The time to ignore the Boston rule

George Ade, a humorist and playwright who died in 1944, said, "To insure peace of mind, ignore the rules and regulations." I once mentioned the key rule that when one leads a low card from a long unbid suit, it should contain at least one honor. With no honor, lead an unnecessarily high card. There is an acronym that is approximately correct: BoSToN: Bottom of Something, Top of Nothing.

However, as is usually the case in bridge, there is a critical exception to the rule. When you lead the suit partner bid, and you did not raise his suit, it is more important to give length information than strength information. You lead high from shortness and low from length.

Today's deal highlights why this is so important. Look at the West hand. What should he lead after his partner opens one heart, and South jumps to four spades?