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 Trump Leads by Larry Cohen

When should you lead trump? The clearest time is when declarer ends up in his second suit. In other words, the opponents bid: 1♠-1NT-2♦-3♦. Dummy will be short in spades and declarer will likely want to ruff spades in dummy. That means you should lead trump.
Also, trump leads against low-level contracts are usually better/safer than attacking leads from honors. However, don't lead trumps from holdings such as Kx, Qxx, Jxx--as it often will cost a trick. Leading trump from Kxx or Axx is usually safe.
Against games/slams, I generally prefer to avoid trump leads--choosing to attack instead. However, if you have all of the opponents' suits well under control, that could point towards a trump lead.

Question 1

  Your Hand
♠ K J 9 2
♥ K 3 2
♦ Q 10 7
♣ J 8 5 		 
Q: 1 - What would you lead as West after the following auction?
SouthWestNorthEast
1♠pass1 No-trumppass
2♥passpasspass


 Your choice:
A: ♥2 - Dummy won't have many spades and declarer will likely want to ruff his spades in dummy. Lead a trump to start reducing dummy's ruffing power.

Your result so far:
Open Question

Question 2

  Your Hand
♠ K 3 2
♥ K J 3 2
♦ J 10 6
♣ K 3 2 		 
Q: 2 - What would you lead as West after this auction?
SouthWestNorthEast
1♠pass1 No-trumppass
2♥pass2♠pass
passpass


 Your choice:
A: ♦J - Don't mix this up with the first question. Declarer is not in his second suit--he is in his first suit. On this auction, dummy will often have only 2 trumps--having taken a preference. In fact, dummy could have 3 hearts and 2 spades (His correct bid is 2♠ with something like: ♠Qx ♥Jxx ♦Kxxx ♣Qxxx). This auction does NOT call for a trump lead. Go with the "normal" ♦J.

Your result so far:
Open Question

Question 3

  Your Hand
♠ A J 5
♥ 8 7 6
♦ K J 9 8 5
♣ K J 		 
Q: 3 - What would you lead as West after this auction?
SouthWestNorthEast
---1♦pass
1♥pass4♥pass
passpass


 Your choice:
A: ♥8 - With diamonds well under control (declarer won't run too many tricks there), there is no reason to get aggressive/attacking on lead. Sure, the ♣K could strike gold, but why risk it? Just cut down on their ruffs and play the waiting game.

Your result so far:
Open Question

Question 4

  Your Hand
♠ 10 7
♥ K 6 5 2
♦ K J 4
♣ 8 7 6 5 		 
Q: 4 - What would you lead as West after this auction?
SouthWestNorthEast
1♠pass2♣*pass
2♥pass3♣pass
3♠pass4♠pass
passpass
*GF

 Your choice:
A: ♦4 - This auction calls for an attacking lead. Declarer will likely want to draw trump and throw losers on dummy's good club suit. Your best chance is to get some quick defensive tricks--and the best try is the unbid suit.

Your result so far:
Open Question

Question 5

  Your Hand
♠ 6
♥ K 10 6 5
♦ K J 10 6
♣ K Q 9 4 		 
Q: 5 - What would you lead as West after the auction shown?
SouthWestNorthEast
--pass1♥
3♠4♥4♠double
passpasspass


 Your choice:
A: ♠6 - You have every other suit well under control. The only extra tricks declarer likely has will come from ruffing in dummy. Even though singleton trumps usually aren't a good lead, here it stands out. Maybe partner can get in and lead a second round of trump.

Your result so far:
Open Question

Overall Results

Your results:   out of    Average: 

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