“Fourth Highest from Longest and Strongest”. There is good reason for this ‘rule of thumb’ for making an opening lead against a No Trump contract. Board 16 from Thursday 3/7/5 at X-Clubs gives us a wonderful example.
Board 16. Dealer W EW Vul
After three passes, South opens 1NT. West might now try and compete with a bid that asks East for a major, and East could well make 2H for a very good score, but then again, North might bid 3D which would give NS an even better score. But all that aside, let’s say South opens 1NT and everyone passes. West knows the drill: the spade six is definitely ‘fourth highest of longest and strongest’. East knows the ‘rule of 11’ and wins the king and returns the jack. Normal practice is to return your own fourth highest if you also have four, but in this case the jack is a better return because you can see the singleton in dummmy. So, East returns the jack and West makes three more spade tricks. That is some relief to declarer, the spades breaking 4-4, but there is a problem for declarer none the less: on the run of all four spades, DUMMY is squeezed. Declarer must keep all five diamonds but what to discard? A low heart reduces the heart stops to one only so declarer must throw three clubs from dummy. Fortunately, the diamonds do break 2-2 and declarer makes seven tricks. Now consider what might happen when West starts with the fourth highest heart. Dummy puts up the ten and that gives declarer a second heart stop. The diamonds fall and declarer runs five diamond tricks which puts both defenders under heavy discarding pressure. They could so easily go wrong and give away some potential tricks, especially if declarer reads the situation correctly.
Not always will you be able to take tricks on the go, but the fourth highest will help set up future tricks, and if, in a case like this, you are lucky enough to take tricks from the beginning, you’re one step ahead of declarer. And if not, think about your chances of establishing tricks if you lead from e.g. Qxxx as against KJxx or A10xx. Leading from Qxxx is wishful thinking, the other ones hopeful optimism.
4
JT4
KT843
AT98