Try this lead problem faced by Piotr Tuszinski:

Dealer West. Game All ª A 4 © Q 8 6 5 2 ¨ J 6 2 § 8 6 2

Piotr Tuszinski

What do you do?

This was the full deal:

Board 12. Dealer West. North-South Game
	ª A 4 © Q 8 6 5 2 ¨ J 6 2 § 8 6 2
ª Q 9 5 2 © 9 ¨ A K Q 8 4 3 § A J		ª K J 8 6 © A J 10 7 3 ¨ 10 9 5 § 4
	ª 10 7 3 © K 4 ¨ 7 § K Q 10 9 7 5 3

As you can see, East-West can make twelve tricks in diamonds. Getting there, though, is not so easy. Indeed, with a diamond ruff available to defeat a spade slam and a club lead endangering game in notrumps, even a moderate plus score for East-West is not automatic.

This was our featured auction:

North tried a heart, in the hope of being able to give his partner a ruff on the next round. It was a sound idea, but it was the wrong suit!

Could North have got it right?

The only clues he had were that South did not double Four Clubs, or Five Hearts.

There is a convention that says if you double a minor suit splinter bid, it calls for the lead of the other minor, but in any event, I'm not sure it applies in competitive auctions.

Michel Kwiecien & Jacek Pszczola, the Polish East-West, also bid to Six Spades. Would North, Eddy Manoppo, lead a diamond to set up his partner's ruff? No - he led a heart and that meant East-West +980, and a flat board.