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Opening Leads vs Suit Contracts
Here we look at hands where the opening leader came up with the right lead based on logic rather than random luck. See also Carding Agreements.
Related Play Problems Play Problem 64
Related Extracts from Past Wednesday Games
Against 4♠, East will probably lead a trump. That’s a good choice, holding Declarer to 10 tricks (five trumps in Declarer’s hand, three ruffs in Dummy, and the ♦AK). Actually, it’s hard to come up with a rational reason for leading anything other than a trump, as all the other leads look so unsavory. So we are pleased to report that all non-trump leads do indeed lead to an overtrick. For example, witness the lead of the ♥A: ♥A is cashed Spade shift, won by Declarer Club ruff Cash ♦A and ♦K, pitching Hearts Now Declarer has the back and forth to get three ruffs in Dummy and 11 altogether.
Let’s say that South leads a Club, and that North wins and returns one. Now the defense is dead, as Declarer can ruff three losers in Dummy, scoring 11 tricks altogether. For example: Club, Club, Club ruff, ♠K, ♥A, ♥K, Heart ruff, ♦A, Heart ruff, ♠Q, Diamond ruff, cash remaining Spades.
The way to set 5♠ is for South to lead a trump, and perhaps South should find that lead, reasoning that Declarer might be short of tricks, as the side-suits seem unlikely to produce much. Now things get interesting: Spade lead won by Declarer Heart to the Ace Club lead, ducked by North, to Declarer’s Queen and South’s King Another Spade, won in Dummy A critical juncture in the play has arrived. A Club is led from Dummy, and North must bravely duck! She must hope that South has the Ten and can lead another trump. South does exactly that, and now Declarer gets only two ruffs on the board, and only 10 tricks altogether. Nice defense, down one! It was a fairly safe bet for North to duck that Club, as with ♣QTx presumably Declarer would have inserted the Ten on the first round.
That was not a bad auction, and slam in Spades (or Hearts) is not a great proposition. The Hearts must be picked up for one loser and that’s just a 20% chance (needs onside Ace and a 2-2 split). But the overbidders will triumph here, demonstrating once again that there is not always justice in bridge. Unless, that is, that South manages to find …
… a stunning lead! Suppose that you are South, on opening lead against 6♠. What is the lead that beats the contract? Before you say “There isn’t one!”, consider the effect of leading the ♥J! That’s the ticket! Declarer will surely finesse on the second round! Of course, unorthodox leads run the risk of misleading Partner, but this one looks relatively safe, and is unlikely to cost. Stunning, indeed!
North, with a poor hand, bypasses her Diamonds and goes straight to her major suit. On lead against 2♠, East has a miserable set of choices. He hates to start with a singleton trump, that’s a lead with the nasty habit of destroying Partner’s Qxxx or Jxxx holding. A Club looks far from attractive with that holding, the suit having been bid on his left. That leaves the ♦Axx and ♥Axxxx suits. We’d try a low card, not the Ace, on the grounds that if we must make an unpleasant lead then let’s have a little fun by being unorthodox and hopefully deceptive. - If East leads a low Diamond, West wins the King. He’ll assume that Declarer is holding up the A♦ and might find the truly devilish shift of a low Heart. East wins and returns a Heart, in case West is seeking a ruff. Dummy plays low, and West’s Queen wins. Now, West does want a Heart ruff, and he’ll lead a Diamond back to East’s Ace, and get that ruff. Of course, when East led the second round of Hearts he played the Seven, a suit preference signal for the higher-ranking suit. This defense beats 2♠ by one trick. - If East leads a low Heart, Declarer is bound to guess wrong, again West gets his ruff, and again it is down one. If the defense does not attack Hearts in time, the defense will not get its ruff and at least 8 tricks will be made.
It is essential for E-W to beat 2♥ doubled by two tricks if they are to beat the +130 which is theirs if they play in Diamonds. As the double was based on power (East thinks his side has 22-23) it’s usual to lead trumps at every opportunity. That works just fine and eventually the defense scores 3 Spades, 2 Diamonds and 2 Clubs for a lovely +300.
Not every East will open 1NT with that hand, but it works rather well here, concealing the Club suit and getting the contract played from the strong side. Against 4♠, what would be your opening lead from the South hand? - A trump? Definitely not, that might too easily blow a trick. - A Club? It’s usually not a good idea to go after ruffs when you have natural trump tricks. On this hand it could prove disastrous, sparing Declarer the Club guess and giving him a tempo. At Trick 2, the ♠A is cashed, then a Spade to Dummy’s Queen. Declarer now plays Clubs, and South must ruff in, shift to a Diamond, after which North must shift to a Heart. Down one despite the opening lead! - A Heart? That’s a pretty dangerous lead with the strong hand on the right. Now if Declarer guesses right on the first trick (he probably won’t for the aforementioned reason!), and guesses Clubs correctly (placing the long Clubs with North’s short Spades), he can actually make 4♠. - A Diamond? Yes, this looks the most sensible, and ensures defeat, perhaps by two tricks if Declarer misguesses Clubs.
That 4♦ bid was a Texas Transfer.
South's lead will determine the outcome of this board. Let’s review the possibilities: - Trump Lead? This looks pretty safe, but what will it achieve? It seems unlikely that there is a ruff in the short (2NT) hand, and, even if there is, it’s unlikely that a trump lead will prevent that (we just don’t have enough entries to keep leading trumps). - Diamond Lead? Heavens, no! Way too dangerous even to contemplate, especially with the strong hand on our right. - Black Suit Lead? If you avoided one of those red suit leads, then at least you got on the short list. Which black suit should you lead? There are no obvious clues, we’ll just say “Well done!” for leading a black card, and especially well done if that lead was a Club, enabling you to get a ruff for the third defensive trick. All other leads and it’s 11 tricks for Declarer.
Looking at all 4 hands, it’s easy to see that North must cash her two Aces on the go or else Declarer will claim 12 top tricks. Should she cash out? Having seen the whole layout, we didn’t trust ourselves to be objective on the matter so we consulted an anonymous expert whom we shall call Dr Goodlead. He didn’t think it such a difficult problem at all: “Defintely not a trump, that won’t achieve anything. Not a Club, that needs too much help from Partner. So, I lead the A♦, it’s less likely to blow a trick than A♠”. Nice going, but there was another hurdle to be overcome. “Dummy goes down with blah, blah, and Partner plays the King on the first trick. What next, Doctor?” He thought for a while and decided to cash the A♠, figuring that the odds were better that this would cash rather than a second Diamond.
We’d expect 3♠ to be the final contract at most tables and it looks destined to go down a trick as the defense should score 2 trumps, a Heart and two Clubs. Is there any hope at all for Declarer? Yes, East might find the disastrous lead of the A♣! We hesitate to second-guess the opening lead, it’s such a difficult, and sometimes random, part of the game. But, leading an unsupported Ace against a suit contract is usually not a good idea (even in Partner’s suit), unless one of the following situations applies: (a) There’s reason to think that our winner(s) in that suit might go away if we don’t cash immediately (this is more likely to happen in high-level contracts) (b) We think we may be able to organize a ruff, either for Partner or ourselves (c) The other leads are even more unappealing We would lead the J♦ here, simple and safe.
Against 4♠, lots of matchpoints will hinge on West's opening lead. Here are some thoughts: - A Diamond lead would be unthinkable! - A trump lead would not achieve much, North is unlikely to have a ruffing value on this bidding. - North is unlikely to have Heart values … if she had she would probably have bid 3♥ over 3♦, giving South a chance to bid 3NT with a Club stop. - If North has Club values, there is the danger that they might provide pitches for Declarer’s Heart losers. This all seems to point towards the opening lead of the A♥, and that is indeed the winner, holding Declarer to 10 tricks … any other suit and it’s 12 tricks.
Is it not possible that the A♥ might blow a trick? Sure, Declarer might have ♥Kx and East might have the Q♥. But, even then, there is the chance that at least one Heart could go away on the Clubs. All in all, the A♥ looks like a stand-out.
South finds herself on opening lead against 3♣. Not a particularly appetizing set of choices, is it? It takes the lead of the A♠, then a Spade ruff, then the cashing of two Hearts to beat this. That’s 4 tricks for the defense, and the coup de grace is applied when the third round of Spades is led … this doesn’t immediately get a 5th trick for the defense (because Dummy can ruff high), but it does neutralize one of Declarer’s Spade winners, so that, in the fullness of time, the defense will come to a Diamond trick.
That’s all very well, but is it realistic to expect South to find that A♠ opening lead? We gave this one to Dr Goodlead and he maintained his recent good form by saying “Certainly not a trump, nor a Heart … no reason to lead a Diamond … what else but the A♠, hoping that my non-supporting Partner is short in the suit. It’s one of those relatively rare situations where leading an unsupported Ace against a suit contract looks right”. Yes, indeed, Doctor!
What would you lead, as South, against 6♥? Dr Goodlead was spot-on with his analysis of the situation. “A Club lead looks dangerous, all the more so when Declarer is likely to have 3 or 4 of them. Certainly not a trump, Partner won’t appreciate that if she holds Qxx of trumps. A Spade lead might work and that’s my guess at IMPs, but playing matchpoints I think I’ll lead a Diamond, the trick that seems most likely to get away if we don’t grab it immediately” Nice lead, Doctor, that Diamond loser was indeed going away!
