White House Wonders by Ben Norton

A: ♥3. The odds are good that partner has a Heart void. In which case, you can give him a trick one ruff and signal your Club entry at the same time by leading a suit preference ♥3. A minor-suit attack doesn’t appear to be pressing with declarer having limited Heart discards available.

This lead will only go wrong when declarer has a Heart void and dummy the ♥A Q, but that’s unlikely and besides, by leading dummy’s suit, you may convince declarer to reject the Heart finesse should the suit be split 6-5-1-1 around the table, and perhaps even cause him to place you with Heart shortness and misplay the trumps.

The Heart lead struck gold on the actual layout, finding partner with a void. The defense took the first four tricks after partner heeded the signal.

Your result so far:

A: ♦K. Dummy often has a source of tricks of its own in this scenario, having failed to try 3NT. It might therefore be pivotal to take partner’s presumed side-suit winner immediately. However, you’re on a blind guess right now.

In order to get a look at dummy and a discard (presumably) from partner without giving up the initiative, you should lay down a big trump, specifically the King, to let partner in on the joke.

A red-suit lead was necessary to beat this. Partner had the ♥A to cash, but on a black-suit lead, declarer would be able to get his singleton Heart away before touching trumps.

Your result so far:

A: ♠2. To bid so briskly, East can’t be afraid of a side-suit lead, nor can he be missing another Diamond honor. Your best shot is to angle for a Spade ruff. Dummy’s most likely shape is 3=4=1=5, so partner could easily have two trumps.

A Heart lead would be too dangerous. Besides, it might not be necessary to set up a quick trick, due to the poor Club split. Of course, leading your singleton Club would be pointless, for if partner has the ♣A, you're beating this come what may.

Kick off with a Spade, intending to continue the suit when you gain the lead with the ♦A. It doesn’t matter much which Spade you lead. There’s no need to be honest when partner won’t be involved in the defensive decision-making.

On the actual deal, partner had nothing of consequence, save a singleton Spade. The Spade lead paved the way for a ruff perfectly.

Your result so far:

A: ♥9. As is normally the case when the opponents have freely bid to their contract, or when partner has Doubled 'out of the blue', this is a Lightner Double, asking for an unusual lead. Normally, it asks you to lead dummy’s first-bid suit. However, a Diamond lead can hardly be right here, with partner having bid two suits and dummy rebidding Diamonds.

In these situations, it’s best to ask yourself what you would have led without the Double. Here, that’s clearly a Club. Partner rates to have five Clubs for his 3♣ bid. If he has four, they will be good ones to bother mentioning them at all, especially when it was likely that the opponents would buy the contract. Thus, a Club lead would rate to establish the whole suit, while needing the least from partner.

Making the unnatural lead, you should attack in partner’s first suit, Hearts. Partner must have excellent Hearts, perhaps even good enough to run. After all, it could be vital to cash out immediately, with dummy’s long Diamonds looming.

A Heart lead was the killer when the hand was played, partner having ♥A K Q 10 x (all cashing) and ♣Q 9 x x x with seven running Diamonds in dummy. Partner rightly reasoned that because you hadn’t raised Hearts, you would often prefer a Club lead to a Heart. He wanted to put you on the right track, for good reason.

Your result so far:

A: ♠10. With dummy known to have at most one Heart, a Heart lead may appeal, but East heard his partner bid 3♥ and must have the suit under lock and key to insist on 3NT. Also, partner didn’t Double 3♥ for the lead. Given your poor Heart spots, it follows that a Heart lead would only do declarer’s work for him.

You should turn to your other long suit, Spades. Dummy won’t have four Spades, and your three-card sequence makes this all the more attractive. You hope to set the Spades up to cash when you gain the lead with the ♣K or ♥A.

The layout required a Spade lead. Partner had ♠A x x x and the ♦K sitting over dummy's Ace. Partner could win the ♠A and shift to Clubs, stealing a trick for your ♣K. You would then revert to Spades, establishing a second trick there to go with the red-suit tops. A Heart lead would have given declarer a crucial tempo to establish his red-suit winners in time.

Your result so far: