Opening Lead for Beginners 4 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
♠ K Q J 6 3
♥ Q J 10
♦ 6 4 3
♣ 5 4

Q: 1 - You are South.

South	West	North	East
-	-	-	1NT
Pass	3NT	Pass	Pass
Pass

You are on lead against 3NT. What do you lead?

A: ♠K.

You have two sequences to lead from on this hand - in Spades and Hearts. As your Spades are a stronger sequence, plus it is your longest suit, you don't have to look much elsewhere for a better opening lead!

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 2

Your Hand
♠ 6 5
♥ Q J 8 6 3
♦ 8 4
♣ K J 5 4

Q: 2 - You are South.

South	West	North	East
-	1♦	Pass	1♠
Pass	2♦	Pass	3NT
Pass	Pass	Pass

You are on lead against 3NT. What do you lead?

A: ♥6.

When you lead an honor against a No-trump contract (indicating that it is a top of a sequence), you are promising a three-card run. The reason for this is because if you are long in a particular suit, partner is likely to be short in it. If partner has an important card that will help you to establish the suit, you do not want to block the suit.

For example, let's say partner has ♥K2. If you lead the ♥Q, partner will have to play the ♥2 and now the Hearts are blocked. If you lead a small Heart to partner's ♥K, now the Hearts will be unblocked.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Overall Results

Your results: out of Average:

What next? You may enjoy playing our prepared hands series.
More informations on our website: www.VuBridge.com

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