LEAD OF A SINGLETON

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 76, 30 March 1928, Page 6

LEAD OF A SINGLETON

(By A. E. MANNING FOSTER.)

* There are still to be found players who object to the lead of a singleton. I have heard it stigmatised as "sneakish," "unsporting," and "Bumblepuppy." Of course, it is very annoying when a declarer, who otherwise had game "sitting," finds his plans upset by the successful lead of a singleton. But it is absurd to take exception to the lead. At Auction Bridge, unlike Whist, where the conditions of play were quite different, a siugleton may be the very best lead that can be made. It may be the only lead that could possibly save the game. On the other hand, it may be the very worst lead, and may lose a game that might have beeh saved with any other lead. The player who opens a singleton is always taking a risk. When it comes off his partner says "How clever f" When it doesn't, his partner may say, "If only you hadn't opened that wretched singleton all would have been well."

Are there any principles to guide the opener as to how, when, and where a singleton should be led? I think it is easier to state the conditions under which it should not be led. A shigleton should not be opened haphazard or at random or just on chance, or because no other lead suggests itself. Several considerations come in, based upon probabilities, possibilities, and the bidding. You; have also to bear in mind what interpretation your partner is likely to put upon the lead. Will he necessarily know that your opening is from a singleton and return the suit to you at the first opportunity? If he has made a bid, and, instead of leading the suit he has called you open another, he should read it without doubt as a singleton.

But it is only in certain circumstances that you should open a singleton in preference to ;our partner's suit. It is no use doing it if you hold only one or even two little trumps. The ideal condition under which to open a singleton is when you hold Ace and two or throe lktle trimps or King and two or three little trumps. The following hand from play illustrates the intelligent use of a singleton:—

Score: Game all. Z dealt and bid "Thrte Hearts," which held. A led the King ot Clubs. When this made he immediately placed the Ace with his partner. Instead of going on with the Clubs, as many players would have dona, he led his singleton Diamond, which was won in Dummy with the Ace. A won the Heart trick which f :l-lovt-ed with his Ace and led a small Jlub. B, winning with the Ace, returned a small Diamond, which A trumped, thus saving the game.

How did A know when his King of Clubs took the first trick that hi* partner held the Ace? Because if Z had held the Ace he must, with three to the Jack in Dummy, take the first trick with it. A's plan would have been defeated it Z bad held a singleton Club. But, as it was, he took the best chance of saving the game, as ne rightly read Z on the bidding and Dummy's Holding as probably bare in Spades, and he could not rely upon making a Spade trick at all.

Now comes the debatable question. You are playing against no trumps. Your partner has made a bid and it is your lead, but you have onlv a singleton of his suit. Should you open that suit or start off with yOUr own best suit? Opinions differ pn this point. It has been stated that it does not pay to open a small singleton of your partner's suit unless he has shown more than"normal strength in it.

But I am not convinced. Mv own experience is that unless you have & suit of your own that can be established in one or two rounds and a card of re-entry, it is much better to lead the singleton of your partner's suit.

Two considerations come in:— .. your partner has named a suit, especiallyif he has called it originally, it is probable that his suit is better than yours, or, at any rite, more easily established* and that be wants it led.

2 '> If -7 OU ,ead aDother *uit you may be tak n" h. V j w C u- d of .s entry out of your partner 1 hand before his main suit is established. hv Vm'liSu!' 1 Urge ' lead y° ur Bin g'eton, unless, by not doing so, you can see the saving of the game in your own hand.