His partner did remember something about Ace leads against notrump, but then Polly Wolly added: “To be honest, Willy, I recall that I was pretty distracted as I doodled all that day.”
Willy wondered how the other Wests in this 50-table game had handled the bidding and play. He discovered that whenever West bid hearts, the N-S pair usually found its way to 5♣, pretty much a laydown, or 4♠, making with careful play despite the 5-1 trump break. Presumably they thanked West for keeping them out of 3NT.
A few Wests actually got to play 3♥, sometimes doubled, making rather easily. But what about the 3NTers? That contract was played 18 times, often with the same auction as at Willy’s table, and 14 times the contract failed. Some Wests led a very smart ♥Q. The ACBL convention card shows that against notrump the standard lead is the Queen from KQ109. Why? It asks partner to unblock the Jack. The Queen was led five times but the Jack appeared only once. Most Wests persisted anyway. (Willy felt bad for the one West who shifted.)
Surprisingly, when the ♥A was led, only half the Easts played their ♥J, but most Wests continued the suit anyway, thereby striking gold! Quite frankly, if you really trusted your partner to drop the Jack if he had it, the best way to attempt to beat the contract would be to shift at trick two, just as Willy did, so that partner could lead a heart through declarer’s alleged Jack.
That brings us back to Aunt Milly Nilly and her hotsy-totsy advice: the most important thing is to decide on a super-duper set of agreements, whatever they happen to be, and then for heaven’s sake remember them! Bridge is, after all, a partnership game.
One final thought: I was one of those Souths who bid 1♥ over 1♣ and then 3NT over 1♠, imagining that the 1♥ bid would discourage a heart lead. When my opponent led the ♥A, East did play the Jack. I prayed that the heart suit would somehow block and I would still take nine tricks. When East showed out in the third round and West kept those gosh darn hearts coming, I started laughing. Never before did I bid a suit naturally, get to 3NT voluntarily, and then watch my opponent take the first seven tricks in MY SUIT! HOLY MOLY!
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