Mix and Match by Ben Norton

A: ♠5. East could have values to spare for his game bid, despite being a passed hand. There’s little to suggest that you should defend passively, indeed your ♦Q is favorably placed for declarer, beneath dummy’s length, while there’s no surprise trump split. All this suggests an active lead, and the ♠5 is your best shot. You need less from partner for a Spade lead to strike gold than for a Club lead.

Your result so far:

A: ♣4. You may be reluctant to lead away from Kings as a general principle, and rightly so. However, here is another hand where the aggressive and superficially more dangerous lead offers the best chance of success.

When declarer has pre-empted, usually showing a weak hand, you can often afford to lead from tenaces, since you don’t expect him to have honors in the suit. This case is no different. A Club lead has little to lose and plenty to gain. It might be necessary to get the Clubs going, before declarer gets his losers away on dummy’s Hearts, for example.

You could try the ♦A, angling for a ruff, but your ♠9 likely won't be big enough to over-ruff declarer on the third round even if you find partner with the ♦K.

Your result so far:

A: ♥7. With poor trump intermediates you should aim to play a forcing game, compelling declarer to ruff with his long trumps so as to wrestle over trump control. Looking for ruffs would be counter-productive, handing declarer control while taking ruffs with what would have been natural trump tricks eventually anyway. As with the previous question, a Heart lead is unlikely to blow a trick and might keep the defense a tempo ahead, in the running for a potentially lucrative penalty.

Your result so far:

A: ♠A. On hands like this, where declarer has a solid suit, there’s a big danger that he can cash nine quick tricks as soon as he gets the lead. As such you should aim to take your own tricks off the top. Thus you should lay down an Ace, to get a look at the dummy and a signal from partner, so you can judge which suit to attack. A Heart or Club lead would be a shot in the dark.

Your result so far:

A: ♠3. East’s sign-off suggests he’s either minimum or has wasted Club values. Either way an attack in a red suit doesn’t seem particularly attractive. Trumps are breaking badly and to this end you might be able to embarrass declarer with a Spade lead. His game plan will probably be to ruff Clubs in dummy, so aim to reduce his ruffing potential. You hope to win the first Club and play another trump. Protect your Club tricks!

Your result so far: