Leading After a Weak Two by Ben Norton

A: ♣Q. Since West hasn’t raised Hearts, he rates to have shortness there, thus a trump lead will do nothing but aid declarer in picking up the suit whilst giving him an extra entry or tempo.

You must lead from one of your side-suits, but a Spade or a Diamond will give away a trick far too often, essentially whenever declarer has a stray honor in the suit. So your best shot is the ♣Q. This will only give a trick away when dummy has H 10 x and declarer H x, but the rest of the time it stands to establish tricks for the defense.

Your result so far:

A: ♥2. Now dummy will have some trumps, so a Heart lead stands to cut down on ruffs, which is your main concern against this auction. It’s unlikely when West has made no try for game that his side has the power of high cards to make nine tricks. Declarer’s only source of extra tricks will be ruffs.

Your result so far:

A: ♣A. West has jumped to game either to pre-empt your side out of the bidding, or he has done it with the intention of making ten tricks based on a good hand. If it’s the former, then a trump lead would be idea to cut down declarer’s ruffs, but if it’s the latter then you need to lead aggressively, so as to not give declarer time to pitch his losers on dummy’s high cards.

The best lead to cater for either situation is the ♣A. This way you get to have a look at dummy and you get an attitude signal from partner, encouraging you to continue the suit or not. If dummy is weak with a big Heart fit then you can switch to a trump. If it’s strong then you’re in a good place to evaluate which switch is best. The ♣A lead might even be necessary in order to take a ruff.

Your result so far:

A: ♠A. By jumping to 3NT East has shown that he thinks he can make nine quick tricks in No-trumps. He must be bidding it with the intention of cashing dummy’s Heart suit, else he knows there won’t be much chance of making 3NT because the strength of West’s hand will be made up almost entirely of Heart cards. Thus East will have a Heart fit to have an entry to the Heart suit, but he didn’t raise Hearts because he couldn’t see a tenth trick. It’s true that East could have a running minor suit to bid this way, but from the look of your hand this isn’t at all likely.

You have the Hearts stopped, but not for long. When declarer gains the lead he will knock out your ♥A then use his third Heart to get to dummy and run the suit. You must set up enough tricks for the defense to cash before your ♥A is gone, but you don’t know which suit to attack. Therefore you should kick off with the ♠A, in order to get a look at dummy and get a signal from partner. Then you’ll either switch or continue the suit, hoping to cash that suit when you get in with the ♥A. The danger of leading a minor suit straight off is that if that isn’t partner’s suit, you won’t be able to recover.

Your result so far:

A: ♣J. To enquire with 2NT then bid 3NT over 3♣ East must have been looking for a Club stop from his partner in order to play 3NT. Thus he must be worried about the Clubs, so an immediate Club lead around to his weakness is indicated. On the last hand you didn’t know which suit to attack, so you led the ♠A to find out more information. This time that’s not necessary, since you know which suit to establish your tricks in.

When leading after a Weak Two opening it’s essential to evaluate how strong the opener’s partner is likely to be. Then you can choose between a passive lead, when they have a fit but not much in the way of high cards, or an active lead, when they have lots of high cards.

Your result so far: