Leads against a Slam by Matthias Huberschwiller

A: 9♦ - Against 6 NT, you need to hope that your opponents won't be able to make 12 tricks, and choose a passive lead. Leading a Spade or a Heart is too dangerous and may very well give declarer an undue 12th trick.

Let's lead a passive Diamond and hope he won't make it.

Your result so far:

A: 2♥ - What are your opponents going to do? They will give you your Ace of Clubs and will then discard their Heart loser(s) on dummy's Clubs.

How can you stop them? You need to set up a Heart while you still have the Ace of Clubs, by leading them. You need to hope for your partner to have the King.

Your result so far:

A: Q♣ - It's tempting to lead your singleton, but let's think about it for a minute. Your opponents have got to the slam via Blackwood. You have an Ace, so you know that your partner won't have one.

The point of leading a singleton is to get a ruff from your partner. But as he's not going to get on lead, he won't be able to give it to you. You'd do much better by leading your Club sequence and hoping to set up a trick there, in addition to your Ace of Hearts.

Your result so far:

A: 2♠ - Your opponents have made a quantitative bid and stopped in 4 NT. You need to lead as if you were leading against 3 NT.

Since they have not shown either major, you should choose Spades over Diamonds, and lead your 4th best.

Your result so far:

A: 2♦ - You have a good sequence in Spades, that should be safe, but your partner has doubled the 5♦ bid. That means he's got good Diamonds, and is asking you to lead them.

Your result so far: