It's your turn!
Defeat 6♦️
Leading in bridge
The art of leading in bridge
The opening lead is made by the player immediately to the left of the declarer. It is very important because the choice of this first card often determines the outcome of the contract. The card that is led must therefore be the result of careful consideration. The difficulty is all the greater because the dummy has not yet come down: the opening leader therefore only knows their own hand and the bidding, while three hands remain hidden.
The opening lead varies depending on the type of contract: trump or no trumps (NT). In a trump contract, the defence can hope to obtain ruffs and exploit the dynamics of the trumps. In NT, however, the goal is to establish length tricks quickly.
Trump leads
There are two main types of leads against a trump contract:
- Passive leads, chosen when declarer's plan is not yet known (balanced hand, little information).
- Active or aggressive leads, preferred when the bidding allows you to imagine declarer's plan and it is necessary to disrupt it. For example, underleading a high honour or leading an ace to see the dummy after an opponent's pre-empt.
The objectives of the opening lead
- Ruff
- Have partner ruff
- Take tricks with your honours quickly
- Avoid giving tricks
Order of preference
- Lead from ace-king
- Useful singleton
- Partner's suit
- Top of a sequence (QJ10 - KQ5)
- Neutral lead (doubleton, trump, long suit)
Leads to avoid
- A suit bid by the opponents
- A singleton trump
- An isolated ace (without the king)
- Underleading an isolated honour
Which card to lead?
Always lead top of a sequence: ace with AKxx, king with KQx, queen with QJx, jack with KJ10(x) or J10x.
Without a sequence, the odd-even rule applies:
- Odd number → lowest card.
- Doubleton → highest card.
- Four cards → third best according to intermediates.
Practice deal against 4
Neutral or aggressive lead?
The opponents are playing in 4 and you should find a long diamond suit in dummy. I suggest you exclude leading top of sequence with the king of diamonds, as you will most of the time just help declarer establish their suit.
Leading a trump is also to be avoided with the jack-fourth, which you have every chance of making, especially accompanied by the 9.
That leaves spades and clubs. Leading from queen-doubleton is very aggressive and I only advise it if the suit has been bid by your partner. Moreover, even if your partner has some complementary holding in spades, you don't want to ruff in your trump trick.
The neutral and best lead on this deal, in my opinion, is the 10 of clubs. With only eight points but two conceivable tricks, it doesn't take a miracle for the contract to go down: whatever you do, don't help the declarer!
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And for more practice deals on this topic, I recommend Dominique's Masterclass deals.
NT leads
In NT, the main objective of the defence is to establish a long suit before declarer. This is called the establishing race.
Classic leads
- In a suit bid by partner → strict odd-even (unless it's simply a 1 opening, in which case I advise you to lead 4th best).
- 4th best in a long suit.
- Top of a sequence → The lead will not necessarily be the highest of the equivalent cards: the king is a special card for the NT lead that requires partner to unblock their next honour up. You can therefore lead the ace or the queen with the king, depending on your defensive plan.
- Broken sequence (the stronger of two consecutive honours) → AKJ, KQ10, Q109...
- Top of nothing → The highest in three small cards, the second in four or more cards.
- Honour-third → Some lead the middle card, others the lowest. Agree with your partner!
1 - Against the 3NT contract, which is the most frequent contract
- Priority to a 5-card suit to establish length tricks.
- Otherwise, a 4-card suit, but avoid underleading Axxx, AQxx or AJxx.
- Between two suits of same length → Priority to the major. Otherwise, between two 5-card suits, you choose the nicest. Between two 4-card suits, it's rather the other way round.
- Never a singleton or doubleton, even if it's the unbid suit (not bid by the opponents).
Practice deal against 3NT
Sitting South, what would you lead?
Ace of spades to see the dummy, jack of clubs, 6 of hearts, 5 of clubs...
Discover my comments and my rating for all these possible leads in this article from September 2023.
2 - Against the 1NT contract, where the strengths of both sides are balanced
- Do not give the 7th trick to declarer.
- Favour solid sequences and neutral leads.
- Always prefer a 5-card suit.
- Use entries during the game to establish a 4-card suit; it doesn't matter if you haven't led it.
It's your turn!
Beat 6SA
3 - Against the 6NT contract
- 6NT after a quantitative sequence (1NT – 6NT): Favour neutrality → Top of a sequence (KQJ, QJ10, J109) or long suit without honours.
