Premier Problems by Ben Norton

A: ♣4. East surely has a Diamond void on the auction; he didn’t bid Blackwood, after all. The ♦A can’t be standing up and there’s a good chance it would establish a trick in dummy. It can’t be necessary to lead a major suit either, since partner won’t hold an Ace.

You have West’s side-suit under complete control and should lead a trump to cut down on ruffs. It could be that declarer intends to play the hand on a big crossruff.

A trump was the only winning lead, preventing declarer from scoring ten trumps separately. You eventually came to the ♦A for the setting trick.

Your result so far:

A: ♠5. It’s most unlikely that you can run the Heart suit from your side of the table as partner didn’t raise. Spades is the suit you want to attack, but it may be necessary to keep a link with partner if he holds a singleton Heart. Lead the ♠5, second-highest from no honor.

A Spade lead was the only winner, establishing a trick in that suit to go with partner’s Club stopper and three eventual Heart tricks, with declarer’s holding Q x x x. A top Heart lead would limit the defense to only two Heart winners and concede the game.

Your result so far:

A: ♥Q. You would normally lead low from Q J x x x without any spot-cards, to unblock the suit when partner has a doubleton honor. However, that’s not possible here, with his having raised your suit. There’s very little to gain by leading low, and cracking off the ♥Q might serve to pin a significant singleton in dummy.

Dummy came down with the singleton ♥10 facing declarer’s A K x. Leading a small one would be immediately fatal.

Your result so far:

A: ♣Q. Partner likely has a good trump holding for his penalty double. In that case, Heart ruffs won’t avail the defense even if partner is short in Hearts, and a Heart lead might allow declarer to take some quick discards. Kick off with a Club from your sequence instead, aiming to set up tricks.

A Club lead secured two tricks in that suit to go with two Spade winners. A Heart lead would be into dummy’s A K J 10, allowing declarer two pitches for his Clubs.

Your result so far:

A: ♠4. You have all the side-suits sewn up, so there’s no danger that declarer will get his losers away quickly. In such scenarios, it often pays to lead trumps, cutting down on declarer’s ruffing power. That is, after all, how he will score his tricks.

It’s best to lead low from a doubleton trump in principle, to preserve your higher spot-cards to overruff declarer later on.

A trump lead set the contract, but only if you chose the ♠4. The ♠9 would gift declarer a second-round entry to dummy with its ♠8 x x x x, sufficient for declarer to ruff dummy’s Diamonds good.

Your result so far: