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 Trump Leads (Part III) by Ben Norton

Trump Leads (Part III)

In this third quiz on the topic of trump leads we will be looking at some typical auctions and deciding whether or not a trump lead would be sensible against each one. You won’t be given a hand but will just be asked to judge how likely you are to lead a trump in each case – ‘often’, ‘sometimes’ or ‘rarely’.


Question 1

  Your Hand
 
 
 
 
 
Q: 1 - Remember: no hand is given in this quiz!
How often would you lead a trump?

SouthWestNorthEast
---2
PassPassPass


 Your choice:
A: Rarely. To lead a trump against this auction would be to give a tempo away. There won’t be a ruffing value on dummy because West didn’t raise Spades, so there can be nothing to be gained in leading a trump. In fact, dummy is likely to have short Spades so a trump lead will just serve to either pick up partner’s stray trump honors or do declarer’s work for him. This principle applies whenever one opponent pre-empts and is left to play there.

Your result so far:
Open Question

Question 2

  Your Hand
 
 
 
 
 
Q: 2 - How often?

SouthWestNorthEast
---1
Pass4PassPass
Pass


 Your choice:
A: Sometimes. By leaping to 4S West has shown a poor hand in terms of high cards, but a distributional one, often with five-card support. In this way declarer will aim to make a lot of tricks by ruffing, so leading to shorten his ruffing potential isn’t a bad idea, but only when you have two or three trumps and expect to gain the lead plenty of times. Also, against this auction a trump lead rates to be completely safe.

However, leading a trump here could also give declarer a tempo to discard his losers. It may be that you need to attack a suit straight away. Thus if you expect to have tricks to set up in a side-suit you should strive to lead that suit. After all, because the opponents will so often have a ten-card trump fit on this bidding a trump lead won’t put much of a dent in their ruffing potential, so a trump lead is more attractive when you have lots of strength in the side-suits.

Your result so far:
Open Question

Question 3

  Your Hand
 
 
 
 
 
Q: 3 - How often?

SouthWestNorthEast
---1
Pass2Pass2
Pass3Pass3
Pass4PassPass
Pass


 Your choice:
A: Rarely. Dummy’s Clubs rate to be a good source of tricks for declarer, and he may be able to discard his losers on the suit if he is given the time to establish tricks there and draw trumps. When one opponent has shown length and strength in a side-suit you urgently need to cash your tricks.

Your result so far:
Open Question

Question 4

  Your Hand
 
 
 
 
 
Q: 4 - How often?

SouthWestNorthEast
---1
Pass1Pass2
Pass4PassPass
Pass


 Your choice:
A: Sometimes. Usually when the opponents have shown length in a side suit a trump lead isn’t recommended because otherwise declarer may be able to get his losers away on that suit. However, here the opponents have bid and raised their second suit, so there is very little danger that declarer will be able to throw his losers on the Spades because he also has length there. In this way a trump lead will probably be safe and may serve to cut down the ruffs on dummy.

However, a trump lead could pick up the suit for declarer because he’s probably only in a 5-3 fit. Therefore you should be careful about when to do it.

Your result so far:
Open Question

Question 5

  Your Hand
 
 
 
 
 
Q: 5 - How often?

*2=four-card Stayman

SouthWestNorthEast
---1NT
Pass2*Pass2
Pass3Pass4
PassPassPass


 Your choice:
A: Often. Declarer has shown a balanced hand and West is unlikely to have a five-card side-suit on this auction, so there isn’t any real indication that you should be rushing to take your tricks. Your opponents are likely playing in a 4-4 fit, so declarer could easily be wanting to take two ruffs in one hand, and you could potentially stop that from happening with a trump lead.

Also, here West has invited game and East has accepted, so your opponents will only barely have enough values for game, so they may be relying on some ruffs to bring home their contract, because they’re unlikely to have ten tricks on sheer power. Also, because the opponents don’t have much to spare in the way of high cards, it’s important that you don’t give away a trick or blow a suit on the lead, and a trump lead could often be your safest bet.

So when you’re on lead to a suit contract, consider the auction and whether it calls for a trump lead or not, keeping these factors in mind:

- Whether declarer has a source of tricks in a side-suit (if so, then you need to set up your own tricks in a side-suit, but not necessarily if the opponents have bid and raised the side-suit)
- Whether the opponents have shown a fit in their trump suit or not (if not, then a trump lead will only give away a tempo)
- Whether the opponents will be relying on ruffs to make their contract, likely when they’ve implied a lot of distribution but not many high-card points (if so, then a trump lead will cut down their ruffing potential)
- Whether the opponents have shown plenty of values to make their contract (e.g. via a failed slam/game try, when you should actively try to set up your own tricks), or if they barely have enough for their contract (e.g. when an invite is accepted, a trump lead appeals because declarer might not have enough power outside of trumps)

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

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