Mix and Match 10 by Ben Norton

A: ♣Q. It looks like Hearts are splitting well for declarer so you should lead actively. Partner didn’t take the opportunity to overcall Spades so a Spade from A x x is too likely to give something away. Leading from ♦J x x x is generally not a good idea, because it could pick up an honor in partner’s hand very easily, but that risk isn’t so great here with the stronger hand on your left.

Still, a Club is best. It stands to set up tricks whenever partner has an honor and will only really blow the suit when there’s H 10 x on dummy and declarer holds the other honor, which isn’t very likely. What’s more, Clubs is the only suit that partner couldn’t show cheaply over 1♣ (Double would have been for the majors), so he’s more likely to have a good five-card suit there than anywhere else.

Your result so far:

A: ♦8. West is very likely to have short Clubs on this auction, and besides, partner didn’t Double 4♣ for the lead. Therefore a Club lead will just give declarer a tempo. Your opponents have made a try for slam so a passive trump lead is out. You must be aggressive and a Diamond through dummy’s holding, angling for a ruff, is your best shot.

Your result so far:

A: ♦5. Even though it’s the opponents’ suit, it’s still best to lead your singleton Diamond. You don’t have a particularly strong trump holding to protect and it doesn’t seem like your Heart tricks are going away. If everything goes smoothly you could even take the first six tricks: ♦A, ruff, Heart across, Diamond ruff, Heart across, Diamond ruff. Any other lead is unappealing, especially a Heart away from the Ace.

Your result so far:

A: ♦K. A Heart trick isn’t going to stand up, and even if it is, it’s not going away. West would hardly jump to slam without a first-round control there. Declarer’s main source of tricks is going to be Clubs, but you have what’s likely to be a stopper there. Lead the ♦K to knock out the opponents’ Ace, paving the way for you to lead a Diamond to partner when you win a Club trick. Who knows, it could even be that you’re cashing two Diamonds off the top.

Your result so far:

A: ♥4. You have so few entries that you can’t realistically expect to set up and cash your Diamonds unless partner has a lot in the suit. Hearts is another matter though. You need less from partner for a Heart to work, plus partner is more likely to have four Hearts than four Diamonds anyway. As little as the ♥K in partner’s hand may be enough to establish the suit, whereas you most likely need two honors if you’re going to work on Diamonds. You can't really take into account partner's failure to Double 2♥ for the lead, because he'd only do that with a good five-card suit.

Your result so far: