L120 What does a low card lead verses a high card lead? by linda j green

The lead of an honor carries a specific message "Partner I have the card immediately below, but not the card immediately above".

However, sometimes we are not so lucky to hold those glorious honors and sequences, so we try to send a message to partner as follows:

When we make a lead of a low spot card against a suit or no trump contract, we tell partner we like it as we have an honor.

The lead of a high spot card says we hate our lead. We should play "Low Likes", L-L and "High Hates", H-H.

Let's look at a few situations with the following quizzes.

Question 1

Your Hand
♠ 9 8
♥ 10 8 6 2
♦ K 9
♣ 9 7 6 4 3

Q: 1 - As south what card do you lead?

South	West	North	East
-	-	-	1♠
Pass	2♣	Pass	2♦
Pass	4♠	Pass	Pass
Pass

A: 8♥. We lead the unbid suit. " High for Hate". A low heart would show an honor. Therefore we lead the second highest to show no honor and partner can work out from the bidding that you do not have a doubleton as declarer did not bid the heart suit as a second suit. High low shows 2 or 4 cards and does not want the suit returned. This sure helps to defend many hands looking for a switch!

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 2

Your Hand
♠ 8 7
♥ A 5 4 3
♦ K Q 7 2
♣ J 7 6

Q: 2 - As south what card do you lead?

South	West	North	East
-	-	-	1♠
Pass	2♠	Pass	4♠
Pass	Pass	Pass

A: K♦. Top of touching honors. Two cards touching is considered a sequence in a suit contract. We cannot lead away from an Ace ! We do not want to lead an unsupported Ace, so let us show our partner what we have.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 3

Your Hand
♠ 8 5
♥ K 10 5 3
♦ J 10 2
♣ Q 8 7 2

Q: 3 - As south what card do you lead?

South	West	North	East
-	-	-	1♠
Pass	2♣	Pass	2♦
Pass	4♠	Pass	Pass
Pass

A: 3♥. We lead the unbid suit. Lead a low heart shows we LIKE the suit and want it returned. We promise an honor. LOW LIKES!

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 4

Your Hand
♠ A J 7 2
♥ 8
♦ 9 7 4
♣ J 6 5 4 3

Q: 4 - As South what card do you lead?

South	West	North	East
-	-	-	1♥
Pass	2♣	Pass	2♥
Pass	4♥	Pass	Pass
Pass

A: 7♦. We cannot lead a singleton trump. That would give a bad division away to declarer. We cannot lead an unsupported Ace with out the king. (Aces from spaces - No) Leading away from a 5-card suit to a jack does not look attractive. We lead MUD middle card (M)- then Up (U), the higher card and then Down (D), the lower card to show 3 cards. If we lead the 9 and then low partner may think you have 2 or 4 and you have 3 cards. This is a very common lead when we have no honor. MUD.
Remember: we never lead away from an Ace in a suit contract. That is the biggest NO! NO! It is a good idea to lead from KJxx or Qxxx or Jxxx. But Qxx NO! Exception - the unbid suit.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 5

Your Hand
♠ A 9 7 3 2
♥ J 9 4 3
♦ 8 7 6
♣ 9

Q: 5 - As South what card do you lead?

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

A: 3♠. When no suit is bid and they did not look for a 4-card major we should lead a major as they usually have the minors. The longer suit is what we want to set up to try and defeat the contract. Not the 4-card suit. LOW LIKES - promises an honor.

Your result so far:

Open Question

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What next? You may enjoy playing our prepared hands series.
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