Sunday, October 06, 2002 7:09 PM
Opening
Leads
PITBULLS:
Since
we are concentrating on defense & declarer play lately , opening leads
should come up those subjects right ? Wrong ! I think opening leads are just an
extension of bidding . Opening leads are made with an “ear to the bidding” for
the most part . Good bidders also
are good opening leaders . If the auction makes no sense to you , your opening
lead will be off the mark . You take inferences from what partner did or did
not do and how the opponents arrived at their final resting place. It is not by
accident that poor bidders also have trouble with their opening leads. Bidding
quizzes ( like the Bridge World ) always have opening leads as a part of it as
opening leads are essentially more bidding skills.
The following I
took from the net :
On many hands, your choice of an opening lead involves using clues from the auction to decide whether you should make an aggressive lead, or play it safe with a passive lead. You'll have a slightly different type of decision to make when you consider a trump lead, which, depending on the auction and your hand, may be an aggressive or a passive choice.
On some hands, a trump lead can actually be your strongest attack because it serves to shorten declarer's or dummy's trump holding. The types of auctions that will give you the strongest clues about this include those where:
(1) Declarer has shown a two-suited hand, especially if you have a good holding in declarer's other suit. Many good players consider it virtually mandatory to lead a trump to an auction like this one:
West East
1D 1H 2C 2D Pass
If you hold ♠10962 ♥KQ6 ♦83 ♣AJ97, lead the diamond 3. It's a strong possibility that dummy will be relatively short in declarer's second suit (clubs), and you expect declarer may try to use dummy's diamonds to trump his club losers. Both opponents have shown minimum hands, so they may not have enough in high-card power alone to make their contract.
(2) You expect the short-trump hand (usually dummy) to be short in another suit. You can almost see dummy's singleton club after this auction:
West East
1D 1H 1S 1NT 2H 4H Pass
Opener's sequence here typically shows some extra values with 3-card heart support. Since opener pulled partner out of 1NT, you expect that he has an unbalanced pattern -- probably 4-3-5-1 -- and that the opponents are in a 5-3 fit. If you hold:
♠109 ♥975 ♦QJ76 ♣AK43 ,
resist the temptation to cash a high club, which may give declarer
the tempo he needs to trump two club losers in dummy. You want to lead trumps
as many times as possible, so start with the heart 5. If declarer wants to set
up ruffs in dummy, he'll have to lead clubs himself, and you'll be in again for
a second trump lead.
(3) You have a clear advantage in overall power. This may be especially important if you've doubled the contract. After an auction like:
You LHO Partner RHO
1NT Pass 2C 2S Pass Pass DBL All Pass
a trump lead is a good idea, even if you have an unattractive holding, such as:
♠Q92 ♥QJ10 ♦KQJ2 ♣A103.
Although partner should have a fair spade holding, his double may have been partially based on his knowledge that the two of you hold significantly more than half the high-card strength. In this case, declarer's only prayer will be to score tricks with a few of dummy's trumps. Every trump lead you make may cost him a trick.
(4) You have a clear advantage in trump length and/or strength. In this auction:
RHO You LHO Partner
1D DBL All Pass
partner rates to have better trumps than declarer, so you'll want to attack declarer's holding. You may even be able to draw all of declarer's and dummy's trumps. This is one of the rare exceptions to the "rule" about never leading a singleton trump.
On some hands, you may be reduced to leading a trump just because nothing else looks safe. After a 1S-2S auction by your opponents, you have an unattractive choice of leads from:
♠754 ♥A1072 ♦KJ32 ♣J4 .
All the unbid suits look dangerous, so try the spade 4. You don't necessarily expect this to hurt declarer, but you hope it won't help. Since partner has only one or two trumps, probably the worst that can happen is that you'll find his doubleton queen -- and that's something declarer may have found for himself anyway.
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Some opening leads are relatively easy. If you're on lead after the opponents bid 1NT-3NT, for example, the old guideline of "fourth down from your longest and strongest suit" works well on most hands. You also have an easy lead if partner has overcalled a suit, or when you have a suit with a strong honor holding (KQJ, QJ10, AK, etc.).
On many hands, though, your choice won't be as clear, and that's why opening leads are one of the most difficult parts of the game. Making a good one requires require careful analysis of the auction. On some difficult hands, you'll want to make a passive, safe opening lead that isn't likely to give away a trick -- such as a lead from a "topless" suit like 87643 or 10982. On other hands, it will pay to make an aggressive lead, such as an underlead of an unprotected honor.
How do you know when an aggressive lead is the best choice? One of your strongest clues comes when the opponents have an auction that identifies a long, strong side suit that can be set up as a source of tricks. For example, suppose you're North holding:
♠A5
♥743 ♦KJ953 ♣Q72
and it's your lead after your opponents have the following auction:
West East
1S 2H 2S 4S
Your best opening lead is probably the 5 of diamonds (fourth best). You hope partner has either the ace or queen of diamonds, but even if he doesn't, your risky lead may not cost anything. Dummy has shown a long (and probably strong) heart suit that may be used to pitch declarer's losers. It's important to set up possible tricks for your side right now, while you still have the trump ace as an entry to cash them.
How about leads to higher-level contracts? When the opponents bid a small slam, your natural instinct may be to make a safe opening lead, but on some hands, being passive can give away the contract. An aggressive lead is often your only chance to beat a slam, especially if the opponents have shown great strength and/or a side fit. For example, suppose your opponents bid to 6H via this auction:
West East
1H 2D 3D 4NT 5H 6H
And you're on lead with ♠109874 ♥762 ♦A3 ♣K102.
The spade 10 looks safe, but it doesn't rate to set up a trick for your side. That would require partner to have the spade king and dummy to have the ace (or partner to have KJ and dummy the queen), and declarer and dummy to each have at least two spades. It's better to set your sights lower and play partner for the club queen. Lead the club 2 and hope you can set up and cash a club when you get in with the diamond ace. If it happens that you've led into declarer's AQ of clubs, you may have lost nothing, since it's likely that his potential club losers would have been pitched on dummy's diamonds.
When to lead bare Aces ? It is said that only beginners and
experts lead Aces . Everyone in between avoid that lead like the plague . Again
its back to the bidding . A pre-emptive hand is playing the contract and the
strong hand will be the dummy . “Leading blind” is an advantage to the declarer
. A peek at the dummy and wait for partners signal may be worth two finesses .
A pre-emptive auction at a high level where there
are voids flying around an Ace lead might be better than your suit to look at
the board and await a signal from partner . A gambling 3NT is where a bare Ace
is quite often lead just to look at the lay of the land .
In a doubled contract , where you have the vast
majority of HCP’s and no other lead looks attractive , lead an Ace . Leading
blind in doubled contracts sometimes change an 1100 to a 500 .
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Some auctions (such as those where the opponents have shown a good source of tricks outside the trump suit) call for an aggressive, potentially risky opening lead -- one that will probably give away a trick if partner has no honors in the suit, but may set the contract if he does. On other hands, you need to be more patient and let declarer work for all his tricks. Your goal on these hands is to make a safe opening lead that won't give declarer an undeserved trick.
A "safe" lead may also be an attacking combination -- such as a suit headed by AK, KQJ or QJ10 -- and these are usually good choices for a lead to any contract. You won't always be dealt these easy holdings, though, so you'll sometimes have to select a "passive" lead. Passive leads include:
How do you know when one of these passive leads is your best choice? Here are some of the contracts and types of auctions that call for a safe, non-attacking opening lead:
1 - The opponents are in 6NT or a grand slam. An exception is if the opponents
bid 6NT after an auction that suggests that declarer's main source of tricks
will be a long, strong suit. In this case, you may want to make an aggressive
opening lead (away from an honor) to try to set up a trick you can cash if you
get the lead later.
2 - The auction tells you that declarer has a strong hand and dummy (and/or partner) will be weak.
Suppose your right-hand opponent opens 2NT (20-22 pts.) and
left-hand-opponent raises to 3NT. What's your lead from:
♠987
♥AJ92 ♦KQ54 ♣Q7 ?
If you follow the "fourth-down-from-your-longest-and-strongest" rule, you'd choose the 2 of hearts or the 5 of diamonds. But with almost all the outstanding honors on your right, either of these leads has an unusually high risk of giving declarer a "free" trick. Partner can't hold more than 3 high-card points, so it's not a good idea to count on him for help in a specific suit.
A better choice is a passive 9 of spades. A spade is unlikely to set up any quick tricks for your side, but it probably won't help declarer. Declarer will have to give you the lead soon, and if your spade lead was indeed "safe," you should probably continue leading them. If a switch is called for, you'll have a better idea of what suit to choose later.
Note that you do not want to lead a diamond honor. A diamond will probably only be right if partner has the jack or ace, so if you did want to lead diamonds, the correct lead from this holding would be the 4. If partner has no honors -- and declarer has a holding like AJ109 -- leading the king will give him three eventual tricks. If you instead lead low, declarer can't take more than 2 tricks in the suit.
3 - The auction suggests that both opponents are fairly balanced.
On these hands, declarer will usually have to play the side suits himself, so it's best to sit back and wait for your tricks. For example, suppose you're South holding:
♠J1042
♥5 ♦10843 ♣K1032
and it's your lead after your opponents have the following auction:
West East
-- 1H 2NT* 4H * (Jacoby 2NT, forcing heart raise)
With the Jacoby 2NT convention, East's 4H bid showed a minimum opener with no singleton and no interest in slam. Although the opponents have game-level strength, they rate to be fairly balanced -- opener had an opportunity to show a singleton over 2NT, and responder might have chosen a different forcing bid if he had a very distributional hand. You expect that declarer will have to lead the side suits himself, so you want to avoid any suit that will make his job easier.
The singleton trump is probably the most dangerous lead you can make (partner won't be happy if he holds Qxx of trumps!). It's also risky to lead away from the club king, or even the J10 of spades. That leaves you with your "nothing" suit -- diamonds -- so try the diamond 3.
Copyright 1997 Karen Walker