Lead with Barry by Barry Rigal

Leading when declarer or dummy has a two-suiter

The opening leader is in a broadly similar position when he is on lead whether it is declarer or dummy who has explicitly shown a two-suiter. The natural inclination is to lead trumps, but quite often if there is no indication that declarer needs to trump anything, cashing winners or setting up winners might be a better idea. The hands in this set of leads raise these questions in different fashions.

Question 1

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

Q: 1 - As South, what do you lead?

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

A: ♥3: Lead a low heart. On this auction the lead of a top diamond is very dangerous -- and is quite likely to sacrifice one of your natural tricks in the suit. My instincts are to try to set up heart winners for your side before they go on dummy’s clubs. A low trump (not nearly as safe as it might seem) is my second choice. There is NO indication the opponents either have a spade fit or that declarer needs or wants to ruff diamonds in his hand.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 2

Your Hand
♠ J 7 3 2
♥ 9 6
♦ Q 7 3 2
♣ A 8 6

Q: 2 - What do you lead against 2♥?

South	West	North	East
-	-	1♣	Pass
1♠	Dble	Pass	2♥
Pass	Pass	Pass

A: ♥9: Lead the nine of trump. Your diamond holding suggests declarer may want to take diamond ruffs in hand. You hope to be able to regain the lead in the minor suits to lead more trumps through declarer at an appropriate moment. Here there is a clue that declarer is short in diamonds. Partner rates to have a shape fairly close to 2-3-3-5 pattern.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 3

Your Hand
♠ 6 5
♥ A 5 4
♦ Q 8 6
♣ J 9 7 5 3

Q: 3 - After your partner opened the bidding, you decided to double 4♠. What do you lead?

South	West	North	East
-	-	1♦	2♣
Pass	2♥	Pass	2♠
Pass	2NT	Pass	3♠
Pass	4♠	Pass	Pass
Dble	Pass	Pass	Pass

A: ♠6: Lead the spade six. Dummy will need to ruff clubs to have any chance to make this game – stop him as quickly as you can. There is no need to rush to cash your red-suit tricks; they will still be there at the end of the hand. You hope that if partner has e.g. Kxx of trumps in front of declarer’s ace, he will retain his king to over-ruff dummy, then lead another trump.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 4

Your Hand
♠ Q J 6 4
♥ A 5
♦ 7 4
♣ K Q 6 5 4

Q: 4 - This time you doubled 2♦. What do you lead?

South	West	North	East
-	-	-	1♥
Pass	1NT	Pass	2♦
Dble	Pass	Pass	Pass

A: ♦7: Lead a trump. When your partner passes a take-out double he presumably has a good trump holding. You may need to stop heart ruffs in dummy – the fact that West did not correct to two hearts suggests he may be very short in that suit. So lead and continue trump at every turn.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 5

Your Hand
♠ K J 7 3
♥ J 4
♦ J 7 4
♣ J 9 8 6

Q: 5 - What do you lead against 4♥?

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

A: ♠3: Dummy has shown a weak hand with three trumps, declarer has suggested something close to a 2-5-2-4 pattern. This is not a hand where a trump lead feels necessary. Partner may be overruffing dummy. But it is a good idea to set up your side winners; and looked at in that light, a low spade lead looks logical. Dummy is more likely to put down diamond than spade length – and thus to have high diamonds rather than spades. So lead a low spade.

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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