Thursday, June 23, 2005 7:33 AM
Patterns & Opening Leads
PITBULLS:
Opening leads are a bidding
skill. When there has been bidding , your suits and card
combinations are almost irrelevant.
You make opening leads based solely
on the bidding. Lets take that a
step further . You translate the
bidding into a hand pattern and then make your opening lead accordingly. Opening leads and patterns
obtained from the bidding are a marriage and you can not have one without the
other. BJ Trelford used patterns from the bidding to get off to an excellent opening
lead against a 3NT contract Thurs nite. He heard 1♦-P-1♥-P
1♠-P-2♦-P
3NT-P-P-P
BJ held xxx AQx A10xx xxx and he knows on these
auctions declarer usually holds a 5-4-3-1 hand . Attacking one of declarers suits
seemed futile so BJ laid down the heart Ace. The board came down with
♠ xxx ♥ KJ9x ♦ xxx ♣ 10xx
. If BJ is right about the pattern
, this whole hand is going to be one gigantic “hand
lock” as the dummy is dead. I
played the heart 2 which may show
5 hearts and BJ switched to a club. Declarer won the club queen and lead the queen
of diamonds. BJ knows the diamond pattern from the bidding ( 5-4-3-1) so he
ducks to my stiff king . Declarer wins my club return with the King and cashes
the Ace and leads the diamond 9. BJ wins his 10 and cashes the diamond Ace and
throws declarer back into his hand with the last diamond. Declarers hand was AKJx x QJ987
AKQ . So he now cashes his 5th diamond and AK of spades
and conceded two down to my spade
queen and 13th club. Note
if BJ did not apply patterns on any stage of this hand , 3NT would make !!
Bridge
players can not defend properly
without getting a tentative “lie of the land” by applying patterns. Usually you can do this from the bidding or
analyzing partners opening lead. You plug in the pattern so
you have some idea on how to defend a hand. There is another more subtle way of “counting out a hand” . That
is to take into consideration what partner did not lead. Using this method you
get +100 in a 3♥ contract tonight. Tom held ♠ Ax ♥ void ♦ QJ10543 ♣ QJ432
The board has ♠ Kxx ♥ Q10xx ♦ xx ♣ K1097 . The auction went 1♥-P-2♥-2NT 3♥ and all pass. Partner leads a small trump and you
discard a diamond. Declarer wins the heart and returns a heart with partner
winning the Ace . You discard another diamond and partner leads another heart
won on the board and you discard a low club. Declarer now calls for a small
club. Which club do you play ? Partner did not lead a stiff club so declarer can not hold Axx ( 5-4-3-1 ) . Partner has 3 clubs or a doubleton
so declarer must have a stiff Ace or Ace doubleton. Therefore you do not have to split your club honours. Little
things like splitting honours are based on
patterns. Sometimes how you get
these patterns need some detective work. Playing a small club gets
you +100 .
Why partner has made
the opening lead that she did or how she is defending the hand gives valuable
information on how to defend a hand. Also when there are voids floating around
you can get a pretty accurate count of partners hand which help you defend . You
hold A10xx xxx xx J98x and the
opponents get to 5♣X after you raised partners spade opener to 2♠. Partner leads the diamond king and the board comes
down with ♠ Jx ♥ Axx ♦ QJ9xxxx ♣ x
. Declarer ruffs the diamond at trick one ! Showing out of a suit gives you an instant tentative count
of partners hand. Knowing partners hand can assist you in
figuring out declarers hand and
finding the correct defense. You know partner
has 5 spades and 4 diamonds. Applying patterns she is 5-4-2-2 or 5-4-3-1 . Declarer
now leads a small spade towards the doubleton jack and partner plays small and
you win you Ace now what ? A heart back is silly as declarer must hold 5 or 4
hearts . You know you have 4 spades but partner does not. If you lead a spade
back, partner with his stiff club
might lead it back finessing you out of your Jxxx . It looks to him that
declarer wants to ruff a spade. Therefore a spade is the last card you return.
You return a trump and declarer plays the queen and partner the Ace. Partner is
no longer end played and can get out with a spade. Not applying patterns just
makes Bridge defense a series of guesses. You may guess right you may not. Applying patterns takes the guess
work out of defending !!
Patterns are essential for your opening leads . I
held AQx K10xx Kxx Qxx and Susan
and Steve Bates get to a vulnerable 5♦ contract . Steve opened a heart and Susan bid 2♣.
Steve bid and rebid diamonds and Susan placed the contract in 5♦. What is your opening lead ? Declarer is 5-5 in the reds and the club suit behind
your Qxx does not look good. So
you lead your spade Ace . Susan puts down ♠ Jxx ♥ x ♦ Kxx ♣ AKJxxx and Tom plays an encouraging spade. You cash the
spade queen and if declarer is unfortunate to be 5-5-3-0 you are beating this
hand. I continued a spade and Tom wins it ! Down 2 vul on an uppercut and a top
board for just applying patterns before you lead.
Make it a habit to apply patterns in all hands in which you are on lead and there has been bidding
. You have memorized the patterns
to help you with your declarer play anyway. Why not apply them when defending
or making opening leads ? I find
this detective work fun
on defense. Good players apply patterns as a matter of course when they are playing the hand. It is not a gigantic leap to doing the same thing on
defense. Patterns - do not leave home with them !