Bridge Tips - Play of the Cards, No. 5 - Helping Partner

Question

                         North
♠ Q53  ♥ J7  ♦ QJ9743  ♣ 74
                                                                        East
                                                 ♠ A84  ♥ Q43  ♦ 852  ♣ QJ32

You are East, defending against South's 3NT. Partner's opening lead was a club, you played your Jack and declarer won with the King. Declarer leads the King of diamonds, your partner plays low - which card do you play?

Answer

The two. This is an opportunity to give partner some much-needed help. Declarer has a long suit to run in dummy if he can drive out the Ace of diamonds, which your partner probably has. Also, dummy hasn't an obvious entry. So help partner by giving him a count of your diamonds, high-low for even and low-high for odd; in this case the two to show an odd number of cards. Partner can then work out how long to hold off before taking his Ace.