In this bit, I’ll cover some basic and more advanced strategies and probabilities of “Leads”. Being first bidder and allowing you to start out the hand with a lead is a very important part of the game, and often, molds the hand for the most part of how it is actually played out. By understanding more about leading, when to lead what and why, this will strongly improve your game in many aspects, such as signaling, hand promotion and situational plays. A good theory or lead sequence I like to follow is fairly basic, and I find it to suit me best. Take the next 3 hands for an example of this.
Example #1 - It’s a 11 bid total, the bids are evenly distributed, and you are first to play. You have a mediocre 3 bid, with 2 offsuit tricks and a spade trick lets say, and a long suit of AKQxxx in diamonds (x = middle/low card). A lot of people I find, tend to lead this suit from the Ace, then King, then Queen in that sequence ( high to low). This is very wrong. The correct lead here would be the King, because if you have a partner with any sense, they would know never to cut a king on that suits first lead (if they happen to be void), and if it walks (most likely), it shows your partner you have the ace, unless you’re playing bagger opponents, but that’s not the case. If your King walks, Lead the queen next, then followed thirdly by the ace, if the cards fall as necessary. This is a simple trick to “signal” your partner what is in your hand, giving him information. Also, just because your king walks, doesn’t mean to continue the suit, this can be a simple “test trick” to get a read on the discards, telling you to return it or not.
Example #2 - You have the lead, it’s a basic 11 or 12 set bid lets say, and you have a solid 2 bid, with 2 offsuit aces and a longsuit of QJ10xx of clubs. Now not only is this example a Leading strategy, but it also involves Hand Promotion. Instead of leading one of your aces, lead your Queen of clubs. This is one of my favorite positional leads, hoping that your LHO (Left Hand Opponent) has the King of clubs, and your partner the ace. If he goes up with his king, and your partner plays the ace, you have 2 boss clubs now. If he doesn’t go up on the ace, your partner can decide whether to try a possible finesse or go over with his ace. Also, you should never lead queens unless it’s a 2 deep suit and you want spades broken (Qx), or you have the Jack to back it up, never lead a queen unprotected 3 or more deep. This is a very aggressive lead, and it’s probably one of my favorites.
Example #3 - Say you get dealt a pretty bad hand, such as:
7 2 Clubs, Q 7 3 Diamonds, Q 8 2 Spades, J 9 76 3 Hearts.
You bid 1, and the table bid is 11 and the bids are pretty even (I usually set on 11 bids). Now with this hand, a lot of people would lead their clubs first because its their short suit, assuming that cutting here is the best way to maximize your hand, when infact its bad. In this scenario, the best and safest way to play this hand would be to lead a low diamond, and hope your queen might fall on the third round for a possible extra trick. Not only does that protect your hand, but by playing 3 deep queen offsuit first, there is less of a chance of your opponents tossing that suit off of another (hearts for instance), and your queen ends up getting trumped. In addition, this protect your one trick that you bid one (Queen of spades), and spades havent been broken yet, this gives you a huge advantage, and is the best way to “maximize” your hand for tricks in a scenario like this. Also, if somehow the hand distribution fell bad to your advantage, and you led out your short suit lets say. 2 rounds passed now, and finally your partner gets around to leading the third round of Clubs, your RHO plays the boss queen, and you cut, but your LHO happens to be out also and overcuts. You’re now left with Q8 of spades, and are vulnerable to be set. With hands like this, play it safe and make the best lead possible to get a signal or a read.
So, I know that might be a lot to swallow, but try to practice it and get it down. A simple recap. When leading from AKQxx or more, lead from the King, to Queen, to Ace (important signal). When leading from QJ10 or more, obviously lead the queen, for simple card promotion. If the case is QJx, I still say lead the queen, but its not always correct with QJx. Lastly, when your main trick is a spade trick, and your short suited, don’t lead that suit out (mostly only if you are first to play, this varies of course if the hand is 4-6 tricks in play), the idea is to maximize your hand (play for tricks) as much possible, along with communicating and signaling to your partner, and playing safe when necessary. Communication is the name of the game, and you would be surprised just how important it is. By learning to lead what and when, and practice and study the probabilities and outcomes, your game will certainly improve, applying to many factors of the game.