Trump Leads by Ben Norton

A: ♣2. The auction has been very revealing. East has shown Hearts and Clubs and probably has longer Hearts, yet his partner has chosen to play in Clubs.

This strongly suggests that West has at least two more cards in Clubs than in Hearts, for with a one-card disparity he would have given preference back to 2♥, preferring the 5-2 or 5-1 fit to the 4-3 or 4-2.

In this way West rates to have short Hearts, in fact he’s most likely to hold three Clubs and a singleton Heart, in which case you must lead a trump to reduce declarer’s ability to ruff Hearts on the dummy.

If West does in fact table four Clubs and a doubleton Heart, a trump lead won’t be best but it won’t necessarily do a huge amount of damage as you know the Hearts are 3-3 and declarer will probably have very little difficulty in bringing home his contract with the cards lying so nicely.

There’s just one more point to consider. It’s best to lead a low Club rather than the Ten, not just because the traditional lead of top of a doubleton in trumps is usually spurned, but because your Ten may be a crucial card.

Your result so far:

A: ♠2. When faced with seemingly dangerous alternatives most players opt for a neutral trump lead, but here a trump is anything but neutral.

If you lead a small Heart there is a big chance that you’ll be blowing a trick. If partner has ♥Q x over one top honor in dummy or ♥K x over dummy’s Queen he won’t be particularly happy with you smothering his holding.

A trump lead is a poor choice for another reason. There is no strong indication that declarer will try to ruff anything on the table, so there’s no real reason for leading a trump. It is generally poor practice to lead a trump just because you believe you have no attractive option in the side-suits.

No, you must seek an alternative. For a lead from J 9 x to work you’ll have to find partner with a good holding, but it could turn out ugly if partner has an unsupported honor, especially if declarer has the Ten. A similar argument can be held for a Diamond lead, except this time if partner doesn’t have the Ace or Queen it’s likely you’ll give away a trick, or totally tear up the suit.

The safest lead, and the one that’s most likely to set up tricks, is actually a Spade. It usually wins if partner has an honor card, and only really loses when dummy has J x x and declarer A 9 x or declarer has the all the outstanding face cards and the Jack is in his hand. Thus the lead that’s least likely to give away a trick, and most likely to establish some winners for the defense, is a Spade.

If your trump intermediates were very good, for example if you had ♥J 9 8, a trump lead would be a much stronger candidate as a passive lead, for you wouldn't blow the suit very often, but a Spade might still be selected for it rates to be the most effective active lead.

Your result so far:

A: ♠2. With so much outside strength, it seems that declarer will only make his contract by means of taking ruffs on the dummy, so a trump lead is best in an attempt to reduce declarer’s ruffing potential.

Seeing as you hold fifteen points it’s unlikely partner will be able to contribute much to the defense, but you don’t really need him to. You have values in every suit sitting over declarer, who must have a strong hand to bounce to game over his partner’s meagre raise to 2♠. With this in mind, you can readily expect to beat this contract on sheer power.

The only way declarer might come by ten tricks is by use of the trump suit, so you kick off with a trump to try and limit this as much as possible.

A trump lead is considered to be a passive lead, but here it instigates an attacking defense, in order to protect your tricks in the other suits. Without both of your Diamond honors the ♥K lead would be much more appealing, for then you couldn’t be sure that declarer wouldn’t be able to muster ten tricks if left to his own devices in the side-suits.

Your result so far:

A: ♠7. West’s bidding marks him with length in both rounded suits and most probably a singleton Diamond, so you can hardly count on partner to stop those suits, especially when you’re holding the ♥K in front of dummy’s likely tenace.

It seems that the only chance you have of beating 4♠ is to find partner with values in Diamonds, more specifically the King, but this is unlikely to do much good given that dummy will be able to ruff the suit.

Don’t give up hope yet though, for there is light at the end of the tunnel. West can only have a doubleton Spade for he has shown five cards in both Hearts and Clubs, so you could cash the Diamond suit if you rid dummy of its trumps.

The only way to do this is to draw the trumps on the table, so a trump lead must be called for. Not just any trump will do though, it must be the Seven, in order to maintain control of the Spade suit. You plan to win the second round of trumps and switch to a small Diamond. Hopefully partner will produce the King and return the suit, allowing you to cash two more Diamonds for one down.

It wouldn’t do to plonk down the ♠A, for then declarer would be free to draw trumps and cash dummy’s Heart and Club winners, which may well bring his total to ten tricks. By leading a low Spade you make sure that declarer is unable to draw trumps without giving you the chance to cash your Diamonds.

Your result so far:

A: ♦K. Even though West has shown short Diamonds, the most effective plan of attack is to try and force declarer to ruff, thus shortening his trumps and promoting your own.

The maxim “trump length lead strength” is thrown around a lot, and for good reason. When you have unprecedented length in trumps it can often be a good idea to start tapping the enemy trumps, thus forcing them to lose trump control.

On this hand you can visualise the whole play based on your own hand and the auction. You know that you have all of the defensive strength, so declarer’s black suit holdings will be solid. His only task will be to draw your trumps, for he cannot allow you to score a ruff with your ♥4 in addition to your three guaranteed trump tricks.

On the ♦K lead declarer will win in hand with the Ace and play on trumps. Upon winning the first round you will fire out the ♦Q, ruffed on dummy. Unable to revert to the black suits for fear of you ruffing low, declarer will pursue his plan of drawing trumps by continuing with another one from the table, relieving dummy of its last trump and exposing declarer’s hand to the force. You’ll win and hammer away at his trumps by continuing with the ♦J.

With any luck declarer will only have two trumps left at this point, and he’ll have to give up and play off his black suit winners to hold you to only one undertrick.

If you had led a top trump, citing the need to reduce dummy’s trump length, you would have been left bitterly disappointed when it hit you that declarer now had the tempo to draw trumps and bring in ten tricks, for when in with your final trump East would hold two more trumps, and declarer’s hand would leer at you from the table as he claimed his contract.

Of course you need declarer to hold only five trumps rather than six for your plan to work, but it’s very possible that he has only five for his 2♥ rebid, for he might have for example 4.5.3.1 or 4.5.2.2 shape and a hand that’s not good enough to reverse with a 2♠ bid over 2♣.

Besides, given that you hold a fifteen count you know partner can have practically nothing, so declarer must have the black suits sewn up, in which case your only chance is to enlist the help of the force.

There aren’t really any hard and fast rules as to when and when not to lead trumps, for it depends entirely on the scenario you’re faced with. There are some auctions where a trump lead is usually called for, but still the best thing to do is construct a flexible plan for the defense before you make your lead.

Consider how the rest of the play is likely to go based on the inferences available to you and in turn assess the impact of each choice. Be wary that a trump lead should, as any other lead, have a purpose and intent behind it. It is normally a passive or neutral lead to make, and as such it sets the defense off on a passive line.

Under no circumstances should a trump be selected on the basis of not knowing what to lead, for even though it may be right some of the time, don’t forget that the opponents have won the auction for a reason – they expect to be able to make tricks given time, so an aggressive, attacking lead can often pay dividends.

When choosing between these options, it’s the case-specific inferences and paths of logic that count more than anything else.

Your result so far: