Terrific Trumps by Ben Norton

A: ♥4. It seems oh-so natural to lead partner’s suit, but hold your horses. Your side has a fair amount of power and all the side-suits are under control. How will declarer make his tricks? Surely by taking ruffs in dummy. Try to cut down on those ruffs by leading trumps, effectively protecting your slow Club tricks.

A Heart lead was needed to prevent a Club ruff in dummy. You would eventually come to three Club tricks and the ♦A.

Your result so far:

A: ♠9. It isn’t attractive to lead from unsupported Queens in general, especially around to a strong hand. There’s nothing to suggest declarer will have extra resources at his disposal, so this is no time for desperation. Put the ball in play with a safe Spade lead from small cards. Who knows, you might even score a third-round ruff.

A minor-suit attack would give the contract immediately, while declarer would have a guess on a Spade lead.

Your result so far:

A: ♠3. Neither. In similar fashion to the first deal, your side has a great deal of strength and values in all of the side-suits. Declarer will be looking to ruffs for his tricks, and you should lead a trump to cut down on them. Cashing even one top card in the minors could blow a crucial tempo.

A trump lead and later continuation would hold declarer to nine tricks, limiting him to one ruff in dummy.

Your result so far:

A: ♥J. East must have a lot of shape, but he’s unlikely to hold more than five Spades. He may well have tried 4♠ otherwise. In that case, you might manage to wrest trump control away from declarer on successive Heart leads, forcing him to ruff multiple times.

This is not the time for a singleton Diamond lead, which would only serve to help declarer set his side-suit up. In general, holding four trumps headed by a top card, a forcing defense is more attractive than going for ruffs.

A Heart lead kept the defense a tempo ahead. You could duck the first two Spades and win the third, then continue Hearts once the dummy was denuded of trumps. Declarer would suffer a further force upon setting up his Diamonds and would lose control of the hand.

Your result so far:

A: ♠5. A double of a freely-bid slam is usually Lightner, asking for an unusual lead. This would normally indicate a side-suit void, but that can’t possibly be the case here. Partner surely has short trumps, and can’t really have twelve cards in two suits for his 3♦ bid.

No, it seems like partner is doubling on tricks outside Diamonds, and wants you to find his strength. A Diamond lead is therefore out, but which major should you try? You likely have a trump trick, so simply finding partner’s Ace should be good enough.

It might be natural to lead a Heart from small cards, but it could prove expensive if you don’t find partner’s strength. If you lead the wrong major, there’s a fair chance that declarer, who must have something exceptional himself on the auction, perhaps a freak two-suiter, can pitch all of dummy’s losers in the other major before you get in with the ♣K.

Declarer may well have five Heart tricks ready to roll. However, if you lead a Spade and that’s wrong, your ♠Q will stop the fourth round and may be enough to prevent declarer from getting dummy’s losers away.

Partner held the ♠A K, and both of them stood up for a two-trick set. Declarer was 2.5.0.6 with solid Hearts, so any other lead would let the slam home; declarer could cash the ♣A then run his Hearts for three Spade pitches, losing only one Club trick.

Your result so far: