Thursday, January 18, 2007 12:12 PM

3rd & 5th Best Leads

PITBULLS:

Leads that show count in suit contracts are very valuable in Bridge. Whist players knew this in the 1800’s so they had a rule to lead 4^th best from their long suits. Noting the spots that were missing under the 4^th best , they could make an educated guess on the length of the suit. Unfortunately these “count showing “ leads are not perfect. When you had 3 or 5 or any odd number for that matter , it was hard to distinguish between 3 , 4 or 5 card suits. In cash out situations in suit contracts , it is very important to know that partner’s led suit is only 3 in length.

BJ Trelford switched me to 3^rd and 5^th best leads. In my & obviously his opinion, these are superior to 4^th best for suit contracts. From the lead you know immediately whether the lead is from a suit with an odd number or an even number. If it’s the lowest spot card around , partner has 3 , 5 or 7 of them. If it’s a higher spot , the “rule of 12” comes into effect and you know partner has an even number in the suit.

Here is an example where a 3^rd best lead and the rule of 12 works better than 4^th best. Partner leads the 7 of spades in a 4♥ contract and the spades are ♠1095 on the board and you have ♠A8x . Declarer can not have very long spades from the bidding so the 7 can not be a doubleton or singleton. Subtract 7 from 12 and there are 5 higher. You see the ten & the nine and you have the Ace & the 8. Therefore declarer as only one card that can beat it ! You win the Ace and return the suit and you cash 3 spades as partner started with♠KJ74 . What if partner led 4^th best ? You subtract 4 from 11 and there are 7 higher and you only see 5 of them. Maybe your ♦queen shift is better as declarer may have the ♠KQ ? You shift to a diamond and declarer discards his spade losers on his club suit. OOPS !

Bridge players do not like ambiguity. Knowing that a very low card is 3^rd or 5^th is a valuable asset. Like all changes , it cost BJ Trelford a bushel full of IMPS until my old brain got used to it. Now I will not change back. 3^rd & 5^th is just plain better when making “count showing” leads.