"Double and Lead a Trump" by Ben Norton

A: No. To convert partner’s re-opening take/out Double to penalties you must have a good long Club holding, therefore it’s very unlikely that dummy has any ruffing potential. Leading a trump would give away a trick too often, not to mention a tempo if you need to force declarer to ruff in order to promote your smaller trumps.

Your result so far:

A: No. Partner’s Spades must be excellent to Pass your take/out Double, bearing in mind he’s sitting beneath the bidder. Once again dummy won’t have many trumps, so there’s no real upside to a trump lead, but it could easily pick up partner’s holding for declarer, meaning declarer can use his entries to dummy for something else, or it could be that there aren’t any trumps on dummy at all.

Your result so far:

A: Yes. Your Double was for take/out, essentially showing both minors, and partner’s Double was for penalties. He must have a good Heart holding to make a penalty Double knowing declarer has six trumps and dummy has a fit. If you have a trump then you must lead it, even if it’s a singleton. Dummy has announced a Heart fit, so you need to stop declarer taking ruffs in the short hand.

Your result so far:

A: Yes. Even though you’re going to be leading into declarer’s holding, he doesn’t rate to have much in the way of high cards on the auction anyway, so it might not matter. The biggest danger in this situation is declarer scoring ruffs, not only in dummy but also in his own hand. Your side definitely has the balance of power, so declarer will struggle to take many tricks if you stop him taking ruffs.

Your result so far:

A: No. Your opponents have shown no sign of a fit, therefore there’s more to lose than to gain by leading a trump, you’ll just be doing declarer’s work for him by picking up partner’s stray Heart honors. It’s most likely best to just lead partner’s suit, that way you might be able to force declarer to lose trump control.

When you’re on lead against a Doubled partscore it’s right more often than not to lead a trump, but be careful. If your opponents don’t have a trump fit then leading a trump is unlikely to do any good, instead it might just help declarer. It’s when your opponents have a fit or your long trumps are solid that you should lead trumps, to stop declarer from scoring ruffs either in the short hand or by eloping with the long hand. Remember, the defender who chose to penalise the opponents, either by Passing a take/out Double or by making a penalty Double, should have good (and often long) trumps and his side should not only have the balance of power, but they most likely won’t have a fit either. Keep this in mind when you’re on lead.

Your result so far: