Surfing the Net - Part III by Ben Norton

A: ♠A. You should lay down the ♠A to get a look at dummy and decide what to do next. You may also need to bank your Spade trick before it goes away. After partner’s jump raise, it’s very unlikely that the ♠A will blow a trick.

It could well be that dummy has a source of tricks in Diamonds, in which case you must cash your side’s black-suit tricks pronto. It would be too risky to lead a Club on the go, though. That could give declarer the contract.

On the full deal, the defense had two Club tricks and the ♠A to take, but only if they were cashed straight off the bat.

Your result so far:

A: ♦A. Declarer has shown a very good hand, so partner can’t be counted on for much, especially in Clubs, having failed to double the 4♣ cue-bid. You should look to take four tricks in the red suits, and the most likely way you can do that is by scoring two Diamond ruffs in partner’s hand.

Kick off with the ♦A, intending to continue with the ♦10 as a suit preference signal for a Heart return. If something suggests that partner isn’t ruffing the next Diamond, you might try a switch. Leading Aces from very long suits rarely gives anything away.

Partner had very little, but he did hold a singleton Diamond. The ♦A lead would enable you to supply two Diamond ruffs.

Your result so far:

A: ♦A. East must have a lot of shape to pull 3NT. He probably has very long Diamonds, and your task is to cash out your tricks quickly.
You can see two defensive tricks. It’s not clear where the other one will come from, but it would be wrong to place bets on any of the three plain suits at this early stage.

You should kick off with the ♦A so you can see the dummy whilst retaining the lead, then make an appropriate switch.

It could be that you want to shift to the ♣K, but if dummy comes down with strong Spades, the ♥A might be appropriate. Dummy could even hold strength in both Hearts and Clubs, in which case you might switch to a Spade, hoping to establish partner’s ♠K before your ♥A is knocked out.

The key point is not to gamble with your opening lead, but to keep all your options open. The ♦A is very unlikely to blow a trick, with East’s having driven to 5♦ facing what could be a void.

On the actual hand, the defense had to take their two Heart tricks before the rats got at them, so you would beat it if you led a red card.

Your result so far:

A: ♠J. It’s no use leading partner’s suit. He can’t have a great deal, certainly not enough to set up and cash the Clubs. To lead the ♣9 might do declarer’s work for him.

You should attack in your own long suit, all the better when you have a strong sequence. You might set up some tricks for yourself, or you could simply give nothing away.

A Spade lead was needed, but not to set the suit up. Repeated Spade leads would destroy declarer’s communications, breaking up an eventual squeeze.

Your result so far:

A: ♠A. West’s most likely shape is 4.3.1.5, and East rates to have some Diamond wastage for his 3♠ sign-off. This distribution bears all the hallmarks of a cross-ruff hand.

If you lead the normal-looking ♥J, declarer will surely look to ruff Diamonds in dummy and Clubs in his hand, and he will succeed. You won’t be able to overruff the Clubs and partner probably won’t be able to overruff the dummy in Diamonds.

You must strive to cut down on declarer’s ruffs. Get your ♠A out of the way before shifting to the ♥J, in the hope that partner can gain the lead to continue trumps. If this is successful, declarer will be able to take at most five trump tricks, assuming a 4-4 fit. With Clubs splitting badly for him, he’ll struggle to rein in five side-suit tricks on top of that.

The ♠A lead was necessary to defeat the game, which declarer would indeed have played on a cross-ruff. Partner would gain the lead in Hearts to continue trumps.

Your result so far: