Winter Wonderland II by Ben Norton

A: ♣3. Just lead your five-card suit. Even though you have a weak hand with no outside entries, you might still be able to set the Clubs up and cash them. Partner might have the ♣A-K, or something like ♣K-x-x with the ♣A doubleton in dummy, or a four-card holding, albeit that’s unlikely after West didn’t use Stayman.

If you had reason to believe that partner had strength in a major, you’d lead one of them, but you don’t here. A Heart or a Spade would be a shot in the dark.

A Club was the winner. Partner had ♣K-J-x-x and your ♦Q stopped the run of dummy’s long Diamonds. You would get in with the ♦Q to cash four Club tricks.

Your result so far:

A: ♣J. Yes, declarer has bid Clubs, but he might only have three of them. The biggest thing going for the ♣J is that it rates to be safe. A Spade could easily give away a trick, and you’d much prefer partner to broach the suit from his side of the table. Leading from Ace-fourth is rarely a good idea.

A Diamond was best on the actual hand, but a Club gave nothing away. In all likelihood, declarer would make his contract anyway, but a Spade made life easy for him by giving him a quick trick with the ♠K.

Your result so far:

A: ♦Q. Again, there’s little reason not to lead your five-card suit, especially since a major-suit lead could take one of declarer’s finesses for him. Often, with all the strength concentrated in one hand, declarer is short of entries and it’s best not to catch partner’s honors.

The ♣Q from your short suit could be the winner, but dummy rates to have Club length and you don’t have long cards you can establish there. In other words, a Club has more downsides than a Diamond, and fewer upsides.

The matter of which Diamond to lead is pertinent. The Queen is the traditional card when you have the nine to back it up, but when most of the strength is concentrated on your right, there’s less need to pick up dummy’s ♦K. Still, leading low could give declarer a cheap trick with the ♦10. This could be a close-run thing, so you should avoid giving declarer a trick on the lead. Try the ♦Q.

A Diamond lead didn’t work particularly well on the hand, but then nothing would. In all likelihood, the contract would die a death on passive defense. However, the ♦Q was much better than a small one. Dummy had ♦10-x-x and declarer A-K-x-x. Leading low would allow declarer a quick third trick and an entry to dummy by rising with the 10, while leading the ♦Q would force him to lose a trick in the suit in order to establish dummy’s ♦10.

Your result so far:

A: ♣10. Holding two likely natural trump tricks, you shouldn’t seek to take Diamond ruffs, which could carve up partner’s holding in the suit. You do better to attack in Clubs from your sequence, which may set up tricks for your side. It could even be necessary to force declarer on some layouts.

A Club lead was optimum on the full deal. Declarer had lots of tricks in the side-suits and your best chance was indeed to force him.

Your result so far:

A: ♥A. Partner has made a vulnerable overcall, so he surely has a good suit, right? Yes, but that might not be enough. East’s jump to 3NT is almost certainly based on long Diamonds and a good Spade holding. There’s a danger that he might be able to run nine tricks off the top if you don’t cash five tricks yourselves, or a Spade lead might just set up his ninth trick.

On cash-out hands of this type, you should lead an Ace to retain the lead and survey the battleground in preparation for your trick-two play. Even better when you have an Ace-King.

Declarer had six solid Diamonds, the ♣A and ♠K-J-x facing dummy’s ♠Q and ♥Q-x-x-x. A Spade lead would therefore concede the game, while a Heart lead and Club shift would beat it two, finding partner with ♣K-Q-x.

Your result so far: