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Leads against suit contracts: It’s a ruff life
Last month we expanded our knowledge of
promotion play, learning how opening leads can develop extra
tricks when opponents play a Notrump contract. Among the
tricks of the trade, we learned the benefit of leading
fourth-best, honor sequences, “BOSTON”
(Bottom
Of Something –
Top Of Nothing), leads against part score, game, and
slam contracts. Many of these opening lead techniques
are transferable when opponents play a suit contract; we
will also add some new tricks of the trade.
Promotion,
finesses, and ruffing – whether declarer or defender,
these tactics are useful to gain extra tricks.
Last month we learned how short suits are bad news for
declarer playing in a Notrump contract. In suit
contracts, the converse is often true – the declarer turns
the weakness into strength. Side suit shortness,
particularly in the dummy, can help the declarer eliminate
losers. The declarer plays the side suit, perhaps several
times by regaining the lead in declarer’s hand, making good
use of the dummy trumps to ruff losers. Another declarer
ploy is to first run the trump suit until the defenders are
depleted, then promote a long side suit using the promotion
strategy. Our subscribers will recall our
previous BridgeHands newsletters detailing these tactics.
With a long dummy side suit and entries, the declarer can
pitch side suit losers on the long suit.
Good defenders are aware of various declarer
strategies, looking for effective countermeasures to
maximize their tricks. Additionally, the astute opening
leader may have a few “tricks up their sleeve” to
proactively develop extra winners. For this lesson, we will
start off segmenting leads into two categories: hand
attributes and environmental factors.
1. K Q J 9 2 Lead the King
2. Q J 10 9 4 2 Lead the Queen
3. J 10 9 7 Lead the Jack
4. K Q 10 4 Lead the King (adjoining top)
5. Q J 9 4 2 Lead the Queen (adjoining top)
6. 10 9 7 4 2 Best suit? Optimists lead the 10
7. K J 10 4 Lead the Jack (adjoining top)
8. Q 10 9 4 2 Lead the 10 (adjoining top)
9. 10 8 7 4 2 Not worthy of promotion
10. A Q J 10 5 Lead Queen (adjoining top)
Other than #10, our opening lead tactics are
essentially the same defending Notrump or suit contracts.
Can you foresee why we would want to avoid leading away from
an Ace? Should either opponent hold a stiff
(singleton) King, your side will lose a trick underleading
the Ace. Here’s another pitfall - perhaps declarer holds the
King which would otherwise be pinned losing to your Ace; if
you lead the Ace it only gathers small cards and promotes
the declarer’s King. So unless you have an extra good reason
to make a super aggressive lead, do not underlead the Ace or
lead an unprotected Ace – find another suit. Save your
irresistible urge to lead Aces against opponents' slam
contract or dummy’s bidding threatens a long promotable side
suit for declarer to pitch losers.
Later we will see how leading an Ace in
those situations may work well. So, what is an unprotected
King you ask? It simply means an Ace without an accompanying
King. Actually, if you are blessed holding both the Ace and
adjoining (protected) King, leading the top honor is usually
the best of all possible leads. You win the first trick, get
to view the dummy, and hopefully receive an encouraging or
discouraging signal based on partner’s high or low card
played to your Ace.
Lacking a connected honor sequence, the
principle of
fourth best leads and the Rule of 11 still hold true
while defending against opponents’ suit contract. Here’s
some examples, from best to worst:
1. K 9 4 2 Lead the 2
2. Q 10 5 3 Lead the 3
3. J 7 6 5 Lead the 5
4. A 8 5 4 Don’t underlead Ace w/o protected King
In many circumstances when you lead away from
an honor, leading away from a King is typically better than
leading away from a Queen high suit. Leading away from a
Queen is better than leading away from a Jack high suit. If
you are going to lead away from an honor suit, generally
it’s true that the higher the honor, the more likely your
side will win tricks. From prior lessons, we have seen how
Queens and Jacks are “slow tricks” – we must wait for the
opponents to play Aces and Kings before the secondary honors
can take tricks. But if we lead away from a King and partner
holds the Ace or Queen, we usually help set up our tricks
before declarer can gain extra tricks. This is not to say
the opening leader indiscriminately leads away from a King –
certainly the Declarer may have the Ace and either opponent
may have the Queen, causing us to lose our natural trick:
Q 10 8 7
K 9 4 2 J 5 3
A 6
--------
10 8 7 6
K 9 4 2 J 5 3
A Q
Shortly, we will turn our attention to
aggressive and passive leads holding unprotected honors
(non-sequential). Are you getting curious wondering when to
lead away from a doubleton or singleton? What about trump
leads? Good questions, so let’s turn our attention to
Environmental Factors.
Environmental Factors
– Environmental factors provide defenders additional clues
beyond static hand attributes to make the best opening lead.
The “big three” environmental factors affecting opening
leads include:
Bidding by the opponents
Possible bidding by your side
Final contract
While we will not address advanced concepts,
be aware astute players excel at detecting obvious gestures
(“tells” in poker parlance) by the opponents, obvious
bidding misunderstanding, stretching to reach game, etc.
Earlier we saw how the declarer can ruff side suit losers in
dummy or promote dummy’s long, strong side suit to pitch
losers. In other circumstances, we noted an unfortunate
opening lead might finesse our self or our partner. Using
active or passive leads can help us maximize our tricks. As
you might guess, it’s easier to make your best opening lead
with informative auctions by the opponents.
Active leads
work best when environmental factors suggest the declarer
will soon jettison losing tricks. The defender’s
countermeasure is to make an aggressive lead from strength,
hoping to capitalize on quick tricks that might otherwise go
away. Situations where active/aggressive leads include:
1. The most obvious lead is partner’s bid
suit – a great way to maintain partnership harmony and
trust, particularly when partner’s bid promises a 5+ card
suit. With an opening hand and a long suit, partner likely
has working honors to develop winning tricks.
2. Opponents have bid a game or slam contract and the dummy
bidding suggests opener will draw trump and pitch losers on
dummy’s long side suit.
(1S) – (2H); (1H) – (2C);
(3S) – (4N); (2D) – (3C);
(5H) – (6S); (3N) – (4H);
In the first auction, the responder promises
5+ Hearts and both opponents have strong hands. On the
second auction, responder has a long Club suit – another
prime candidate to develop extra tricks. On the first
auction leading an unprotected Ace or away from a King might
develop a setting trick. On the second auction, leading away
from a King or Queen might also get our side off to a
winning defense.
3. Opponents bidding lead you to believe your
side may have a ruffing opportunity.
(1C) – (1H);
(2H) – (3C);
(4H) – All Pass;
Here the opponents have a double fit in
major-minor suits. With their long Club side suit fit, the
opening leader should actually consider leading the Club
suit if the lead might provide partner a ruff on their side
suit. Let’s say the opening leader holds:
S J 7 5
H A 2
D J 10 9 4
C A 4 3 2
Solely using hand attribute, a Diamond lead
seems best. But based on the auction above, we have useful
information about the environment. A Club lead might scuttle
the contract, since we hold:
a. Four Clubs, opponents probably hold 8
Clubs
b. The critical Aces in both the trump and Clubs
So lead the Club Ace, a low Club giving
partner a ruff. When opponents gain the lead and play a
trump, win the Heart Ace and immediately give partner
another Club ruff. Isn’t bridge exciting?
4. Opponents bidding suggest your partner may
gain the lead to give you ruffs in your short suit.
(1H) – (1S);
(1N) – (2H);
(3H) – (4H);
Apparently the opponents struggled to get to
game, with rebids suggesting near signoff values. Thus, the
defenders should have near game values. Based on this
auction, which of these hands provide opening leader the
best ruffing opportunity?
S 9 2 J 10 9 8
H 5 4 3 2 K Q J 10
D 5 4 3 2 A K 3 2
C 4 3 2 2
The first hand holds a doubleton with no
points (Yarborough) while the second hand holds a full 14
High Card Points and a singleton. Actually the first hand
provides the best ruffing opportunity – partner must hold an
opening hand with nice honors, able to win the lead and give
a Spade ruff even from a doubleton suit. However, even the
most optimistic leader should realize the second hand will
not benefit from a Club lead since partner cannot possibly
win the lead and return the suit for a ruff. Secondly,
examine the trump values of the second hand – the hand holds
natural trump winners. While ruffing may feel
great, this tactic does not gain extra tricks. All of these
factors should be considered when leading a short suit.
You’ll be a better defender next time you hold an Ace
doubleton with visions of playing the Ace and a small card
to partner’s envisioned King for an optimistic ruff on the
third trick. Ah, visions of grandeur.
5. You have made a takeout double and partner
unexpectedly passes, converting your takeout into a penalty
double.