As South, against 2♠, what would be your opening lead? - A Spade? No, leading a singleton trump is notoriously dangerous, all too often it picks up Partner’s Qxx or Jxxx. - A Club? Definitely not! Underleading a King into a strong Declarer is risky enough, but when it’s from a long suit it is doubly so. At least when we underlead the Kxx (and find that Partner has no help in the suit) we still have a chance to score our King later in the play. When leading from KJxxxxx there is no such chance. - A Heart? Better than a Spade or a Club, but will that achieve anything? If we are to build any tricks in this suit Partner will need a very good holding. He didn’t Double 2♥ for the lead, perhaps he doesn’t have that very good holding. - A Diamond? That was Dr Goodlead’s choice: “Not without risk, of course”, said he, “but surely more promising than a Heart”.
As it happens, any lead but a Club is good enough to hold Declarer to 8 tricks.
On to the play. 6♥ is a pretty decent contract, but it is destined to fail. It may fail spectacularly or prosaically, but fail it surely will: - Spectacular Defense: This West is eager to get his name in the newspapers, so he tries a low Club to East’s Jack. When the Jack holds, East has no trouble figuring out that esteemed Partner has done a little bit of underleading and requires a Diamond ruff. Down one! - Prosaic Defense: This West has no such aspirations to glory (or perhaps he has a Partner without a sense of humor) so he leads the A♣. He then continues the suit, ruffed in Dummy. The K♥ and Q♥ are cashed, then a Diamond to Declarer’s Ace in order to extract that last enemy trump. Oops! West ruffs, cashes another Club, and that is down two! So, the underleader gets the good story, and the routine play gets the good board.
Against 6♥, what would you lead as East? Dr Goodlead came up with a real duesy on this one. “I lead a Heart, of course” He reckoned that the opponents had a 4-4 Heart fit, and, if the Ace and King were in opposite hands, the contract was likely to depend on Declarer guessing which one to play first. Leading a Heart would pretty much guarantee that Declarer played West for the Q♥. An interesting thought for next time you are on opening lead holding Qxxx (with no useful spots) in the trump suit.
As South, what would you lead against 3♠? There’s no obvious reason not to start out with a Diamond, and Dr Goodlead’s choice was the K♦, cleverly keeping the lead in case there is a deadly shift required from the South side at Trick Two. It turns out that there is indeed such a shift, and at Trick Two South must figure out to lead a Heart. That’s the only shift that will beat the contract two tricks and failure to do so allows Declarer to set up a Diamond trick for a Heart pitch, getting out for down one. Will South manage to find the Heart shift? It won’t be obvious, but at least she gives herself the chance by making that well thought out opening lead of the K♦.
As South, what would be your choice of opening lead against 4♥? - A Club? No, that’s a most unappealing lead, and one with no apparent purpose. - A Diamond? Dummy has bid this suit and if the defense has any tricks coming in the suit there does not appear to be a rush to take them, they won’t be going anywhere. Another lead with no purpose. - A Trump? Conventional wisdom tells us not to lead singleton trumps and leading a singleton Ten (or Jack) is especially hazardous. For example, the layout of the suit might be this: Q765 AJ98 K432 T Without that foolish trump lead Declarer was destined to lay down the K♥ and take the losing trump finesse. But the T♥ lead pickles the defense’s trump trick. Similarly, if North holds Qxx. - A Spade? Leading away from Kxxxx in suit contracts is quite dangerous, but there is no obviously better lead, and the Spade lead actually has two ways in which it might win. Firstly, with Partner quite likely to have 4 trumps, it might be a good idea to initiate a forcing defense, hoping that Declarer will ultimately lose trump control after repeated Spade leads. Secondly, it’s not out of the question that Partner has some values, and if she has the A♠ it might be a good idea to grab a couple of Spade tricks before they disappear on Dummy’s Diamonds. Finally, a lead with a purpose!
If South leads anything but a Spade then Declarer can play the hand as if it were No Trump. He draws four rounds of trumps, plays on Clubs and scores 11 tricks. But the Spade opening lead puts the defense a tempo ahead. If Declarer now draws all the trumps and plays on Clubs, he’ll actually be down a trick when the defense’s Spades get set up before Dummy’s Clubs. So, Declarer will draw two rounds of trumps, get the bad news and play on Clubs before drawing the remainder of the trumps. South scores two Clubs and is able to give North a ruff, and it’s just 10 tricks for Declarer.
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