Mix and Match by Ben Norton

A: ♣2. When your opponents have bid confidently to game, as here, it’s usually right to defend actively, trying to set up your tricks. With this in mind a Spade lead is out, and that could just be giving declarer a tempo to set up the suit himself. Between the minors, a Diamond rates to be more effective in the short-term, since you might be able to cash two quick tricks there, but a Club is best for the long game. You have fewer Clubs than Diamonds so there’s a much better chance of setting up winners that will stand up.

Your result so far:

A: ♣5. This is a tough one. The main indication is your strength. Partner can have very little and he scorned the opportunity to bid a major cheaply over the Double, so he won’t have a fair five-card major suit. This means you should look to the minor suits, and even though the opposition are prepared for a Club lead, they don’t have to have two stoppers in the suit, especially seeing as you could have opened 1♣ with only three of them.

A Diamond lead has less upside than a Club and is just as dangerous, since you’ll be blowing a trick when declarer has the Ace and dummy the Jack. A Club lead is best, it is your longest suit after all, and a low one, which will keep the suit flowing when partner has J x or even 10 x, is much better than the King, which only gains when you can crush J x and partner has 10 x x.

Your result so far:

A: ♠2. A trump lead isn’t normally recommended after this type of auction, when the opponents are often playing in a 5-2 fit, but here it’s your best shot. You have a fair Club holding and strength in the red suits, so a trump might well be necessary to cut down dummy’s trump holding before declarer scores a Club ruff. If you had the ♦10 you might consider the ♦Q, but as it is a Diamond lead is fairly dangerous, through likely length in dummy, and an all-out attack with the ♥A is a shot in the dark.

Your result so far:

A: ♠7. Partner is known to hold a good hand on the bidding, which suggests trying to find his long suit, but on the other hand declarer only has limited strength at his disposal, indicating that you should strive to give nothing away. Seeing as a lead from either of your short suits would be fairly risky (leading from tens can open up frozen suits), and there’s no guarantee that you would find partner’s suit anyway, a passive Spade is best. West didn’t bid Stayman so you should prefer a major to a minor and J 9 x x is a horrible holding to lead from at any rate.

Your result so far:

A: ♣Q. Clearly you’re going to lead a Club, and the Queen is best so that partner can tell you whether he has the Jack or not. After all it may well be necessary to continue with a low one so you can unblock the suit when partner holds ♣J x x. You don’t want partner to unblock the Jack, which could make declarer’s ten a stopper, so the King is not a good idea, and starting with the Ace won’t get you the information you want, because partner might not encourage holding only the Jack. Of course you might still decide to carry on with top honors, but at least you’ll have more information to help you out when partner signals.

Your result so far: