Opening Leads (Part 1)

More than half the time, selecting the correct opening lead will make or break the contract. Put another way, most contracts make at least one overtrick because of faulty leads and defense. What’s the easiest way to pick up your game? Learn a few simple rules about opening leads and adhere to them. Note that I didn’t say anything about memorizing the exhaustive opening lead tables that are so common, nor did I imply you needed to be a genius. As quixotic as experts would like to make this, there is a process that will enable your partnership to function efficiently and score better. First you must determine the suit to be lead. Second, and more important, is that you must determine the card to be led in the suit you have selected. Your choice of card will tell partner about your length and strength in the suit.

You are not left to guessing as there are standard lead disciplines that have been developed over time. If you want to be more successful in selecting the right card, just follow 6 simple rules:
1. Lead the highest ranking card from touching honors except lead the King from AKx(x)(x) and the Ace from AK doubleton. (See later discussion).
2. Lead the Second highest card from a broken sequence such as KQTx or KJTx.
3. Lead the 4th best card from a 4+ card suit headed by an honor.
4. Lead the highest card from three small cards (see later discussion).
5. Lead the lowest card from 3 cards to an honor (see later discussion).
6. Lead high from any doubleton.

Let me emphasize that these are standard leads, and partners can choose to make non-standard leads as long as the variance is fairly disclosed to the opponents. Marking the change on the convention card will do. The most common exception to standard leads today is the lead of an Ace from AKx+ and lead King from Ace King doubleton. Don’t ask me why, I don’t understand it, but if that is what your partner wants to do, just humor him. There is also a thriving controversy about what card to lead from 3 small cards. While many stay with the standard and lead the highest card, an equal number lead the lowest card. If that is not bad enough, some partnerships use MUD, middle card, then up and then down. Here briefly are the considerations.

When you lead the top card from three small it is impossible for partner to know if you hold 2 or 3 small cards in the suit. The trade off is that he knows that you do not have a card higher than the card lead. Guess what, so does the opposition! When you lead the small card from 3 small cards, partner will know that you do not have a doubleton, but he will be uncertain about whether you have an honor in the suit since you also lead small from three or four to an honor. In an effort to side step this uncertainty (and add even more uncertainty), some partnerships use MUD, but the downside about this is that you do not know whether it is from a doubleton or three cards until the second card is played. You also forfeit the discipline of the lead of a low card (5 or under) guaranteeing an honor in the suit. Each has their own supporters and none is perfect all the time. You and partner need to decide what to do and mark your card if it is not “top of nothing.”

If partner has bid a suit, you are hopefully going to lead it. If it turns out to be a rotten lead, get a new partner. Who asked him to overcall on KJxxx? Lead low from 3 cards and high from two cards to give partner a count in is suit. There are variations on this scheme as well, but this basic rule will work.

If partner doubles a conventional bid by opponents, this means he wants you to lead that suit. This opportunity often happens on Stayman and Transfer bids in no trump bidding. What if partner doesn’t double a conventional bid? As usual, there are strong inferences to be taken from silence, and in this case lead any suit other than the conventional bid he did not double. Here you may have to woodshed partner to train him to do the right thing.

If partner makes a takeout double, it usually means he has something in the other three suits. If you are on lead and have an honor in any of the unbid suits, lead that suit as it is reasonable to assume that partner will be able to help you out with a supporting honor. That gets you off to an aggressive start. If you have a hopeless hand without any defensive possibilities, and you lead any of the three unbid suits, you likely will finesse one of partners honors. Make declarer figure it out and work for it. Now is the time for a passive lead like trump.

With the next post we will cover leading at no trump contracts. Following that I will cover leads at suit contracts, then trump leads and leading against slams. If you want a reference work for definitive information on opening leads and the play of the hand I recommend Easley Blackwood’s The Complete Book of Opening Leads (1983) or the all time classic, Louis Watson’s The Play of the Hand at Bridge (1933). Both are good references, but a substantial workout to read cover to cover. Just rereading the six rules and getting on the same page with partner may produce quicker results.