High-level Heroics by Ben Norton

A: ♠2. An aggressive lead is called for here, so you kick off with a Spade in the hope of finding partner with the King.

Holding three small trumps and the ♦A in front of the promised six-card suit in dummy, it's clear that everything is lying well for declarer. If you lead passively declarer is sure to draw trumps and give up a Diamond, and the rest of dummy's Diamonds will provide declarer with an ample source of tricks to bring home his contract.

Partner can't have a key card for the opponents must have four to go on to slam, so you can't rely on him having a trick. No, there's only one card that partner can have that gives you a chance - the ♠K. With this in mind you table the ♠2, hoping to cash your ♠Q when on lead with the ♦A.

It's true partner could have the ♦Q and declarer might have to guess the Diamonds to make his contract, but then a Spade lead doesn't rate to harm your chances, for declarer will hardly be able to discard Diamonds from hand on the Spades, a suit which dummy can have at most three cards in.

Your result so far:

A: ♣8. After the auction 1NT-6NT the opponents will have the requisite high-card strength to make a slam.

Unlike a small slam in a suit, against 6NT it’s normally right to lead passively. The reason being that when the opponents have lots of shape they’d usually land in a suit, then you’re in a rush to establish and cash winners for otherwise declarer will probably cash his long side-suit, discarding his losers.

When they’re in 6NT though they’re unlikely to have a lot of shape, so they’ll have lots of values to make up for their lack of long suit tricks. Now the key is not to give anything away.

This is especially true here, for East-West will have at least 32 high-card points between them given that West hasn’t made any attempt to play in a suit. Since you have six points partner can have at most a Queen, so an active lead will only give away what could be a vital trick.

If you lead a Heart and partner doesn’t have anything there you’re almost sure to be handing declarer a gift. But even if you do hit partner’s honor you might blow the suit, for example if he has the♥J and declarer has ♥A 10 x opposite K 9 x.

Here you should reject the aggressive Heart lead in favour of a more passive and safe lead. Your Club intermediates are almost solid, so a lead of the ♣8 will give nothing away.

You hope that declarer can only muster eleven tricks, and must give you a Heart to go with your ♦A at some point. Thus you are happy to sit back and make declarer do his own work.

Your result so far:

A: ♠J. By missing out a 4♠ cue-bid East has denied a control there, so that must be the reason why they’ve stopped short of slam.

In fact, West probably doesn’t have a Spade control either, for he might have gone on to slam with one. One thing’s for certain though, your best chance of taking three defensive tricks lies in the Spade suit.

By exploring slam only to stop in game your opponents must have great trick-taking potential, therefore it’s likely that you’ll need to cash your tricks as soon as possible. Because East has denied either of the top two Spade honors you envisage partner having strength there.

Having set your heart on a Spade lead it won’t do to just automatically lead a small one. If dummy has a stray Spade honor, most likely the King, you want to be able to pick the suit up for three tricks when partner has a strong enough tenace.

The main position you’re worried about is dummy having ♠K x x and partner A Q 10 x. However unlikely, this is the layout that warrants the ♠J lead to allow you to keep the lead and play another Spade through if dummy plays low. A low Spade would embarrass partner by leaving him to fester when in with the ♠10.

Leading the ♠J is unlikely to cost, for even if partner does think you have the ♠10 or a doubleton he won’t neglect to cash three winners if he has them, and if he doesn’t then you won’t beat the contract anyway. Here the technical advantage of the ♠J far outweighs the chance of letting the contract through and damaging partnership harmony by deceiving partner.

Your result so far:

A: ♥2. Leading a trump against a small slam isn’t usually best, for it stands to give away a tempo more often than anything else, but this case is different.

West has announced ruffing potential by showing a singleton (or void) Club with Heart support, and East’s leap to 6♥ suggests that he expects to ruff Clubs on the dummy to make his contract, why else would he so abruptly decide to play in a slam?

It’s likely that the 4♣ bid made his hand look much better, probably because he has Club length and will be able to make good use of dummy’s trumps to take care of his small cards there.

To justify his unyielding optimism declarer must have controls in both pointed suits, so neither a Spade nor a Diamond lead rates to do much damage. No, East’s main source of tricks will be Club ruffs, so you lead a trump to cut down dummy’s trump holding, knowing that you’ll be able to fire out another one when in with the CA.

In this way you hope that declarer will be unable to ruff his fourth Club on the dummy and will have to concede it at the end. Of course you’ll need partner to have stoppers in both Diamonds and Spades, but this seems likely for he’ll have length in the side-suits as a result of his known Heart void, given that you hold four trumps.

Your result so far:

A: ♣5. Without partner’s Double you would be almost blind as to the best lead, and you might as well have shuffled your ten side-suit cards before picking one out of the deck. But partner has laid your indecision to rest by making his own suggestion.

Partner has made a Lightner Double, suggesting you make an unusual lead. Here it’s hard to diagnose which suit he wants though, for you hold a depressingly insignificant group of small cards in a completely flat hand. The deciding factor is that dummy has bid a suit – Clubs.

The only inference that distinguishes between Spades, Diamonds and Clubs is the opening 1♣ bid. Partner wants you to lead dummy’s suit.

It’s likely that partner has a tenace over dummy’s Clubs, or it might be that he has two Aces and wants you to lead a Club to make sure that he has the chance to cash both of them. Either way a Club lead is best.

When partner Doubles a contract out of the blue it’s either because he knows it’s going off no matter what happens or that he wants you to find an unnatural lead. This might be because he has a Void in a suit or a tenace or just a high card that he thinks he’ll be able to cash later on.

Usually you’ll be able to discern what’s going on, for instance if you have a very long side-suit that you haven’t mentioned then partner probably wants a ruff, whereas if dummy has bid a suit and you have small cards there then that rates to be right. It’s key to listen to the auction as well, for if partner failed to Double an artificial bid that your left-hand opponent made earlier in the auction then partner won’t want that suit to be led.

Another common situation is when partner has already overcalled in a suit, thus rendering that suit to be your natural lead, but then Doubles the final contract, especially when the opponents have had a seemingly normal auction. Then his Double would stick out like a soar thumb, commanding you to wake up and directing you towards another suit.

The Lightner Double isn’t just used to deflect partner onto the right train of thought against slams. It can also be employed against game contracts, normally 3NT.

If it isn’t immediately clear which suit partner wants led from the inferences available from the auction and your own hand, then consider what you would have led without his intervention, and lead something else!

When on lead against a slam, don’t give in to the pressure. Instead take in all the information available from the auction and your own hand, then construct a plan for how you’re going to beat the contract, and if you’re happy that you’ve made a well-reasoned choice - fly with it.

Your result so far: