Leading Against Slams by Matthias Huberschwiller

A: ♣A - With the Spades breaking badly, the slam is likely to go down, since you have a natural trump trick.

Cash your Ace as soon as possible.

Your result so far:

A: ♦J - It's not always right to lead an Ace against a slam. It might help declarer when he's missing a trick. It's best to make a neutral Diamond lead.

You might lead an Ace at matchpoints when you think declarer might be making an overtrick if you don't cash it right away.

Your result so far:

A: ♦K - Listen to the bidding sequence. East-West have tried for a slam, but didn't bid one. Why?

Because they don't have a Diamond control. This means your partner has the Ace. Lead your ♦K.

Your result so far:

A: ♦7 - Your opponents have stopped at the 5-level. Your partner will have two keycards (or one keycard and the ♥Q).

Therefore, if he has two tricks, your best shot of making a trick of your own is with a Diamond ruff. Lead your doubleton and hope your partner can play a third round of Diamonds later on, for you to ruff.

Your result so far:

A: ♥2 - Dummy will have long Clubs, since he has shown an unbalanced hand with 15-17 points.

To prevent declarer from discarding his losers, you need to make an aggressive lead, to set up a Heart trick while you still have the ♠A.

Your result so far: