Year End Extravaganza II by Ben Norton

A: ♠5. You have the majority of your side’s strength and should therefore look to establish your own suit. Partner won’t have enough entries to set up the Clubs, especially when you have only one.

What’s more, it’s best to lead a low Spade, to unblock the suit when partner holds the likes of ♠Q x, or to keep in touch with partner when he has a small doubleton and the suit is splitting 3-3.

A low Spade lead would set the game, paving the way to score four Spade tricks when your side gained the lead.

Your result so far:

A: ♠Q. Partner won’t have much, but you can still see potential for three tricks together in Hearts, Diamonds and Clubs. There is little danger of declarer running the black suits, in which case there’s no rush to cash your Heart tops. In fact, to lead out the ♥A could gift declarer a tempo or give him a trick by force.

Attacking in Clubs would be too dangerous. You should lead the normal ♠Q, throwing the ball into play. Partner might be short in Spades as well, putting declarer under pressure. It sounds like West was waiting to convert 1♠X to penalties, but the extra length in dummy shouldn't deter you. In fact, it's unlikely that declarer will score more than two Spade tricks this way.

Only a Spade lead would defeat the contract. Dummy had three trumps and a singleton Heart. Declarer would have to draw trumps to prevent partner from scoring a second-round Spade ruff, but then he wouldn’t be able to ruff the Hearts good. If you led the ♥A, declarer could afford two Heart ruffs before drawing trumps.

Your result so far:

A: ♥K. It pays to lead aggressively when declarer has shown a weak hand. Lead from your strong Heart holding. Even if dummy comes down with Heart values, there’s no danger of quick discards because you’re ruffing the third round. Indeed, you might even score a ruff as the setting trick.

On the ♥K lead, partner would overtake the second round and continue the suit. Declarer, holding ♦K Q J 8 x x x, would ruff high and you would discard. Then you would capture the ♦K and cross to partner’s ♠A, whereupon a fourth Heart lead would promote your ♦7.

Your result so far:

A: ♥6. Your opponents can’t have enough for game in high cards after they tried to stop in partscore. They must be bidding on shape, and since you have both pointed suits sewn up, you should look to limit declarer’s ruffing potential. Lead a trump and then wait for your tricks to come to you.

A trump lead would set the hand, holding declarer to only two Diamond ruffs in dummy.

Your result so far:

A: ♣A. It looks unnatural to lead a singleton when you have two likely trump tricks, but those two trump tricks might shrink into one if dummy has a Spade honor, and at any rate, a Diamond lead isn’t necessarily safe.

By laying down the ♣A, you’ll not only pave the way for a possible ruff, but you’ll also get a look at dummy and you can plan your defense from a more informed position.

The defense had four tricks to take: one Spade, two Hearts and a Club, but on a Diamond lead, declarer would be able to throw his Heart losers on dummy’s ♦A K Q and make the hand.

Your result so far: