European Challenge by Ben Norton

A: ♥8. East is marked with the ♠K for his 3NT bid, so leading the ♠Q is just going to give a trick away, which may be fatal if declarer has eight outside tricks to run. A Spade lead will only really gain when partner has a doubleton Spade without the Ten, and declarer has ♠K x x, such that the suit can’t be picked up when partner leads it, and by leading it you pave the way to cash the suit when partner gets in. Theoretically it could also be necessary when partner has ♠x x and declarer K 10 x x, such that he must duck the opening lead to break communication, allowing you to take a total of three tricks in the suit when partner gets in. However, both of these scenarios are very specific and both require declarer to not have enough quick tricks to bring home his contract.

You do best to lead a passive red suit, hoping partner can get the lead before it’s too late. A Heart from 9 8 x is safer than a Diamond from 10 x x, since it will hardly ever give a trick away, plus declarer is more likely to have suppressed a long Diamond suit than a long Heart suit, so partner rates to have more in Hearts.

Your result so far:

A: ♣A. It’s rarely right to reject leading from an Ace-King combination against a suit contract. You get to have a look at dummy, aiding you with your subsequent line of defense, and you can get a signal from partner. What’s more it may be necessary to cash tricks in the suit. The times when it gains will more than offset the times when you give away a trick with declarer holding Q J x, or a tempo when you needed to attack another suit. It’s true that declarer bid Clubs, but he’s only promised three of them. A Diamond is a close second, seeing as you’ve agreed the suit, but it won’t often be necessary to kick off with one against a part-score, when you should have lots of opportunities to attack the suit.

Your result so far:

A: ♥7. West must have a source of tricks in Diamonds to justify his slam try opposite a sign-off, so you need to be aggressive on lead, and that points to one of the rounded suits. It’s very unlikely that you can take three Club tricks, so you probably need at least one Heart trick to beat this. Therefore you should spurn the lead of the ♣A, which might promote the King in declarer’s hand, in favor of a Heart lead, through to partner’s hoped-for strength. If partner has two Heart tricks, likely the ♥A Q behind dummy’s King, then great. If he doesn’t then he’ll switch to a Club, which will be enough if he has either the King or the Queen with the King on your right.

Your result so far:

A: ♥10. 2♠ only promised a doubleton, so declarer must have six Spades and four Hearts. Therefore you need to be active and hope to cash your Club tricks while you can, before they go away on dummy’s Diamonds, seeing as your ♦K is likely well-placed for declarer. It would be a mistake to kick off with the ♣A though. Yes you need to cash Club tricks, but even if you manage two of them, you’ll still need partner to have two tricks in the majors. Hardly likely, and if he does have two major suit tricks you’ll probably be alright by leading a major, since partner could win and switch to Clubs. Leading the ♣A loses when declarer holds the ♣K and partner the Queen, since a lead from partner’s side would either pick up the suit by force or put declarer to a guess.

You need to find partner’s major suit entry, but there’s not much pointing the way. You could argue that a trump lead might give the position away to declarer, and that’s the deciding factor. Lead a Heart, hoping partner can win the first trick and shift to Clubs.

Your result so far:

A: ♣4. You can’t count on partner for much, so it looks like you’ll be attacking Clubs from your side of the table each time. Spades aren’t going to bring you much joy, so you need to hope to bring the Club suit in. With this in mind it might seem like you need to lead a top Club, catering for an opponent holding a singleton honor, but that isn’t best. A low Club, in case partner has a short honor holding, is more likely to work. You have the ♦A which declarer will need to knock out, but once that’s gone declarer will have enough quick tricks. Therefore you need four Club tricks, and with no indication of Club length with partner you do best to lead a low one, which will often be necessary to unblock the suit when partner has H x.

Your result so far: