Defence

Opening Leads in Trump Contracts

Getting your opening leads right most of the time will make you a popular partner. There are some key differences between leading against trump contracts and NT contracts, so we will consider the two cases separately, starting with trump contracts.

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Opening Leads in Trump Contracts

Choosing the right lead can make or break a contract. Discover how to use the clues to pick the best suit to lead, and the best card to pick from that suit.

Question 1/8

What is Hermia’s best opening lead here?

The universe has gifted Hermia an ace and king in the same suit, so she has the best possible lead available. She should lead the ace to let Lysander know that she has the king (because she would never lead the ace otherwise). She will get a chance to see the dummy, and to get a signal from partner before she has to choose what to play next. Note that she should do this even if Lysander had bid: She can always lead his suit after that, as she will still be on lead.

What about here, with a slightly different holding in spades?

This time, Hermia has no lovely ace-king, and leading the unsupported ace of spades would be a huge mistake: Imagine Helena has the king. She could never make a trick with it if Hermia waits until the king is played and then squashes it with her ace. The ♦Q is not a bad lead, being top of touching honours, but there is a clue in the bidding. Lysander has bid 3♣ over 2♥, so he will have good clubs. Hermia should lead her partner's suit. Because she holds an honour, she should lead her smallest card.

No clues from partner this time. Which is the best lead here?

With a singleton club in her hand, Hermia is hoping to be able to ruff a club on the second round. Her best chance of success in this mission is to lead her singleton right away. If Lysander has the ace, she should get her ruff on the second trick, but even if he doesn't, he may be able to win a trick before Helena has drawn three rounds of trumps. Without the singleton, the ♠J would be a perfectly sensible lead, but you should generally lead a singleton if you have one. Your little trumps are likely to go to waste otherwise.

How about this time?

Again, the ♠J is a perfectly ok lead in the absence of anything better, but Hermia is hoping to be able to put one of her three little trumps to good use by ruffing a club on the third round. It's less likely than with a singleton, but definitely worth a try. By leading high-low - a higher card first, and then the lower one on the next round of clubs, she is signalling to her partner that she has led from a doubleton, so he will know to play a third one if he gets the chance before trumps are drawn.

No ace-king, no singleton or doubleton, and no clues from partner. What to lead?

The ♠9 would be a very bad idea. Remember - if you hold the ace of a suit but not the king, 'don't lead big, don't lead small, do not lead that suit at all'. She could lead ♣7, hoping to find her partner with something in that suit, but with touching honours, she has a good lead in diamonds. The club would risk forcing Lysander to play a high card which could then be crushed by declarer with a higher one ('picking up' or finessing partner's honour card), whereas playing a high card when she holds the one beneath it takes the pressure off partner.

Now, we have cruelly taken away her touching honours, as well as all the other good leads, but sometimes life is like that. Hermia decides to lead a diamond. Which one should she lead?

Without touching honours at the top of her suit, Hermia should lead a small card to show that she holds an honour. From a suit of 4+ cards without an honour (remember that we treat the 10 as an honour) she would play her second highest. But here, she holds the queen, so she should lead her fourth highest, the five. Note that the 9-8 does not qualify as an internal honour sequence because the higher one is not an honour card.

Same hand, different auction. Hermia doesn’t want to lead a diamond this time, because declarer has bid that suit. She decides on a heart. Which one should she lead?

Hermia holds three small cards in the suit she has chosen to lead, so she should lead 'MUD': Middle, up, down. Because her second card will be higher than her first, there is no risk of partner mistaking it for a doubleton.

Back to that 4♥ contract. What should Hermia lead this time?

There are two suits Hermia can rule out straight away: In both diamonds and clubs, she holds the ace, but not the king, so she should not lead these suits at all! That leaves a spade or a trump. She could lead the ♠8, but with a 'gappy' honour holding (two honour cards with a gap between them) she might give away a trick to the jack in declarer's hand. In the absence of a good lead, it is fine to play a trump from two or, better still, three small cards, so she should lead a trump. When leading trumps, it's best to lead your smallest one.

There are no practice hands for this module, as the quiz enables you to practice finding the right leads.