Friday, December 13, 2002
1:45 AM
Blind Opening Leads
PITBULLS:
A wise Bridge player once said “there are only two
types of players that lead bare Aces – beginners & experts .” Leading Aces
should be a much more common habit
among Bridge players than it is . In pre-emptive auctions with the pre-empt to
your right the odds are that the King will be to your left in the dummy or in
partners hand . By leading blind ,you may lose your Ace & King to a long
suit on dummy or just as bad trying a different suit and finding a queen for
declarer. The blind lead is a big advantage
for declarer in pre-emptive auctions . In gambling 3NT
auctions , an Ace is almost a compulsory lead unless you have a stand out other
lead . Partner will tell you whether to continue or switch . You need to get
your tricks cashed before the long minor is run .
You hold ♠KQxxx ♥Axx ♦Axx ♣xx and open 1 and LHO vul bids 3♣ , partner passes and
RHO bids 3NT. What do you lead ? You can count 8 tricks for them before you lead ( 7 clubs and spade Ace )
so its best to lead one of you Aces. The player that held this hand led a spade
and they made their vul game . At the other table they lead the Ace of diamonds
and got a discouraging signal . They switched to the Ace of hearts and
proceeded to cash 6 heart tricks !! Just a 15 IMP swing !
In doubled contracts
, leading an Ace and watching partners signal is much better then leading blind . If you do not have an obvious lead , put an Ace on the table . You have the dual
advantage of seeing the dummy and watching partners signal !! There are other
auctions where an Ace stands out . If the opponents leap to slam without Q
bidding or Blackwood there is probably a void lurking and lots of distribution
.Cashing your tricks on the go may be the only way to beat the contract. If there are two long suits revealed on
the auction in the combined hands,
that’s another reason to lead an Ace . You could have two tricks to cash
in that suit .
BJ Trelford made a nice decision tonight playing the vulnerability.
He held ♠1098x ♥Ax ♦Q109x ♣KQx and the auction
went 1♥ vul and he made a nv double. His LHO pre-empted 4♥ and I doubled to show values ( D.S.I.P. ) .
All pass so what do you lead. The Ace of trump stands out for two reasons. One
is that you are not leading blind & two a trump llead may do the most
damage for their side. When BJ sees the board , we cash out for +200. A blind
lead would be –790 !!
Playing tonight in the Thursday IMPS game you hold ♠Kxx ♥xxx ♦AQxx ♣xxx and
RHO Lee Barton opens 1♣ . You pass and and Lucille bids 1♥ . Lee leaps to 3NT and Lucille bids 6♥ and Lee “corrects” to 6NT. O.K. what’s your lead
? My partner lead a heart and they
took the first 14 tricks ( 7♥ and 7♣ .
Since this was a “pre-emptive” fly by the
seat of your pants auction , an Ace lead is mandatory . They may be missing the Ace and
King of diamonds and partner will encourage . It turns out that I did not hold
the King of diamonds but I did hold the Ace of spades . You switch and you beat
6NT two tricks for a 20 IMP swing !! My partner said this result takes a “moron
to my right and a moron to my left and a moron on lead “ I nodded my head in agreement …
Playing with a Tormentee tonight , blind opening leads cost us at least 4
boards. One hand she had AK of a suit and chose to lead another suit “blind” . Sure enough we lost our AK
in that suit. She was trying to be passive on 3 hands and led trump in non fit auctions all for disastrous
results. 1♠-P-1NT-P
4♠. She led a trump rather than an unsupported Ace . Yes , we lost a trick
there also. If the auctions do not call for
a trump lead , do not lead a trump. A bare Ace is a much better lead
because you lose only 1/3 of the time ( dummy or partner may have the king ).
Trump leads are not necessarily passive ! A peek at the dummy is worth a 1000
finesses !!
An expert player today heard this auction in a Swiss
match. She opened 1♣ and they made a T/O double . Partner passed and they leapt
to 3NT . Her hand was ♠xxx ♥xxx ♦Ax ♣AK10xx so she had a
choice between leading blind and guess
the correct suit to attack or leading the club king and looking
at the dummy. Leading the club
King might give up tempo if declarer has QJxx 4th of clubs but that
is the lesser of the two evils. She lead the club king and the board hit with ♠Kxxx ♥AQJxx ♦J10 ♣xx . The heart suit is going to split for declarer so
it is panic time. You must player declarer for 3 clubs so you continue with a
low club and declarer wins with her jack. She finesses the heart and partner
wins the king and returns a club for down 2 vulnerable. Partners were in a
heart partial for plus +140 . So with +200 and +140 you win 8 IMPs instead of
losing 10 when they made 3NT if you made a blind
opening lead.
BJ Trelford open 1♣ on ♠AJx ♥Kxxx ♦Jx ♣A10xx
and the vul opponents overcalled 1♥ . Partner passed and RHO bid 1NT which was raised to
2NT and they carried onto game. You do not have an attractive lead. Partner did
not bid 2♣ or make a negative double or do anything to help you. The heart is
located well for them if they need it. They did not bid spades or make a T/O
double showing spades. The 1NT response probably denies spades. This is not the time to lead blind. BJ led the spade Ace and Kx
came down on the board. Partner signals that he likes the spade so you continue
with the jack. Declarer leads a club and you bounce with Ace of clubs and
return a spade to partners queen and declarer shows out ! Partners original
hand ♠Qxxxxx ♥xx ♦xxx ♣xx and
3NT was +200 . A club lead and you are –660.
Here is an unbelievable hand which occurred against
Tom Gandolfo & I last Thursday night. Tom opened 1♠ and I bid 2♠ with Tom making 4♠ as did everybody else in the field. Opening leader
held ♠xx ♥Axx ♦AQxx ♣Axxx
and counting HCP’s around the table partner is marked with very little. So what
do you lead ? Leading blind might give up a tempo so let partner assist you .
Lead the heart Ace and partner discourages , lead the club Ace and partner
discourages .Now what ? The King of diamonds is on the board so partner does
not like either of the other suits maybe she is trying to tell you something in
diamonds. You lay down the diamond Ace and continue and partner ruffs . Down
one !!
Blind opening leads
are for 3 famous mice
!!!!!!!!!!!!.