Port Macquarie Hastings Bridge Club - Learn & Play Bridge

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Opening Leads

OPENING LEADS Finding the correct opening lead is one of the principal joys of the game, since it involves a major deductive process. There is always evidence from the other three players as to what you should lead. Your problem is to interpret this information correctly.

Firstly, you know a lot about the respective point holdings if the opponents have reaching 3NT via a conventional auction and you have 14 HCP. In this instance you cannot expect any help from partner and therefore you should opt for a passive lead rather than giving declarer successive free finesses.

Next, there is a big difference between suit contracts and no trumps. In no trumps your objective is to establish winners that can be taken later (possibly by your fourth or even fifth cards of that suit), so sacrificing an early trick in this endeavor is quite acceptable. This is not usually the case in suit contracts, where a trick given away early won’t usually come back to you later. Therefore, your opening leads against no trumps will usually be far more aggressive – the lead of x from AQxxx may be fine against no trumps but it’s downright silly elsewhere.

It is a relief when you have a solid suit in hand – your lead, whilst being constructive isn’t giving anything away. Sadly, that is not usually the case – frequently you have to choose between a collection of poor alternatives.

SOME ADVICE ON LEADS

•  Don’t underlead Aces against suit contracts.
•  If the auction has gone 1NT – 3NT and you have a choice then lead a major – opener and responder are likely to have more cards in the minors than they have in the majors. (Why? Responder hasn’t used Stayman, opener can have a 5 card minor but usually not a 5 card major).
•  Make sure that you understand the auction – don’t be afraid to ask for a full explanation of any calls and implication of these calls at the conclusion of the auction.
•  Having decided to lead from a suit such as QJxx you should lead the Queen against a suit contract, and a small one against NT (unless you have the 9).
•  If partner has bid a suit, lead it, unless you have a very obvious alternative. For this reason, overcalls should only be made with good suits in order to get the defence off to a good start.
•  You should hardly ever lead a suit bid by declarer, since you will frequently be giving away a free finesse – it is far better to lead a suit bid by dummy, or, preferably, a suit not mentioned in the auction.