1. What is the meaning of the lead?
   Depends on your agreement! Some play that a J lead DENIES a higher honor (so top of sequence from a long suit). Others play that J could also be from KJ10 or AJ10 (As declarer, you may ask your opponents about their leading agreements).


2. How many points does partner have?
   Partner has at most 3 points. Declarer has at least 15, dummy has 10 and you have 12.


3. Considering the above, where lays the best chance to beat the contract?
   Even if you play that the J lead could be from KJ10, there is no chance for partner to hold that, as he has max 3 points… That means there is NO chance to develop the Diamonds, as declarer holds the ♦KQ and partner has no entry to his hand.
   
   So the best chance to defeat the contract is NOT by developing our own suit, but by sabotaging declarer’s plans! KILL his entry to his long suit in dummy!


4. Do you win the trick with the ♦A? If yes, how do you continue? If no, why not?
   Win the ♦A and continue with the ♥K! The only chance to deprive declarer from getting his Spades is to remove his entry to dummy here and now!


5. When declarer plays Spades, when will you take the ♠A?
   Depends on partner’s COUNT signal.
   • If partner showed an odd number of cards, which would mean 3 cards (likely from the bidding, as declarer didn’t support his partner’s 5-card Spades) – Win the ♠A on the second round of spades;
   • If partner showed an even number of cards, which would mean 2 cards, win your ♠A on the third round of spades. It can happen that declarer holds a 3-3-3-4 hand and prefers to play in 3NT over 4♠.


6. Which cards will you keep to the end?
   Hearts and Clubs. After holding up Spades as much as needed, that is – until you are sure that declarer has no more spade, to cut his transportation, and knowing that partner is long in Diamonds – It is likely that declarer is long in Clubs and Hearts, and you need to keep length in these suits. So with this defense declarer will make 1 Spade (as you win your ♠A on the second round), 3 Hearts (as you sacrificed your ♥K and kept your Heart length to prevent declarer from making his 4th Heart), 2 Diamonds and 2 Clubs (even if declarer ducks a Club, you still kept length to prevent him from scoring his 4th Club) = 8 tricks for declarer and 1 down.

Things to remember

a. Agree with your partner the meaning of your leads: Do you play 2/4 leads ( this means 4th best shows honor, 2nd best denies an honor), or 3/5? You can agree to lead 2/4 against NT, and 3/5 versus suit contracts, to help showing count.

Make sure you agree what is the meaning of a J lead: Does it deny a higher honor, OR could it be from KJ10 or AJ10?

Agree what is the meaning of a 10 lead: Does it promise the 9 + a higher honor (like Q109 or K109), OR is it top of nothing ? You can also agree to play the 10 lead as either TOP of nothing, or 2 HIGHER cards (which means it can be led either from 109xx, or KJ10x ).

Same for the 9 lead, make sure you’re on the same page on what it means: Top of nothing, OR top of sequence, or 2 HIGHER cards (98xx or Q109x), OR 2nd best (109xx) denying honor?

You may also ask your opponents about their leading agreements when you are declarer and such a lead appears.

b. Count partner’s points while on defense. That way you can know what to expect from his hand and plan your defense accordingly.

c. NT is a race between the to 2 sides: Which side will develop their long suit first? If you see there is no chance to establish your long suit ahead of declarer – Try to sabotage him developing his suit by attacking his entries to that suit.

On the hand above, it is clear that declarer is going to try to establish his Spades and use the ♥A as an entry. Therefore your plan must be to attack that ♥A immediately!

d. Count giving is very important. You give count as 2nd and 4th hand, when declarer is developing his long suit. Count is given so that we will know when to cash our top card (usually the Ace). We want to win it on the LAST card of the short hand. So if declarer has xx – we want to take the Ace on the second round. If he has xxx – we want to take it on the third round. That will CUT communication between declarer’s hand and dummy.

In standard carding: LOW –HIGH is showing an ODD number of cards. So here, West will follow with the ♠2 to the first round of Spades, indicating an ODD number of Spade cards (and we can infer, knowing how the other suits split, that he has 3). That way, East can conclude that declarer has ♠xx and hold up once before winning the ♠A on the second round. If West follows with a HIGH card to the first round of Spade, he shows and EVEN number of Spades in his hand (likely xx) and then East can count declarer to have ♠xxx in hand, and hold up twice before winning his ♠A on the third round.

e. When you need to discards cards – Always keep length is dummy’s cards (if declarer has an entry to dummy) OR in the suit declarer holds in his had and has shown during the bidding. If you discard from this length, you might promote tricks for declarer. Example:



You are East and need to discard something. DON’T discard a Diamond (unless dummy discards Diamond) or else you will promote the 4th Diamond in dummy.