Lesson 2R Main
Notrump Leads & Signals
by Richard PavlicekLesson 2R Main |
| by Richard Pavlicek |
Notrump contracts are often a race. Each side leads its best suit trying to establish long cards into winning tricks. The defenders get to attack first with the opening lead, and it is important to choose it carefully. This lesson will offer a few tips and spotlight some winning defenses in action.
Listen to the bidding! You should usually lead partner’s suit if he has bid and avoid leading an enemy suit (except from a solid sequence).
In most cases the bidding will not reveal an obvious lead so you must decide based upon your own hand. There are no hard and fast rules — even the experts often guess the wrong lead — but there is a good general strategy to follow:
Lead your longest suit if it has at least five cards.
Without a five-card suit, make a safe lead such as from an honor sequence or a weak suit.
Prefer a major suit to a minor suit in close cases.
Once you have chosen the suit, the proper card to lead is almost automatic. The important rules are:
Lead the king from ace-king with one other honor (A K J 7 2) or if only three cards (A K 2).
Lead the top card from an honor sequence if it is solid (Q J 10 2), almost solid (Q J 9 2),
interior (A Q J 7 2) or if it contains only three cards (Q J 2).
Lead high from any doubleton or three small cards.
Lead the fourth best card from a four card or longer suit.
1.  |  J 10 9 | Trick | Lead | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | |
 Q 2 | 1. W | 6 | Q | 3! | 5 | ||
 K 8 5 3 | 2. N | J | A! | 6 | 3 | ||
 K J 7 4 | 3. E | 9 | J | K | 2 | ||
| Q 4 3 |  | A 5 2 | 4. W | 10 | 3 | 7 | A |
| K 10 8 6 4 | 9 7 3 | 5. S | A | 2 | 4 | 5 | |
| J 2 | Q 10 7 6 | 6. S | 8 | 6 | J | Q | |
| 9 6 2 | Q 10 5 | 7. E | 5 | 7 | Q | 9 | |
| K 8 7 6 | Lose 2 more tricks, down 2 | ||||||
| A J 5
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| A 9 4
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| 3 NT South | A 8 3 | ||||||
West chooses to lead a heart because he has five, and the proper spot card is the six (fourth best). Assuming declarer wins the queen in dummy, East plays the three, his lowest card, as a discouraging signal to warn West not to lead another heart.
Assume declarer next leads the J from dummy. East should win the ace immediately to return his partner’s heart suit (the nine is correct). Declarer’s A-J is now worth only one more trick, and the contract is defeated no matter how he plays.
| 2. | A K 5 | Trick | Lead | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | |
| Q J 10 | 1. W | K! | 3 | 2! | 6 | ||
| 10 9 7 3 | 2. W | 9! | A | 7! | 2 | ||
| 9 5 3 | 3. N | Q | 2 | 4 | A | ||
| 9 6 3 | | Q 10 7 4 | 4. W | 6 | 5 | Q | 8 |
| A | 9 8 7 3 2 | 5. E | 7! | A | 4 | 5 | |
| J 6 4 2 | Q 5 | Lose 2 more tricks, down 1 | |||||
| K Q 10 8 4 | 7 2
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| J 8 2
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| K 6 5 4
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| A K 8
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| 3 NT South | A J 6 | ||||||
West chooses to lead a club (five cards) and the proper card is the king because the sequence is “almost solid.” East plays the two to discourage another club lead, and South shrewdly ducks.
Believe your partner! West should not lead another club. In view of dummy the most attractive lead is a spade, and West chooses the nine (high from three small). Dummy wins the K, and East plays the seven, not his lowest, to encourage another spade lead. When West wins the A, he should lead a second spade; if declarer ducks this to the queen, East should return the 7 (his partner’s originally first). This excellent defense beats the contract.
| 3. | A Q 10 | Trick | Lead | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | |
| 5 4 | 1. W | 2! | 10 | 6! | 7 | ||
| A 7 6 5 | 2. N | 2 | 3 | Q | K | ||
| 6 5 4 2 | 3. W | J | A | 4 | K | ||
| J 9 3 2 | | 8 6 5 4 | 4. N | 5 | Q! | K | 4 |
| A Q 8 7 | J 10 2 | 5. S | A | 9 | 4 | 7 | |
| 10 8 4 | Q J 3 | 6. S | J | 3 | 5 | 8 | |
| K 9 | 8 7 3 | 7. S | 10 | 9 | 6 | 5
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| K 7 | 8. S | 9 | 10 | 6 | J! | ||
| K 9 6 3 | 9. E | J | 3 | 8 | 4 | ||
| K 9 2 | 10. E | 10 | K | A | 5 | ||
| 3 NT South | A Q J 10 | 11. W | Q | 7 | 2 | 6 | |
| Win the rest, down 1 | |||||||
West has no five-card suit so he looks for a safe lead. It would be poor to lead a heart because it is likely to give declarer a trick with the king. The best choice is a spade, and the proper card is the two (fourth best). Assume dummy wins the 10. East should play the six to encourage because of his length in spades (East can’t have a spade honor since he couldn’t beat the ten).
When West gets in with the K, he should continue spades and declarer can only come to eight tricks. Try it!
| 4. | K 4 2 | Trick | Lead | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | |
| J 6 | 1. W | 8! | 6 | 4 | K | ||
| K 10 4 | 2. S | J | 3 | 2 | Q | ||
| K 10 8 7 2 | 3. E | 10! | 3 | 6! | K | ||
| A J 6 5 | | 10 9 8 7 | 4. N | 7 | A | 5 | 4 |
| 8 5 2 | 10 9 7 4 | 5. E | 7 | Q | A | 2 | |
| Q 7 2 | J 8 5 | Lose 2 more tricks, down 1 | |||||
| 6 4 3 | A Q
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| Q 3
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| A K Q 3
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| A 9 6 3
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| 3 NT South | J 9 5 | ||||||
West has no five-card suit and two safe leads — hearts and clubs — so he chooses hearts, the major suit. The proper card is the eight (high from three small). Assume declarer wins the K and leads the J which rides to East’s queen.
Many East’s would fall from grace and lead another heart, following the habit of returning partner’s suit. Think! East should deduce from his partner’s lead that declarer has all the high hearts, so a heart return is futile. Instead, East should lead the 10 (top of a solid sequence), then if South plays the three, West should play the six to encourage. When East wins the A, he leads another spade to set the contract.
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© 1998 Richard Pavlicek