Terrific Tollemache by Ben Norton

A: ♣5. A Club is a stand-out. To underlead either pointed-suit honor, into the jaws of a strong no-trump, would be very risky. A trump from K x x stands to be almost as bad, often conceding a tempo and doing declarer’s work for him. After all, declarer’s primary aim is usually to draw trumps. Lead a passive Club from small cards, if only to get the ball in play without puncturing it.

Your result so far:

A: ♠3. Declarer will be looking to establish the Clubs, and when he does, he will have loads of winners. Thus, you must go on the offensive. One idea is to lead the ♦A, to get a look at dummy and a signal from partner. You can then decide which suit to turn to for your tricks. However, this is very committal and could easily blow the whole suit.

A Heart lead isn’t in the game, being from a shorter suit. Even if you hit partner with strength there, he won’t have much outside and you’ll lack the communications to develop and cash them. Between a low Diamond and a low Spade, then, a Spade is certainly best. A Diamond lead probably needs partner to hold the ♦K, and even then, you are merely taking tricks you already have. The name of the game is to establish tricks, and that’s what a Spade does. Give partner the ♠A or the ♠Q and you’ll come out smelling like roses.

On the layout, partner only had ♠10 9 x x, but it was still necessary to concede a Spade trick to declarer's ♠A Q x, in order to get the suit going. Partner had the ♥A.

Your result so far:

A: ♠3. This one is clear. You’re certainly going to attack in Spades, your longer and stronger suit, but to lead an honor is apt to block them. With no supporting intermediate cards, you should lead a low one. This way, if partner has ♠A x and they split 3-3, you’ll be able to run the suit without a problem. A low one may also simply be safer if you hit partner with no support. Give declarer ♠A J x x opposite dummy’s 10 9 x, for example. A low one grants him only two Spade tricks, while an honor lead concedes three.

Your result so far:

A: ♦A. Best attack in the unbid suit. Declarer has shown strength in Clubs and dummy has bid Spades. Thus, you should look to the Diamonds before declarer can take any discards. The ♦A is relatively safe, as one of the players around the table rates to have shortness, such that it won’t concede a trick when you could have taken two had you stayed off the suit. A Spade lead is out of the question, with your holding two likely natural trump tricks.

On the actual hand, partner had the singleton ♦K and you needed to give him a second-round ruff to set the game. Not even a low Diamond lead (perish the thought) would succeed.

Your result so far:

A: ♥6. Yes, you mustn’t lead partner’s suit. The reason being that declarer is prepared for a Spade attack. Your Diamond holding is a bad omen, for the suit will surely run. Best try the unbid suit, hoping to cash two quick tricks there, or perhaps set up a trick for partner to cash when he gains the lead with a minor Diamond honor.

The bidding didn’t really represent the hand here. Declarer had bid 6NT off ♥J x and dummy had the ♥K. Even with partner’s holding the ♣K (yes, it was a very bad contract), a Heart lead was necessary to break the slam. Muggins over here didn’t find it!

Your result so far: