Camrose Carnival II by Ben Norton

A: ♦8. There is little reason not to lead a Diamond. A Club isn’t such an attractive alternative and East bid 3NT under pressure. He might well have only one Diamond stopper.

A Diamond lead would keep the defense a tempo ahead, beating the game.

Your result so far:

A: ♦8. You don’t want to lead into either of your opponent’s long suits, and a Club would be unduly aggressive. Underleading K x x is very dangerous, for little reward; you have no long cards to set up. There doesn’t seem to be any reason to defend actively, so a passive Diamond is best.

A Diamond lead would turn out very well, finding partner with A Q 9 x x, and set the contract.

Your result so far:

A: ♣6. Nothing indicates that an active defense is in order; you have hopes of scoring tricks in the pointed suits and you shouldn’t put that in jeopardy by leading aggressively. Still, a Heart would be too passive. A Club is the middle ground. You might score a ruff, and leading through a long suit is more attractive than leading around to one.

A rounded-suit lead would give nothing away and declarer would eventually be defeated, but a Diamond or a Spade would provide the tenth trick.

Your result so far:

A: ♥A. You have four tricks in your own hand. Don’t even think about leading a low Heart, which could give declarer a ninth trick to go with eight Diamonds in the dummy. You have lots of entries, so there’s no point in leading low. It’s cash-out time, and you should lay down the ♥A to retain the lead whilst giving nothing away.

Partner had seven Clubs and the ♠K, so you’d emerge with a nine-trick set on the ♥A lead! If you tried a low Heart, you would be writing down -600 instead.

Your result so far:

A: ♠A. Given time, you can expect to score a trick in one of the side-suits. There’s no rush. Partner probably has nothing, so a rounded-suit lead would achieve little. The more pressing concern is that you don’t want to have to lead from your hand multiple times, which could give away a trick. It’s best to disembarrass yourself of the ♠A now, which will also gift you a look at dummy to decide on your exit card.

The ♠A lead would indeed prevent an endplay, and the slam would fail. To lead anything else would allow declarer to eliminate the rounded suits and throw you in with a trump, then your enforced Diamond return would provide the slam-going trick, opening up a frozen suit.

Your result so far: