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Making something out of nothing... for less experienced players and others.

Today we have a lead problem which covers the situation where the player on lead has very little, even less and whether they should make the normal lead of an unbid suit or try and help their partner who must have high-card strength or else our opponents would be in slam. Take this:

 

1 promised at least 4 diamonds with North producing a reverse, strong, second bid of 2. What is your choice of opening lead?

There was support for the unbid suit. It was after all, the suit in which we hold the most cards:

Nigel Kearney “low spade:  Partner probably has diamond length plus entries but a diamond lead can easily cost a trick (e.g., AQ10xx in dummy and J8 with declarer). Spades look safer. I would often choose the 'wrong' spot card here - the 2 if playing 4th or the 4 playing 3rd/5th. Declarer wanting to know how many times to hold up is more likely than partner caring how many spades we have.”

Peter Newell “low spade: With a weak suit and no entries it is normal to try and find partner’s suit. I do not like that option this time, and all the other leads are unsatisfactory. Partner must have some values and likely some diamonds.  However, one would expect a 5- card suit in dummy, and if partner had a good hand and wanted a diamond lead he would double.  It is true that partner may want a diamond lead and have not enough strength to double, but we are playing Pairs and we could blow a trick by leading a diamond.  Leading a club from a 3- card suit into declarers suit is madness, so that only leaves a heart or spade.  A heart could be right, but with my poor suit, and likely 4 in dummy, I don’t think it is right at Pairs.  That only leaves a spade which looks least likely to blow a trick, and partner could have 4 spades on the auction and so is my preferred option.

Michael Cornell “10: not that I expect it to do much. I rule the minors out immediately and cannot really see a heart being right unless declarer has a shortage there. I am not going to get in again so no benefit in leading low.”

So, it seems a spade lead is rather passive, give nothing away. However, Michael hit on the more positive reason for leading a heart, dummy’s second bid suit and the one which might just be declarer’s weakness.

Bruce Anderson “7: a spade will need partner to have four spades and declarer to have only one stop in the suit.

That is unlikely, so I am playing partner for strong hearts and a diamond stop, and being able to stop the run of declarer’s club suit. That may seem to be asking a lot of partner but he/she has all of our side’s points.

If partner can’t stop game, then setting up heart tricks may be sufficient in itself for good match point score.”

That seems quite appealing, more so than the lead I really do not buy:

 

Andy Braithwaite “3: Looks like partner has diamonds on the bidding as I have nothing and so I lead my singleton in the hope it gives nothing away and might help partner with exits later.”

All I will say is that you will not be regaining the lead in a hurry and therefore the disadvantage of leading a singleton in no-trumps is not so relevant… but dummy’s first bid suit?

 

Kris Wooles “3: Partner has some values but has not chosen to take any action at all over 1 and so figures to have diamond values and therefore a diamond lead appears to offer the best prospect of defensive tricks. Hopefully enough to defeat 3NT.”

However, the good old give nothing much away spade lead seems to be the winner for the majority:

Stephen Blackstock “low spade: If 2 can be a stopper and not necessarily four cards, I lead a heart. We may establish a long card if partner has four.

If 2 is natural and shows extra values I lead a spade (low in case dummy has QJx and partner Kx). I also show a 4-card suit so declarer may duck the second round). This likely won’t achieve a great deal but will be the field lead. It would be silly to risk everything on a wild stab somewhere else. We can perhaps do something clever later in the play or on another board.”

In the sequence given, 2 is likely to be a 4+ card suit. However, there are times when opponents do get into feature rather than suit showing too.

This time.

Well, there was a chance to do something clever later in the play but only if you had started with a heart:

 

East did well take the first trick high and exit with a club. Declarer inserted 10 but seemed to lose interest in the club suit by taking a losing diamond finesse, running 10. East exited passively in diamonds and had only one entry left to hand (K) and so tried to score their 9^th trick with an end-play, forcing the defence to lead clubs.

So, they played three high diamonds and then 4 rounds of spades….and you West were back on lead at trick 10 with 10 to play a second round of hearts with A10 taking the next two tricks to defeat the contract.

In the Pairs style, you are not always aiming at defeating contracts but can be just limiting overtricks. On the above deal, a spade lead would have been passive but the heart seemed to have more potential for helping out your partner in scoring tricks.

Fast Arrival

You reach your contract pretty speedily. 2 was less than an opener with 5 hearts and at least 4 cards in a minor. Your 3 was Intermediate and your partner gave you a challenge. West led A. What’s your plan? The spade break is 2-1.

 

Richard Solomon

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