Leading After Supporting a Suit by Ben Norton

A: ♦3. This is the ideal time to lead a side-suit singleton. Partner rates to have at least one of the red-suit Aces. If it’s the ♦A then you’ll take a ruff immediately and may well be able to establish a Heart trick to cash when you get in with the ♠A. If partner doesn’t have the ♦A then you can win the ♠A and try and enter his hand with a Heart. A short suit lead is attractive when you have control of the trump suit.

By leading a Heart from the start you may be cutting your only quick link to partner’s hand, before you’re ready to ruff a Diamond. There’s no real hurry to establish Heart tricks, since you have at least eight of them between you. Even if partner does have the ♥A K and they stand up, that’s only three tricks for the defense, not enough to beat the contract. You need to look for a ruff for the setting trick.

Your result so far:

A: ♦Q. This might be your only time on lead, so you need to try and do some damage by leading through dummy’s strength. Hopefully your ♦Q lead will serve to pick up the King under partner’s Ace, even if partner has the King it could set up some tricks for the defense. A Spade lead could be right if declarer has some quick tricks to discard his Spade losers on, but that’s unlikely, and if that were the case you wouldn’t be able to beat the game without some Diamond tricks anyway.

If you think about it from the perspective of establishing tricks: if partner has the ♠A a Spade lead only gains when he has the Jack over dummy’s King and two rounds of the suit are standing up. If you’re not picking up the ♠K in dummy then by leading a Spade you’re only giving up a tempo and what might be your only chance to lead through dummy. If partner has the ♠K then you’re only setting up one trick, whereas if partner has the ♦K or ♦A you stand to set up more because you don’t necessarily have an eight-card fit there, but you definitely do in Spades.

Your result so far:

A: ♣J. Leading a Spade from your tenace is too dangerous, since you could easily be gifting declarer a trick with the King. Also, you could just be establishing the King in dummy for a discard if declarer has a singleton. Instead you should try to reach partner’s hand for him to lead a Spade through declarer. It’s unlikely that declarer’s Spade losers will go away if you don’t attack the suit immediately.

A trump lead isn’t in the picture. Your opponents have at least a nine-card fit and they're splitting kindly, so a trump lead will do nothing but give away a vital tempo. It’s between the minor suits. A Diamond from K x x could be right, if partner has the Ace you may well be able to take four quick tricks. However, if he doesn’t hold the Ace it’s likely that you’ll be blowing a trick by leading from the King. A Club from J 10 x is a much more appealing option. You could be establishing tricks there and it’s very unlikely to give anything away since you’re leading from a sequence.

Your result so far:

A: ♦Q. It’s very unlikely that a Spade trick is cashing, since partner rates to have four and East would have been more inclined to compete to 6♣ with a Spade void. Even if you can cash a Spade, you’ll still need another trick. If that trick is the ♣A then your Spade winner probably won’t go away, and if it’s the ♦A a Diamond lead will be fine. But if you don’t have a Spade trick then the ♦Q lead may well be your only chance.

Diamonds look to be by far your best source of defensive tricks. If partner has the ♦A then you could be crushing dummy’s ♦K and taking two quick tricks. Even if partner has the King you could be setting up a trick to cash when he gets in with his other winner (which you need him to have to beat the slam). A singleton Heart lead is less likely to work since you probably need partner to have the Ace and Hearts is likely to be declarer’s side-suit.

Your result so far:

A: ♣J. Leading the ♠A here is very unlikely to be right. Declarer rates to have Spade shortness on the auction, so you’re likely to be establishing some tricks on dummy. It will be safe when partner has Spade values, but if he has Spade values then you’re probably not beating this. You need partner to have stuff in the minor suits, so from that perspective the ♠A lead will only do declarer’s work for him.

You should kick off with a minor suit, to establish tricks to cash when you get in with the ♠A. In this way the ♦10 has more potential than a Club, since you only really need partner to have the Queen for it to gain, but it could give away a trick on a lot of layouts. The ♣J is also dangerous in that you could just be handing the suit to declarer (e.g. if there’s Q 10 x on dummy and A 9 x in declarer’s hand), but a Club could also set up tricks, for example if partner has the King. The reason why a Club is better than a Diamond is because it carries the extra chance of getting you a ruff. If partner has the ♣K behind the Ace in dummy along with the ♠K, you will be able to take a Club, a Spade, a trump and a Club ruff.

When you and your partner have bid and raised a suit and your opponents land in their own suit contract, don’t consider it automatic to lead your side’s suit. No action in Bridge should be automatic. Everything should be taken in its own context and with the appropriate amount of care and consideration. Generally leading your suit will be safe, but not all the time. If you have the Ace but lack the King, for instance, you should be wary about leading the Ace because it could set up declarer’s King, but if partner overcalled the suit and you supported it’s likely to be OK, since partner should have a good suit most of the time.

Also, be open-minded about different leads even if you think it’s safe to lead your agreed suit:

- Short suit leads can still be very effective, especially if you control the trump suit, since now you’re even more likely to be able to get partner in with your agreed suit to give you that ruff
- Leading from high sequences such as Q J 10 and K Q 10 should be considered as well, since they can still set up tricks or pick up an honor in dummy
- You should take time to think about the auction, and how likely it is that you’ll be able to cash tricks in your suit. If you think one opponent rates to have shortage in your suit, that could be cause enough to lead something else.

Your result so far: