Lockdown Latest by Ben Norton

A: ♠2. Declarer’s most likely shape is 1.3.5.4 as he might have bid 2♠ instead of 2NT with a doubleton. Your length in the minors suggests that dummy will have some Hearts too, in which case there’s little to be gained by leading the unbid suit, and potentially something to be lost.

There’s no need to go active when you have both of declarer’s suits covered, so lead a safe Spade through dummy’s holding.

The Spade lead indeed gave nothing away, and declarer couldn’t negotiate nine tricks by himself. A Heart would trot around to East’s ♥J and concede the contract.

Your result so far:

A: ♦2. Partner could have doubled 2♥ for the lead and didn’t do so. Indeed, the opposition are likely prepared for a Heart lead after your overcall. Try the sneak attack of a Diamond instead, hoping to find partner with length there. Nothing is safe, so you might as well go on the offensive. Declarer rates to be short in Diamonds on the bidding as well.

A Diamond lead found partner with ♦Q J 10 x x, setting up four tricks to go with the ♣A.

Your result so far:

A: ♥A. This is unlikely to blow a trick, since partner surely has at least four Hearts for his jump to game, and you will thus only regret your lead directly when declarer has ♥K x facing ♥x x. The potential gain of cashing your Heart tricks on the go, before they go away, is much greater.

Lay down the ♥A. Partner is likely to have a couple of minor-suit tricks for his double, so simply taking your winner will probably suffice.

Partner indeed had a slow trick in each minor, but you had to bank the ♥A on the go to set the contract as declarer’s Heart loser would go on the Spades otherwise.

Your result so far:

A: ♣10. Your ♠J x x x represents a likely trump trick, so you could be forgiven for not wanting to look for ruffs, which could ruin partner’s Club holding for the mere gain of your scoring a ruff with a natural trump winner. However, you have so little in the way of values that your best chance is to score two Club ruffs. You can hope to find partner with a couple of entries for this purpose.

Partner didn’t have a quick entry in either black suit and your ♠J wasn’t worth a trick as dummy had ♠A 9 x x x x facing K Q 10, but a Club lead would still bag your side a ruff as the trumps were blocked and declarer had no quick entry to the table. Partner had two Diamond winners and a Heart to complete the set.

Your result so far:

A: ♥2. It often pays to lead aggressively when declarer has pre-empted, generally denoting weakness outside his long suit. The idea is to set up and cash winners before declarer can get dummy’s tricks going.

The Heart suit offers your best chance as it will come good whenever partner has the ♥A or ♥Q. A Diamond lead requires more from partner and the chance of a third-round ruff is diminished when declarer is known to be shapely. The ♣A would be a shot in the dark.

A Heart lead actually paved the way for a ruff in partner’s hand! He had ♠A x and a singleton Heart, so upon taking the first Spade with the Ace, he could lead a Club to your Ace for a Heart ruff. Your ♠Q would come good for the setting trick.

Your result so far: