Leads Quiz 223 by David Bird

A: ♦Q. David Muller led the ♦Q, which gave nothing away. This was the deal:

____________________♠ 6
____________________♥ A 9 8 3
____________________♦ K 10 7 2
____________________♣ K 10 6 4

♠ K Q 5 3________________________♠ A J 10 9 7 4 2
♥ J 6_____________________________♥ K 7
♦ 9 8 6 4 3______________________♦ A
♣ J 7_____________________________♣ Q 8 2

____________________♠ 8
____________________♥ Q 10 5 4 2
____________________♦ Q J 5
____________________♣ A 9 5 3

Vincent Demuy, the declarer, won the diamond lead. He then ruffed three diamonds in his hand, using the trump suit for entries and leaving the ♠3 as a fourth trump entry to dummy. Using this last entry to discard a heart would not be good enough, since he might need to ruff the third round of clubs. He therefore continued with a club to the jack and king. What should North return?

North mistakenly led ace and another heart, and the contract was made. At the other table, after the same start to the play, North correctly led a low heart. After prolonged thought, declarer misguessed, playing low from his hand, and the contract went one down. It was a difficult guess for declarer.

Your result so far:

A: ♦Q. Expecting dummy's spades to provide discards, Gulevich decided to lead the ♣A instead of a diamond. It proved costly when this was the full deal:

____________________♠ Q 7 6 5
____________________♥ 9 6
____________________♦ K 9 3 2
____________________♣ J 6 2

♠ 10 9 3 2______________________♠ A K J
♥ A 10 4_________________________♥ K Q J 8 7 3 2
♦ A 4______________________________♦ 10 8
♣ K 9 4 3_______________________♣ Q

____________________♠ 8 4
____________________♥ 5
____________________♦ Q J 7 6 5
____________________♣ A 10 8 7 5

Away went the diamond loser on the ♣K and the slam was made. At the other table, eleven tricks were made in 4♥.

Your result so far:

A: ♥K. The original South liked the idea of a singleton club lead. This allowed the contract to be made.

____________________♠ K 4
____________________♥ 10 4 2
____________________♦ K J 4 2
____________________♣ Q 10 6 4

♠ A J 2____________________________♠ Q 9 6 5 3
♥ 6 3_______________________________♥ A J
♦ A 5_______________________________♦ 10 9 6 3
♣ A K J 8 5 3__________________♣ 9 7

____________________♠ 10 8 7
____________________♥ K Q 9 8 7 5
____________________♦ Q 8 7
____________________♣ 2

Declarer read the lead as a singleton. He then needed dummy's trump entries to allow him to set up the club suit. He won trick one with the club ace and continued with a low trump from dummy. North won with the king and switched to a heart. Declarer won with the ace and led a second round of clubs towards the dummy. South could not ruff profitably and discarded a heart. Declarer played another club and threw the ♥J. He then made the game by ruffing the next club with the ♠Q.

A lead of the ♥K (or a diamond) would have beaten the game.

Your result so far:

A: ♦10. You may be surprised to hear that a diamond lead is easily best, despite it being the dummy's best suit. A computer evaluation of 5000 deals that matched the bidding discovered that a diamond lead gives an 18.4% chance of beating the contract. The ♥7 or ♣K is next best, giving you a 13.4% chance.

Note that if you lead a club, the king is best and the jack second best. That's because you hope that partner has the ♣Q and are beginning to unblock. Leading the ♣4 gives you only a 9% chance of beating the game. Partner is known to hold a very weak hand, so an aggressive lead from a 3-card suit is unlikely to succeed.

Your result so far:

A: ♠J. Gavin Wolpert found the winning lead of the ♠J. This was the deal:

____________________♠ A K Q 9 8 7
____________________♥ K 6
____________________♦ Q 4 3
____________________♣ 10 4

♠ 4_______________________________♠ 10 6 5 3
♥ A J 9 8 4 3 2__________________♥ Q 7
♦ 7_______________________________♦ A K 9
♣ A 7 3 2______________________♣ K Q 9 6

____________________♠ J 2
____________________♥ 10 5
____________________♦ J 10 8 6 5 2
____________________♣ J 8 5

As you can see, any other lead would allow declarer to ditch the spade loser on a diamond.

Your result so far: