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 Opening Lead for Intermediates 12 by Andy Hung

Opening Leads. They're the card that sets the tempo of all bridge hands, and it is the first strike that the defense gets. Sometimes declarer's contract is rock solid and the lead doesn't matter, or sometimes the contract is too high and declarer is destined to fail.

What is important is that we must make every effort to choose the best opening lead that will give us the best chance to defeat the contract. Are you ready?

Question 1

  Your Hand
 K 8 4 2
 7 3
 8 7 4
 10 9 4 2
 
Q: 1 - You are South.
SouthWestNorthEast
-1Pass1
Pass3Pass4NT
Pass5Pass6
PassPassPass
Both opponents have shown strong hand and as a result they have landed in a slam contract. What do you lead?

 Your choice:
A: 2,

A good general rule is to aim for aggression when leading against a small slam. The reasoning is because you [the defense] want to try and set up your trick(s) before declarer does. Most often declarer will have a side suit to set up, you want to take your tricks before declarer can get those discards.

Take this hand for instance. Based on the auction you can see that West, dummy, has Diamonds as a nice source of tricks. Since the opponents stopped in a small slam, it is quite likely that they are missing an Ace. If that Ace is in Diamonds or Hearts for instance, then you better hope that partner has the Q also so you can set up your Spade trick before partner's A gets knocked out.

What if partner's Ace is in Clubs and he didn't have the Q? In that case, the opponent's slam contract is almost sure to make on any lead.

Your result so far:
Open Question

Question 2

  Your Hand
 A 7 5
 Q 7 6 3
 8 7 6 3
 10 3
 
Q: 2 - You are South.
SouthWestNorthEast
---3
Pass4NTPass5
Pass6PassPass
Pass
The weak preemptive 3 opening by East did not deter West from searching for a slam. A Blackwood sequence ensued as East shows one Ace. What do you lead?

 Your choice:
A: 3.

This time you can see the opponent's missing Ace - luckily for you, that Ace is in the trump suit so you have a guaranteed trick. It's time to look for the second trick, but where?

From the auction, it is clear that West must have a very strong hand. Quite likely he will have a source of tricks that's ready to run when the Ace of trumps is knocked out.

In that case, you better set up your second trick before that A is gone! The easiest way to do this is to hope that partner has the K to help out your Q. Lead a Heart and hope for the best.

If a Heart lead doesn't work, then quite likely no other leads would work.

Again, when the opponents willingly bid to a small slam, aim for an aggressive lead unless the auction heavily suggests otherwise.

Your result so far:
Open Question

Question 3

  Your Hand
 Q J 6 3
 9 7 6
 10 8 4 3
 10 9
 
Q: 3 - You are South.
SouthWestNorthEast
---1
Pass3Pass4NT
Pass5Pass7
PassPassPass
Grand slams can happen, and it's a good idea to know what type of leads are best against such contracts! The opponents bid their way to 7 via a limit raise followed by a Blackwood sequence where West's 5 response showed two Aces.

What do you lead?

 Your choice:
A: 6.

There may be no lead that would defeat the contract - after all, the opponents might just have 15 top tricks!

However, in the scenarios where declarer cannot be 100% sure of his contract, then we best make sure that we do not make a lead that would give anything away. We only need to give away one trick and that will mean the difference between the grand slam going one down or making!

Since the trump suit is the one place where the opponents do not need help in, a passive trump against a grand slam is the best idea. It gives nothing away and forces declarer to do his own work if his contract is not cold.

You might think the Q or the 10 are passive leads too here - no, quite the contrary. For instance, the Q lead may expose you to a finesse if dummy has K 10 3 opposite declarer's A 7 2. A 10 lead may expose partner's Q for declarer to take a free finesse.

Your result so far:
Open Question

Question 4

  Your Hand
 K J 7 5
 10 9 3
 J 7 5 2
 9 8
 
Q: 4 - You are South.
SouthWestNorthEast
---3
Pass6PassPass
Pass
The opponents interestingly did not go via Blackwood and instead punted the slam. What do you lead?

 Your choice:
A: 5.

This hand is no exception to the advice where we should aim for aggressive leads against a small slam. We're not too sure why West did not check on Aces with a jump to 4NT (maybe he is void in a side suit possibly?), but the idea is the same - West probably has a strong hand with a long running suit, and if that's the case, we must try to take/set up our tricks as soon as possible.

Our Spades gives us the best prospects, so we should lead a Spade.

Your result so far:
Open Question

Question 5

  Your Hand
 A 6 3
 3
 Q J 9 8
 8 6 5 3 2
 
Q: 5 - You are South.
SouthWestNorthEast
---1
Pass2Pass2
Pass4Pass4NT
Pass5Pass6
PassPassPass
A nice informative auction lands the opponents in 6 What do you lead?

 Your choice:
A: Q.

Were you tempted to lead your singleton Heart? You could do that if the A has been a small Spade. Here, we can see the opponent's missing Ace - we are looking at it!

Therefore, partner does not hold any other Aces else the opponents would not have bid the slam off two Aces!

A Heart lead now may give declarer a free finesse (he did rebid 2). It's not Christmas yet so it's not the right time to be giving any gifts away.

Instead, lead the Q for an active/passive lead. If partner has the K this lead will build up a trick in Diamonds. If partner doesn't have the K, then the Q will hardly give away a trick.

Aggressive leads are the way to go against a small slam, but don't forget that if you are looking at an Ace that the opponents are missing, partner won't have any Ace(s) opposite your singleton(s)!

Your result so far:
Open Question

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What next? You may enjoy playing our prepared hands series.
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