We are pleased to be able to give you a digest of the lecture given for less experienced players by Klaus Reps. It deals with opening leads. The first question is what suit to lead against a NT contract or a suit contract.
1) Versus NT
Against NT contracts the defence tries to set up a long suit. Therefore it is a good idea to lead your longest and – if you have the choice between suits of the same length – strongest suit. Even if you give away a trick by your lead it still may not that bad if in the process you get to set up and then cash your long suit. But still there might be reasons why you would not lead your longest suit.
a) If partner had bid a suit you normally prefer to lead his suit and help him building up trick.
b) If opponents have bid your long suit you would normally look for an alternative, unless your suit is so strong that you can mange to set it up on your own.
WHICH CARD DO YOU LEAD?
If you lead from your own length the most common agreement is to lead the 4th highest card of that suit unless you have a sequence, in which case you would lead the highest of the touching cards. A sequence consists in NT of three cards which do not necessarily have to be touching. There are three kinds of sequences:
A Solid sequence = three touching honours like AKQ, KQJ…etc.
A Broken sequence = two touching honours plus one honour below like AKJ, KQT..etc.
An Interior sequence = two touching honours plus a single honour above like AQJ,AJT…etc.
Note that in each case the top card of the touching cards must be at least a ten. Otherwise (for example Q987 or J876 you should not think of your holding as a sequence, but consider it rather as small cards which are touching by accident, so simply lead fourth highest from those holdings.
If you lead partner’s suit you rarely have four cards available and you can also not wait for three honours to arrive for having a sequence. In partner’s suit you lead the same way as against suit contracts (3rd-5th) which we shall discuss later on.
(In many countries 4th highest is a viable alternative to 3rd/ 5th but here we shall assume that we play the latter.)
2) Versus Suit Contracts
Against suit contracts the strategy is different. Establishing a long suit is less effective in suit contracts than in no-trumps (since declarer may be able to ruff your winners) so your main target in the opening lead is the combination of setting up winners and also not giving away a trick. So you should avoid leading away from tenaces or other honours, unless the action itself has suggested it is a good idea. Especially the lead from an unsupported Ace (no matter whether you underlead your Ace or lead the Ace itself) is one of the worst ideas ever.
Good leads are leads from sequences. In suit contracts a sequence consists only of two touching honours from which you lead the highest. Also solid or broken sequences are allowed, but think twice before leading from an interior sequence because every interior sequence contains a tenace. Also good leads are leads from several small cards, since it is very unlikely that you blow a trick by leading from a holding without honour.
WHICH CARD DO YOU LEAD?
As mentioned above, you lead the highest card from a sequence. If you lead a low card it is best to tell partner how many cards you have. So you can show partner by playing the small cards in a different order, depending on whether you have an even or an odd number of cards.This is achieved by a very common system called 3rd-5th leads. From an odd number of cards you lead your lowest cards and contribute a higher card later on (Low-High = odd number of cards). From an even number of cards you first lead your second lowest card and play your lowest card afterwards (High-Low = Even number of cards). By following this system you can nearly always see how many cards partner has,and of course if you can work that out,and can also count your own holding and dummy’s, you will know how many cards declarer has in a certain suit.
Sometimes you will have the choice between several attractive leads and you have to choose one. Here is the ultimate hit list of opening leads against suit contracts.
1. A suit headed by A-K. If God deals you an ace-king it is so that you can worry about what to lead to trick two – not to trick one!
2. A singleton in a suit other than trumps(unless you have natural trump tricks. In that case you do not need to try to score your tricks by ruffing, you already have winners.)
3. Partner’s bid suit (3rd-5th, but if you have the Ace in partner’s suit, you lead the Ace)
4. A sequence (any two-honour sequence headed at least by the ten, but not an interior sequence).
5. A doubleton or two-card holding, though typically the most attractive doubletons to lead are headed by the ten or lower.
6. 3rd-5th from several low cards, or suits headed by one or two non-touching honours.
Of course this is only a brief summary of opening leads and sometimes there are indications in the bidding which will make you break the rules. But for the moment these rules are sufficient to avoid the most common mistakes in opening leads.