Premier Problems by Ben Norton

A: ♦K. You’re certainly going to lead a Diamond, but which one? Declarer will definitely have a stopper and will probably have a four-card holding. The ♦10 could be right, in order to preserve communications with partner or to pick up Q J x x on your right, but judging from the strength of your hand, partner hasn’t got very much. He may not get on lead at all, in which case you’ll have to attack Diamonds from your side of the table each time.

With this in mind, it must be better to kick off with a top Diamond. This will pick up Q x or J x in dummy, allowing you to establish the suit even when declarer has four of them, a layout where leading the ten would give him a second stopper. What’s more, it could be necessary to play off three rounds of Diamonds in order to prevent declarer from throwing you in later on, to lead a Heart for him.

Lead the honor which asks partner to unblock an honor or give you a count signal. Attitude won't be of much use here.

Your result so far:

A: ♠5. You have an array of poor options to choose from. East has a very strong hand, so it would be very dangerous to lead away from one of your minor-suit Aces. Your singleton trump would also be a bad choice. Dummy will no doubt be short of entries, so a trump lead could both expose the position and aid declarer’s communications.

A Spade could easily blow a trick, but at least you have the added advantage of perhaps paving the way to give partner a ruff. He didn’t raise Spades after all, so he has at most two of them, maybe fewer.

Your result so far:

A: ♠A. You have a likely trump trick and a Spade, but unless partner has the ♥A, it’s unlikely that he can contribute anything. Try the ♠A. You'll get a look at dummy and a signal from partner, all while retaining the lead. You can then choose whether to try and give partner a ruff or switch to another suit.

Your result so far:

A: ♣7. Yes, partner has only promised three Clubs with his opening bid and East has shown a stopper, but a Club lead is still best. Partner could easily have five Clubs, but he can’t have five Diamonds or five Hearts. Having so few entries yourself, you should aim to set up partner’s hand, and Clubs rates to be the best source of tricks for the defense.

Your result so far:

A: ♠Q. A Spade lead is clearly indicated, but there remains the question of which card. The two would be standard, but there’s a lot to be said for advancing the ♠Q. You have a weak hand and will probably never gain the lead again unless you can hold the first Spade trick. It could be necessary to lead through dummy at trick two or squash dummy’s ♠K, and leading the Queen could accomplish either of these goals.

Your result so far: