[Al_U_Card]

Playing 4th best leads against 3 NT and ♥ was the unbid suit.
North's lead was the ♥ 5, ducked in dummy, won by the Q, West playing the 2.
What is the correct (in standard) continuation of the suit?

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[Bbradley62]

I return my original fourth-best heart, the 4. And I don't think partner led fourth best; I think he led from Hxx, and West (declarer) holds either the K or the J.

[fromageGB]

I have known declarer to open 1NT with a low doubleton in a suit, I have done it myself, so it is possible partner started with K985, for example.

Standard, I think, is to play a small one back if you want partner, when he wins a trick later in the auction, to lead one back. Conversely, a high one tells him that if he does, he is likely to give a trick away. So here, lead the smallest, the 3.

There is another aspect to this, with which it fits, and that is blocking. You need to lead a small one so that when he wins a later trick and returns, starting with the highest of his remaining two, you can run the remainder of the tricks.

If your holding was QT3, you need to lead the T at trick 2, which avoids blocking the suit. Later, when in again, you can then lead the 3. You don't want him to lead the suit again because he will be leading into Jx(x) from his K9(x). The high lead tells him this.

[Bbradley62]

fromageGB, on 2013-January-21, 15:55, said:

I have known declarer to open 1NT with a low doubleton in a suit, I have done it myself, so it is possible partner started with K985, for example.

I miscounted the suit because I was thinking East started with 3.

[Cyberyeti]

fromageGB, on 2013-January-21, 15:55, said:

I have known declarer to open 1NT with a low doubleton in a suit, I have done it myself, so it is possible partner started with K985, for example.

Standard, I think, is to play a small one back if you want partner, when he wins a trick later in the auction, to lead one back. Conversely, a high one tells him that if he does, he is likely to give a trick away. So here, lead the smallest, the 3.

Playing original 4th highest is normal, MY partner won't have K98x as he'd have led the 9, but it doesn't matter if he does.

[fromageGB]

Cyberyeti, on 2013-January-21, 16:30, said:

Playing original 4th highest is normal, MY partner won't have K98x as he'd have led the 9, but it doesn't matter if he does.

It probably doesn't make much difference in practice, because your original 4th highest is likely to be a small card. Presumably if you started with 3, you would lead original second highest, as I would in my QT3 example (highest remaining). I tend to think in terms of lo/hi because I normally play attitude leads (lo is good) rather than length.

I prefer lo to say "lead it back, please". Partner does not need to know the length.

[Zelandakh]

Standard carding, at least in the beginner's books I read, is original 4th highest (♥4). It would also be possible to play attitude leads here I would think, not that I have done it, in which case the ♥3 would be correct. Notice that "Standard carding" varies drastically according to where one lives, so I will add that the beginner books I read were British and American.

[Al_U_Card]

As I learned it, back in the day, you return your 4th best (top from doubleton and low from 3) so that the opening leader can use the rule of 11 (or 12 or 10 if playing 3rd or 5th leads) to count the suit and know whether to unblock or not.

It applies here, such that the 3 would show 3 and the unblock would not necessarily happen. Only the return of the 4 allows N to see that W started with only 2 ♥ (and he is not falsecarding) so that N can unblock and set the hand.

[PhilKing]

Al_U_Card, on 2013-January-22, 09:20, said:

As I learned it, back in the day, you return your 4th best (top from doubleton and low from 3) so that the opening leader can use the rule of 11 (or 12 or 10 if playing 3rd or 5th leads) to count the suit and know whether to unblock or not.

It applies here, such that the 3 would show 3 and the unblock would not necessarily happen. Only the return of the 4 allows N to see that W started with only 2 ♥ (and he is not falsecarding) so that N can unblock and set the hand.

What you learned back in the day is wrong. The correct return is the three.

Returning the four is consistent with Q43 - highest of our remaining two. From partner's point of view, this gives declarer T972, so he can't afford to unblock from KJ85 since that would burn a trick.

Returning our lowest card makes it safe for partner to unblock the jack, since we indicate three remaining cards in the suit as you said.

[Al_U_Card]

PhilKing, on 2013-January-22, 10:16, said:

What you learned back in the day is wrong. The correct return is the three.

Returning the four is consistent with Q43 - highest of our remaining two. From partner's point of view, this gives declarer T972, so he can't afford to unblock from KJ85 since that would burn a trick.

Returning our lowest card makes it safe for partner to unblock the jack, since we indicate three remaining cards in the suit as you said.

So, when the 3 is returned, S could have started with Q3, Q743, QT73, QT43 or QT743?
Returning the 4 can only be from Q4, Q43 or QT743 and the application of the rule of eleven shows that the unblock, because those 4 or 5 supposed ♥ in W's hand that were not bid..., is a distinct possibility.
Does this not simplify the situation for opening leader?

[PhilKing]

Al_U_Card, on 2013-January-22, 11:17, said:

So, when the 3 is returned, S could have started with Q3, Q743, QT73, QT43 or QT743?
Returning the 4 can only be from Q4, Q43 or QT743 and the application of the rule of eleven shows that the unblock, because those 4 or 5 supposed ♥ in W's hand that were not bid..., is a distinct possibility.
Does this not simplify the situation for opening leader?

If you have only one card left in the suit (and choose to return it - you do not have to), our methods break even.

Playing my way, partner is safe to unblock in scenarios 2, 3, 4, and 5. Yours loses in the Q43 scenario and gains over mine exactly never. You also somehow overlook the QT74 scenario, where we break even!

Qx is a bit of a red herring since declarer cannot have five, apparently (I assume declarer can still have four, otherwise this is the worst problem of all time). If I had nothing worthwhile to switch to and choose to return the suit with only two (I am talking about the generic 1NT-3NT situation - not where declarer has denied hearts), the chances of beating the hand when you are considering an unblock will tend to be low, but we would need to see a whole hand to illustrate the point.

[Al_U_Card]

PhilKing, on 2013-January-22, 11:24, said:

If you have only one card left in the suit (and choose to return it - you do not have to), our methods break even.

Playing my way, partner is safe to unblock in scenarios 2, 3, 4, and 5. Yours loses in the Q43 scenario and gains over mine exactly never. You also somehow overlook the QT74 scenario, where we break even!

Qx is a bit of a red herring since declarer cannot have five, apparently (I assume declarer can still have four, otherwise this is the worst problem of all time). If I had nothing worthwhile to switch to and choose to return the suit with only two (I am talking about the generic 1NT-3NT situation - not where declarer has denied hearts), the chances of beating the hand when you are considering an unblock will tend to be low, but we would need to see a whole hand to illustrate the point.

So, that means that you return 4th best starting with 4 only.

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[PhilKing]

Al_U_Card, on 2013-January-22, 12:45, said:

So, that means that you return 4th best starting with 4 only.

That is correct.