Like “ catches win the
matches “ in cricket ,in Bridge the
skill of giving accurate “ opening lead”
more often decides the winning
team ! The opening lead is thus most
crucial in the game of bridge .
In Bridge after three
consecutive passes bidding ends and the
first chance to play is given to the person
of opposite team who sits on the left of the declarer. This is by design
.This is a golden opportunity given to
defense to upset the contract. If this opportunity of giving a correct
lead which can put declarer in
the spot is lost, then the scoring of
contract at times becomes a cake walk for the declarer. In many deals the opening lead decides the fate of the
declarer . In almost all the championships
, the winning pairs have not only excellent bidding and card handling
skill , but more importantly they win because they have sharp skill of upsetting the contract bidded by their opponents by giving an accurate killing
leads .It is observed that the pairs who
have mastered the art of defence score better than those who lag this vital skill.
Now to know what is
the correct lead and how to master the art of giving correct lead is something
which perhaps one can learn with experience
only. There is no set of fixed rules which if one follows meticulously can master the art. Expertise doesn’t come
before experience even in the dictionaries ! Even after huge experience experts
err perhaps because one never repeats
the deal in his lifetime. There are however certain guidelines which if
followed sometime and ignored in some
other situations will help and probability of success can be higher. When to
follow the guidelines and when to ignore them is a matter of Judgmental skill.
If you keep playing bridge this judgmental skill is likely to improve however there is no
guarantee. The words like. “ always”, “never” , “Guarantee” don’t have a place in
this game and that is precisely why it is one of the most absorbing and the
most interesting game.
When one has to lead
he /she can sees only 13 cards and has to decide lead based on information of the bidding of opponents and his own partner.
Only after a card is led the dummy’s cards are spread and visible to all. Subsequently if the opponents get chance to
lead he or she has more clarity as dummy’s cards are visible and compared to giving
an opening lead the task is easier . Which
card to lead in the beginning , depends on several factors including
1
what is the final contract ? (No trump or in any one suit)
2
what
is the level of final contract (part
game level, Game level LS level or Grand slam level)
3
whether your partner has taken part in the
bidding or not ?
4 What was bided by your Right hand side person and left hand side person
?
If your partner has
taken part in the bidding then one gets reasonable
hint of “what to lead “or “what not to lead “ , however when the partner has
remained silent you have to depend on
the information of your opponents’ bids and your own 13 cards.
The strategy of
selecting lead is entirely different in suit contracts and No-trump contracts.
In the suit contract you can defeat the opponents
if you get an extra trick by a ruff or if you can win your all high cards before the declarer gets chance to
discard his losers. Declarer will obviously
remove trumps from your and your
partner’s hand at the earliest opportunity. At times it will not be possible
for the declarer to remove all the trumps
on his first chance as you or your
partner could be holding trump Ace which will sometime give you
another opportunity to upset the contract provided initial opening lead
was good. Example for this is you have a singleton suit and two small trumps
and your partner has ace of trump suit.
In this case you are likely to get the
trick of your small trump if you lead the singleton suit. As soon as your
partner wins his trump ace he will return the suit which was singleton and you
will get a trick by ruffling. However if you don’t lead singleton suit in the
beginning you are unlikely to get a ruffling trick as your trump will be
removed by the declarer before repeating
the suit. One is therefore supposed to play the shortest suit in the beginning to increase the chances of getting a trick by
ruff. One is not advising that always lead the singleton ….in bridge as mentioned
before there are no certainties but only guidelines ….Each deal is a new deal and
logic changes every now and then !
In No trump contract it is important to establish
your suit and the success depends on whose
suit gets established first ? Yours or your opponents’ ? The length of the suit
has great importance even if the cards
may be small. Leading forth from the top of the best suit is usually considered
good lead if the partner is silent and your best suit is not bided by the
opponents.
In Grand slam contract finding the neutral lead is the
best strategy while in Little slam contract en-cashing the sure winning Ace is
considered reasonably good lead.Some contracts are ice-cold meaning no matter
what opponents lead declarer is certainly going to win. Not all deals have a
killing lead to upset the contract but giving a good lead makes declarer’s life
tough and he can then win only with a particular sequence of play if he errs he
gets defeated. Below are mentioned some
guidelines or standard leads
For suit contract Partnrr’s called suit Or shortest suit or
touching honor(K out of KQ ,J out of J,10)or ace of the 6 carded suit hoping P
will have singleton ,or Dummy’s call or doubleton high low signal are the
options
For Nt suit 4th from the longest suit , honor of the
suit if you have 3 honors,partner’s suit or dummy’s call or un-bided suit are
the options.
Which option to select
in a given situation is individual’s judgment. I can only wish you all the best
in giving opening lead because more than 20 to 25% of time you will
have to give lead .Never mind if you err occasionally there is always a
next deal and next time in this
wonderful game !!
R J PHANSALKAR
