Terrific Tollemache by Ben Norton

A: ♥A. There's usually a lot of guesswork done during an uninformative auction like this one. As such, your opponents could easily be off two quick tricks. However, it’s unlikely that even one round of Diamonds will stand up, seeing as partner rates to have six of them for his raise.

Try the ♥A. It could well be that you’re able to give partner a ruff. If not, you can decide on the best continuation after seeing the dummy.

Your result so far:

A: ♣4. East is prepared for a Spade lead, so he probably has the ♠A K, making it very unlikely that you can run your longest suit. A Club attack, on the other hand, may well catch declarer off guard. He needn’t hold anything in Clubs, having perhaps been forced to try 3NT on an inappropriate hand, lacking the shape for a Double.

Your result so far:

A: ♥2. Your holdings in the opponents’ suits don’t bode well for the defense. Both Spades and Diamonds are breaking well for declarer, indicating that he'll succeed if he’s left to it. You must lead aggressively, hoping to set up one of the rounded suits.

Although you have longer Clubs, you need less from partner to establish the Hearts, thanks to your stronger holding in that suit. Meanwhile, partner’s more likely to have five Hearts than five Clubs.

Another important consideration is that declarer may well be lacking a formidable Heart stopper on this auction. If he was worried about the Clubs, he could have bid 3♥, but there was no such bid available to convey concern in the Heart suit.

Your result so far:

A: ♣A. Partner can’t have much, so you’ll be doing all of the work from your side of the table. As such, it would be a mistake to kick off with the ♣J. There could be a singleton honor in dummy, granting declarer a second stopper. You should lay down the ♣A with the intention of continuing the suit.

If East bid 3NT on power, which is unlikely, you expect to gain the lead at least twice more to set up and cash the Clubs, even when your opponents have two stops. More likely is that declarer has long, running Diamonds. If this is the case, it could be necessary to establish your winners in one go. The ♣A is your best shot at this.

Your result so far:

A: ♥10. Partner does have the vast majority of the defensive strength, suggesting that you should attempt to set up the long suit in his hand, the one with the entries. However, East’s unilateral 3NT call is very likely to be based on an excellent Spade holding, else he would have taken a slower route to keep other strains in the game.

Your best chance is to cash the Heart suit. You’ll probably need to find partner with three of them, but that’s not too unlikely.

Your result so far: