Opening Lead for Intermediates 10 by Andy Hung

A: ♠J.

There's no need to be leading aggressively against this auction. We are only defending against a part score, so the ♠J here seems best. The ♣Q lead might work, but it will blow a trick more often than not.

Your result so far:

A: ♣3.

A Club lead seems best with this hand. With the help of the ♣10, this lead will surely help establish tricks on defense. A Spade lead can be dangerous - leading away from the king against a strong 1NT opener should be refrained from (especially when dummy is likely to be balanced also) unless desperation was needed.

Our other alternative is a trump which isn't too unreasonable given both opponents may be stretching. Having said that, a Club is likely going to be more productive thanks to the possession of the ♣10.

Your result so far:

A: ♥4.

On this auction, dummy is known to have enough values for a game and a long Spade suit. As neither hand is stretching towards a game, this rules out a passive trump lead. Do NOT lead away from unsupported aces against suit contracts is generally an advice worth following so by a process of elimination, we should lead a Heart.

Your result so far:

A: ♦4.

Actually, this problem as purely a toss up between a Heart or a Diamond (obviously Spades and Clubs are ruled out). With identical holdings in both Hearts and Diamonds, either suit could be right. There is however a slight inference that Diamonds could be better - partner had a chance to double 2♥ for the lead and yet he passed. This doesn't mean that partner should be doubling the 2♥ transfer bid with holdings such as ♥KJxx or ♥QJxx, it just means partner didn't have a good five-card Heart holding. As small of an inference this might be, it is surely better than nothing.

Your result so far:

A: ♣J.

Both of the opponents' hands are balanced (dummy didn't bid a second suit). As dummy transferred to Hearts, that suit is automatically eliminated from our choice.

Spades are also out because it is our shortest suit so we're now down to a Diamond or a Club.

Lead away from an Ace is OK against a No-trump contract (just not against a suit contract). However, we don't have any texture in our Diamonds. Had our Diamond suit been ♦A 10 8 4, then we will have something going for it, but with only 543, this doesn't make a Diamond all that attractive of a lead.

Best choice here is the ♣J. It is a lead that is mixed between passive and aggressive. It's passive in that if it is the opponent's suit, the lead will not have given anything away. It's aggressive in that if Clubs is partner's suit, we will have got to a great start.

Your result so far: