Lead a Major or a Minor by Barry Rigal

A: ♠6 - There is no good answer to this problem. A club feels wrong, since your RHO is as likely to be long in the suit as partner, and a diamond, your best suit, is not likely to find your partner with length given his choice of opener and the opponents settling in no-trump, marking him with at least some major-suit length. I’d lead the spade six (a rare case when second from a bad suit is acceptable) without any conviction at all.

Your result so far:

A: ♦T - When defending to one no-trump, your aim is often to avoid surrendering a trick unnecessarily, and here a diamond lead is clearly safer than a spade. Of course if you had a fifth spade you would lead it rather than go passive, but the spade lead is so likely to cost a trick that the diamond will more often be right.

Your result so far:

A: ♣6 - Spades and clubs are equally likely to be successful on this auction, but you need an awful lot less from partner in clubs for the lead to strike gold. Even a four-card spade suit opposite will not necessarily achieve much; but queen-third of clubs probably sets your suit up at once.

Your result so far:

A: ♥9 - I’m going to assume that no one would lead a club here. Right? That being said, I’m also guessing that many people would be weighing up the merits of a spade against a diamond, without seriously considering the merits of going passive with a heart lead. My view is that leading from honor-fourth is a slightly odds-against shot (contrast it with a lead from a four-card suit headed by a sequence). When I have a relatively safe sequence in a three-card suit, it feels ‘safer’ to me.

Your result so far:

A: ♠4 - Dummy might have a four-card spade suit, but declarer is unlikely to do so. Meanwhile either opponent could easily have four clubs and not have introduced the suit or looked for a fit. That being so, a spade lead is slightly more likely to hit partner with length. This is truly the case of ‘all things being equal’ go for the major.

Your result so far: