Lead with Barry by Barry Rigal

Which card?

Sometimes the problem on lead is not just about which suit to lead, but what card in that suit is the appropriate one to select. We all have the standard rules at our disposal, fourth-highest top of a sequence etc etc. And of course if we play 3rd/5th or 3rd/low we can do that. But sometimes the exigencies of an auction direct us towards an unusual card.

Question 1

Your Hand
♠ Q 9 4
♥ 7 4
♦ Q 10 3
♣ J 10 5 4 2

Q: 1 - What do you lead against 4♠?

South	West	North	East
-	1♥	Pass	1♠
Pass	3♠	Pass	4♣
Pass	4♦	Dble	4♠
Pass	Pass	Pass

A: ♦Q: Your chances of setting this contract look remote, but just in case the cuebid was made on the king, you must try to run your diamond winners at once, and playing the queen gives you your best chance to take three quick diamond tricks if declarer has three small diamonds facing the king-third in dummy. A low diamonds lets declarer play low from dummy and hold his losses in the suit to two tricks.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 2

Your Hand
♠ 9 7 4
♥ Q J 3 2
♦ 10 8 6 3
♣ K 5

Q: 2 - What do you lead against 3NT?

South	West	North	East
-	-	-	2NT
Pass	3NT	Pass	Pass
Pass

A: ♥Q: The normal lead from this holding is a low heart, but here, where East has shown a very strong hand, the low heart lead will quite often cost a trick when declarer has the ace-king in hand and can take the trick cheaply. That is not to say that the queen won’t be fatal sometimes; it will. But you have to play the probabilities, and here if partner has three or more cards the worst the queen may do is clear up a guess for declarer (with eg K108 in dummy And Axx in hand). I can live with that.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 3

Your Hand
♠ Q J 3 2
♥ 9 4 2
♦ 7 4 2
♣ K Q 3

Q: 3 - After this auction, what do you lead against 3♦?

South	West	North	East
-	-	1♥	2♦
2♥	3♦	Pass	Pass
Pass

A: ♥9: From three small the traditional lead is low, never, ever MUD, an invention of the devil. However, when you have already shown support for partner as here, and must have three cards, the top card may be more informative to partner. Just for the record, my dislike of MUD is because say dummy Q875 and partner the AJ1063. The 4 may be just as unreadable when partner cannot see eg K942 as if you had led the 2. When you lead the nine he knows declarer has the bare king.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 4

Your Hand
♠ J 7 6
♥ 7 2
♦ 9 5 4
♣ K Q 10 3 2

Q: 4 - What do you lead against 3NT?

South	West	North	East
Pass	1♦	Pass	1♠
Pass	3♦	Pass	3NT
Pass	Pass	Pass

A: ♣3: The normal lead on this hand would be the club king, but I have a lot of sympathy with the club three. Your only realistic chance to set this game is to cash five club tricks off the bat. If partner has the doubleton ace and either declarer has four clubs, or dummy jack-third of clubs, only the low club lead will get the job done.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 5

Your Hand
♠ 10 2
♥ A 9 5 4
♦ 10 7 6 4
♣ 10 3 2

Q: 5 - What do you think is the best lead against 6♠?

South	West	North	East
Pass	1♣	Pass	1♠
Pass	3♠	Pass	4♦
Pass	4♥	Pass	4NT
Pass	5♠	Pass	6♠
Pass	Pass	Pass

A: ♥4: The two options here are to lead a diamond, and hope it does not give too much away, or to go active with a heart lead. Here a very good case can be made for a low heart, hoping dummy has the guarded king and declarer or dummy the jack between them, with partner having the queen. RHO’s failure to use Blackwood till hearing the heart cuebid points in that direction. No guarantees, mind you!

Your result so far:

Open Question

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