The Advantage of Playing Last

When a small card is led from West, declarer has the opportunity to play last with the hand holding the marginal card, turning it into a guaranteed winner.

Begin by playing low from dummy. If the ♥K appears, play low again, reserving the ♥Q for the next trick. If the ♥K does not appear, win the trick with the ♥Q.

If the opponents lead the suit first, you can play low from dummy, avoiding any risk to the ♦Q, and wait to see if the third hand plays an honor before deciding whether to play your ♦J.

The advantage of playing last is that you have the flexibility to choose between two options (a high card or a low card in this case) based on their actions. They are forced to commit first, while you retain the ability to adjust your play accordingly.

It doesn’t matter which opponent breaks the suit.

When the lead comes from East, you still play low in the second hand, keeping your options open for the hand that plays last. You have marginal cards in both hands, so the lead can come up to either one.

This arrangement is very different from the previous one because both honors are in the same hand. If you play low from dummy, you lose the flexibility to keep your options open. The South hand, playing last, has no honors or marginal cards to influence the play and will be forced to play low regardless of what the third seat does. As a result, the third seat can win the trick with a higher spot card, preserving both their ♣A and ♣K to cover your ♣Q and ♣J later.

South would be thrilled if West leads toward their ♥K. Playing last ensures that South will avoid playing the ♥K on the same trick as the opponents’ ♥A, regardless of which opponent holds it.

If West leads, the ♥K is guaranteed to win a trick. If the ♥A is played, South holds back the ♥K. If the ♥A is not played, the ♥K wins the trick outright.

Now let’s consider the same position from West’s point of view.

Leading this suit is risky. He can see his own honor cards, and it’s not difficult to imagine declarer holding the ♥K. Therefore leading this suit might present declarer with a trick he cannot get on his own.

We should also consider this example from East’s point of view.

Unlike his partner, East is happy to lead this suit. With only small cards in dummy, the hand that plays last, there will be no advantage to declarer. In fact, East can see that his partner will have the last hand able to play an honor.

This is the distribution of the opponents’ honors that results in no tricks for declarer. The ♠A plays after the ♠K, and the ♠Q plays after the ♠J.

No tricks if declarer leads the suit himself, allowing the opponents to play last.

If the defenders lead the suit, the advantage of playing last allows declarer to keep their options open until the opponents commit to which honor they will play.

Declarer plays low from dummy, allowing East to win the trick. South plays low as well, preserving both of their honors for the second and third rounds of spades. With only one high honor remaining for the opponents, South’s two honors will secure a trick in one of the next two rounds of the suit.

I’ve adjusted the spot cards so the ♠J is now part of a doubleton instead of the ♠K.

If the defenders lead this suit, you can play low as the second hand to guarantee a winner.

However, if you initiate the suit, you should begin by leading low toward the ♠J, the honor in the doubleton. Even if the first attempt fails, you will still have a second opportunity to lead low toward your remaining honor. That remaining honor must still be accompanied by a spot card so you can play low if their high honor is played.

When both the ♠K and the ♠J are doubleton, you do not have a choice of which doubleton honor to lead toward.

The only hope is to lead toward the ♠K. You will make a trick if the ♠A is on sides.

If East leads the suit, South can make three tricks if the ♥K is favorably positioned, even if it isn’t a doubleton. South plays low as the second hand, and if East holds the ♥K, dummy’s ♥J wins the first trick. South can then finesse the ♥Q on the second round.

With the ♥K well-placed, the advantage of playing last earns Declarer an extra trick.

South is declarer in a NT contract.

West’s opening lead is the ♠6.

East wins with the ♠A and must decide which suit to lead for trick two. Based on the opening lead, West likely holds at least four spades. Should East return their partner’s spade suit?

To make this decision, East evaluates dummy’s spade holding. Allowing dummy’s marginal spades to play last could help declarer establish spade tricks, so East considers an alternative suit.

Dummy also has marginal diamonds that could be promoted if allowed to play last. To avoid this, East chooses to lead either a heart or a club instead.

Against South’s 1NT contract, West leads the ♦5, aiming to establish some winners to cash later.

East wins with the ♦K and evaluates dummy to decide which suit to return for trick two. Knowing that diamonds are West’s long suit, returning a diamond is an option. However, with strong diamonds in dummy playing last, this choice is not ideal.

Clubs are East’s strongest suit, but he prefers to play them after dummy to avoid letting dummy play last in that suit. The strength of dummy’s clubs makes a club lead equally unappealing.

We’ve observed that playing last can provide a significant advantage. In some cases, as in this example, it can result in an extra trick.

If East leads this suit, the ♦Q, as the last card played, will secure a trick. However, if South is forced to lead the suit, they would lead low toward the weaker honor (♦Q), hoping the ♦K is favorably positioned. Unfortunately, that hope doesn’t work out in this scenario.

The East and West hands have been switched. Now it doesn’t make any difference whether East leads the suit.

What? It doesn’t make any difference? Why not?

If East leads diamonds, allowing the ♦Q to play last, the ♦Q will still win a trick. That’s true. But it’s a trick South would have won anyway. If South starts the suit, they would lead toward the weaker honor (♦Q), hoping the ♦K is favorably placed. And in this case, it is. So the ♦Q becomes a winner regardless of whether East leads the suit or not.

East would prefer to play his ♦J over dummy’s ♦T, so he should avoid leading this suit. Ideally, East wants South to initiate the suit by leading low toward dummy’s honors. East is hoping declarer will attempt to finesse dummy’s ♦T, allowing the ♦J to win a trick.

Now the ♦T is no longer in the dummy, and East doesn’t have an honor to play over dummy’s ♦Q, so it’s fine for East to lead the suit. The ♦Q was always destined to win a trick because it’s East’s partner, not East, who holds the ♦K.