- 6NT based on length tricks: Take risks and underlead an honour in a suit that requires little cooperation from partner.
4 - Special cases
- 3NT after an opponent's pre-empt: lead an ace to see the dummy and adapt the defence (direct signal from partner).
- 2NT: Delicate contract. The objective is not to give away a free trick. The lead must be neutral.
Practice deal against Gambling 3NT
Neutral or aggressive lead?
The Gambling 3NT opening shows an "established" 7-card minor suit, that is master. You therefore know seven tricks in East. Against this type of sequence where you know a significant source of tricks, you absolutely must not lead neutrally: perhaps you have five tricks to take, and it's too easy to give up two when you don't know what's in dummy! That's why it's too risky to lead a diamond or a spade. It's best to lead the ace of hearts and then switch to another suit or not.
It will be very easy to find the return since the 3NT bid can only contain a queen in addition to the seven cards led by ace-king-queen! If you see the queen of hearts in dummy, return the jack. If it's the king of spades, there's still time to return the queen. Playing a diamond will very rarely beat the contract because it requires a huge complement from your partner.
Explore further with...
And for more practice deals, go to Dominique's Masterclass deals.
Conclusion
The opening lead is a very delicate area in bridge because it requires both logic and intuition. Whether it's a trump or no trump contract, the rules differ, but one constant remains: avoid giving declarer a free trick and give the defence the best chance of establishing their tricks.
Q&A
It is the first card played by the player to declarer's left. It is a crucial decision as it guides the entire defence and can determine the success or failure of the contract.
Because it is made before the dummy comes down. The opening leader has only their own hand and the bidding to decide, while three hands remain hidden. A good lead can create tricks for the defence, a bad one can give a free trick to declarer.
Because they showed strength or length in that suit during the bidding. By leading it, the defence has a better chance of establishing tricks quickly.
In no trumps (NT), the defence aims to quickly establish a long suit to create length tricks.
In trumps, the strategy is different: sometimes you have to ruff, make your partner ruff, or quickly take tricks with your honours before declarer gains the lead.
A distinction is made between passive (neutral) leads and active/aggressive leads (to disrupt declarer's plan).
A passive lead consists in not taking risks to avoid giving away a free trick. It is a good choice when the bidding has not revealed declarer's plan.
Lead an ace to see the dummy, underlead a king... These leads are chosen to disrupt declarer's plan.
In order: ace-king, a useful singleton, in partner's suit, top of a sequence (e.g. QJ10, KQ5), neutral (e.g. a trump or a suit without particular danger).
Always lead top of sequence (ace with AKx, king with KQ, etc.).
In this case, you must lead the king, then play the singleton. This is one of only two cases where you lead the king with ace-king (the other being with bare ace-king).
A suit bid by the opponents, a singleton in trumps, an isolated ace (without the king), or underleading an isolated honour.
Leading a trump can be good if you suspect that declarer wants to ruff in the short suits or if you have no other attractive lead.
Count in partner's suit, 4th best in a long suit, top of a sequence, and never a singleton or doubleton.
The ace and queen ask partner to play in the suit if they are interested in it, while the king asks for the honours to be unblocked. It all depends on what you want your partner to do!
It is a convention. When you lead from three small cards, it will be the highest one (e.g. 9 from 973). If you have four or more small cards, it will be the second best.
A solid 5-card suit is preferred. If you don't have a long suit, a neutral lead or a top of a sequence are preferable. The objective is not to give declarer the 7th trick.
Against 3NT, give priority to a 5-card suit to establish length tricks. Otherwise, choose a 4-card suit. But don't underlead from Axxx, AQxx or AJxx. And avoid leads which risk giving a free trick to declarer.
If the 6NT contract results from a quantitative sequence (1NT – 6NT), favour a neutral lead such as a top of a sequence or a long suit without honours.
If 6NT is based on length tricks, dare to underlead an honour in the hope of creating a quick trick.
After a pre-empt, you often know that a long suit is established in declarer's hand. It is standard practice to lead an ace to see the dummy.
Yes! In pairs tournaments, a lead that gives a free trick can be very costly in terms of relative score. In IMPs, the objective is above all to avoid giving away a contract, so more aggressive leads are sometimes preferred.
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