We all have those stories that we tell so often that our loved ones could recite them in their sleep. My father, David Berkowitz, has a five minute story about sharing the given name of the serial killer, the Son of Sam. The story: They both lived in their parent’s Brooklyn basements, they worked for the post office, they were similar age, build, etc. His punchline, “when they announced it, my mother had my brother come downstairs and check that I was still there.” He tells it every time someone mentions the coincidence.

I wasn't shocked, then, when I handed my credit card to the cashier at a local bagel place my father had recently visited. “Oh, Berkowitz! We had a guy come in named David Berkowitz…” He told me the same story I'd heard many times... Brooklyn, basement, build. Of course, his punchline was a little different. My grandmother saying, “I always thought there was something odd about him.”

I might like that one better.

While my dad’s story about Son of Sam is well worn, so is this scenario: my father presenting a lead problem against a doubled partscore contract. What do you lead?

The answer is that you should always lead a trump against a doubled partscore. Let's re-tell it a little. When (and why) do we lead trumps?

There are several situations which call for a trump lead. We should lead trump whenever declarer might want to score their trumps separately. If declarer is in a 5-3 fit, ruffing in the 3-card trump suit generates an extra trick for their side. If declarer is in a 4-4 fit, they may try to ruff repeatedly in one hand or the other.

How can we identify these situations?

If declarer is playing in their second bid suit on an (unopposed) auction like 1 -- 1NT -- 2 -- All Pass, you should lead a trump. Dummy is going to have at most two spades and declarer is going to want to use dummy's diamonds to ruff spades. Leading a trump will cut down on the ruffing that is about to happen. You'll be thrilled when you see dummy come down with a singleton or void in spades and only two or three trumps.

We've all seen those deals where the declarer wins the first trick, and the next thing you know they are ruffing back and forth with glee. Leading a trump prevents at least one round of that.

As you listen to the auction, if you can envision a lot of cross-ruffing happening, then leading a trump is called for. If you have something like QJ109 and the auction goes, unopposed: 1 -- 1 -- 1 -- 2 (whether or not it continues to a higher level), leading a trump can prevent the opponents from scoring extra spade tricks.

Similarly, when your side has the balance of power, you can lead trumps to prevent the opponents from scoring many trump tricks. Leading trumps against doubled contracts falls into this category.

When else might you lead a trump? You might have heard, "When in doubt, lead a trump" and that's reasonable advice. Leading a trump can be good when no other lead stands out (and it doesn't seem likely that a trump lead will hurt your side, as it would from Qxx). Sometimes you have the majority of the points for your side and want to get out of your own hand. That's a good time to lead from a holding like xxx of trump. Interestingly, leading a trump is also the typical lead against a 7-level contract since it is usually "safe".

To summarize, lead a trump when either:

- The opponents are playing in declarer's second suit

- Your side has the balance of power

- The opponents are in a doubled partscore

- It seems like the safest choice

For more on this type of lead, you can watch Michael's Webinar on Passive Leads.