If you enjoyed Part 1 and Part 2 of this test, lets go ahead with more hands. And remember! After you see the dummy, before to run the trick to your hand...
STOP!!!
Count your tricks and your losers.
Plan your play.
Plan your entries.
Ask your opponents about their leads and carding system.
And only then start to play.
Try to make your
decision before you look at the solution.
No peeking!
The following hands are your test. Give yourself 10 point for each time
you made the contract, and 0 for making the wrong decision. Be honest!
Did you score well?
For the purpose of this test we'll assume, about the leads:
4th best against NT always promises an honor, denies
sequence (3cards sequence, full or broken vs NT, and 2 card sequence vs trump).
Low lead in Partner's suit promises honor.
2nd best from a suit without honor.
10 and 9 leads are either top of nothing (1098x,
987x) or 2 higher (KJ10xx, Q109xx)
Start the test now!
21. Partner leads the ♠4 against 3NT (South opened 1NT and on North's stayman he bid 2♦). What do you do?
Partner is very weak, having max 2 points, 1 of them is the ♠J. He therefore has Jxx4x in spade as South denied majors in the bidding. If you win the Ace and continue with the ♠Q, declarer will hold up, win the ♠K next, and West has no entry to his hand. Play the ♠Q(!) at trick 1. South must win, as from his point of view West has AJx4 and if he doesn't take the ♠K now he will not take it at all (he must hope spades break 4-4). After winning the ♥A you can continue with ♠A and a 3rd spade to Partner's ♠J and the rest of the spades sets the contract.
22. South plays 3NT and West leads the ♠9, after you overcalled 1♠ (North opened 1♦ and South bid 3NT). What do you do?
Play low too (best to encourage with the ♠7), as South surely has ♠Qxx, promising a spade stopper for his 3NT bid. If you win and play another spade, you will not have enough entries to develops the spade suit. If you play low, South will win the ♠J and play on diamonds. West will take the ♦K and play another spade, and now you have the ♦A as entry to the good spades.
23. North opened the bidding with 3♦ and South bid 3NT. What do you lead?
South plays 3NT. If the bidding goes 1NT-3NT, you naturally lead the ♣J. But when it's clear that opponents are planning on taking their 9 tricks off the top (like here, where the bidding went 3♦ - 3NT, or against a 3NT gambling opening), basing their bid on a long suit, it's important to make an active opening lead. Lead one of your aces, say ♥A. Partner will discourage with the ♥2 and you will try the ♠A. When Partner encourages, continue with another spade and defense takes 6 tricks right away.
A naive club lead will allow declarer to cash their 9 tricks. Notice that by bidding 3NT, declarer must have a good Diamond holding, normally 3 cards, or 2 with a top honor. He would mostly be exposed in 1 suit, and it is important for the defense to find quickly his weakness and take their tricks fast.
24. South opened 1♥, North bid 1♠, South rebid 2♣ and North passed. What do you lead?
North has longer clubs and short Hearts. That sequence of bidding demands a trump lead, to prevent declarer from ruffing hearts in the short hand. Lead a low Club. Defender should play 3 rounds of clubs (♣AK and a 3rd club) and declarer cannot avoid losing 3 Hearts tricks. Any other lead and declarer makes overtricks via cross ruff.
25. South plays 4♥. What do you lead?
You have a weak trump suit and a singleton. Lead the singleton Diamond. Good chance that Partner might be able to win the lead at some point and give you some Diamond ruff(s). On this hand Partner will get the hand with the ♥A and return a LOW Diamond (= suit preference for club). You will ruff, return a club and Partner will give you another Diamond ruff. Any other lead and declarer ends up with an overtrick, losing just 2 aces.
26. South plays 4♥. What do you lead?
This time you have a good trump suit so lead the ♣K! That will force declarer to ruff the 2nd club and when you get the hand again with the ♥A you continue with another club, forcing him to ruff again. Now you have more trumps than declarer and you have control over the hand. If you lead a Diamond, you manage to ruff 1 Diamond later but you ruff with a natural trump trick and it is not enough to set. Defense wins 2 aces and 1 ruff only).
27. South plays 4♠ after the above bidding. What do you lead?
60 points in the pack? No. Opponents bid game with around 20 points, as they are short in your suits. Lead the ♠A and another spade (a low spade also sets). If you lead Diamond or Heart, declarer will win 3 aces and cross ruff the remaining 7 tricks. However, on a trump lead declarer cannot ruff all 3 Hearts losers.
28. Against 4♠ your Partner leads the ♥K. What do you do?
Overtake with the ♥A and play the ♣J. The Diamond suit is too threatening, so you must attack clubs before declarer's club losers will disappear on the good Diamond suit (notice that if West has the ♦K, it will still be bad for the defense as declarer can finesse it and still likely score 5 Diamonds tricks.
29. You play 5♦ and West leads the ♥Q. What do you do?
Ruff in hand (you need to keep the ♥A), pull trumps and play a club to the ♣10. If the ♣J is with West – you limit yourself to just 1 club loser and you can throw a spade loser on the ♥A. If East wins the ♣J and returns a spade – you win the ♠A and play a club to the ♣A. As cards lay – the ♣K drops. You manage to hold the suit to only one club loser and again, you throw a spade loser on the ♥A. If the ♣K doesn't drop when you win the ♣A – Throw the ♣Q on the ♥A, ruff a 3rd club and this promotes the 4th club if clubs are 3-3 (thus you throw the spade loser on the 4th club).
30. You play 6♣ and West leads the ♠2. What do you do?
There is no point to try the double finesse as you can always throw a spade loser on the ♥Q. Win ♠A and play ♣AK. If any opponent has ♣QX – you cash the 3rd club, throw a spade on the 3rd round of hearts, give a spade trick and claim. If the ♣Q doesn't drop – play ♥Q and another Heart to the ♥10! On the ♥AK throw your 2 spade losers (you make also if the 4th Heart get ruffed, losing just to the ♣Q). This line bring success whenever the ♣Q drops or the ♥J is with West.
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