Now that we have covered the most common situations that are ideal for sacrificing your partner's winners, we can move on to the more complex circumstances.

The Second Principle

The second principle reason to ruff your partner's winning trick, is for a positional advantage. This concept will sometimes necessitate using the first principle of flushing spades as well, but the key focus is on allowing your team a positional upper hand.

There are two general reasons why your positional lead can be critical:

1. To finesse against West's holdings.
2. To make West's tenaces obsolete.

As you may notice, this principle is closely related to a previous article, Defense Against Endplays. The subtle difference in this case is that we are ruffing a winning off-suit trick led from our partner, instead of overruffing our partner's trump from West's lead. These rare conditions are difficult to spot, but with a proper study of them you will be better informed. The following exaggerated examples illustrate the need for a positional lead from South:

A. North A K Q 3 2 A Q J -- West 7 4 K 9 8 8 J 10 East J 10 5 J 10 9 -- South 9 8 6 7 6 5 4 -- 9

B. North A K Q 3 2 A 7 J -- West 7 4 K 9 8 8 J 10 East J 10 5 6 5 3 2 9 -- South 9 8 6 Q J 10 4 -- 9

C. North A K Q 3 A Q J Q J -- West 7 4 K 9 8 8 5 J 10 East J 10 5 J 10 3 2 10 9 -- South 9 8 6 2 7 6 5 4 -- 9

North, knowing that South must lead hearts to him, leads the J in all three cases, hoping that South will ruff. South, after deducing where West's final trick might be by using the Count Card Principle, quickly recognizes the only way to defeat East/West's contract is by leading through West's hearts.

In case A, only one heart lead through West is sufficient to set East/West. Thus, after North finesses against West's king, he simply draws trumps and cashes in the remaining tricks.

In case B, South is in the finessing position. South simply leads the Q after trumping the diamond lead. If West decides to duck, South continues with the J in case North is holding three hearts. North then cashes in the rest of the tricks.

In case C, North requires a repeated finesse through West. After South trumps and leads a heart to North, North leads another diamond for South to ruff. South follows up with another heart lead which gives them the remaining tricks.

The reader should observe that South's use of the Count Card Principle could place West's final trick in either spades or hearts. This would be a correct deduction. However, if North holds a heart loser, North/South will inevitably sacrifice a trick to East/West regardless of how South plays. Thus South must place West's last trick in the heart suit and hope that North can finesse against it. If you are not convinced of this reasoning, imagine the same deal were reconfigured as follows:

D. North A K J 2 A K 7 J -- West Q 7 4 10 3 8 J 10 East 10 9 5 Q J 9 8 9 -- South 9 8 6 6 5 4 2 -- 9

If South correctly places West's last trick in spades, North/South will indeed be able to finesse against it. However, East/West will eventually be allowed a trick no matter how South decides to play. Thus South reasons that their only hope of setting the opposition is to assume West's final trick is the K and play accordingly. The same principle would hold true if West had held a tenace in hearts:

In this case, South's diamond ruff prevents West from scoring two heart tricks. For if South refuses to ruff, North is forced to lead into West's tenace. Thus as we can see, the principle applies to both the offensive and defensive aspects of Spades.

E. North A K Q 3 2 K 8 J -- West 7 4 A Q 9 8 J 10 East J 10 5 J 10 3 2 9 -- South 9 8 6 7 6 5 4 -- 9

In some situations, the concept of sacrifice for a positional advantage should be used in conjunction with the first principle of bleeding spades, as the following examples indicate:

F. North A Q J 3 2 -- J -- West K 4 J 8 J 10 East J 10 5 10 8 9 -- South 9 8 6 9 7 -- 9 North leads the J

G. North K J 10 3 2 -- J -- West A Q J 8 J 10 East 9 8 5 10 8 9 -- South 7 6 4 9 7 -- 9 North leads the J

In both of these cases, South's diamond ruff serves a twofold purpose. The first is to open the spade suit for North. The second purpose, which is critical for South to be in the lead, is to finesse or protect against West's spade holdings.

Key Points to Remember

• Always use the Count Card Principle to deduce whether a lead through West is critical. This rule is especially important when the opponents only need one last trick to fulfill their contract.
• If your partner appears to be avoiding a particular suit, it is likely because he is hoping for a finesse against West's holdings. If necessary, trump your partner to allow yourself a positional lead against West- even if this means ruffing your partner's winning trick.
• Leading through West can be just as defensive just as it is offensive. Be on the alert to protect your partner against West's holdings.

-- Dustin Stout