Wonderful World Bridge Tour by Ben Norton

A: ♥10. It’s unlikely that two rounds of Diamonds will stand up. You’ll probably need to make something of the Heart suit in any case, so you might as well lead one on the go. It could even be that a Heart ruff will provide the setting trick.

Partner had the ♠A K on the actual hand, and you needed to set up a Heart trick right away. It was necessary to lead through dummy, so this was your one chance.

Your result so far:

A: ♦9. A singleton makes for an excellent lead against a small slam in a suit. If partner has either of the red Aces, the slam will fail. It’s unlikely you can take very many Spade tricks after partner’s jump raise.

Partner had the ♠A and declarer needed to score Spade ruffs to make the hand, so he had to lose the lead before drawing trumps. Thus, a Diamond lead would set the slam.

Your result so far:

A: ♦6. You’re not going to lead a Spade as East could hold the ♠K. A trump is unlikely to do any good when dummy has extreme length, and could just concede a tempo.

The middle ground is one of the minor suits, and although you hold an honor in Clubs, needing less from partner to set up tricks, your extra length in the Club suit means any winners you establish are more likely to stand up in Diamonds.

A Diamond lead found partner with ♦A K doubleton, so two rounds of Diamonds would be followed by a Spade to the Ace and a Diamond ruff; the only defense to set the game.

Your result so far:

A: ♥7. It could be right to lead your own five-card suit, but as you don’t have many outside entries and are therefore unlikely to be able to enjoy the long Clubs, it’s perhaps better to opt for a Heart, which is at least safe. Partner could have a fair hand for his third-seat weak two.

It was all about not giving anything away on lead. A Club would gift declarer a cheap trick, while a Heart wouldn’t help him and the contract would be defeated.

Your result so far:

A: ♦7. There’s no question you should lead a Diamond. It’s often best to lead small from holdings headed by only two honors against No-trump, in order to prevent the suit from blocking or to retain a link with partner. This is especially so when you have no outside entries to your long suit.

Partner had ♦A 10 x, so you would survive by kicking off with the ♦K, but what if partner had A x and the suit split 3-3?


Your result so far: