Mix and Match 4 by Ben Norton

A: ♦4. There are five Spades on your left so you’d only lead one if you were looking to lead passively, which you shouldn’t be. Declarer likely has length in both rounded suits and you only have low cards there, so any finesses declarer takes will be working. When the cards look to be lying well for declarer, such that he’ll probably make his contract if left to his own devices, you should adopt an active defense. Here you need to try and find your partner’s suit, which can only be Diamonds.

Declarer must have at least four Clubs for his 1♣ opening given that he has fewer than three Spades. It’s true that partner could have Doubled 2♦ for the lead, but that’s not something he’d do with a holding like Q J x x x, because your natural lead might be more effective from his perspective. In terms of which Diamond to lead, the Four, second-highest from poor suits, is best.

Your result so far:

A: ♣3. Even though East opened 1♣, the Club suit still harbors the best hope of beating the contract. You have the vast majority of the defensive strength, so you need to set your own long suit up. It’s true that a Club lead will probably give declarer a cheap trick, but leading any of the other suits carries the same risk. If you can find partner with as little as the ♣9 that might be enough to beat the contract, but even if he has no useful cards declarer might still only have three Clubs if he has precisely 4.3.3.3 shape, which may enable you to set the suit up when you next get in.

Leading from A x x x against 3NT is rarely a good idea, as discussed in last week’s quiz, and will too often blow a trick when declarer has a stray honor. If it turns out that you need to play on Spades you can do so later. However, if you don’t lead Clubs now and that is the suit you need to play on, it may be too late. Declarer will likely have to knock out two of your high cards, the ♦K and ♠A, to establish his tricks, by which time you’ll have attacked Clubs twice, making it very likely that the suit will be set up by that point.

The normal card to lead from K J 10 x x is the Jack, and you could even consider the King so as to pin a singleton Queen, however that isn’t best here. Assuming declarer has Club length, the Jack will only gain in the unlikely scenario where it pins a singleton Eight or Nine in dummy and partner has the other one. Overall it’s unlikely that dummy has a singleton Club anyway, since with five Hearts or four Spades he would have investigated a major suit fit over 2NT.

The situations where leading the Jack will lose are much more likely: when partner has a singleton Eight or Nine, or even 9 x or Q x, when you need to lead a low one to keep the suit unblocked. The best card to lead in declarer’s suit is usually your lowest. The fourth-highest card is too often worth a trick when it’s needed to cover declarer’s spot card. Therefore you should spurn the standard lead of the Seven for the Three. If partner gains the lead, which is unlikely, he’ll know to return a Club. You wouldn’t lead declarer’s suit without a good reason to do so.

Your result so far:

A: ♠5. This is not a standard trump-lead auction. Dummy has shown preference to declarer’s first bid suit, but he’s only promised at most a doubleton Spade. This is how West would bid with three Hearts and two Spades and not a complete minimum, so there isn’t necessarily a ruffing value on dummy. However, here you have Hearts sewn up. Declarer has at least nine major suit cards, so it looks like the only way he will make his contract with both Spades and Hearts lying so unfavorably is by ruffing Hearts in dummy. Therefore you should lead trumps to cut down on declarer’s ruffs and in doing so protect your Heart tricks.

It’s true that leading a trump from K 9 7 x may well give away a trick, but even if it does you will get the trick back because you’ll stay a tempo ahead. However, if partner has nothing much in trumps, meaning he can’t over-ruff the dummy even if he has short Hearts, you won’t have given anything away because your ♠9 likely wasn’t worth a trick anyway.

Your result so far:

A: ♣4. It feels natural to lead a Spade, but partner’s raise to 3♠ suggests a nine-card fit, in which case an opponent rates to hold shortage, making a Spade lead unnecessary anyway. The danger in a Spade lead is that partner might well have raised without an honor, in which case you’ll be giving away a cheap trick to the Queen. If it turns out that you need to establish or cash a Spade trick then you can probably do it later on, but for now it’s too risky to broach the suit from your side of the table. A singleton trump is also out and so is leading away from the ♦A, so a Club from 10 x x, which will rarely give anything away, is your best bet.

Your result so far:

A: ♠2. It usually pays to lead passively against grand slams. Most of the time you won’t have a trick to cash so the goal is to not give anything away. Therefore the usual lead is a trump, unless it’s a singleton, but you don’t have any, so you have to decide between the side suits. A Diamond could present declarer with a cheap trick if he has the Jack, whereas a Club could carve up that suit if partner has the Queen.

A Spade is your best shot, but be careful to lead the Two, not the Ten. Leading the Ten only gains in a few remote scenarios such as dummy having A J x opposite K 8 x in declarer’s hand with partner having Q 7 x. Not likely. There’s a much greater risk that you will crash partner’s honor by leading the Ten, which could later give declarer a ruffing finesse position against your Nine, or just a standard finessing position if dummy has a tenace.

Your result so far: