[kiwinacol]

Hello all. Questions in general terms so no hands or bids.

I'm happy with top of sequence QJT9 opening leads. And with the same holding in another suit that is lead, you play the 9, the lowest card that can win.




Now say opponents are in NT's and you are starting a new suit through declarer that hasn't been bid, say QJTx, with something like xxx(x?) in dummy. Declarer would be expected to hold a high honour..


dummy xxx(n)

? QJT(n)? on lead (where its more important to open this suit than to return partners lead)


NT bidder.

and you want to i) force declarer to play an honour and ii) suggest to partner its OK to lead the suit back, and perhaps better than continuing with his own suit. An idea comes to mind: low leads tend to suggest interest or better holding in the suit and higher cards not so much. That guideline may not be relevant here. How do you tell partner you are happy for him to continue leading his opening suit, but you just started the other suit as it needs to be opened from your side of the table?

If declarer doesn't cover with the K, do you then lead the J (next in sequence) or Q (suggesting you also have the J)? With a different holding Qx, perhaps you have lead with Q with the intention of having a second lead in the same suit and or to avoid a blockage. I hope that makes some sense.

My question.

Do you lead the Q saying you have QJ (most of the time) and ideally the T, but not the K? Saying to partner, "if you win declarers K, then its OK to lead back to me in the suit".

Or do you lead the 9, indicating you don't have the 8 but could have an ascending sequence? Declarer not covering the 9 is a bit unusual and might suggest the 9 lead is more threatening to declarer ... i.e. its a sequence lead. If declarer doesn't cover with the K, do you then lead the J (next in sequence) or top, the Q (suggesting you also have the J)?

For the later I can see it is easier for declarer to play honour combinations in the suit that make it harder for the defenders to read the lead. Perhaps that alone makes the first option a better one? What is standard play here?

Thank you, Ash

[helene_t]

I had hoped some of the experts would weigh in but given the silence I will try:

If you have the agreement that you lead low from a sequence then partner will know that you lead an unsupported honour whenever declarer covers jack with queen etc. I think this is the strongest argument although I suppose it is in theory better to lead high in situations where you are unlikely to lead an unsupported honour such as when you have shown length in the suit.

I had a partner who gave lavinthal in this spot but that is obviously not standard.

[NickRW]

kiwinacol, on 2016-March-27, 18:35, said:

My question.

Do you lead the Q saying you have QJ (most of the time) and ideally the T, but not the K? Saying to partner, "if you win declarers K, then its OK to lead back to me in the suit".

Yes

[paulg]

This is a topic that is not widely covered in bridge literature, perhaps because it is an area where any set of rules are likely to broken fairly often. An expert may say that you lead the card that is most likely to break the contract based on the information available, so sometimes this will be the 10 from K10x, other times it will be the king and occasionally the x.

I appreciate that this is not what most players want to hear

In principle, and a lot of pairs do this, playing your opening leads when breaking a new suit through declarer is a good basic rule and a good way to start. Understanding that you may occasionally deviate from this because of dummy's holding, declarer's likely holding, and partner's likely holding is something you'll learn as you improve.

[WesleyC]

To summarize what has already been mentioned on this thread, the 'standard' play in this spot is to lead back top of touching honours. If you are leading a spot card then a low card usually shows a high honour and a high card tends to deny one.

However, as you correctly recognize this method creates a problem when the lead could be either HH(x) or Hx doubleton.

Although this doesn't belong in the beginner forum, I know that some world class players have a specific agreement to underlead through declarer (with their second highest honour) in a situation like this. The reason this idea works is that in the ambiguous case, declarer will usually cover with the missing card to clarify the position.

For example:

You hold ♥AQ9x sitting over declarer and partner switches to the ♥J, declarer covers with the ♥K and you win the ♥A.

Playing standard methods, you're forced to guess. The switch could be from ♥JT(x) and the suit is running, or it could be from ♥Jx in which case continuing the suit will blow a trick (and likely the contract).

However with the agreement to 'underlead through declarer' the ♥J lead would specifically deny the ♥T so you would know not to continue hearts. If partner did hold ♥JTx then they would lead the ♥T. If that got covered by the ♥K, you would know to continue a low heart. Finally, in the ambiguous case where partner has switched to a heart from ♥Tx, (with declarer holding ♥KJx(x)) declarer will almost always play the ♥J, clarifying the position.

[kiwinacol]

thanks WesleyC, good explanation and useful idea about under leading. Ash

[helene_t]

paulg, on 2016-March-29, 02:17, said:

An expert may say that you lead the card that is most likely to break the contract based on the information available, so sometimes this will be the 10 from K10x, other times it will be the king and occasionally the x.

The lead of the 10 could be right when dummy has the 9 and you don't want the 9 to win the trick (or to force partner). This is known as a "surrounding lead" and comes up regularly when leading through declarer.

[gszes]

I will answer what I THINK you want to know. You cannot make a suit switch and at the same time tell p their original suit was an ok continuation. You are switching primarily because you feel continuing partners opening suit lead is NOT best for the defense. Be aware of a couple of things about sequences. With xx(x) in dummy and you hold KQT98 your normal play is the Q asking for partner to unblock the A and or J. Note that the same Q would be led from QJT(xx). If you are going to continue the suit from QJT(xx) you would next play the LOWEST card in y9ur sequence SO from QJTxx you continue with the T and with QJT9x you continue with the 9 etc. Note that p assumes your Q shift asks for an unblock (unless the bidding makes that impossible) and if they do not have a top honor to unblock they will give count. I hope that helps.