Summer Shenanigans by Ben Norton

A: ♥5. Your double was penalties of Spades, willing to defend Hearts. Since partner has passed, he must have something in Hearts.

How is declarer going to take tricks? Only by ruffing his long Spades in dummy. To prevent him from doing so, you should lead a trump. If you can prevent declarer from taking ruffs, he won’t have anywhere to go. Your side’s overwhelming power in the side-suits will come into its own.

Yes, partner will be overruffing the dummy, but it’s still preferable to take two opposition trumps for the price of one.

In trumps, it’s normal procedure to lead low from two small cards.

Your result so far:

A: ♥A. East likely has a good hand with running Clubs, so partner might have something. It would certainly be naïve to attack Diamonds, for declarer definitely has the ♦K and that could be his ninth trick. Nor can a passive lead be right, for East might have nine on top.

You’d best lay down a top Heart to see the lay of the land. If partner encourages, you intend to put him in with the ♥Q for a Diamond shift. If he discourages, you’ll look elsewhere.

Your result so far:

A: ♥6. You’re clearly going to lead a Heart, and a case can be made for both the King and a low one. The ♥K might pin a doubleton Jack in either opponent’s hand, but that’s unlikely to help. With your only possible entry, the ♠K, sitting beneath the length in the strong hand, you’d better count on the Hearts to run, or at least provide communication with partner.

The ♥K might not give away a cheap trick, but it has little to gain in terms of setting up the Hearts, your primary goal. To amplify your chances of running the suit, you should kick off with a low one. This will serve to unblock when partner has ♥A x.

If you had the ♥9, it would be different, for then the ♥K lead might be able to overcome a blockage. As it is, with such weak spot-cards, the odds favor a low one.

Your result so far:

A: ♥7. You could argue in favor of a Diamond lead, but with declarer having bid the suit, such an attack is unlikely to work, especially when you consider that you have no outside entries and that partner won’t have more than a doubleton Diamond on the bidding.

West has all but denied four Hearts or five Spades with his failure to inquire over 1NT, so unless he has an unbalanced hand with Club length, he’s got some Diamonds.

Between the rounded-suits, your best shot is a Heart – the suit West has denied length in. You also have more Hearts, meaning that if you hit partner’s five-card suit, you have a better chance of setting them up.

The ♥7 is the card to lead. This way, partner won’t mistake you for having strength in the suit. The three is potentially ambiguous.

Your result so far:

A: ♥5. You have all the side-suits sewn up, so how is declarer going to make tricks? By taking ruffs in the short hand, or perhaps even by eloping with dummy’s small trumps. Best lead a trump to stop that from happening. Partner will have strong Hearts, after all.

Just as with the first hand, it’s often a good idea to lead trumps against doubled partscores, unless you know the trumps are all stacked on your right, after a preemptive opening, perhaps.

Yes, all the answers required a Heart lead. Just a coincidence!

Your result so far: