Mix and Match 8 by Ben Norton

A: ♦4. Under normal circumstances you’d lead a low Spade, because that’s the stronger of your two five-card suits and you can expect to take more tricks there. However, East jumped to 3NT knowing of your Spade length. He has Spades sewn up but he doesn’t know about your Diamond length. Given this you stand a better chance of setting up your Diamonds than your Spades.

Your result so far:

A: ♦A. Leading the ♦A will be necessary when partner has five of them, such that you’re cashing the suit, and declarer has nine on top. Otherwise it will give you a look at dummy and help you decide the best course for the defense. It could be that you need to lead through dummy’s Club tenace around to partner’s strength there. You have Spades stopped so declarer is unlikely to have lots of quick tricks, but leading a Heart or a Club on the go would be too unilateral, since you don’t have enough information to know where the defense is going at this point. The downside of the ♦A lead is that it could give up a tempo if declarer needs a diamond trick for his contract, or a trick if declarer has something like Q J x.

A Heart is a close second, since you won’t blow a trick by leading from x x x, and you might find partner with strength there. However, you don’t want partner to return a Heart if the ♥A is his only entry and a Diamond switch is in order. Therefore if you lead a Heart it should be the Seven, your highest spot card to deny an honor and make a switch more appealing to partner. The normal second-highest Five might be misinterpreted.

Your result so far:

A: ♦K. It looks like both sides have a double fit, so you need to be active on lead, otherwise dummy’s trick source in Clubs will come to life. Holding the ♣A, there can be no rush to cash a Heart trick if you can get one. If it turns out that an opponent has a Diamond void and the ♥A, and you needed to lead a Heart to set up a trick there, then you were never beating the contract, unless partner has another trick, then you can play on Hearts later.

A top Diamond gains because you can get a look at dummy. It may be necessary to give partner a Club ruff to beat the contract. His count signal on the ♦K will help you work out what to do. If dummy has a singleton Diamond then partner’s suit preference signal will clear things up completely.

Your result so far:

A: ♦Q. Since the stronger of the opponents’ hands is on your right, a black suit lead is too likely to give something away. If you try the ♣A you might be able to take a ruff when partner has the King, but more often you’ll be blowing a trick. Also, even if partner does have the ♣K you might not be able to take a ruff. Declarer could easily have a doubleton Club, then your ♥4 won’t be enough to over-ruff him. It’s best to set about establishing some tricks, and Diamonds is the best source for that.

Your result so far:

A: ♠K. This is a risk, but the auction suggests that the opponents have Hearts sewn up, since partner didn’t take the opportunity to double 3♥ for the lead. With this in mind, a Heart lead carries too much of a danger of presenting declarer with a cheap trick. What’s more, the minor suits seem to be lying fairly well for declarer. Your best hope for taking five tricks is to find partner with five Spades, far from impossible given that West would have Doubled holding Spades. East will be prepared for a Heart lead into his supposed tenace, but he might not even have Spades stopped at all.

Your result so far: