ACBL07 – Defense: Opening Leads Ward Trumbull
Nov 6, 2011
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Opening leads can be tough. You may be a hero/heroin or a bum/bumess. Nobody says it will be easy......BUT if you follow some basic lead rules, you’ll cut down your losses. The first rule of opening leads is:
REVIEW THE BIDDING
1. What is the final contract? A suit or notrump?
2. Did our side bid a suit? Did I support partner or
vice versa?
3. What suits did they bid? What suits didn’t they bid?
4. Did they use Stayman, a transfer, Gerber, Blackwood or
other conventions?
The lead depends quite a bit on whether the final contract is in notrump or a suit. Let’s start with notrump.
NOTRUMP CONTRACT LEADS
When partner hasn’t bid a suit, there are four typical possible leads against a notrump contract, in order of effectiveness:
Top of a 3 card sequence ace from A K Q x or
king from K Q J x, or
queen from Q J 10 x, or
jack from J 10 9 x
Interior sequence queen from A Q J x, or
(2nd card missing) jack from K J 10 x, or
ten from Q 10 9 x
Top of nothing eight from 8 5 3 (hoping to hit
partner’s suit)
Fourth longest and seven from K J 8 7, or
strongest two from A J 6 2 See ACBL11
ACBL07 – Defense: Opening Leads Nov 6, 2011
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NOTRUMP CONTRACT LEADS - Partner did bid suit
When partner has bid a suit, you usually should lead that suit. NOTE I did not say MUST lead that suit. It is a judgment call....you may have a good suit of your own to lead instead. But if you do lead partner’s suit, these rules apply:
Singleton No choice
Doubleton Top card....an honor or not
3+ without an honor Top card (may be a ten)
3+ with an honor Bottom card (honor not a ten)
NOTE: With something like A, A x or A x x in partner’s suit and a
decent suit of you own, you might lead your suit and later pick
up declarer’s king with that ace.
SUIT CONTRACT LEADS – Partner Bid No Suit
When your team hasn’t bid a suit, here are some guidelines:
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1. DON’T lead the ace from A x x (i.e., unsupported...no
king with it)
2. DON’T underlead the ace from A x x, A x x x , etc.
3. Lead the ace from A or A x if:
a. Partner could have the king and give you a ruff, or
b. You have a high trump and will get in again.
4. Lead the top of a 2 card sequence from:
A K x x
K Q J x or even K Q x x
Q J x or even J 10 x x
If you lead a queen, partner has the ace and dummy does not
have the king, partner must take the trick with his/her ace.
Declarer may have a singleton or doubleton king.
ACBL07 – Defense: Opening Leads Nov 6, 2011
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SUIT CONTRACT LEADS – Partner Bid No Suit (continued)
5. Lead a singleton in hopes partner can give you a later ruff.
But not a singleton K, Q or J.
6. Lead high from a doubleton to start a high/low signal for a possible
ruff, but not from K x, Q x or J x.
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7. It is often good to start with a trump lead; however:
Never lead a singleton trump and
Underleading K x x or Q x x is bad but
Underleading A x x can be good.
8. If you have 4-or-more good trump, lead another 4+ card suit to get
declarer ruffing; so that you may end up with more trumps.
* 9. Lead small from one face card such as: K x x, Q x x or J x x.
* 10. Lead from top of nothing, i.e., a suit without an A,K,Q or J to:
a. either hit partner’s good suit, or
b. not give anything away from your hand.
* See ACBL07C – Bidding: Bos Ton
11. Lead from MUD (middle-up-down) in a 3/4 card suit.
Note: To lead the highest card implies a 2 card suit.
To lead the lowest card implies the suit has a K, Q or J.
SUIT CONTRACT LEADS – Partner Bid a Suit
If your partner has bid a suit, you don’t always have to lead that suit. If you don’t, the rules above still apply. However, if you do, your lead in that suit depends on whether or not you supported that suit during the bidding.
ACBL07 – Defense: Opening Leads Nov 6, 2011
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SUIT CONTRACT LEADS – Partner Bid a Suit (continued)
You did support - From doubleton lead the top card.
From 3+ cards with 2+ touching honors lead the
top honor.
From 3+ cards without an A, K or Q lead the
top card.
From 3+ cards with Jack x x, lead the jack.
Don’t miss this …. From A x or A x x, etc. lead
the ace.
** From 3+ cards with K x x or Q x x, lead
the smallest card.
** This is the only exception to leading the top card in the suit.
You didn’t support With an honor (A K Q J 10), lead the top card.
That tells partner that any higher honor he/she
can’t see (his/her hand or dummy), the declarer
has.
From 3+ cards without an honor lead MUD.
That’s Middle Up Down.
Example: From 8 7 3 lead the 7 first then play
the 8 next time.
NOTE - A MUD sequence tells your partner
you have at least 3 cards in his/her
suit.