Opening Lead Agreements – No Trump

 

The time-honored advice here is “Fourth highest from your longest and strongest”.  Not bad advice and it works fine on the majority of hands.  For example, you hold:

 

            ♠ AK874

            ♥743

            ♦ 95

            ♣ 72

 

1NT on your right, 3NT on your left, your lead.  Yes, you lead your 4^th best Spade, hoping to maintain communications with Partner as you set up the suit.  A typical scenario is that Declarer will win the first trick, then will lose a trick (in another suit) to Partner, and a Spade will come back and our suit will run.  Well, that’s what we hope for, anyway!  But the important point is that leading our 4^th best Spade is a much better ploy than starting Spades from the top … if we start with the AK♠ and out a Spade, Declarer wins her Q, and even if Partner does get in he’ll have no Spades left to get back.

 

So, 4^th best is the basic rule against No Trump contracts, but we make an exception when we have a strong sequence of honors.  Suppose that the auction goes 1NT 3NT, and we are on lead, and we feel the need to lead a Spade from all of the following holdings … pick your lead!

 

            AK874            Yes, we did this one already, lead the 7.

 

            AKQ74           Start from the top, hope they run.

 

QJT74             Yes, of course, you lead top of the sequence, you would hate to lead the 7 and then see the bad guys get a cheap trick with the Nine.

 

            QJ974             Again, lead the Q … that 9 is just about enough to solidify our

sequence … but the lead is not without its dangers! … all too often (especially, it seems, when we make this lead), Dummy hits with KTx, and Declarer has Axx, and we have just blown a trick!  But, no need to get negative here, just make the normal lead of the Q, usually you will survive the experience.

 

QJ764             Lead your 4^th best … yes, it’s a scary lead, but you will survive it if Partner just has the decency to possess the A, K or T.

 

Short Suit Leads

 

Most of the time, in our quest to develop some defensive tricks, our opening lead against a No Trump contract will be a strong and/or long suit.  But, occasionally, the bidding will suggest that we lead a weaker suit:

           

            83                    Lead the 8, just like you would against a suit contract.

 

           863                  Usually, we lead the 8 here … leading a low one might confuse Partner into

                                   thinking you have led from length and strength.  But, if Partner has bid the suit,

                                   and you never supported him, then a low card is called for, the logic being that,

                                   in the (non-support) circumstances, your holding actually is a strong one!  And,

                                   if we did support Partner with our 3 small?  Now, in the circumstances,

                                   our holding is a weak one, so we lead a high card!

 

            J63                  Give your 3-card suit the Jack or higher, and you revert back to a

                                    low card for your opening lead.

 

            JT3                  Lead the Jack … always top of a sequence from a 3-card suit.

           

Leading From 4 or 5 Small

 

One more agreement … we lead 4^th best as a general rule, but perhaps we should make an exception when our long suit is 4 or 5 small ones.  With such a holding, if this does indeed seem like the suit we should be leading, then a good agreement is to lead our second highest.  It’ll make things easier for Partner to figure out.

 

Leading from KQT9

 

Lead the Queen!  This is a conventional lead, and asks Partner to play the Jack if he has it.  This little carding trick is our way of avoiding being tricked by Declarer when he holds AJx.  He ducks the first round, hoping for a continuation … but, if Partner does not dump the Jack under the Queen, the opening leader is not fooled.  And, if the Partner of the opening leader does not hold the Jack?  Then, he should give count, by which we mean he should play his lowest card with an odd number, and a high card with a an even number.  Consider this hand:

 

            ♠ KQT94

            ♥ 85

            ♦ A32

            ♣ 864

 

The opponents bid 1NT 2♣, 2♦ 3NT, and you find yourself on lead.  You try the Q♠, dummy goes down with A5.  Declarer calls for the Ace, and Partner does not produce the Jack.  Next, comes a Diamond from the board, won with your Ace.  What next?  We know that Declarer started with AJ or AJx (remember, he denied a 4-card major).  Should you continue Spades, hoping that Declarer started with AJ?  Or should you exit safely in another suit, on the assumption that Partner needs to lead through Declarer’s remaining Jx of Spades?  This one is easy!  If Partner gives proper count on the opening lead, there is no guess involved … Partner started with xxx or xxxx, and will have played his lowest from xxx, and his highest from xxxx.

 

Ace and King Leads

 

As already noted, we usually lead low from long suits, unless we have a sequence of honors.  But, against No Trump, the lead of the Ace and the King have a special meaning.  There are various methods, this is the most common:

 

- A lead of the Ace asks Partner to unblock if he has an honor; without an honor, he             gives count.

 

- A lead of the King asks Partner for attitude.  Generally speaking, Partner will              encourage holding the Ace or Queen, otherwise he will discourage.

 

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