Sunday, August 14, 2005 8:14 PM

3rd & 5th leads

PITBULLS:

Over the years there I has been a tug of war between 4^th best leads vrs 3^rd and 5^th. Experts have argued which lead convention is better. The latest consensus among experts at the national level is that they both are !

3^rd and 5^th best lead are best against suit contracts and 4^th best against NT contracts. In suit contracts , it is important to know that partners low card lead is 3^rd or 5^th for cash out purposes and switches and planning your defense. It is less important in suit contracts that you “burn spot cards” by leading your 2^nd lowest card to show 4 of the suit.

In NT when you waste spot cards on your opening lead with 4 of them , it can often be fatal. Also the rule of 11 in NT contracts is invaluable in knowing what is going on with the suit. Bryan Maksysmetz knew that I played 4^th best with Tom and 3^rd & 5^th with BJ. Therefore he suggested that we should be a switch hitter in this regard. He says most top level players alternate between suit and NT contracts with 3^rd and 5^th best leads. I can see the advantages now that I play both lead conventions with my two regular partners.

Playing 3^rd and 5^th best with BJ has opened my eyes on the importance of differentiating between 3 to an honour lead as opposed to 4 of an honour. With standard 4^th best you can not tell the difference which can be fatal in suit contracts. In NT contracts 3 card suits are hardly ever lead except when demanded by the bidding so partner can normally work it out anyway from the distribution given by the bidding..

Some more hints I got from Maksymetz in discussing players defensive cardings at the national level. Foster echoes are only useful in NT contracts. In suit contracts , if you can not beat dummys card , Bryan suggests suit preference rather than count. Its obviously not attitude when you can not beat dummys honour card ( Ace & King excluded ) so he feels suit preference is more useful than count in suit contracts only.

Bryan has strong opinions on “coded 9’s & 10’s”. He says they give too much information on the opening lead but use them during the middle of the hand helps the defense more than declarer. During the middle of the hand it is more important to show whether you have a real interior sequence switch. Anyway theses are just his opinions. Any comments ?