This hand has a variety of features, as often they do. I decided early on to settle for two club tricks. The reason is that even if I start with the A and lead to the K it is far from clear that I should cash the Q since, unless the clubs break very well, sets up a club trick for the defense. If I can bring in the diamonds I hardly care how many club tricks I get. I don't want them first getting two spades, one heart, one diamond, and a club. So that's why, once I decided I would try to bring in diamonds, starting with to the board and running the T, I just led a small
to the board at T2.
Now about leading the
Q. (These re frist thoughts, see below for a follow-up) Similar considerations apply, or so I thought. If I lead small to the K and it is taken by the A, I am n ot dead yet. Maybe, after my
T lost to an honor, the remaining honor is about to drop and I am fine. If I start by leading the
Q, all playing small, and then continue with another
, that second !h might well be taken by the A. This I did not like. I did not think it through But it is possible, maybe unlikely but possible, E held AQJxx or AQTxx or some such. The best way to preserve all of my
options seemed to be to lead small toward the K right off. But maybe I need to think this through further.
Followup:
Suppose I win the spade. lead a club to the board, run the T losing to an honor.
Now suppose I lead the
Q and it goes spot, spot, spot, all small. Now I ead the
4 and W produces the T. Do I know what to do? If I play small, probably E can play smaller, he will do so, W will cash out the spades, and then lead a
to the A. Down 1. But if I cover the T with the K, E produces the A, leads a
back to the J that might well be in the W hand, and then W cashes spades for down 1.
I did not go through all of this in my head, I just thought it best to start
by leading small toward the K. But looking at it a bit more, I think that this was right.