Active Or Passive? by Ben Norton

A: ♣10. It’s often good tactics to lead trumps against doubled low-level contracts. The theory is that the defending side usually has the balance of power and some trump strength, so they should aim to take away declarer’s ruffing capability.

That’s certainly the case here, with your side having great strength in East’s primary suit. Partner has announced a Spade stopper and you have ♠A-Q doubleton. If you can draw dummy’s trumps, you won’t be prevented from making your rightful Spade tricks.

Lead the ♣10, not the traditional low from a doubleton in trumps, so as to protect partner’s holding as best you can. This lead is probably also the safest, since a red-suit attack could easily yield a trick.

Your result so far:

A: ♥Q. You had little choice but to convert the double, for you had nowhere to go. Your best chance of a plus-score is on defense.

The same practice of leading trumps doesn’t apply in this situation, with your broken holding and declarer’s having extreme length. In fact, on this deal, your aim should be to score your small trumps by ruffing, or perhaps via a trump promotion.

Kick off with the ♥Q. This is unlikely to blow a trick with RHO’s having a weak hand, and may well keep the defense a step ahead. A minor-suit lead is unlikely to do much good and may well permit declarer to draw your trumps.

Your result so far:

A: ♦6. Assess your defensive prospects, then decide whether to go active or passive. You have a bunch of low cards in both of the suits bid by your opponents, which argues for aggression, since Clubs (and quite possibly Hearts) won’t take long to establish and will serve as parking spots for declarer’s losers.

Lead the unbid suit in an attempt to set up tricks there. It could well be the only lead to let it through, but at least you have a plan.

Your result so far:

A: ♦A. West presumably has five-card Heart support to justify his leap to game. This, along with your poor Spade holding behind declarer’s length, argues in favor of an active defense. You should try to take your minor-suit tricks while you can.

Since you have more length in Diamonds, the ♦A is your best opening salvo. It’s unlikely that you’re owed a second trick there, but in Clubs, more tact may be required. It could be that partner has the ♦K and you need to put him on lead to play a Club through declarer’s ♣K. Alternatively, you may need to blithely attack Clubs yourself. Either way, you’ll know what to do at the sight of dummy and partner’s attitude signal.

Underleading the ♦A is not a good idea, for that could easily give up the initiative and besides, the stronger hand is on your right, so the chance of putting declarer to a trick-one guess is decreased.

Your result so far:

A: ♦8. The name of the game against No-trump slams is passivity. The opponents often have a great deal of strength and it is thus unlikely that you can both set up a trick and get in to cash it. More likely, an aggressive lead will simply give away a trick.

Your safest choice is a suit in which you don’t hold an honor. Going further, the safest out of those is the one you hold the most length in, and is therefore the least likely to hit declarer’s length, which could help him establish his own tricks. Try a Diamond.

Your result so far: