European Euphoria by Ben Norton

A: ♠9. Your side certainly has the balance of power and all the side-suits sewn up, so your aim should be to limit declarer’s ruffs, which will be his main source of tricks. Kicking off with a top Diamond could gift declarer a tempo or give him a quick route back to hand to cross-ruff. Don’t worry about revealing the trump position with your lead. It’s unlikely that declarer has any losers in the suit.

Your result so far:

A: ♥9. It’s tempting to lead your own suit in the face of East’s 3NT call, but you have so little that it’s unlikely you’ll be able to get in to cash your winners even if you set the suit up. You know partner has Heart length, while you know very little about the Clubs. What’s more, you can expect partner to have enough entries to enjoy the Hearts, given that he opened the bidding.

Judging from the auction, East/West don’t have any strength in reserve, so this is no time for a speculative lead. Go for the expected Heart and choose the nine, denying a higher honor. You’ve already raised the suit so partner knows you have support.

Your result so far:

A: ♣7. East could have extra strength on the auction, which calls for an active defense. Even though you assume trumps are splitting 3-1, this is no great surprise. If you were to opt for a passive defense, you’d select a Spade, which is unlikely to give away a trick. A Diamond is more positive but has little to gain, because even if you find partner with strength in the suit, your length suggests that declarer will be able to ruff your winners soon enough.

A Club is the most aggressive lead by far. If you find partner with the Ace or even the King you stand to be a tempo ahead, and since you have only three cards in the suit, you can expect your high cards to survive.

Your result so far:

A: ♣A. You have a clear plan in mind, to put partner in with a Heart and take a ruff. Partner might even have a second Heart entry to give you another ruff and beat the contract straight off the bat. In any case, it’s unlikely that the ♣A will give away a trick, since declarer would probably play you for that card on the bidding anyway. Meanwhile, you can see a path to five tricks.

Your result so far:

A: ♦5. When faced with a series of dangerous choices, select the one with the most upside. A Diamond lead stands to set the suit up when partner has the Ace or the Queen. A trump doesn’t have much to gain and could be disastrous, the ♥Q doesn’t have much going for it when you’d be ruffing the third round with a likely trump trick, and a Club away from the Ace could cause all kinds of havoc. True, a Diamond is itself dangerous, but if it’s right it will pay off.

Your result so far: