Spectacular Spingold by Ben Norton

A: ♣Q. It’s normally best to lead aggressively when the hand on your right has preempted, since they rate to have little outside their own trump suit. The ♦A is a possibility, but could easily give a tempo away if dummy has strength there. Moreover, it’s not impossible that declarer has the guarded ♦K.

Clubs could well be the suit you need to attack, but even if it isn’t, you might still have time to switch later on. You need four tricks, but unless you can cash four red-suit winners off the top, which is more than unlikely given East’s advertised distribution, a Club can’t do you any harm. Declarer’s unlikely to have a tenace in Clubs, but if he does, his holding will be short anyway.

Your result so far:

A: ♠4. Dummy is known to have five Hearts, four Diamonds and three Spades, so they must have short Clubs. Thus, you should aim to cut down their ruffing power before your Club tricks get ruffed away. You plan to win the first Club and continue trumps.

Your result so far:

A: ♠3. You can’t expect partner to have much outside Hearts for his weak two, so a minor-suit attack would be a shot in the dark, more likely to give away a trick than establish one. A trump is almost certainly safe and you might prevent Heart ruffs in the dummy. You hope to come to a second Heart trick or that your Queens will pull their weight.

Your result so far:

A: ♥2. If an all-out attack were necessary, you’d lead a Spade, but even though West is unlimited here, none of the suits are splitting for declarer. Stay passive and East will likely struggle to come to nine tricks. A Spade could easily blow a trick, as could a Club (partner had the chance to Double 2♣ for the lead as well). A Diamond could pick up partner’s holding, so that leaves Hearts.

Your best shot is the ♥2. Leading the ♥10 can’t do much good without a high spot-card to back up your sequence, while it may crash one of partner’s honors.

Your result so far:

A: ♦2. Yes, this is declarer’s suit, but so what? He need have only four of them and from your perspective Diamonds offer the best chance of setting the contract. As opposed to the previous question, you should be active here. West is unlimited and your Spade holding suggests there aren’t any nasty surprises in store for declarer.

The question remains of which Diamond to lead though. The Queen would be best if your opponents hadn’t bid them, but with length known to be on your right, her majesty could easily block the suit. Best try a small one, hoping partner has an honor. Specifically the two, in case declarer has five Diamonds.

Your result so far: