Opening Lead for Intermediates 11 by Andy Hung

A: ♥2.

Clearly we should lead an unbid suit against such an auction as the Diamonds could well be a source of tricks for declarer.

Choosing between Hearts and Clubs, we should aim for our stronger suit since we would need less help in that suit in order to establish tricks. Hearts is our strongest suit here so that's what we should lead.

Your result so far:

A: ♥8.

The opponents have a limited auction here where East has invited and West has declined the invitation. Clearly they both don't have much to spare so we should do our best to not to give anything away.

Leading the unbid suit(s) is generally a good idea, but against a partscore where the opponents have tried for game, there's no need to be aggressive - let the opponents do their own work, so lead a passive trump.

Your result so far:

A: ♦K.

Given that the opponents are in game, and looking at our 14-point hand, we can deduce that partner does not have much in his hand! However, there is a chance that partner may have the ♦J so the ♦K lead will not only establish a trick, but it may be a suit that you can use to force the opponents' trumps.

Holding four trumps, sometimes it is a good idea to get your own suit going so you can later force the opponents to ruff by adopting a forcing defense.

Your result so far:

A: ♠2.

The opponents have bid Hearts and Diamonds so we are choosing between Spades or Clubs. Both a Spade or a Club lead are quite reasonable leads here.

I would slightly lean towards a Spade because it may produce more tricks than in Clubs. Against this type of auction (where both opponents' hands are balanced and they went through an invitational auction), you don't want to be leading too aggressively. For instance, if you have ♠AQxx, then you definitely shouldn't lead a Spade as it may give away a trick.

Here, we have ♠Q1082 where the 10 and 8 could play a big role. If partner is able to produce any Spade honor, be it the Ace, King, or Jack, we are happy with those cards.

The ♣J is more of a safe lead, but we don't want to be too safe - it may give declarer the tempo to establish his Diamonds.

Your result so far:

A: ♦6.

This is actually a very tough leading problem. I would go as far as to say that there is no clear lead! In fact, it could be right to lead any of the suit out of Spades, Hearts, or Diamonds!

Looking back at the auction, we can see that Spades and Diamonds are the unbid suits. However, we can also see that East tried to play in 3NT, giving West a choice between 3NT or 4♥. This means that East will have honors in the unbid suits also, and it also doesn't suggest aggressive over passive or vice versa.

This problem just comes down to your leading style. If you prefer passive leads, then you should lead a trump (you know from the auction that the opponents are in an eight-card fit so a trump lead won't give anything away).

If you prefer aggressive leads, lead a Spade and aim for a Spade ruff.

If, like me, you are somewhere in between (but more towards the aggressive side), then lead a Diamond. The support of the ♦10 makes me favor a Diamond as it helps to set up tricks, just in case that West has a Club suit that can be established.

If you chose to lead a Spade or a Heart, give yourself 100% :)

Your result so far: