This week we've examined some of the defenders' problems in third-hand play. By sacrificing a high card, a defender may promote his partner's intermediates, but he must not let a "rule" displace good judgment.

Cover the South and West cards and defend as East. Against four spades, West leads the king of hearts. What do you play?

Say you signal with the eight. South ruffs the next heart, leads a trump to dummy and returns a club. What do you play?

TWO CHANCES

East has two chances to beat the contract. At Trick One he can overtake West's king of hearts and shift to a diamond. That defense would be wrong if South held A Q 10 8 3, 5 3, A K 10, J 10 5, so East is forgiven for playing the eight of hearts.

But when South leads a club from dummy at Trick Four, East must put up his king to lead a diamond. If South has the A-Q of clubs, East's king is trapped anyway, but East may need to lead a diamond through South's holding before South sets up his clubs to discard a diamond from dummy.

DAILY QUESTION

You hold: S 7 H K Q 10 7 3 D K 9 6 3 C A 8 4. Your partner opens one spade, you bid two hearts, he rebids two spades and you try 2NT. Partner then bids three clubs. What do you say?

ANSWER: This auction has not developed happily. Partner has shown six spades, four clubs and minimum values. If he had a good hand, his second bid would have been two clubs or three spades. Since you have no fit and no compensating high-card values, you must give up on game. I'd pass.

South dealer