Opening Lead for Intermediates 31 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
♠ Q 10 9 2
♥ K J 2
♦ 8 2
♣ K 10 9 4

Q: 1 - You are South.

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

The auction needs some explanation:

2♣ = Strong, artificial
2♦ = Artificial, waiting
2NT = 23-24 points and a balanced hand
3♣ = Simple Stayman
3♦ = No four-card Major

What do you lead?

A: ♠2.

Declarer (East) has denied a four-card major, so we should lean towards a major suit lead - Spades in this case as it is our longest suit. Which Spade? With only a four card holding in Spades, it is probably best for us to lead our lowest one to unblock partner's honor(s) for us.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 2

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

Q: 2 - You are South.

South	West	North	East
-	1♣	1♥	3NT
Pass	Pass	Pass

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

A: ♠J.

East's jump to 3NT indicates that he must have the Hearts double stopped. If we didn't have any other good alternative, we should still be leading a Heart even with a singleton. On this hand however, we have an OK alternative of a Spade. Using what the auction has told us, a Spade lead will probably work out better than a Heart lead.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 3

Your Hand
♠ K 8 7 3
♥ J 5 2
♦ A K 4
♣ 6 5 3

Q: 3 - You are South.

South	West	North	East
-	-	1♠	2♣
3♠	Pass	4♠	5♣
Double	Pass	Pass	Pass

Partner opens 1♠ and East overcalls 2♣. You invite to game with 3♠ and partner raises to game. East, taking advantage of the vulnerability, tries for a sacrifice in 5♣ and you double, salvaging whatever you can. What do you lead?

A: ♣3.

While a top Diamond lead may be the favorite, you are better off leading a trump. Why? Against an opponent's sacrifice, where do you think their tricks are coming from? It can only come from trumps and ruffs!

Therefore, if dummy is short in Spades or Diamonds, declarer may seek to ruff losers in dummy. You can thus get a head start by leading a trump on the get go.

Don't worry, your Diamonds aren't going anywhere. It's not like dummy will have a solid Heart suit that declarer can use to discard his Diamonds. Most likely partner will have strength in Spades and Hearts, so we should reduce as many tricks that declarer can get.

A top diamond lead may cause us (the defense) to lose a trick even if dummy is not short in Diamonds. For example:

......................................♦8 7 3

......................♦A K 4.....................♦10 9 6

......................................♦Q J 5 2

Leading a top Diamond in this scenario will let declarer escape with two Diamond losers rather than three.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 4

Your Hand
♠ K J 6 5
♥ 6 5 4
♦ Q 9 6 5
♣ A 6

Q: 4 - You are South.

South	West	North	East
-	-	-	1♠
Pass	1NT	Pass	3♥
Pass	3NT	Pass	4♠
Pass	Pass	Pass

East opens 1♠ and makes a strong jumpshift rebid of 3♥ over West's 1NT response. West tries to sign off in 3NT but East much prefers to play in Spades and ends the auction with 4♠. What do you lead?

A: ♦5.

Declarer has shown a strong two-suited hand. We should try to take as many minor suit tricks as we can, so try a Diamond. Leading the unsupported ♣A is too risky, too many things can go wrong with it.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 5

Your Hand
♠ J 6
♥ K 10 9 8 7 2
♦ 9 8
♣ J 10 4

Q: 5 - You are South.

South	West	North	East
-	-	-	1♠
Pass	2♣	Pass	2NT
Pass	4♠	Pass	Pass
Pass

You are on lead against 4♠. What do you lead?

A: ♦9.

With only five points, partner is certainly marked with a stronger hand than ours. In that case, we can hope that partner's strength is in Diamonds, so let's try to arrange a Diamond ruff.

Short suit leads work best when you have a very weak hand, and this hand just barely qualifies. Our second choice would be a Heart lead.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Overall Results

Your results: out of Average:

What next? You may enjoy playing our prepared hands series.
More informations on our website: www.VuBridge.com

Rate yourself:

0 - 40%	We applaud your effort. Review the subject and try again. You'll be surprised how much better you'll do. We're here for you!!
41 - 50%	Buy your mentor a cuppa and ask for clarification on the ones you got wrong. No mentor? Make finding one a priority!
51 - 60%	Nice improvement! One more review and you'll have this down solid!
61 - 80%	What a good job! All that's left is some fine tuning
Over 80%	Wow! It's time for you to become a mentor. Find someone who needs help and share your knowledge!