Intermediate Opening Leads by Ben Norton

A: ♦2. This is a good time to lead your singleton.

You don't have a particularly attractive lead in either of the black suits and your holding of x x x trumps screams for a ruff, because it's unlikely your side will be able to score any trump tricks on this hand and thus declarer will probably be able to draw trumps before you get the lead again. Therefore it's imperative that you try for your ruff now.

Your result so far:

A: ♦10. This is not a situation that calls for a singleton lead.

You have a good trump holding that is probably worth two tricks given East's erratic jump to the Spade game. In this way you won't be gaining anything by taking ruffs in your hand, for you'll just be sacrificing your trump tricks at the expense of giving away the Club position.

Unlike the last hand, your singleton is in the unbid suit. This should make you less enthusiastic to lead it, because you want to be leading through dummy's strength and it's more likely that declarer can have values in the suit when dummy hasn't bid them.

Here you can just lead dummy's second suit, giving nothing away. In this regard ♥K would be quite dangerous, for you could set up the primary suit on dummy for declarer to discard on.

Your result so far:

A: ♦7. West has shown long Clubs so your K x x there sounds the alarm - the suit is likely to be running. You know the trumps are also placed well, for any finesses that declarer takes will be right.

With this in mind, it seems likely that declarer will be able to come to ten tricks if left to his own devices, therefore this is the time to be aggressive and put your singleton on the table.

Your result so far:

A: ♠2. To lead your singleton here would be quite dangerous, mainly because it's the Queen.

If you lead ♥Q not only might it pick the suit up for declarer if he holds say ♥K J x, but even if you do find partner with the Ace he may neglect to rise with it expecting you to have the Jack. Thus it's just too risky to lead your singleton here.

It looks like things are lying badly for declarer, especially with the 4-1 trump break, so it seems right to lead passively. By this reasoning a trump from x x x x is the perfect choice, not just for its passive nature but it also might prove to be quite active in reducing dummy's ruffing ability.

Your result so far:

A: ♠Q. It could be right to lead your singleton here, but there's a large slice of reasoning that should dissuade you from that all-enticing ♦8.

You have eleven high card points and the opponents have bid constructively to a game. That leaves partner with very little. But even if partner does by some miracle have ♦A, it's very likely that you'll still have the opportunity to take your ruff before declarer can draw trumps. If partner doesn't have the ♦A though, you could find that you've sliced his holding in half or that you've given declarer the tempo to build tricks there.

Thanks to your ♥K x x you can wait to learn more about the terrain of the battlefield before deciding how to continue, for East rates to hold ♥A in which case you have the trumps controlled. With this in mind you set off with ♠Q from your strong sequence, which provides an attractive alternative to a Diamond lead.

All in all, if you find yourself on lead against a suit contract with a side suit singleton and are wondering whether to lead it or not, consider the following factors:

Times to lead a singleton:
- when you have a poor trump holding, so this could be your only chance to take a ruff
- when the auction calls for an aggressive lead, for example when one hand's shown a trick source in a side suit
- when all the cards look to be lying favourably for declarer
- when you have very vulnerable tenaces in the other suits, and leading away from them would almost certainly give a trick away
- when the opponents have shown the vast majority of points, for example when they've made a slam try but settled in game, they're likely to have the required number of tricks on pure power.

Times to lead another suit:
- when you have trump length, then try to lead your longest suit to try and force declarer's trumps and promote your own
- when leading the singleton is likely to give something away
- when you have a good hand, so partner is unlikely to have very much
- when you'll have a chance to switch to your singleton later, most likely when you have trumps controlled
- when your singleton is an honor card. It's likely to expose the position and even if it's right partner might be unable to work out that it's a singleton (this theory might also be of relevance when your card is the Eight, Nine or Ten, but the argument doesn't hold nearly as well)

Essentially it's all a matter of whether to adopt a passive or active defense. You won't always get it right but if you remember to consider the problem in the context of the auction and the hand in front of you then you'll be successful more often than not.

Your result so far: