Friday, December 13, 2002 1:45 AM

Blind Opening Leads

PITBULLS:

A wise Bridge player once said “there are only two types of players that lead bare Aces – beginners & experts .” Leading Aces should be a much more common habit among Bridge players than it is . In pre-emptive auctions with the pre-empt to your right the odds are that the King will be to your left in the dummy or in partners hand . By leading blind ,you may lose your Ace & King to a long suit on dummy or just as bad trying a different suit and finding a queen for declarer. The blind lead is a big advantage for declarer in pre-emptive auctions . In gambling 3NT auctions , an Ace is almost a compulsory lead unless you have a stand out other lead . Partner will tell you whether to continue or switch . You need to get your tricks cashed before the long minor is run .

You hold ♠KQxxx ♥Axx ♦Axx ♣xx and open 1 and LHO vul bids 3♣ , partner passes and RHO bids 3NT. What do you lead ? You can count 8 tricks for them before you lead ( 7 clubs and spade Ace ) so its best to lead one of you Aces. The player that held this hand led a spade and they made their vul game . At the other table they lead the Ace of diamonds and got a discouraging signal . They switched to the Ace of hearts and proceeded to cash 6 heart tricks !! Just a 15 IMP swing !

In doubled contracts , leading an Ace and watching partners signal is much better then leading blind . If you do not have an obvious lead , put an Ace on the table . You have the dual advantage of seeing the dummy and watching partners signal !! There are other auctions where an Ace stands out . If the opponents leap to slam without Q bidding or Blackwood there is probably a void lurking and lots of distribution .Cashing your tricks on the go may be the only way to beat the contract. If there are two long suits revealed on the auction in the combined hands, that’s another reason to lead an Ace . You could have two tricks to cash in that suit .

BJ Trelford made a nice decision tonight playing the vulnerability. He held ♠1098x ♥Ax ♦Q109x ♣KQx and the auction went 1♥ vul and he made a nv double. His LHO pre-empted 4♥ and I doubled to show values ( D.S.I.P. ) . All pass so what do you lead. The Ace of trump stands out for two reasons. One is that you are not leading blind & two a trump llead may do the most damage for their side. When BJ sees the board , we cash out for +200. A blind lead would be –790 !!

Playing tonight in the Thursday IMPS game you hold ♠Kxx ♥xxx ♦AQxx ♣xxx and RHO Lee Barton opens 1♣ . You pass and and Lucille bids 1♥ . Lee leaps to 3NT and Lucille bids 6♥ and Lee “corrects” to 6NT. O.K. what’s your lead ? My partner lead a heart and they took the first 14 tricks ( 7♥ and 7♣ . Since this was a “pre-emptive” fly by the seat of your pants auction , an Ace lead is mandatory . They may be missing the Ace and King of diamonds and partner will encourage . It turns out that I did not hold the King of diamonds but I did hold the Ace of spades . You switch and you beat 6NT two tricks for a 20 IMP swing !! My partner said this result takes a “moron to my right and a moron to my left and a moron on lead “ I nodded my head in agreement …

Playing with a Tormentee tonight , blind opening leads cost us at least 4 boards. One hand she had AK of a suit and chose to lead another suit “blind” . Sure enough we lost our AK in that suit. She was trying to be passive on 3 hands and led trump in non fit auctions all for disastrous results. 1♠-P-1NT-P 4♠. She led a trump rather than an unsupported Ace . Yes , we lost a trick there also. If the auctions do not call for a trump lead , do not lead a trump. A bare Ace is a much better lead because you lose only 1/3 of the time ( dummy or partner may have the king ). Trump leads are not necessarily passive ! A peek at the dummy is worth a 1000 finesses !!

An expert player today heard this auction in a Swiss match. She opened 1♣ and they made a T/O double . Partner passed and they leapt to 3NT . Her hand was ♠xxx ♥xxx ♦Ax ♣AK10xx so she had a choice between leading blind and guess the correct suit to attack or leading the club king and looking at the dummy. Leading the club King might give up tempo if declarer has QJxx 4^th of clubs but that is the lesser of the two evils. She lead the club king and the board hit with ♠Kxxx ♥AQJxx ♦J10 ♣xx . The heart suit is going to split for declarer so it is panic time. You must player declarer for 3 clubs so you continue with a low club and declarer wins with her jack. She finesses the heart and partner wins the king and returns a club for down 2 vulnerable. Partners were in a heart partial for plus +140 . So with +200 and +140 you win 8 IMPs instead of losing 10 when they made 3NT if you made a blind opening lead.

BJ Trelford open 1♣ on ♠AJx ♥Kxxx ♦Jx ♣A10xx and the vul opponents overcalled 1♥ . Partner passed and RHO bid 1NT which was raised to 2NT and they carried onto game. You do not have an attractive lead. Partner did not bid 2♣ or make a negative double or do anything to help you. The heart is located well for them if they need it. They did not bid spades or make a T/O double showing spades. The 1NT response probably denies spades. This is not the time to lead blind. BJ led the spade Ace and Kx came down on the board. Partner signals that he likes the spade so you continue with the jack. Declarer leads a club and you bounce with Ace of clubs and return a spade to partners queen and declarer shows out ! Partners original hand ♠Qxxxxx ♥xx ♦xxx ♣xx and 3NT was +200 . A club lead and you are –660.

Here is an unbelievable hand which occurred against Tom Gandolfo & I last Thursday night. Tom opened 1♠ and I bid 2♠ with Tom making 4♠ as did everybody else in the field. Opening leader held ♠xx ♥Axx ♦AQxx ♣Axxx and counting HCP’s around the table partner is marked with very little. So what do you lead ? Leading blind might give up a tempo so let partner assist you . Lead the heart Ace and partner discourages , lead the club Ace and partner discourages .Now what ? The King of diamonds is on the board so partner does not like either of the other suits maybe she is trying to tell you something in diamonds. You lay down the diamond Ace and continue and partner ruffs . Down one !!

Blind opening leads are for 3 famous mice !!!!!!!!!!!!.