Opening Lead for Intermediates 28 by Andy Hung

A: ♥4.

Our best chance to defeat the contract is to try to set up our Hearts. While it true that East has shown four Hearts, the fact is, we (the defense) don't stand much of a stance in any other suit.

In fact, since we have the majority of the defensive assets, we can't count on partner to have much to contribute. We have 12 points and the opponents have bid a game. The most partner can have is up to 3 points!

Since our Heart suit contains the all important intermediate cards of the ♥10 and the ♥9, we can hope that partner has Heart honor that will help us establish our suit. Even the ♥J will be helpful enough. As we have a few entries back to our hand, we can keep on plugging away with the Hearts every time we get in.

It is important to note that without the ♥8, it is best to lead the fourth-best Heart, and not the interior sequence lead of the ♥10. The reason is because East has shown four Hearts, so partner is known to be short in the suit. If partner is short in the suit, it is best to have partner unblock his honor first.

For instance, if the Heart suit was distributed as follows:

........................ ♥ 7 5

....♥Q 10 9 4 3..............♥J 2

......................♥A K 8 6


Then leading the ♥10 may cause some complications later in the play.

Your result so far:

A: ♣4.

Similar to the previous problem, partner is marked with a maximum of about five points (since we hold ten points and the opponents have bid to a game). The best chance that we have to defeat this contract is to hope that partner has some help in Clubs as we have the ♦A entry for those Clubs.

Your result so far:

A: ♦J (or ♣2).

Our longest suit may be Hearts, but we have no intermediate cards to help set up our suit. With not much entries to our hand either, we should have better luck elsewhere in one of the minor suits. The Diamond Jack looks best from our perspective, but the ♣2 is also a good choice.

Do not lead the opponent's suit if you don't have any intermediate cards in the suit, as they are the backbone if you wish to establish that suit.

Your result so far:

A: ♠7.

You must resist with all of your might and lead the ♠7, not the ♠K! As East has shown four Spades on the auction, you want to try to set up the Spade suit without any blockage. If partner has ♠10x, leading the ♠K will block the suit.

This sneaky ♠7 lead may even work if partner does not have the ♠10. If the suit is distributed as follows:

.......................♠10 4

....♠K Q J 7 3...............♠9 5

.......................♠A 8 6 2

If declarer doesn't go up with dummy's ♠10, then partner's ♠9 will do the job!

Your result so far:

A: ♦3.

Our Heart suit is lacking intermediate spots. Our hand is also lacking entries. These are clear signs that we should NOT lead Hearts (as East has shown five of them).

At least we can fall back on our second longest suit, Diamonds.

Your result so far: