Andrew:

The Power of the King from King-Queen lead

With few clues from the bidding, here is a guide (with marks out of 10) to the attractiveness of various types of lead:

Holding	Initial Utility	Holding	Initial Utility
AK74	10	83	5
3	9	852	4
KQJ6	8	Q952	4
KQ76	7	J4	3
QJ104	7	K752	2
QJ52	6	A1074	0

The king from king-queen is behind just the ace from ace-king and the singleton. If partner holds the ace, your lead has clearly struck gold as the king wins; even if the opponents take the king with their ace, you have made a good start as you have promoted your queen. This deal is a striking example of its power.

South Deals
None Vul

♠	10 9 7
♥	10 5 3
♦	A K 7
♣	A K J 7

♠	Q 4
♥	K Q 8 4
♦	Q 10 5 3 2
♣	10 2

N
W		E
S

♠	J
♥	A 9 7
♦	J 8 6
♣	9 8 6 5 4 3

♠	A K 8 6 5 3 2
♥	J 6 2
♦	9 4
♣	Q

East	South	West	North
	1 ♠1	Pass	2 ♣
Pass	2 ♠	Pass	4 ♠
All pass

Opening Three Spades (weak hand with
a good seven-card suit) could not be faulted;
but if you - dubiously - ascribe two
points to the queen of clubs, you do have a
Rule of 20 opener [points plus length of two
longest suits reaching 20].

What happened
Perhaps confusing notrumps and trumps, West led his fourth highest diamond. Declarer won ♦ K, cashed ♠ AK felling the defensive trumps, then unblocked ♣ Q and over to ♦ A to enjoy ♣ AKJ. Seven trump tricks, four clubs, and two diamonds, meant 13 tricks and game made plus three.

What should have happened
It is a totally different matter on ♥ K lead. This wins Trick One, so, deducing East for ♥ A, West continues with ©4 (not ♥ Q - leading low from three remaining). East wins ♥ A, returns his third heart to West’s ♥ Q, and now comes the Coup de Grace. With little hope in the minors, West tries his fourth heart (key play). East trumps with ♠ J, and now, whether or not declarer overtrumps with ♠ K, the defence must score a trump trick. A perfect “uppercut” - down one.

If you remember one thing...
The power of the king from king-queen lead.

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Andrew:

The Power of the King from King-Queen lead