Try to interpret partner’s opening lead

With few opportunities to play cards in person due to the ongoing coronavirus crisis, bridge players can keep their game sharp by trying out the problem posed in our weekly quiz.

Today’s quiz: Here is another in the current series of quizzes on interpreting your partner’s opening lead. In the following problem, you are given the bidding, your partner’s lead, and your own and the dummy’s holding in the suit led, accompanied by five card combinations your partner might hold. Taking all available information into account, which of the five combinations do you think your partner might actually be leading from? More than one of the choices could be correct.

The bidding: Opponent-1D; Partner-2C; Opponent-2D; All Pass. Partner leads the CK. You and your partner play that you lead the king from A-K and K-Q holdings against suit contracts. Dummy has 942 and you have 75. Partner could hold: a)AKJ3 b)KQ10863 c)KQJ6 d)AK1086 e) KJ10863.

Answer: When you have an agreement that against suit contracts you lead the king from both A-K and

K-Q holdings, it would seem possible that partner could hold four of the five choices shown, the exception being e), from which the correct lead would be the jack (top of an interior sequence).

But since partner’s two club overcall guaranteed at least a five-card suit, both a) and c), despite their highcard strength, can be eliminated from consideration, leaving b) and d) as the only two holdings partner might actually have.