Menu Vu-Bridge | Play like a Champion!

 Wonderful World Bridge Tour by Ben Norton

Wonderful World Bridge Tour

As well as being an umbrella organisation for OCBL events, the WBT runs its own top-class online competitions.

Try your hand at these opening lead problems played in WBT events, from the South position.

Question 1

  Your Hand
 J 2
 10 5
 J 9 4 3
 Q 9 6 5 2
 
Q: 1 - Your enterprising 5 call has pushed the opponents up a level. Can you take advantage?

*2NT showed the red suits and 3 was non-forcing

SouthWestNorthEast
-12NT*3*
55All pass


 Your choice:
A: 10. It’s unlikely that two rounds of Diamonds will stand up. You’ll probably need to make something of the Heart suit in any case, so you might as well lead one on the go. It could even be that a Heart ruff will provide the setting trick.

Partner had the A K on the actual hand, and you needed to set up a Heart trick right away. It was necessary to lead through dummy, so this was your one chance.

Your result so far:
Open Question

Question 2

  Your Hand
 K 9 8 6 5 4
 J 10 5
 9
 Q J 9
 
Q: 2 - Should you lead your suit?

*2 was a good Heart raise and 6 showed an odd number of keycards with a Club void

SouthWestNorthEast
--Pass1
12*34
Pass4NTPass6*
Pass6All pass


 Your choice:
A: 9. A singleton makes for an excellent lead against a small slam in a suit. If partner has either of the red Aces, the slam will fail. It’s unlikely you can take very many Spade tricks after partner’s jump raise.

Partner had the A and declarer needed to score Spade ruffs to make the hand, so he had to lose the lead before drawing trumps. Thus, a Diamond lead would set the slam.

Your result so far:
Open Question

Question 3

  Your Hand
 A Q J 10
 10 4
 8 6 2
 J 4 3 2
 
Q: 3 - This is a close call.

*3NT showed a good preempt in one of the majors and 4 was pass or correct

SouthWestNorthEast
-3NT*Pass4*
All pass


 Your choice:
A: 6. You’re not going to lead a Spade as East could hold the K. A trump is unlikely to do any good when dummy has extreme length, and could just concede a tempo.

The middle ground is one of the minor suits, and although you hold an honor in Clubs, needing less from partner to set up tricks, your extra length in the Club suit means any winners you establish are more likely to stand up in Diamonds.

A Diamond lead found partner with A K doubleton, so two rounds of Diamonds would be followed by a Spade to the Ace and a Diamond ruff; the only defense to set the game.

Your result so far:
Open Question

Question 4

  Your Hand
 K 10 2
 7
 10 6 5 3
 K 10 8 5 4
 
Q: 4 - Will you keep partner happy?

SouthWestNorthEast
PassPass22NT
Pass3NTAll pass


 Your choice:
A: 7. It could be right to lead your own five-card suit, but as you don’t have many outside entries and are therefore unlikely to be able to enjoy the long Clubs, it’s perhaps better to opt for a Heart, which is at least safe. Partner could have a fair hand for his third-seat weak two.

It was all about not giving anything away on lead. A Club would gift declarer a cheap trick, while a Heart wouldn’t help him and the contract would be defeated.

Your result so far:
Open Question

Question 5

  Your Hand
 J 9
 J 10 9
 K Q 8 7 2
 J 3 2
 
Q: 5 - Which one will it be?

SouthWestNorthEast
-PassPass1NT
Pass3NTAll pass


 Your choice:
A: 7. There’s no question you should lead a Diamond. It’s often best to lead small from holdings headed by only two honors against No-trump, in order to prevent the suit from blocking or to retain a link with partner. This is especially so when you have no outside entries to your long suit.

Partner had A 10 x, so you would survive by kicking off with the K, but what if partner had A x and the suit split 3-3?


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

Rate yourself:

0 - 40% We applaud your effort.
Review the subject and try again. You'll be surprised how much better you'll do.
We're here for you!!
41 - 50% Buy your mentor a cuppa and ask for clarification on the ones you got wrong.
No mentor? Make finding one a priority!
51 - 60% Nice improvement! One more review and you'll have this down solid!
61 - 80% What a good job! All that's left is some fine tuning
Over 80% Wow! It's time for you to become a mentor. Find someone who needs help and share your knowledge!