Active or Passive Lead? by Matthias Huberschwiller

A: ♠2 - South is the strong hand. If you underlead an honor, you will be playing right into a tenace.

You'd better lead a passive trump, to give nothing away, and maybe you'll prevent declarer from taking short-hand ruffs.

Your result so far:

A: ♦2 - Here, you know dummy has long Clubs and declarer will try to set them up, to discard his losers.

You need to make an aggressive lead, to try and take your tricks as quickly as possible.

Therefore, you need to lead the suit you have an honor in, Diamonds

Your result so far:

A: ♣K - There's only one way you'll take two tricks. By setting up a Club to go with the Spade Ace.

Leading your singleton would be pointless, since your partner won't have anything (definitely not an Ace).

Your result so far:

A: ♥2 - South has Spades and a weak hand. The strength in the side suits will be in dummy, so you need to make an active lead, to take your tricks before declarer can discard his losers, on the Clubs for instance.

A Diamond would be too dangerous, so you need to lead a small Heart.

Your result so far:

A: ♠2 - They have limited strength, so you need to avoid giving them a trick they don't deserve. Looking at your Club holding, you know dummy won't have good Clubs on which to discard losers.

The best lead is a trump. You won't give anything away and may prevent ruffs.

Your result so far: