This Week in Bridge
(651) Opening Leads - Leading Partner’s Suit
©AiB Robert S. Todd
Level: 5 of 10 robert@advinbridge.com
General
One of the most frequent defensive situations we face is leading partner’s suit. It makes sense for us to have lots of agreements and discussions about the meaning of these leads in different situations. So, we will spend some time discussing this in detail and make sure that you and partner have good agreements.
First Things First
The first thing we need to make clear is when partner has shown a suit. We will treat the following situations as if partner “has the suit” –
Partner has opened the suit, showing at least 3-cards.
Partner has overcalled the suit.
Partner has made a lead-directing double by doubling an artificial bid.
Basic Agreements
When we are leading partner’s suit, the meaning of our lead changes based on what we have done during the auction. If we have not supported partner, then we lead a count card:
Low from an odd number (usually 3-cards).
High from an even number (usually 2-cards).
We have this agreement because this is usually the most useful information for partner – it allows them to visualize the distribution of the suit around the table at trick 1.
If we have supported partner, then partner knows we have length (at least 3-cards), so it is more important for us to communicate the quality of our support and our attitude to partner. Thus, our leads in partner’s suit will be attitude-oriented:
Low from an honor.
Top of a bad holding.
Example – “Three Small”
When we are leading from three small cards in partner’s suit, we lead low (count) if we have not supported. We lead high (attitude) if we have supported.
Examples – “Common Holdings”
Here are both the count and attitude leads from these holdings:
97
Count – Lead the 9. High from a doubleton.
Attitude – Lead the 9. Top of nothing.
Q9
Count – Lead the Q. High from a doubleton.
Attitude – Lead the Q. We do not lead low from a doubleton honor because it will block the suit and partner will never work out what is going on.
975
Count – Lead the 5. Low from an odd number of cards.
Attitude – Lead the 9. Top of nothing.
Q95
Count – Lead the 5. Low from an odd number of cards.
Attitude – Lead the 5. Low from an honor.
9753
Count – Lead the 7 (or 9.) High from an even number of cards. The 9 is the clearest card, but it might cost a trick later. We must use our judgment about balancing clarity in count with protecting our holding. The 7 seems high enough for partner to be able to read as a high card.
Attitude – Lead the 7 (or 9.) High from a bad holding. Similar discussion as above, so the 7 seems high enough.
Q975
Count – Lead the 9. High from an even number of cards.
Attitude – Lead the 5. Low from an honor.
97532
Count – Lead the 2. Low from an odd number of cards.
Attitude – Lead the 7. Top of nothing. We must use our judgment about balancing clarity in count with protecting our holding. The 7 seems high enough for partner to be able to read as a high card.
Q9753
Count – Lead the 3. Low from an odd number of cards.
Attitude – Lead the 3. Low from an honor.
Exceptions to the Rules
In bridge, Rules are usually called guidelines, and this is for good reason – they are not always followed!
Touching Honors
When we have a holding like KQx and have not raised partner, we usually still lead the King. We want to communicate with partner clearly, and this card may confuse them, but it is most important to “play bridge” and not give up a trick first. This is true for KQx, QJx, and JTx, but from a holding like 98x or 87x, it is not necessary, and we can lead a small card to give proper count.
Notrump Unblocks
Following this idea that “playing bridge” is more important than specific agreements to its end brings us to some three- and four-card holdings where leading low can potentially block the suit against a notrump contract. Here are some examples:
Q92
QT82
In these cases, we want to unblock the suit by leading something other than our 2. We don’t want to win the final round (3rd / 4th round) in our hand. Even in attitude situations when we have supported partner, the accepted play is to lead the 9 from Q92 and the 8 from QT82. This is how we unblock the suit, by saving our 2 until the end to force partner to win the later tricks.
Conclusion
Though this is a very specific topic, it is one that arises frequently and has significant complexity. Spending time discussing these details with your partners is a good use of your bridge time!