Today we touch upon the importance of opening leads and I put before my readers 5 problems to judged how well the readers evaluate the bidding to judge, which opening lead is the best. Problem I love all imps. You are west holding.
Well what is your opening lead? Is it the KD to see the Dummy or 5S?
The panel of experts inclusive of Mike Lawrence, Philip Adler, David Bird, Barry Rigel etc voted for the diamond ace, 9 to 3 because of not being sure declarer's club holding. If it is 6 cards to AQ 3NT would be unbeatable. If declarer has one stopper DA still gives time to switch to spades.
AD = 10 points 4S = 8 any other =2
Problem 2 Vul NS. You hold Your opening lead? Is it SQ, C9 or H6. The experts vote SQ = 10 points C9 = 9 H6 = 7 Rest = 2 why SQ? Because of lack of entries. Its now or never.
Your lead please? Is it a passive one or an aggressive one like AS or AC or the normal 10 spades?
The panel voted for a passive lead of 9H, to stop declarer from ruffing spades hoping partner has values in diamonds.
What is your choice? QH or any other lead? The experts went for AH = 10 Why? to look at the Dummy
Do you read bridge books. If so, trump lead is a marked one especially in lower level doubled contract. But there is an attractive alternating holding KQJ10 of hearts. Experts voted for trump lead = 10 KH = 5, Rest = 0 Partners has at least 4 trumps finesseable by declarer anyway so nothing is lost by leading trump. While a heart lead may allow declarer to trump heart. How much did you score? If your score is 35H, you are OK; 40+ is brilliant; less means you pay more attention to the bidding which also gives negative inferences like when partner had a chance he failed to overcall of double an artificial bid for that matter suppose partner doubles final no trump contract when no suit has been bid. This indicates he holds a solid major. So your opening lead should lie in the major where you don't hold either J or Q. When bidding is strong, lead passively, when bidding hesitant go for the aggressive lead. For it is not hundred percent correct to say that every opening lead is a blind one.
==================== 5432 AJ97 AK107 2 ===================
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W N E S
1C
(art 16+)
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1H P 1S 1NT
(17-19)
2S Db1 P 3C
3S P P 3C
ALL PASS 3NT
========================
==================== AQJ9832 6 84 J93 ====================
========================
Bidding:
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W N E S
1D
3S Db1 P 3NT
ALL PASS
========================
======================
Bidding goes:
======================
W N E S
P P
1C 1D P 2C
P 2D P 2NT
P 3NT ALL PASS
======================
========================= Q = 4TH = 6, AN other = 3 Problem 5 All Love West holding 43 KQJ10 AJ83 K63 =========================
=====================
W N E S
=====================
P P 2S
Db1 ALL PASS
=====================
========================= Problem 3 You hold AJ1042 987 108 AQ2 =========================
====================== Bidding ====================== W N E S ====================== 1S 2D P 2H P 3H P 4H ALL PASS ======================
========================= 9H = 10, AS or AC = 9/8 10 D = 4, Rest = 2 Problem 4 vul, ALL Holding as west: K96 AQ109 62 KJ97 =========================
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