Trump Leads (Part IV) by Ben Norton

A: ♥8. You should try to avoid leading a trump from J x x (or J x), especially when your opponents have only guaranteed an eight-card fit. You could easily be picking up a stray honor in partner’s hand, in a holding such as Q x or K x which declarer couldn’t have picked up otherwise.

With such strength in the minor suits behind East’s values you are likely to have three tricks, if not two in your own hand if you leave declarer to do his own work. Thus you should strive to lead safely, and the ♥8 is your best shot. Yes it may resolve a guess in the Heart suit for declarer, but that’s less of a danger than giving him a trick outright.

Your result so far:

A: ♥3. A low trump lead from A x x rates to be perfectly safe, because any holding that you pick up in partner’s hand would have been picked up anyway. The only real danger is giving away a tempo, but that is fine when you consider that a lead from any of the other suits could so easily blow a trick given that you would be leading away from an unsupported Jack or King.

Your result so far:

A: ♣2. It’s usually a bad idea to lead singleton trumps because they can expose the layout of the suit while also potentially giving declarer the extra entries to pick it up. But in certain circumstances, for instance when partner has shown good trumps by penalising them in a part-score, a singleton trump lead is called for. Since that is not the case here, a trump lead is ruled out.

A Spade lead into dummy’s suit would only benefit declarer, especially considering your tentative holding in the suit, whereas leading away from a side-suit Ace is a no-no because it will give away a trick so often. So all that’s left is a Club from 10 x x x. Although this lead doesn’t harbour great offensive potential, it will very rarely give anything away and may stand to set up a trick in the suit.

Your result so far:

A: ♣9. A trump lead from K J x x will often give away the position of the suit and a tempo, and could even ditch a trick given that you hold the Eight. Because you have unexpected trump strength and can expect to take two or three trump tricks, you should aim to lead passively.

A Spade lead will run around to declarer’s Queen too often, while a Diamond lead, although it will work out if partner has the King, could easily give away a trick as well. If it’s right to attack Diamonds then you’ll be able to attack them when you take your first trump trick, and cash them when you take your second trump. A Club lead from your doubleton is the safest option here.

Your result so far:

A: ♥3. A trump lead is a fine choice here. Unlike the last hand, you have no expectation to take more than one trump trick, and can thus afford to lead a trump away from your King. In fact, because there will be Club shortness on the dummy, a trump lead, and a further trump lead when you get in with the ♣A, stands to cut down the number of ruffs declarer can take substantially, and you’ll be able to do that without giving up your trick with the ♥K.

You have most of the defensive strength in your hand, so partner is unlikely to provide much help in the way of high cards, thus a side-suit lead is more likely to give away a trick than promote any.

When considering whether your trump holding is appropriate to lead from, think about whether a trump lead would give away a trick by:
- Revealing the position to declarer
- Blowing a trick outright by picking up partner’s holding or by letting declarer score a cheap trick which he’s not entitled to
- Giving declarer a tempo
- Giving declarer an extra entry to pick up the suit

And try to weigh up the risk of a trump lead against the likely reward.

Your result so far: