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 "Bottom of something" - "Top of nothing" by linda j green

There is an acronym that us bridge teachers use called BOSTON. This stands for "Bottom Of Something" - "Top Of Nothing".

There are many times when we do not have two or three-card sequences, or an interior sequence when making an opening lead, thus we use BOSTON from broken holdings, such as 10862 or 9762 or 87532. In these situations we do NOT lead the standard card 4th from your longest suit. We lead the second highest card to show no honor. TOP of NOTHING.
Conversely, we lead low from an honor to show interest. K872 or QJ64 or A842, BOTTOM of SOMETHING. Let us look at many situations to help our partner with defense!

Question 1

  Your Hand
♠ Q 7
♥ 9 8 6 2
♦ A 4 3 2
♣ K 10 8 		 
Q: 1 - As South what card do you lead?
SouthWestNorthEast
---1NT
Pass3NTPassPass
Pass


 Your choice:
A: 8♥. Spades and clubs are not really an option to build tricks. Leaving us with the other two choices. As they did not use Stayman a major is a better choice, but which card? Lead the second best to show no interest and most of all no honor. This will inform partner to look elsewhere for defense.

Your result so far:
Open Question

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Question 2

  Your Hand
♠ A Q J 8
♥ 10 8 7 2
♦ J 10
♣ Q 3 2 		 
Q: 2 - As South which card do you lead?
SouthWestNorthEast
---1NT
Pass3NTPassPass
Pass


 Your choice:
A: 8♥. As the spade suit is only a 4-card suit, lead the second highest of the other major, to show no interest and no honor. Partner will then realize that to beat the contract, a spade switch is the way to go. Should you lead the Q♠, and partner gains the lead you will only get 4 tricks. 3spades and partner's trick. By leading another suit, you may get 5 tricks to defeat the contract.

Your result so far:
Open Question

Question 3

  Your Hand
♠ 5 2
♥ 9 7 4 3
♦ Q 6 2
♣ 9 7 5 2 		 
Q: 3 - As South what card and which suit do you lead?
SouthWestNorthEast
---1♠
Pass2♣Pass2♥
Pass4♠PassPass
Pass


 Your choice:
A: 2♦. The bidding indicates an unbid suit. Diamonds. Timing is everything, therefore lead a small card to show an honor "Bottom of Something". Partner is bound to gain the lead as you only have 2 points, hoping to set up a quick trick in the unbid suit before they set up that club suit. Partner has a great chance to hold an honor in the unbid suit, either the King or Ace.

Your result so far:
Open Question

Question 4

  Your Hand
♠ A 5 4 2
♥ J 10 5 3
♦ 8 7 6
♣ K 8 		 
Q: 4 - As South which suit and what card do you lead?
SouthWestNorthEast
---1NT
Pass2NTPass3NT
PassPassPass


 Your choice:
A: 3♥. We know to lead a major, but which one? An Ace is used as an entry to set up another suit. The heart lead shows an honor. Two cards touching is not a sequence in a NT contract, hence a low card shows "Bottom of Something". Therefore, experience has shown that against a NT contract a low card from a 2-card sequence works much better than the lead from one honor.

Your result so far:
Open Question

Question 5

  Your Hand
♠ 8 7 6
♥ Q 5 4 3
♦ J 10 8 2
♣ 7 6 5 		 
Q: 5 - As South which suit and what card do you lead?
SouthWestNorthEast
---1♣
Pass1♥Pass1NT
Pass2NTPass3NT
PassPassPass


 Your choice:
A: J♦. Despite hearts being the long suit and they have bid the suit, the unbid suit diamonds is the best choice. When one card is missing (9♦), it is know as a broken sequence and we lead the top card.

Your result so far:
Open Question

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