Mix and Match 3 by Ben Norton

A: ♥J. Your trump intermediates are so poor that you need to work hard to establish them, either by forcing declarer to lose trump control or by taking ruffs. Therefore your choice is between a Club and the ♥J.

A Club will need partner to have a good supporting honor like the King, but will fail when declarer has the Ace, King and Jack, or is able to ruff a Club on dummy, which is very possible, since a doubleton trump and a ruffing value often appears on the table after this kind of auction. Alternatively, you could be setting up a Club trick for declarer when he has the King and no convenient entry to dummy. Altogether it looks best to lead your singleton in partner’s suit and go for some ruffs. Partner will have enough entries in the red suits to make it worthwhile.

Your result so far:

A: ♥2. Your Diamond holding indicates that declarer will likely have no problems bringing the suit in, with six on dummy and a doubleton on your right, so you need to lead actively. In this way a Club lead from x x x x is out of the picture. Your best shot is a Heart, hoping to find partner with an honor. You might even be able to take five quick tricks if he has the Ace and declarer the Queen.

Your result so far:

A: ♣A. Partner is marked with Club shortness on the auction, since there are at least three on your left and four on your right. The question is, should you kick off with the ♣A and give partner an immediate ruff, or should you lead a Diamond instead, in case you can pick up the King in dummy and partner can then switch to a Club.

Altogether it’s unlikely that you need to lead a Diamond through dummy. By leading a Diamond you’re specifically playing for K x (x) on dummy and A J x x x (x) with partner. Alternatively, if an opponent holds the ♦A you probably need to kick off with the ♣A and a Club to ensure partner gets his ruff before declarer can draw trumps. Overall it seems best to give partner his ruff straight off the bat.

Your result so far:

A: ♠6. If your opponents had a Spade stop, one of them would have tried 3NT. Therefore partner is all but marked with ♠A K doubleton for failing to support you. You must kick off with a Spade to cash your tricks there, which may also serve to unblock the suit so you can cash the ♠Q later on, when you get in with the ♦A. Leading your singleton Heart may seem tempting, but given that partner has so much in Spades it’s very unlikely that you’ll get a ruff.

Your result so far:

A: ♦2. J x x x isn’t an attractive holding to lead from because it could easily give something away, even when partner has a supporting honor. The upside is that if partner has length in Diamonds you stand to establish tricks. The ♥10 is another option, but remember Dyke’s Law – “never lead from A x x x against 3NT”. Of course there are times when it’s right, when partner has five or declarer has enough tricks for his contract in two suits, but generally it’s a sound principle. Your Ace is always a cashing trick, so there’s usually no hurry to lead the suit on the go, and underleading your Ace could easily give away a tempo or a trick if declarer has a stray honor.

With this in mind, if Diamonds is the suit you need to attack, you need to do it now while you still have a tempo, and if Hearts is the right suit you can afford to switch later.

Your result so far: