Bermuda Bowl Best Bits by Ben Norton

A: ♠2. You hope to score a Club ruff or two, but partner might not know you have a void. Clue him in by leading an unusual Spade spot, specifically the ♠2. You have shown six Spades in the bidding, so this can scarcely be fourth-highest. Partner will instead interpret it as a suit-preference signal for Clubs.

A Spade lead established a Spade trick for your side, and partner soon provided a ruff when in on the ♥K. He could not be denied his ♣K for the fourth defensive trick.

Your result so far:

A: ♥2. A Spade attack can surely wait. Even if there are two tricks to take, partner will gain the lead for a Spade switch, which may be necessary to pick off declarer’s ♠K. You could try a Club lead, angling for a ruff, but given you don’t have a control card in trumps, that’s unlikely to come to fruition. Your best bet is to lead a trump, which won’t give anything away and might cut down on declarer’s ruffs.

On the full deal, a trump lead and continuation was necessary to hold declarer to one Spade ruff in dummy and defeat the game.

Your result so far:

A: ♥K. You can’t count on partner for much, but as little as the ♥J might suffice, or perhaps just four small Hearts with the ♥J falling doubleton. A Heart lead looks best, aiming to set up tricks, and you ought to lead the ♥K. There isn’t much risk of blocking the suit when you have two outside entries, and you may need to pin the ♥J in an opponent’s hand.

A top Heart lead found declarer with A J doubleton and partner with x x x x. You could thus score three Hearts and two Diamonds by laying down the ♥Q when you came in on the ♦K.

Your result so far:

A: ♣A. It may well be necessary to cash your Club trick, or tricks, on the go before declarer gets dummy’s Clubs away on the Spades. You could lay down the ♦A to get a look at dummy, but that might cost a crucial tempo, or perhaps even resolve a trump guess for declarer. Try the ♣A.

The ♣A would be greeted by the bare King in dummy and the Queen from partner, an obvious singleton. A Club continuation, followed by a third Club when in on the ♦A, would ensure partner could eventually overruff dummy with the doubleton ♦J for one down.

Your result so far:

A: ♥8. Pretend your opponents have bid 1NT-3NT, suggesting that dummy has length in the minors. You could still lead the ♣K, but at least one of dummy or declarer rates to have Clubs here. Try a major suit, and since partner could have doubled 2♠ but didn’t, a Heart is your best bet, specifically the ♥8 (second-highest from a bad suit).

A Heart struck gold when partner had K J x x x over dummy’s Q 9 doubleton. The lead set up four tricks to go with partner’s ♠A entry. On any other start, declarer would have enough time to establish his Spades.

Your result so far: