Taxing Trials by Ben Norton

A: ♠A. You would be guessing as to which of your long suits to attack in. Best lay down a top Spade first to see the dummy. You’ll then have a better idea of what to do next. You could even be cashing the Spade suit. If you receive an encouraging signal from partner, you’ll continue with the ♠K.

It’s unlikely that the ♠A will cost. The strong hand is on your right, so if partner doesn’t have the ♠Q, declarer probably has it and you won’t even be sacrificing a tempo. On the actual hand, partner had ♠Qxxxx and you needed to cash the first five tricks to beat the game.

Your result so far:

A: ♦5. This is a good time to lead your doubleton. You have control of trumps and a likely entry to partner’s hand. You’re unlikely to take more than one Heart trick, which isn’t going anywhere, and a Club attack would be dangerous. A Diamond is unlikely to give anything away, and may gain.

On the hand, a Diamond had to be led to set the contract. Partner had ♦KQx and ♥AQJxxx. To lead a Heart first would cut the defensive communications, allowing declarer to hold up once on a Diamond shift, to good effect.

Your result so far:

A: ♠7. You have no reason to lead anything other than a Spade. You don’t have any outside entries, but anything else would be a shot in the dark. Who knows, partner could have four Spades, or Hxx with declarer unable to hold up twice. It’s only a matter of which card.

You could argue that the ♠Q is best, since it’s your only time on lead and you’d like to be able to play twice through dummy’s potential ♠Kxx. However, declarer rates to have a Spade honor for his strong no-trump. A low Spade is best, aiming to unblock the suit.

A low Spade was indeed necessary on the hand, if only from a psychological perspective. Dummy had ♠xx, ♦KQ108xx and one outside entry, while declarer held ♠A109x and ♦xx. On the ♠Q lead, declarer would be safe to win and play a Diamond to the 10, willing to give up an early trick in the suit (to keep the link) as the Spades were known to be blocked. Thus, he’d get the Diamonds right. A low Spade lead would put him to a guess, for the defense would be threatening to establish the suit.

Your result so far:

A: ♥3. West rates to be 6.2.4.1 in view of his raise to 3♥. You should therefore seek to protect your Club strength by leading a trump, cutting down dummy’s ruffing power. East didn’t own up to a fit in either pointed suit, so partner probably has those sewn up.

A trump lead produced a two-trick set on the deal (although declarer went three off, trying for a miracle). Anything else would either concede a tempo or allow declarer to ruff a Club in the dummy.

Your result so far:

A: ♥5. A Heart lead is a stand-out, but you still have to choose between the ♥10 and ♥5. The former could serve to pick up dummy’s ♥Jxx when partner has the ♥Q, but that’s a very specific scenario, and the ♥10 would only help establish the suit if partner had ♥Qxx. A low Heart is best, so as to retain the ♥109 for later use. Dummy could have a singleton honor, or it could be that merely keeping the good spots causes declarer’s downfall.

That was the case on the actual deal. Declarer had to knock out partner’s ♦K to reach nine tricks, and he had weakness in the Spade suit. He therefore decided to play low from dummy’s ♥Qx at trick one, capturing partner’s ♥J with his K8xx. He reasoned that this would prevent partner from winning the ♥A and shifting to Spades, and even if Hearts were 5-2, the suit would likely be blocked. Not today. Upon winning the ♦K, partner’s Heart return allows you to run the suit.

Your result so far: