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 Opening Lead for Intermediates 23 by Andy Hung

Opening Leads. They're the card that sets the tempo of all bridge hands, and it is the first strike that the defense gets. Sometimes declarer's contract is rock solid and the lead doesn't matter, or sometimes the contract is too high and declarer is destined to fail.

What is important is that we must make every effort to choose the best opening lead that will give us the best chance to defeat the contract. Are you ready?

Question 1

  Your Hand
 7 5 4 3
 
 A 6 5 2
 K 8 7 6 2
 
Q: 1 - You are South.

SouthWestNorthEast
--11
Double4PassPass
Pass

Partner opens 1, East overcalls 1, and we make a negative double showing four Spades. West jumps all the way to 4 which ends the auction. What do you lead?

 Your choice:
A: 5.

A Diamond may well be a safe lead given that partner had opened with 1, but it is too much of a risk leading an unsupported Ace (as declarer may have the K). Besides, it is unlikely that our Diamond tricks are going anywhere so we should just be patient.

As to a Spade lead vs. a Club lead, well, either one could work and there's no real indication as to which is better than the other. If you prefer to go passive, you would lean towards a Spade, and if you prefer to go aggressive, you would lean towards a Club. The auction neither suggests passive or aggressive, so give yourself 100% for either a Spade or a Club lead.

Your result so far:
Open Question

Question 2

  Your Hand
 A Q J 2
 Q 10 8 5 3 2
 3
 7 4
 
Q: 2 - You are South.

SouthWestNorthEast
---4
PassPassPass

East opens a preemptive 4 and you pass with all of your might. Surprisingly, this ends the auction. What do you lead?

 Your choice:
A: A.

This seems like a weird lead (as we don't have the support of the K), but it is likely to be the best lead. First off, as declarer has opened a preemptive 4, it is unlikely that he has the K. Therefore, our A lead may set up the K if it is in dummy, or we may be lucky and hit partner with that card.

The advantage about the A lead is that we can't be sure which suit(s) our tricks are coming from, and by leading the A, we get to take a look at dummy first. If partner encourages Spades, we can certainly continue the suit, and if partner discourages, we can take a look at dummy and see whether we should switch to a Heart or a Club.

Your result so far:
Open Question

Question 3

  Your Hand
 9 5 3
 K Q
 6 5 2
 A 9 8 5 4
 
Q: 3 - You are South.

SouthWestNorthEast
-PassPass1
Pass3Pass4
PassPassPass

Two passes to East who opens 1 and raises to game when his partner makes a limit raise. What do you lead?

 Your choice:
A: K.

There's no reason to believe that a trump lead is best, so we might as well try our luck in Hearts. On a lucky day, we may even get a Heart ruff!

Your result so far:
Open Question

Question 4

  Your Hand
 K 9 5 4 2
 6 4 3
 9 6 4 2
 J
 
Q: 4 - You are South.

SouthWestNorthEast
---2NT
Pass3Pass3
Pass4NTPassPass
Pass

You are on lead against 4NT after West shows five Hearts (via 3 transfers) and an invitational raise to slam with 4NT, declined by East. What do you lead?

 Your choice:
A: 4.

The opponents have a lot power in reserve as they had an invitational auction to a slam. This calls for an aggressive lead - if we sit back and defend passively, they will surely take ten tricks with ease. Let's hope we can do something about our Spades.

Your result so far:
Open Question

Question 5

  Your Hand
 7
 J 8 6 5 2
 K J 10
 K J 6 3
 
Q: 5 - You are South.

SouthWestNorthEast
---1
Pass3Pass4
PassPassPass

You are on lead against 4 after the opponents have a limit raise auction. What do you lead?

 Your choice:
A: 5.

Sometimes lead problems are just too hard! This problem is a matter of choosing the best bad option that's available to us.

Either minor suit is too dangerous to lead away from as they are both headed by the KJ. Not that we should never lead away from the KJ, but the opponents have had a strong(ish) auction and we hold nine points - this doesn't leave much for partner.

So our choice is down to either a singleton trump, or a leading away from a J x x x x suit. Both are unattractive, but a Heart is probably less dangerous as a trump lead may pick up partner's Q x x.

Your result so far:
Open Question

Overall Results

Your results:   out of    Average: 

What next? You may enjoy playing our prepared hands series.
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