Opening Lead for Intermediates 27 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
♠ J 5 4
♥ 7 5 4 3
♦ 7 6 4 2
♣ J 10

Q: 1 - You are South.

South	West	North	East
-	-	-	1♦
Pass	2♣	Pass	2NT
Pass	3NT	Pass	Pass
Pass

You are on lead against 3NT. What do you lead?

A: ♠4 or ♥5.

First thing's first. We don't lead the opponent's suit(s) against No-trumps unless we have a decent suit there, so a Club or a Diamond lead is out of the equation.

Which major suit should we lead? Either one could be right, and partner could easily have a five cards in either major suit. Which one is best? Beats me!

The advantage about a Spade lead is that we have the ♠J which could help to establish the suit if partner's suit is not very strong (such as ♠QTxxx). The advantage about a Heart lead is that if partner has five Hearts, we can very easily establish the suit without much trouble. Give yourself 100% if you chose a major suit lead.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 2

Your Hand
♠ J 7 2
♥ A 8 3
♦ K 9 8 7 4
♣ 10 5

Q: 2 - You are South.

South	West	North	East
-	-	1♦	4♠
Pass	Pass	Pass

Partner opens 1♦ and your Right-Hand Opponent fiercely bids 4♠ which neither you nor your partner can do anything about it. What do you lead?

A: ♦7.

It seems tempting to lead our doubleton Club, but this may help declarer if he has a finessing position in Clubs (if he has ♣Kx or ♣AQx for example). With partner opening 1♦, we can just stick with a Diamond lead as we have some strength there.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 3

Your Hand
♠ A K 6
♥ 9 7 6
♦ 10 7 4 2
♣ K Q 5

Q: 3 - You are South.

South	West	North	East
-	1♦	Pass	1♠
Pass	2♥	Pass	3NT
Pass	Pass	Pass

You are on lead against 3NT where West has shown a reverse hand with Diamonds and Hearts. What do you lead?

A: ♣K (or ♥7).

No lead strikes as attractive so we have to work with what we have. I have chosen a Club lead as it may hit partner with ♣Jxxx, but it could easily backfire if declarer's Club suit is headed by the ♣AJ10x or the like.

The second choice here would be a Heart to lead through dummy's strength (not a Diamond, because dummy will have five-plus Diamonds).

If you chose a Heart lead, give yourself full marks as well.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 4

Your Hand
♠ 9 4 3 2
♥ Q J 4 2
♦ 3
♣ 10 6 4 3

Q: 4 - You are South.

South	West	North	East
-	-	-	1NT
Pass	2♣	Pass	2♦
Pass	3NT	Pass	Pass
Pass

We are on lead against 3NT after the opponents have a Simple Stayman auction where opener denies a four-card major. What do you lead?

A: ♥2.

A major suit lead here is best as opener has denied a four-card major (unless we have a decent five-card minor suit to lead from). Since our Hearts is stronger than our Spades, we should therefore lead a Heart.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 5

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

Q: 5 - You are South.

South	West	North	East
-	1♣	1♥	1NT
Pass	Pass	Pass

You are on lead against 1NT. What do you lead?

A: ♥6.

Our hand is nothing to be raving about, so we are better off leading partner's suit here, even if East has shown a stopper (or two) with the 1NT response.

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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