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Again we focus on the opening lead when opponents wind up in a Notrump contract.  However, this time the opponents may be playing in a lofty slam contract.  In this case, we may need to re-access our lead options.   Yes, against a 3 Notrump contract, leading an honor from our three card sequence and broken sequences often works wonders.  Yet as we shall see against a Notrump slam contract, in some instances your mileage may vary.   Also, while aggressive leads may work well against slam in a suit contract, such is usually not the case leading against a Notrump slam.

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Of course, as always aspiring Bridge players are still required to think.    Insightful Bridge players look far beyond looking at ones 13 cards.  Listening to the bidding is critical.  Be an inquisitive Bridge player, asking yourself questions like:

1. What were the opponents’ bids? 
2. How high did they go and what are their estimated combined points? 
3. What do you know about their hand shape?
4. How many points does that leave for your partner?
5. Did your partner bid? (or perhaps pass an opportunity to double opponents’ artificial bid)
6. Did the opponents auction proceed smoothly or did they hesitate, make inadvertent gestures and the like (players must never deliberately signal their partner), make inaudible noises and the like?

On our first three hands, the opponents play in 3 Notrump; the defender’s hands will be similar yet opening leads and third hand play will vary.  From there we boost the stakes with opponents in 4 Notrump, then three hands lead against 6 Notrump.   The last three hands we will add some more variables, mixing it up with the kind of hands you may see at the table.  For instance, we shall witness why leading from a fine 4 four card suit like AQxx can hurt (as opposed to a 5 card suit of AQxxx).  Okay enough talk, it’s time to step up, sit down, shuffle-deal-play…

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In this lesson, again we focus on the opening lead when the opponents work their way into a 3 Notrump contract.  As we’ve seen earlier in our Incredible Defender series when playing against Notrump contracts, sound opening leads include top of sequence leads, fourth best leads, leading partner’s bid suit, signaling count to partner, etc. 

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In this lesson, we turn our attention to leads from broken suits.  Among the most common lead opposite a Notrump contract is:

1. Fourth best leads promising an honor – i.e., the bottom of “something.”
2. Lead the top of a broken sequence – an honor sequence with 3 of 4, missing the third spot (as Queen from QJ9…). 
3. Lead the top of an interior sequence – an honor sequence again with 3 of 4, missing the second spot (the Jack from KJ109…).

1. What were the opponents’ bids? 
2. How high did they go and what are their estimated combined points? 
3. What do you know about their hand shape?
4. How many points does that leave for your partner?
5. Did your partner bid? (or perhaps pass an opportunity to double opponents’ artificial bid)
6. Did the opponents auction proceed smoothly or did they hesitate, make inadvertent gestures and the like (players must never deliberately signal their partner), make inaudible noises and the like?

On the first three hands, the opening leader West has identical cards.   So having given due diligence analyzing the bidding, you’re ready to table your opening lead from a broken sequence hoping for the best.  Okay, here we go…

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In this lesson, we focus on the opening lead when the opponents work their way into a 3 Notrump contract.  As we’ve seen earlier in our Incredible Defender series when playing against Notrump contracts, sound opening leads include top of sequence leads, top of inner-sequence leads, fourth best leads, leading partner’s bid suit, etc.  We also learned the importance of being a good communicator with partner, providing card signals to share information about like-dislike suit continuation attitude, suit count and even suit preference signals. 

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Let’s combine these factors with another key factor – using our deductive skills to make inferences when making an opening lead.  Focusing on the essentials, in this segment for each hand we will have the opener begin with a 1 Notrump contract.  The responder will begin with either a 2 Club Stayman bid showing a 4 card major suit or make a Jacoby transfer bid to Spades (bidding 2 Hearts).  After opener’s rebid, the responder will make a 2 Notrump rebid with the opener denying a major suit fit but accepting a 3 Notrump game.

Inferences – In these classic bidding situations, both defenders know a great deal about the opponent’s assets, both High Card Points and suit hand shape.

–  The opener has a balanced hand with 16-17 points (accepting responder’s invitational bid).

–  The responder has at least one 4 cards major suit when bidding Stayman, or a 5 card suit when making a Jacoby Transfer bid.  And making an invitational 2 Notrump rebid, the responder has 8-9 points – just short the partnership 25 points to make a 3 Notrump contract. 

Building on this information, both defenders are able to make their initial assessment of the declarer and dummy assets before the opening lead is tabled.  Better yet, with a bit of basic detective work the defenders can make a sound initial assessment of their partner’s remaining points and probable hand shape.  As we will see, the opening leader can make good use of this information to make well-reasoned lead on trick one.

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