The second one from our first Tuesday session of 2025 has the same theme but in a different context.
Board 23. Dealer S ALL Vul
Most Souths will open this hand 2NT. Not ideal shape wise but at least it is accurate in terms of point count. Personally, I would open the hand with a more conservative 1C. When South opens 2NT, most Norths would pass, though some might raise to game. In either case, what should West lead? As it happens, the orthodox and conservative nine of spades will still defeat the No Trump contract but only if West bites the bullet and switches to the ace of hearts when in with the king of clubs. But why take the chance? As I have suggested before, the opening lead of the ace from AQx is almost always going to not cost and if partner knows your holding, can be a devastating weapon. With dummy and East marked with very little, why not give it a try? The ace of hearts, followed by the queen in response to partner’s encouraging signal, followed by the run of three more hearts from East ensures a sixth trick for the defence.
A simple method for ace and king leads against No Trumps is:
Ace asks for attitude and (apart from when the leader has a long suit and simply wants to see dummy before continuing, e.g. AQ109xx) will have a specific holding of AKx, AKxx, or AQx. When dummy appears, partner will, with near certainty, know which your holding is. The lead of the KING (from a long suit) should be reserved for when you want partner to UNBLOCK their highest card or give you a COUNT in the suit, e.g from AKJ10x or KQ109x.
Q3
J52
J752
T642