Leading against Doubled Contracts by Ben Norton

A: ♣3. By doubling 1NT partner has confirmed that your side has the balance of power, so most of your opponents’ tricks are going to come from ruffing. Therefore you should lead a trump to cut down declarer’s ruffing potential. Partner’s Clubs could well be something like A Q x x over dummy’s King, in which case you can draw three rounds straight off the bat.

Your result so far:

A: ♥8. Generally when you penalize your opponents in a part score you should lead trumps, but here there’s no point. You would just be giving declarer tricks he doesn’t deserve. It’s unlikely that dummy will be able to take any ruffs, so leading trumps from your side won’t help. Instead lead partner’s suit, hoping that he can play Hearts through declarer, promoting your trumps.

Your result so far:

A: ♥2. Your opponents probably have a 4-4 Heart fit and dummy will be short in Spades for his take/out Double. Therefore you should spurn the normal looking lead of a top Spade in favor of a trump, to reduce the number of ruffs declarer can take. You plan to win the first Spade, cash the ♥A and play another trump. It’s unlikely to be necessary to lead the ♥A straight away, unless declarer has a void in his hand opposite a void in dummy, so lead a low one in case partner has a singleton honor.

Your result so far:

A: ♠Q. This is not the time to lead a trump. There’s no sign that your opponents have a fit, in fact they probably don’t judging by West’s Pass, and declarer has a source of tricks in Diamonds. If you lead trumps, declarer may well be able to set up his Diamond suit, so you should play to force declarer with major suit leads, this way he will eventually lose trump control. It’s unlikely that declarer will be able to ruff a Diamond on dummy, but if dummy does come down with a singleton in each minor then you can always win the ♦A and cash one trump before reverting to the force.

Your result so far:

A: ♣3. At this vulnerability your Double showed values. When your opponents pre-empt to the four-level when non-vulnerable it’s usually because they don’t have much and are trying to take up space and make it more difficult for you to find the best spot. In these situations you have to Double with a good hand, else they’ll just be stealing from you and go for 50s. Partner would only pull with shape.

No lead looks attractive from this hand, but a trump is definitely wrong. You’ll only be doing declarer’s work for him, by picking up partner’s holding and by giving him a tempo. Leading from either red suit Ace isn’t a good bet, so a Club is best. If partner has the Queen you’ll be setting up a trick.

When you penalize your opponents you need to have a plan for the defense in mind before you lead. Generally when you’re defending a part score a trump lead is best if they could have a fit, but if they don’t then it’s probably not necessary. When you’re defending a game then steer clear of a trump lead, even if they have a fit. They’re at the four-level for a reason and will often have a source of tricks. However, if you have the balance of power and have all the suits covered, then leading a trump to cut down their ruffs could be effective. When you have trump length a force could be called for, but only when the opponents have a good source of tricks in another suit.

Your result so far: