2nd Hand Play

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When you are defending a contract and declarer (or dummy) leads and you are second to play to the trick, the “second hand low” adage generally applies. The suit layout below illustrates this principle. If the 2 is led from the North hand and East plays the Ace, 2^nd hand high, North-South will win 2 tricks in the suit. If East plays 2^nd hand low, South’s King will win, but declarer cannot win another trick in the suit without help from East.

There are many exceptions to 2^nd hand low. A common exception is to cover an honor with an honor. If the Queen is led from North’s hand, East must cover with the King. Declarer can win the Ace, but West’s 10 will be promoted to a winner. If a low card is led from North’s hand, East should play 2^nd hand low. Playing the King on a low card allows declarer to win 4 tricks in the suit.

A common situation where you don’t want to play 2^nd hand low is when you need to split honors to protect a trick. In the suit combination below when South leads low, West must split their Queen-Jack to ensure a trick.

Don’t split your honors when there is no upside. If you switch the King and the 2 in the above diagram, splitting West’s honors is only effective if South cannot regain the lead.

2^nd hand low doesn’t apply when you’re the dangerous opponent. On the hand below, West leads the ♥King against 3NT. East discourages, and declarer ducks. West cannot continue hearts without giving declarer their 9^th trick. West shifts to a diamond. North wins and leads a club. East is the Dangerous Opponent. If East gains the lead in time and leads a heart, declarer cannot make 3NT. When you are the Dangerous Opponent, you should try to gain the lead so you can lead hrough declarer. If East plays 2^nd hand low, they will not be able to lead a heart in time and declarer will make 3NT. A 2^nd hand high play followed by a heart shift beats 3NT.

When ducking will leave a finessing position over you and there is no entry to the source of tricks, don’t play 2^nd hand low. If South leads low in the suit combination below, West should play the King. Now North must duck, giving East-West 2 tricks in the suit if they want to prevent a successful hold up play be East. Be careful if holding the Queen, you don’t want solve a 2-way guess for declarer.