See-through Stayman by Ben Norton

A: ♦8. By going through Stayman and then jumping to 3NT West has implied four Spades, so a Spade lead doesn’t rate to set up many tricks, but could easily blow the suit. A Heart is no better, since declarer has length there. You can opt to lead the suit bid on your right sometimes, but it’s only when you have length and strength there, which you don’t have here.

So it’s between the minor suits. The ♣J is very risky, because it could just pick the whole suit up for declarer, whereas it will only gain when partner has a good five-card suit, but then he probably won’t even have an entry to cash them anyway. The ♦8 is your best choice. Even though it doesn’t harbour much offensive potential, it likely won’t give anything away.

Your result so far:

A: ♠3. Yes this is the same hand as on the last question, but this time East has denied a four-card major, and although West has implied a major by going through Stayman, you don’t know which one he has. He could easily have Hearts or Spades. But this time he’s not sure to have Spades, so a Spade lead is a good shot, since you stand to set up tricks if partner has length there.

A Heart lead could be right but because you have the Ace you already have a trick in the suit, so by playing on Spades, a suit you don't necessarily have a trick in yet, you stand to set up more tricks than in Hearts.

Your result so far:

A: ♥2. By bidding Stayman then Passing 2♥ West has shown a bad hand with length in both majors, but he also rates to have Diamond length, otherwise what would he have done had East bid 2♦? He would surely have Passed 2♦ as well, unless he has nine cards in the majors in which case he’d bid his longer one. Thus dummy will probably have Club shortness, meaning your Club values will amount to very little unless you can stop declarer from taking too many ruffs on the table.

Therefore a trump lead is your best shot, to cut down on dummy’s ruffs. You plan to play another trump when you get in with the ♣A. Don’t be afraid about leading from ♥Q x x, it’s true that it could give away a trick if declarer has the Jack, but you stand to get that trick, and possibly another, back by stopping two Club ruffs on dummy.

Your result so far:

A: ♣10. It may seem that the same recommendation about leading a trump applies here as in the last question, but that’s not the case. Can you see the difference? On the last question the opponents had shown that they had at least a partial fit (probably eight cards) in Hearts, but this time there is no such guarantee. On a really bad day declarer could have two Diamonds in a 3.3.2.5 shape, thus West will probably have five Diamonds along with length in both majors to Pass 2♦.

In this way there’s not as much upside to a trump lead, because your opponents might not have a Diamond fit. Even if they do you won’t gain much by leading trumps because even though dummy will have short Clubs, declarer probably won’t be looking to ruff Clubs in dummy anyway, since dummy has the long trump holding. Also, your Clubs are quite weak, so there’s no real indication that stopping Club ruffs is what you want to do.

The ♣10 lead is safest, because you don’t want to attack a major suit with dummy having length in both. A trump from J x x is also almost as dangerous as a trump lead from Q x x.

Your result so far:

A: ♦A. By correcting 2♦ to 2♥ East has shown at least four Spades and five Hearts and a weak hand. You have high hopes of beating this one, looking at two minor suit Aces and three trump tricks, but if partner can’t provide another trick you’ll need to find a sixth yourself, which can only come from trumps. Thus you should lead Diamonds, going by the old adage ‘trump length, lead strength’, hoping to force declarer to ruff twice, thus causing declarer to lose trump control and promoting your fourth trump.

It could also be necessary to set up a second Diamond trick before declarer establishes a parking spot for his Diamond loser on dummy’s Clubs, if he has three Diamonds and a singleton Club. It could be right to lead a low Diamond, for instance if declarer has a King-Jack guess at trick one, but that would be very risky. Partner could mis-read your lead, placing the Ace in declarer’s hand, or you could even find declarer with a singleton King. Instead you should just lead the ♦A, that way nothing will go wrong in the suit. It’s very unlikely that declarer has ♦K x, for example.

When leading after a Stayman auction, think about which suits each opponent has and hasn’t shown, or has and hasn’t implied. Stayman is often very revealing concerning the opponents’ shapes. After all, they’re trying to find a fit so they can’t help but tip you off in the process.

Your result so far: