Most bridge auctions offer clues about how the play might develop and which suits will provide the most tricks. When you and partner are bidding, this analysis helps you make decisions about your final contract. On deals where the opponents will declare, your focus is on where your defensive tricks will come from and, if possible, enlisting partner’s help in taking them.
You can sometimes do that by making a lead-directing double of the final contract. In the last issue, we looked at meanings of doubles of suit games and slams. Doubles of notrump contracts also have standard meanings. In the auctions below, partner is asking for a specific lead. What suit would you choose?
LHO Partner RHO
You
(A) 1C 1D
1H 1S 3NT Pass
Pass DBL All Pass
(B) 1C
1NT Pass
3NT DBL All Pass
(C)
1C Pass
1S Pass 2NT Pass
3NT DBL
All Pass
(D) 1NT Pass
3NT
DBL All Pass
You’ll get these right if you know the standard priority for lead requests. When you’re on lead to a notrump contract, the possible meanings of partner’s double – in the order you should consider them – are:
1 - Lead your suit. This applies any time you’ve made a natural bid of a suit, whether partner has passed or raised or bid his own suit. In (A), he wants a diamond lead. Without the double, your natural lead would probably be partner’s suit, so he would pass if he wanted a spade.
2 – Lead my suit. This meaning takes precedence when the doubler has bid a suit but opening leader hasn’t. It’s most valuable when partner has opened what could be a 3-card minor, as in (B), and knows there’s a possibility that you won’t lead his suit without the double.
3 - Lead dummy’s first suit. This is the message in (C) and other auctions where you and partner have passed and dummy has made a natural suit bid.
4 - Find my suit. When no natural suits were bid by you, partner or dummy, partner’s double says he has a solid suit (or near-solid suit and an entry) and wants you to figure it out. In (D), your best guess is the lead of a short major with no honors.
The primary message in all these auctions is “Don’t make your ‘normal’ lead.” It’s possible that partner just thinks 3NT is going down no matter what you lead, but he has to be ready for the unusual lead he requested.
It can be argued that these aren’t the best agreements, but they’re the defaults if you haven’t discussed alternatives. In (D), for example, some pairs agree that this double always asks for a club; others specify a heart or spade. That removes the ambiguity, but also its usefulness.
One modification you may
want to consider is to play that “Lead my suit” applies only if the doubler
opened a minor. In (B), if partner opened a 5-card major, you would normally
lead his suit anyway, so you can agree that the meaning of his double is changed to “Find my
other suit.” Partner might hold ♠QJ972
♥82
♦KQJ103
♣A
© 2015 Karen Walker