Opening Lead for Intermediates 13 by Andy Hung

A: ♦5.

Trump leads should generally be avoided as they are quite unproductive (it gives declarer the tempo), but this is a very ideal auction where a trump lead is best. It's when opener has shown two suits and responder has given preference to the second suit by passing it out in a partscore.

Based on responder's preference to the second suit, we can deduce that one of declarer's options is to ruff his first suit (Spades) in dummy. To preempt that plan, it's best to start off with a trump lead!

Your result so far:

A: ♠7.

This is a difficult one. If you choose to make a non-trump lead, which suit will you choose? Each one is equally dangerous, and we don't have not much clues from the auction.

When all of the other suits don't appear particularly attractive (as in, it could cost heavily), then your last best resort might be a trump lead. Here, a trump lead is probably best as much as I hate to say it. All of the other options look worse. A good pointer on this auction is that it tells us that the opponents have a fit, and quite likely a nine-card spade fit too. In that case, a trump lead may not cost at all.

If East had opened a preemptive 4♠ and we were on lead against that auction, I would now opt for a Diamond lead.

Your result so far:

A: ♥3.

Our other holdings don't look particularly attractive at all. In fact, leading any of those suits may prove to be quite risky.

Therefore, we should lead a trump. But which trump? Here's a tip. If you have decided to lead a trump and you hold J10x, lead the small card. Usually it won't matter which trump you lead, but if partner happens to have a singleton King or Queen, then leading the Jack could blow up a trick!

For example, the Heart suit may look like this:

                    ♥ K 8 5 4

♥ J 10 3                         ♥ Q

                    ♥ A 9 7 6 2

A small Heart would lead guarantee a trick, but the Jack of Hearts lead will go to the Queen and Ace, and now declarer can finesse against our ♥10 3.

Your result so far:

A: ♠7.

This one is definitely not a trump lead auction. With East having a weak hand with long Hearts and West providing a strong hand, it would be wise to be aggressive and set up trick(s) for the defence. A trump lead would be too passive, giving declarer all the time in his world to establish his tricks.

The most attacking lead here would be a Spade as it is your strongest four-card suit.

Your result so far:

A: ♥4.

Again, this is not a trump lead auction. Yes, responder did take preference to opener's second suit, but we can see that responder has good support for the Clubs. In that case, dummy will probably have enough trumps to ruff out opener's Spades anyway.

Better plan here would be to attack in the unbid suits. The danger about a passive lead here is that declarer might be able to use his Spades to discard red-suit losers from dummy!

Hearts is our strongest suit, so best to attack with it.

Your result so far: