LEARNING CENTER

A. Here, you know partner has the Q and either the J or 10 (partner should not lead an honor without a three-card sequence) and that declarer has at most 3 hearts. You want to take the ace so you can continue hearts and partner can win the rest of them.

2. Partner should know that you have the ace, because declarer would be wrong to duck with the ace. If you play the A, you set up a trick for declarer with the J. Partner is going to have an outside entry since the opponents stopped so low.

A. You know the path to defeating the contract--you want to take two heart tricks, a spade, and a diamond ruff. Partner won't switch to a diamond on his own, so you should do it. Win this trick and then play a diamond yourself. 

J. When partner leads the Q (and you are looking at the jack, so know he hasn't led normally from QJ10), he is asking for you to unblock. This way, partner can run his suit without fear of setting up Jxxx or AJx in declarer's hand. The Q is the standard lead from KQ109. 

J. You want partner to stay on lead to switch to a spade. The way to get partner to do that is to send a warning signal, here playing an unnaturally high card (we don't signal with potential tricks). When partner stays on lead, he will know that you wanted him to do something different. A club shift doesn't look right, so it must be right to switch to a spade. 

Q. You want to make sure your partner knows that you have the Q and J. The best way to do that is to play the Q. Now partner will know it is safe to underlead to your hand. You should never play the Q from a holding of Qx. 

A. Normally, you would wait to capture the K with your ace. On this auction, however, you know partner is trying to get to your hand for a heart lead. Dummy looks very dangerous for a passive defense. Reward partner by overtaking and leading back the Q.