Junior Camrose by Ben Norton

A: ♥8. Partner could have Doubled 2♠ to insist on your leading his suit. As he hasn’t, declarer rates to have the Spades sewn up and your best shot is to attack in Hearts, hoping to find partner with four of them. Your minor-suit holdings are well placed for declarer, meaning an active defense is in order. Lead your second-highest Heart.

On the actual hand, partner had ♥K Q J x and declarer had only eight tricks without playing on Spades, giving partner the chance to swoop in with the ♠A and cash the Hearts. A Spade lead would blow the timing.

Your result so far:

A: ♦5. Dummy rates to have a source of tricks in Hearts, so you should aim to set up and cash your tricks in the pointed-suits right away. It’s unlikely that the second round of Spades will stand up. Still, you might aim to get partner on lead with a Spade for a Diamond shift through declarer’s possible tenace. However, that could well set up a Spade trick for declarer, or give him a vital tempo.

That leaves Diamonds. Your best chance is to hope for partner to have the ♦A or ♦Q. Indeed, a Diamond lead was necessary to set the contract. Partner had the ♦A and the ♥K, but declarer had a discard coming on the Spades if you didn’t cash out.

Your result so far:

A: ♦A. You should lead the unbid suit. Dummy rates to have a 2.5.2.4 shape with strong suits and your rounded-suit holdings are hardly going to impede declarer. You should take what Diamond tricks you can before they disappear, then hope for partner to produce the goods in the trump suit. It may even be best to force the dummy in Diamonds so that declarer can’t take a Spade finesse against partner.

At the table, the ♦A lead and a Diamond continuation gave declarer a problem. Dummy had 2.5.1.5 shape with the singleton ♦K, but the force wrecked declarer’s communications. He couldn’t both get his Diamond losers away and draw trumps, unless he took a double-dummy line. On any other lead, declarer would have enough time to throw his Diamond losers then use dummy’s small trump to reach his hand and retain control.

Your result so far:

A: ♣8. The name of the game after an invitational auction is passivity. Strive to give nothing away. Even so, you’d like to lead your strong Spade suit. The problem is, you probably don’t have an outside entry and if you block the suit by leading the Queen when partner has ♠K x or the like, you won’t be able to recover. It would look equally silly if you led a small Spade, only to gift declarer a trick with the Ten.

If you were defending 3NT, you’d try your luck with the ♠Q, but you need six tricks here, not five, so it won’t be enough to simply run the Spades. You need a trick from elsewhere and should therefore lead another suit, specifically a safe-looking Club, and a high one at that, to discourage a continuation. When partner gets in, he may be able to work out to shift to Spades, at a time when you’ll know how to play the suit.

Your result so far:

A: ♣K. You should look to take your tricks before declarer can enjoy dummy’s Spades. A Diamond attack rates to be too slow, but you can likely cash one or two Clubs straight off the bat. Remember, partner has shown the minors.

You shouldn’t lead just any Club, though. It could well be necessary to lead a Diamond through dummy. After all, you have the weak hand. You won’t gain the lead in another suit. Therefore, you should attempt to hold the lead in Clubs, should a switch be needed at trick two. Try the ♣K.

When the hand was played, a Club lead was needed to take two quick tricks there. Partner had the two major-suit Aces to bring the tally to four. A Diamond lead would let the contract through, enabling declarer to get a Club away from dummy. Partner had: ♠A x x ♥A ♦x x x x x ♣A Q x x.

Well, did you show these young guns what for?

Your result so far: