Preliminary Bout

By Ron Klinger

West	North	East	South
	1♥(i)	2♥	2♠(ii)
4♥	5♣(iii)	5♥	5♠
Dble	All Pass

(i) 4+ spades, 10-17 points, unbalanced hand
(ii) 6-9 points, spade support
(iii) Second suit, could be canapé

What would you lead as West from:

♠ Q J ♥ A 10 8 4 ♦ Q 10 6 ♣ A 9 8 3

The deal arose in a pre-tournament practice match between the Seniors teams from Denmark and Australia, won comfortably by Denmark. The full deal:

	♠ K 8 6 3 ♥ - ♦ A 5 4 ♣ K Q 10 7 6 5
♠ Q J ♥ A 10 8 4 ♦ Q 10 6 ♣ A 9 8 3		♠ 10 5 ♥ K Q 9 7 6 3 2 ♦ K J 9 8 ♣ -
	♠ A 9 7 4 2 ♥ J 5 ♦ 7 3 2 ♣ J 4 2

Jens Auken found one of the leads to defeat 5♠, a diamond. Note ♣A and a club ruff is not good enough; but a low club in East ruffing and switching to a diamond. Denmark +100.At the other table:

West	North	East	South
	1♣	4♥	All Pass

Spades were not led and so Zoli Nagy scored 11 tricks for +450.