Opening Lead for Intermediates 26 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.

In this series, we will look at what we should lead after we make a preemptive bid. Are you ready?

Question 1

Your Hand
♠ J 10
♥ 9 7 3
♦ 5
♣ K Q 10 9 8 4 3

Q: 1 - You are South.

South	West	North	East
3♣	Double	Pass	4♥
Pass	Pass	Pass

As dealer, you open a preemptive 3♣. West makes a takeout double and East ends the auction with a jump to 4♥. What do you lead?

A: ♦5.

If the preemptor ends up on lead and does not lead his own suit, quite often it will be a singleton. If it is not a singleton, then it is quite likely that preemptor's suit is headed by the AQ and he did not want to lead away from it.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 2

Your Hand
♠ A Q J 10 7 4
♥ 9 8 3
♦ 8 5
♣ 5 4

Q: 2 - You are South.

South	West	North	East
2♠	3♣	Pass	3NT
Pass	Pass	Pass

After opening a Weak-Two in Spades, West overcalls 3♣ and East replies with 3NT. What do you lead?

A: ♠Q.

As we are leading against No-trumps, it becomes clear that we would want to lead our own suit in an attempt to establish it. With a suit headed by the AQJ, you'd do best by leading the Queen.

It is true that East's 3NT bid marks him with the ♠K, but the aim of the ♠Q lead is the knock out the ♠K. You might think to lead something else instead to try to get to partner's hand so he can lead a Spade through declarer's King, but in that case, you may need to get to partner's hand TWICE if declarer has ♠Kxx. (That is, finessing once through declarer is not enough, but you must finesse twice.)

Quite often, you won't have that luxury to get to partner's hand twice, so you are better off sacrificing a Spade trick immediately in order to set up your suit.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 3

Your Hand
♠ 5 4
♥ A Q 9 8 7 4
♦ 10 3
♣ J 6 4

Q: 3 - You are South.

South	West	North	East
2♥	Pass	Pass	2♠
Pass	3♠	Pass	4♠
Pass	Pass	Pass

After opening a Weak-Two in Hearts, your opponents had the rest of the auction to get to 4♠. What do you lead?

A: ♦10.

Leading a Heart from an AQ holding is too dangerous so that's out. A trump lead is also out as it's generally not a good idea to lead trumps. So we're down to a minor suit lead.

Leading a top of a doubleton may produce a ruff, so it is slightly better to lead a Diamond here.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 4

Your Hand
♠ 5 4 2
♥ A K 8 7 4 3
♦ J 10 7
♣ 4

Q: 4 - You are South.

South	West	North	East
2♥	Pass	4♥	4♠
Pass	Pass	Pass

You open a Weak-Two in Hearts and partner raises the ante with 4♥. That didn't stop East from bidding 4♠, so you are now on lead against 4♠. What do you lead?

A: ♣4.

Your best chance to defeat the contract here is aiming for Club ruffs.

You may decide to lead a top Heart first before switching to your singleton Club, but this may remove an entry to partner's hand. Partner has raised our 2♥ to 4♥, so partner will have Heart length. It is likely that partner holds the ♥Q, and this could be an entry to partner's hand in order for us to get our ruff.

Essentially, we are hoping for this ideal defense: Lead our singleton Club to partner's Ace, receive a Club ruff, we underlead our ♥AK to partner's ♥Q, and receive a second Club ruff!

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 5

Your Hand
♠ K J 8 7 4 3
♥ 6
♦ K J 3
♣ 8 7 6

Q: 5 - You are South.

South	West	North	East
2♠	Double	3♠	3NT
Pass	Pass	Pass

As dealer, you open a Weak-Two in Spades. West doubles for takeout, and partner raises the ante with 3♠ (this is not invitational, it is merely a further preempt). East then ends the auction with 3NT. What do you lead?

A: ♠7.

Yes, East may have a stopper (or two) in Spades with the 3NT bid, but we should still strive to establish our Spade suit. Who knows, maybe partner has the ♠Q and we can drive out the ♠A.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Overall Results

Your results: out of Average:

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