An Imaginative Defence

[OliverC]

Michael (rite bid) starred with an imaginative opening lead on this hand that worked spectacularly well:

Love All, Dealer North
East opens 1 , West responds 3NT and all pass.

North
94
105
K832
109873

What's your opening lead? There are various options here: The 10 (or the 9 if playing Strong 10's) or the 2 are the "obvious" ones. On the other hand, North has no likely entries if the Ace is on their left, and West's hand is clearly weighted to the Minors (no 1M bid), so looking to find Partner's long suit in a Major is a clear winner here. The 10 could be (and would have been) misinterpreted, and Michael chose the 9, which worked spectacularly well:

East (Dummy)
AK102
K643
Q1095
K

                North
                94
                105
                K832
                109873

Declarer took the opening lead in Dummy with the King, South encouraging with the 5. Declarer cashed the King and then crossed to hand with the Jack. Now they led a towards Dummy, Michael ducked and Dummy's Queen felled South (obviously singleton) Jack. The 9 followed, on which South discarded the 6. Michael won and continued the attack. Declarer ducked in Dummy and Partner's 8 won the trick, Declarer contributing the 7. South continued with the Queen, West and North discarding Clubs and then the Jack when Declarer ducked in Dummy (West and North both discarding Diamonds).

When Declarer now led a Heart off the table South took their Ace and a 5th Spade for -1.

Declarer could play this hand a lot better, it's true. Clearly it's best to force out the Ace first, since you have no control over who wins that trick. The opening lead makes it look as if any Spade length is probably with South, and Declarer can always keep South away from the lead in Diamonds, by running the Queen and then the 10 if necessary.

This hand is actually cold for 10 tricks from the word so, even with a Spade lead. Without North's imaginative lead at trick 1, however, there is almost a zero chance of stopping this contract. That lead gave the defence a tempo, however, so that Declarer couldn't afford to make any mistakes. Conceding a Diamond to North before forcing out the Ace was the mistake.