Leads against a slam by Matthias Huberschwiller

A: ♥7 – Against 6NT, underleading the ♠Q bears the risk of giving away the twelfth trick.

You need to lead neutrally, from your longest suit composed of only small cards; here from your hearts.

With four small cards, against NT we lead the second best rather than fourth best from a solid suit.


Your result so far:

A: ♥7 – Your best chance of beating this slam is to develop a trick for your partner in his suit and hope that he’ll be able to get on lead later.
Therefore you need to lead a heart: high from a doubleton.


Your result so far:

A: ♦A – How will you beat this slam?

You have a certain trump trick and the ♦A. Your best chance to beat the slam is to lead your Ace before South can discard his diamonds!


Your result so far:

A: ♥3 – How will you beat this slam?

It won’t be with a spade ruff; if your partner gets on lead to let you ruff, the slam will be down anyway.
As North has announced a long solid spade suit, South is likely to discard losers on dummy’s spades.
Therefore, you need to lead aggressively: the fourth best in hearts in order to establish a heart trick as long as you still have your ♣A.


Your result so far:

A: ♠7 – Your opponents stopped at the five level because they miss two aces.

You have these two aces, but where will you find the third trick to beat the contract? You’ll need to establish something in partner’s hand and it has to be either in clubs or spades.

How to choose between the two? Your partner could have doubled 5♣ if he wanted you to lead a club. As he did not do it, he is more likely to have something in spades!


Your result so far: