Sunday, October 06, 2002
7:09 PM
Hand
Evaluation - Opening Leads
PITBULLS:
Since
we are concentrating on defense & declarer play lately ,
opening leads should come up those subjects right ? Wrong !
I think opening leads are just an extension of bidding .
Opening leads are made with an “ear to the bidding” for the most part . Good bidders
also are good opening leaders . If the auction makes
no sense to you , your opening lead will be off the
mark . You take inferences from what partner did or did not do or how the opponents arrived at their
final resting place. It is not by accident that poor bidders also have trouble
with their opening leads. Bidding quizzes ( like the
Bridge World ) always have opening leads as a part of it . Opening leads are essentially
more bidding skills.
Before we see what Karen says on
opening leads , I will put in my 2 cents worth. Bridge
is played in a clockwise direction.
This means when you are on opening lead , partner is behind the dummy & in front of
declarer. When the bidding does not make your lead obvious , default to the “clockwise
rule”. Lead one of dummy suits especially the shorter one. Leading
one of declarers’ suits is very silly as you are just finessing cards on behalf of declarer. If you know that partner holds a lot of
HCP’s behind dummy , your opening lead might get her
off the end play eventually !!
“When in doubt lead trump” is a
silly & wrong platitude. Leading trump in
games when the auction does not call for it, is a
terrible opening lead which just gives declarer timing. A trump opening lead
just means that you have not analyzed the bidding properly in order to come up
with the correct lead. It’s a cop out for not
thinking.
The following I took from the net by
Karen Walker :
On many hands, your choice of an
opening lead involves using clues from the auction to decide whether you should
make an aggressive lead, or play it safe with a passive lead. You'll have a
slightly different type of decision to make when you consider a trump lead,
which, depending on the auction and your hand, may be an aggressive or a passive choice.
On some hands, a trump
lead can actually be your strongest attack because it serves to shorten
declarer's or dummy's trump holding. The types of auctions that will give you
the strongest clues about this include those where:
(1) Declarer has
shown a two-suited hand, especially if you have a good holding in declarer's other suit.
Many good players consider it virtually
mandatory to lead a trump to an auction like this one:
West East
1D 1H
2C 2D
Pass
If you hold ♠10962 ♥KQ6 ♦83 ♣AJ97, lead the diamond 3. It's a strong
possibility that dummy will be relatively short in declarer's second suit
(clubs), and you expect declarer may try to use dummy's diamonds to trump his
club losers. Both opponents have shown minimum hands, so they may not have
enough in high-card power alone to make their contract.
(2) You expect the short-trump hand (usually
dummy) to be short in another suit. You can
almost see dummy's singleton club after this auction:
West East
1D 1H
1S 1NT
2H 4H
Pass
Opener's sequence here typically shows some extra values with
3-card heart support. Since opener pulled partner out of 1NT, you expect that
he has an unbalanced pattern -- probably 4-3-5-1 -- and that the opponents are
in a 5-3 fit. If you hold:
♠109 ♥975 ♦QJ76
♣AK43 ,
resist the temptation to cash a high club, which may
give declarer the tempo he needs to trump two club losers in dummy. You want to
lead trumps as many times as possible, so start with the heart 5. If declarer
wants to set up ruffs in dummy, he'll have to lead clubs himself, and you'll be
in again for a second trump lead.
(3) You have a clear advantage in overall power. This may be especially important if you've doubled the contract.
After an auction like:
You LHO Partner RHO
1NT Pass 2C 2S
Pass Pass DBL All Pass
a trump lead is a good idea, even if you have an unattractive
holding, such as:
♠Q92 ♥QJ10 ♦KQJ2 ♣A103.
Although partner should have a fair spade holding, his double may
have been partially based on his knowledge that the two of you hold
significantly more than half the high-card strength. In this case, declarer's
only prayer will be to score tricks with a few of dummy's trumps. Every trump
lead you make may cost him a trick.
(4) You have a clear advantage in trump length
and/or strength. In this auction:
RHO You LHO Partner
1D DBL All Pass
partner rates to have better trumps than declarer, so you'll want to
attack declarer's holding. You may even be able to draw all of declarer's and
dummy's trumps. This is one of the rare exceptions to the "rule"
about never leading a singleton trump.
On some hands, you
may be reduced to leading a trump just because nothing else looks safe. After a
1S-2S auction by your opponents, you have an unattractive choice of leads from:
♠754 ♥A1072 ♦KJ32 ♣J4 .
All the unbid suits look dangerous, so
try the spade 4. You don't necessarily expect this to hurt declarer, but you
hope it won't help. Since partner has only one or two trumps, probably the
worst that can happen is that you'll find his doubleton queen -- and that's
something declarer may have found for himself anyway.
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Some opening leads are relatively easy. If you're on lead after
the opponents bid 1NT-3NT, for example, the old guideline of "fourth down
from your longest and strongest suit" works well on most hands. You also
have an easy lead if partner has overcalled a suit, or when you have a suit
with a strong honor holding (KQJ, QJ10, AK, etc.).
On many hands, though, your choice won't be as clear, and that's
why opening leads are one of the most difficult parts of the game. Making a good one requires require careful analysis of
the auction. On some difficult hands, you'll want to make a passive,
safe opening lead that isn't likely to give away a trick -- such as a lead from
a "topless" suit like 87643 or 10982. On other hands, it will pay to
make an aggressive lead, such as an underlead of an
unprotected honor.
How do you know when an aggressive lead is the best choice? One of
your strongest clues comes when the opponents have an auction that identifies a
long, strong side suit that can be set up as a source of tricks. For example,
suppose you're North holding:
♠A5 ♥743 ♦KJ953 ♣Q72
and it's your lead after your opponents have the
following auction:
West East
1S 2H
2S 4S
Your best opening lead is probably the 5 of diamonds (fourth
best). You hope partner has either the ace or queen of diamonds, but even if he
doesn't, your risky lead may not cost anything. Dummy has shown a long (and
probably strong) heart suit that may be used to pitch declarer's losers. It's
important to set up possible tricks for your side right now, while you still
have the trump ace as an entry to cash them.
How about leads to higher-level contracts? When the opponents bid a small slam, your natural instinct may be
to make a safe opening lead, but on some hands, being passive can give away the
contract. An aggressive lead is often your only chance to beat a slam,
especially if the opponents have shown great strength and/or a side fit. For
example, suppose your opponents bid to 6H via this auction:
West East
1H 2D
3D 4NT
5H 6H
And you're on lead with ♠109874
♥762
♦A3 ♣K102.
The spade 10 looks safe, but it doesn't rate to set up a trick for
your side. That would require partner to have the spade king and dummy to have
the ace (or partner to have KJ and dummy the queen), and declarer and
dummy to each have at least two spades. It's better to set your sights lower
and play partner for the club queen. Lead the club 2 and hope you can set up
and cash a club when you get in with the diamond ace. If it happens that
you've led into declarer's AQ of clubs, you may have lost nothing, since it's
likely that his potential club losers would have been pitched on dummy's
diamonds.
When to lead bare Aces ? It is said that only beginners and experts
lead Aces . Everyone in between avoid that lead like
the plague . Again its back to the bidding
. A pre-emptive hand is playing the contract and the strong hand will be
the dummy . “Leading blind” is an advantage to the declarer . A peek at the dummy and wait for partners signal
may be worth two finesses .
A pre-emptive auction at a high level where there
are voids flying around an Ace lead might be better than your suit to look at
the board and await a signal from partner . A gambling
3NT is where a bare Ace is quite often lead just to look at the lay of the land .
In a doubled contract ,
where you have the vast majority of HCP’s and no other lead looks attractive ,
lead an Ace . Leading blind in doubled contracts sometimes change an 1100 to a 500 .
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Some auctions (such as those
where the opponents have shown a good source of tricks outside the trump suit)
call for an aggressive, potentially risky opening lead -- one that will
probably give away a trick if partner has no honors in the suit, but may set
the contract if he does. On other hands, you
need to be more patient and let declarer work for all his tricks. Your goal on these
hands is to make a safe opening lead that won't give declarer an undeserved
trick.
A "safe" lead may also be an attacking combination --
such as a suit headed by AK, KQJ or QJ10 -- and these are usually good choices
for a lead to any contract. You won't always be dealt these easy holdings,
though, so you'll sometimes have to select a "passive" lead. Passive
leads include:
How do you know when one of these passive leads
is your best choice? Here are
some of the contracts and types of auctions that call for a safe, non-attacking
opening lead:
1 - The opponents are in 6NT or a grand slam. An exception is if the opponents bid 6NT after an auction
that suggests that declarer's main source of tricks will be a long, strong
suit. In this case, you may want to make an aggressive opening lead (away from
an honor) to try to set up a trick you can cash if you get the lead later.
2 - The auction tells you that declarer has a
strong hand and dummy (and/or partner) will be weak.
Suppose your right-hand opponent opens 2NT (20-22 pts.) and
left-hand-opponent raises to 3NT. What's your lead
from:
♠987
♥AJ92
♦KQ54 ♣Q7 ?
If you follow the
"fourth-down-from-your-longest-and-strongest" rule, you'd choose the
2 of hearts or the 5 of diamonds. But with almost all the outstanding honors on
your right, either of these leads has an unusually high risk of giving declarer
a "free" trick. Partner can't hold more than 3 high-card points, so
it's not a good idea to count on him for help in a specific suit.
A better choice is a passive 9 of spades. A spade is unlikely to
set up any quick tricks for your side, but it probably won't help declarer.
Declarer will have to give you the lead soon, and if your spade lead was indeed
"safe," you should probably continue leading them. If a switch is
called for, you'll have a better idea of what suit to choose later.
Note that you do not want to lead a diamond honor. A diamond will
probably only be right if partner has the jack or ace, so if you did want to
lead diamonds, the correct lead from this holding would be the 4. If partner
has no honors -- and declarer has a holding like AJ109 -- leading the king will
give him three eventual
tricks. If you instead lead low, declarer can't take more than 2 tricks in the
suit.
3 - The auction suggests that both opponents are
fairly balanced.
On these hands, declarer will usually have to play the side suits
himself, so it's best to sit back and wait for your tricks. For example,
suppose you're South holding:
♠J1042
♥5
♦10843 ♣K1032
and it's your lead after your opponents have the
following auction:
West East
-- 1H
2NT* 4H * (Jacoby 2NT, forcing heart raise)
With the Jacoby 2NT convention, East's 4H bid showed a minimum
opener with no singleton and no interest in slam. Although the opponents have
game-level strength, they rate to be fairly balanced -- opener had an
opportunity to show a singleton over 2NT, and responder might have chosen a
different forcing bid if he had a very distributional hand. You expect that
declarer will have to lead the side suits himself, so you want to avoid any
suit that will make his job easier.
The singleton trump is probably the most dangerous lead you can
make (partner won't be happy if he holds Qxx of
trumps!). It's also risky to lead away from the club king, or even the J10 of
spades. That leaves you with your "nothing" suit -- diamonds -- so
try the diamond 3.
Copyright 1997 Karen Walker