Lead with Barry by Barry Rigal

A: ♠4: Yes partner did not raise spades, and your RHO responded one no-trump. But that call did not promise the world’s fair in spades – just a balanced hand. While a diamond or heart lead might strike gold, the simplest way to set a game here will be to find partner with something in spades. You have enough cards on the side for this to be a reasonable hope.

Your result so far:

A: ♠4: When in doubt between the lead of a major and a minor on this auction, try the major -- West has not used Stayman or shown a major, so the odds fractionally favor the lead of a spade over a diamond. If I had the diamond eight instead of the two, I might go the other way though! Honor-fourth is a relatively unattractive lead, I admit, but when in doubt go for what you can see in front of you rather than opting for safety – since nothing is safe.

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A: ♠4: Lead a low spade. Declarer appears to be prepared for your diamond lead, and may well have a singleton spade. Maybe you can lead through dummy enough times to attack his weak point successfully. The sort of thing you hope to do is find partner with eg KJxx of spades and declarer a singleton. Partner can win the first spade cheaply and you will have the entries to set the suit up. The spade queen is certainly a plausible alternative here – in case declarer has a bare ten or jack but I don’t want to be a hero/villain quite yet.

Your result so far:

A: ♥3: Lead a low heart. Nothing is certain here, but leading a spade here looks too likely to cost a trick. However, LHO’s failure to make a negative double suggests that maybe if partner has length anywhere, it might be hearts. In situations of this sort partner might be able to double 3NT with a solid suit; since he has not done so you are more likely to find him with a heart suit good enough to set the game than with diamonds to achieve that target.

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A: ♣3: Lead a low club. This does not come with any guarantees, but while spades look unappetizing here, finding partner with good clubs may be the best chance to set the contract -- or threaten to. A good four- or five-card club suit in partner’s hand may not be enough to set the hand on its own but it seems to me to be the lead least likely to cost the contract or overtrick. At any form of scoring, you want to defeat the opponents’ contract, but simply taking your tricks is often enough.

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