Two possible leads? by Matthias Huberschwiller

A: ♥A – Leading from Ace-King is excellent and better than the singleton because you can have a look at the dummy and stay on lead.

You can then decide if playing your singleton seems right or if it is better to chose a different defensive plan.


Your result so far:

A: ♠10 – You have the choice between spades and diamonds. How should you decide? Like very often, the bidding sequence can help you.

North who has not bid stayman, has no four-card major. South who has opened 1NT does not have a five-card major (in principlee) but he can have a five-card minor.

Therefore, after this sequence, you need to chose a major – in this case a spade.

The right card is the ten, the head of the inner sequence.


Your result so far:

A: ♦J – Before automatically leading your singleton, you need to look at your hand: You are close to certain to have two natural trump tricks. If you ruff, this would be “with your money”.

You rather need to try establishing tricks elsewhere, thus lead the top of your sequence in diamonds.


Your result so far:

A: ♦7 – This time, the lead of the singleton diamond is best.

You have the spade ace, which is a certain entry to your hand and once you see the dummy you’ll often find a way to put your partner on lead in order to get one (or two) ruff(s) with your small trumps.


Your result so far:

A: ♣Q – How to chose between two sequences?

If the sequences are composed of at least three honours, you need to choose the higher one (KQJ rather than QJ10).

But here the sequence in diamonds is only composed of two honours and this is a more risky lead. If dummy has J-x-x and declarer A-x-x, leading the king gives away a trick.

It is less dangerous to lead from the sequence in clubs because it is complete.


Your result so far: