Tuesday, February 14, 2006 5:09 AM

Hand Evaluation – Leads ( Trump Suits )

PITBULLS:

We have discussed that bidding is the basis for all opening leads & not your hand. There is an exception to this blanket rule though. How many of their trump you hold in your hand or you think partner has in their hand will determine your lead against trump contracts. One of the worst leads that you can make when you hold 4 of their trump is a singleton. You normally do not want a ruff !! Lead your longest suit or the suit that you & your partner have bid, to tap the declarer so that they lose control of the hand.

If you have a singleton trump , you can quite often deduce that partner for 4 of them , so base your lead on that assumption. Lead your long suit again or combined long suit to start the tap. Visualize the outstanding trump with patterns before you lead. This is an educated plan on which to base your lead. If you have long trump & they have splintered or shown distribution that ruffs are coming , lead one of them ! Low level doubled contracts where you can take two of their trump with one of theirs , demands a trump lead. If partner converts a T/O double at the one level , lead a trump. You do not need to even think on these auctions.

Sometimes you double a suit for a lead & they redouble and it goes all pass. You have KJ10xxx of their suit . Lead it ! In fact I would lead the king of that suit as it can not hurt. By not leading trump quickly , you give them a chance to get a ruff in their hand or you start ruffing partners tricks & endplaying yourself. The pattern of the trump suit on this particular hand was 6-4-2-1 .

There are platitudes or generalizations with regard to opening leads that should become “laws” . Do not lead blind , when you have good alternatives. Lead an Ace rather than leading blind. Why guess when you can see the board or partner’s signal ? Another law is where the bidding shows that you own the HCP’s as when they are sacrificing against your game , lead trump. A Tormentee broke both laws in one hand tonight , so it was a 900 swing. The auction went

1♣-P-2♠-X

P-4♥-P-P

4♠-X-P-P the tormentee had AKx of spades & was on lead. The spade pattern must be 6-3-3-1 & partner is doubling on a stiff spade so he must have compensating strength. The tormentee lead blind & did not lead a trump . A heart void hit on the board so they cross ruffed for 9 tricks ! A trump lead & continuation , they go for +1100.