Leading a trump by Matthias Huberschwiller

A: ♠6 – This is the typical hand where a trump lead is the most powerful.

There is only a very tiny risk to offer partner’s honour to your opponents because it would have been caught in a finesse anyway.
All other possible leads are too dangerous.


Your result so far:

A: ♦2 – Here, unlike in the previous hand, you have jack third in trumps.

The risk of giving away a trick by leading a spade is big – as soon as your partner holds the ace, king or queen.

The least dangerous lead is the one from the smallest honour, so you need to lead a small diamond.


Your result so far:

A: ♦10 – When you hold a force in trumps, you need to lead from a good suit. You want to establish tricks there and try to force declarer to ruff so that you can end up with more trumps than him.

Your result so far:

A: ♥Q – Before mechanically leading your singleton, look at your trump holding: You are sure to get two tricks there.

Looking at the bidding sequence, it is likely that declarer will want to execute a cross-ruff. In order to prevent him from doing that, you need to lead the queen of hearts.


Your result so far:

A: ♦2 – Yes, I just told you that underleading the trump jack is dangerous! But you need to pay attention to the bidding sequence.

South has announced a two-suiter and his partner passed: He certainly has a small fit in diamonds (often only three cards) and shortness in spades. Declarer will want to ruff his spades with dummy’s diamonds. A trump lead is most likely to prevent him from doing that.


Your result so far: