Opening Leads against Suit Contracts 2 by Paul Bowyer

We continue with a series on opening leads against suit contracts.

Opening Leads against suit contracts is tricky, and there are many pitfalls.

Basically, there are four strategies:

1. Short suit leads;
2. Sequence leads;
3. Passive leads;
4. Attacking leads.

Here, we look at sequence leads.

Into this category comes the desirable lead of the Ace from an Ace-King combination (Barry Crane’s rule: God dealt you an Ace-King combination so you wouldn’t have a problem with the opening lead).

You are always South, on lead to East's suit contract.

Question 1

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

Q: 1 - You are South, on lead to 4♥ after the auction below.

What is your choice of lead?

South	West	North	East
-	-	-	1♥
P	3♥	P	4♥
P	P	P

A: Lead the ♦A.

Remember Barry Crane’s rule… Have a look at the dummy by cashing a top Diamond.

You keep control of Hearts as you still have the ♦K. After seeing what’s on the table it might be clear what to do next. For example, it might be right to continue with Diamonds to give North a third-round ruff.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 2

Your Hand
♠ A 8 6 5 2
♥ 7 6
♦ Q 8 3
♣ J 10 9

Q: 2 - You are South, on lead to 4♥ after the auction below.

What is your choice of lead?

South	West	North	East
-	-	-	1♥
P	3♥	P	4♥
P	P	P

A: Lead the ♣J.

This is both safe and constructive. It doesn’t matter than you only have three cards in the suit – it isn’t essential to lead from a long suit against a suit contract.

A low Spade lead is a real no-no. The ♠A is also a poor choice as you would give up control in the suit; Aces are meant to kill Kings or Queens.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 3

Your Hand
♠ 8 3
♥ J 9 4
♦ K Q J
♣ K 9 7 4 2

Q: 3 - You are South, on lead to 4♥ after the auction below.

What is your choice of lead?

South	West	North	East
-	-	-	1♥
P	3♥	P	4♥
P	P	P

A: Lead the ♦K.

In similar vein to Q2. You do best to lead from a sequence, aiming to avoid opening up frozen suits and also aiming to develop tricks.

The ♦K Q J combination is especially attractive as it is likely to set tricks up immediately and cannot give declarer anything that he doesn’t already have.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 4

Your Hand
♠ J 8
♥ 10 9 8
♦ Q 9 6 3
♣ J 8 5 2

Q: 4 - You are South, on lead to 4♠ after the transfer auction below.

What is your choice of lead?

South	West	North	East
-	-	-	1NT
P	2♥*	P	2♠
P	4♠	P	P
P

A: Lead the ♥10.

When in doubt, lead from the top-of-a-sequence. Opening up Diamonds or Clubs might open up a can of worms instead.

Second choice is the ♦3; a Club from ♣J × × × is a horrible option. Leading from a Jack is very likely to open up a frozen suit and is something to be avoided unless there is no other choice.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 5

Your Hand
♠ 10 9
♥ 10 9 7 6
♦ A K 7
♣ J 8 7 6

Q: 5 - You are South, on lead to 4♠ after the auction below.

What is your choice of lead?

South	West	North	East
-	-	-	1♠
P	2♠	P	4♠
P	P	P

A: Lead the ♦A.

Back to Barry Crane’s rule. You have an Ace-King combination, so should lead the top Diamond in order to get a look at dummy without releasing control of Diamonds.

What you lead at trick two will be dictated by what you see on the table; it might be right to lead any of the four suits next.

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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