In yesterday's deal, declarer could have made his contract simply by assuming that the opening lead was fourth-highest. You can rely on your opponents' defensive carding - but not too much. They're out to help themselves, not you.

Today's West led his fourth-best spade against 3NT. East took the king and returned the deuce.

Suppose West wins and leads a third spade to set up his suit. South will next lead the queen of diamonds. (If the finesse loses, he will still succeed if East also has the ace of hearts.) So South wins four diamonds, four clubs and a spade.

FOUR SPADES

Now say West doesn't want to give South an easy time. On the second spade, West follows with the six, pretending he had only four spades and East had K-4-3-2. South will be tempted to force out the ace of hearts next, losing (he thinks) three spades and a heart. If he finesses in diamonds, he may lose five tricks.

West will take the ace and run the spades, making South sorry he trusted an opponent.

DAILY QUESTION

You hold: S J 10 H J 10 6 D A 10 9 4 C K J 10 5. Your partner opens one spade, you respond two clubs and he bids 2NT. What do you say?

ANSWER: Partner's 2NT suggests (in modern methods) minimum values. He has no more than 14 points; with 15 he would often open 1NT. Nevertheless, raise to 3NT. You may have as few as 23 points in all, but possession of all four tens adds body to your hand. Chances are that the defenders will have a hard time finding five tricks.