(1C) - P - (P) - X;
(P) - P! - (P);
Apparently partner has extra long and strong
trump, so you should immediate attack the declarer’s trump
suit (Clubs here) to deprive them of ruffing opportunities.
This is one of the few circumstances where it is correct to
lead a singleton trump. You expect partner to exhaust the
declarer’s trump and then promote a side suit for extra
tricks. A trump lead may also profit when opponent’s bidding
indicates a 4-3 trump fit; depleting opponents of trump may
allow your side to promote a suit and prevent the dummy from
ruffing declarer’s losers. Shortly we will see where leading
a trump is normally considered a passive lead but here it’s
an aggressive action.
6. Singleton leads are akin to a boomerang,
likely whacking the opponent - or you! Avoid singleton leads
when:
a. Partner cannot gain the lead, such as when
you have the outstanding honors
b. Opponents have bid the suit, thus you promote their suit
and may finesse partner
c. You have a safe honor sequence lead, lead the top honor
unless you have an extra long suit that opponents will soon
ruff
d. You have four or more trump. Try looking for another
suit; when declarer plays a second round of trump and
partner shows out, the declarer usually cannot afford to
draw trump. Perhaps you and partner can make declarer lose
trump control by making the declarer ruff in hand,
eventually promoting you or partner’s long suit.
Incidentally, if you made a preemptive bid
and lead another suit, you guarantee a singleton and are
hoping for an immediate ruff. Otherwise, singleton leads may
work nicely when you hold a trump Ace and a small trump or
two. If the declarer gains the lead you can win the expected
trump Ace return, hoping to get to partner’s hand in a side
suit.
Passive leads
are appropriate when environmental factors insinuate the
defenders have no urgency to quickly take tricks. When
playing passively, you would be happy to forfeit the lead to
the declarer and wait to win safe tricks slowly instead of
making a risky lead that might finesse you or your partner.
1. The opponents struggled to find game.
1H – 1S; 1N – 2C; P – 1H;
2D – 2N; 2H – 3H; 2H – All Pass;
3H – 4H; 4H – All Pass;
In these auctions where opponents stretch to
bid game or stop in partscore, try to avoid making a risky
lead that may finesse you or partner. Let the declarer guess
who has the missing honors by forcing declarer break new
suits. Lacking an honor sequence, a trump lead is often
superior to the fourth suit lead in these auctions. Let’s
say you hold:
S Q 10 7
H 10 9 7
D K 6 4 2
C A 9 3 2
We know leading or underleading the Ace in
our Club suit is unwise and leading away from the unguarded
Diamond King would be an aggressive lead. Leading away from
a Queen is even less desirable so don’t touch the Spade
suit. That leaves trump, so lead you Heart 10, the top of
touching broken honor sequence.
2. Sequence leads are generally passive
plays, avoiding unnecessary risks. Sequence leads attempt to
promote a long suit, initiating the race for each side to
promote their respective long suit. If you hold a 4+ card
honor sequence in an opponent’s bid side suit, leading the
suit provides a safe passive play. For instance, when the
bidding goes:
1S – 2H;
2N – 3C;
3D – 3S;
4S – All Pass;
S 5
H Q J 10 9
D A 8 6 4
C J 7 5 3
Making a passive lead, we can immediately
rule out leading a singleton trump Spade or a Diamond,
knowing not to lead or underlead from an unprotected Ace.
While less dangerous, leading away from an unguarded Jack is
usually unwise. How about those Hearts - is it ever okay to
lead a suit bid by the opponents? By all means, here it's
fine to lead the Heart Queen – opponents might win two
tricks but you are not giving away anything they don’t
already own. Playing passively, it’s okay to “Give to Caesar
what belongs to Caesar”. Besides, on a good day the partner
will hold the Ace over dummy’s Heart King and your side wins
two quick tricks.
3. The opponents’ bidding does not show they
hold a long side suit to promote or a short suit to ruff.
When opponents appear to use finessing as a primary
strategy, make them do their own work.
4. The opponents’ bidding clearly shows a
misfit. Assuming the opponents cannot employ a ruffing
strategy, here’s another instance where the defenders do
well to “lay low and wait”.
Here are some useful links on leads at BridgeHands:
Books
Opening Leads
Passive Lead
Trump Lead
Notrump Game Doubled
Lightner Double
Active Defense
Forcing Defense
Fourth Best leads
Obvious Suit Preference
Bottom Of Something Top Of Nothing (BOSTON)
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