You have now made your bid and opening lead. Next, see Q3 below.

1. Teams. You are SOUTH. Dealer East all vul

A984

K932

J

A762

East opens 5D. What do you bid?
Do you a) PASS or b) DOUBLE

Then 2. What do lead and Why?

3. This is what you then see in dummy

KT7

QT875

8

K973

Do you regret your opening lead?
If you led the SA, partner would have followed with the S2 and declarer the SQ.
If you led the CA, partner would have played the 8 (standard signals).
If you led a low heart, bad luck but you have another chance after SA or CA. What then?
If you led the DJ are you still hopeful and why?

How did you get on planning your play in 6NT? It was not the best slam to be in, but there are some very interesting lessons to be learnt when we go through the play the way it should have developed. Against West’s 6NT North leads the four of hearts. How did YOU plan your play? Let me show you the full deal so we can follow how and why the play should have proceeded.

	K93 J974 T842 J6
AQ62 KQ5 K9 Q973		J875 A862 AJ7 AK
	T4 T3 Q653 T8542

First up: your homework. You are West and it is teams. You opened 1C, 1H from partner and you rebid 1NT (15-17). Partner calls 6NT.

AQ62 KQ5 K9 Q973

J875 A862 AJ7 AK

Here are the questions, all relating to the spade suit:
Please be specific re your play: what do you lead from which hand and what then.

1. If you have landed up in 7S (or 7NT) how do you play the spade suit?
2. If you are in 6S in a teams match, how do you play the spade suit?
3. If you are in 4S, does it matter much if you are playing teams, and how would you play the suit?
4. In 4S in a club session, how would you play the suit?
5. In 3NT in a club session, how would you play the whole hand given the four of hearts lead?

First up - some answers to What & Why (01):

1. Match Points Dealer East all vul

AKQJT7

8743

A76

You are SOUTH. Playing at match points East opens 1NT. What do you bid?

From last week, a couple of suggestions from readers.