BRIDGE NOTES.

Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20470, 13 February 1932, Page 5

BRIDGE NOTES.

ON LEADS. j <3DrCIALLI TTBITTIX UJ ■ P»*S»-) [By Wu.lia.ii Shackle.] j Though there are certain recognised leads that arc undoubtedly the most effective ones in nearly every case, occasionally a hand is so constituted that ft would bo foolish to play the standard lead. Or again, tho bidding may have been such that the usual lead would be almost disastrous for one's side, playing right into declarer s hand. Especially is this so againßt a No Trump declaration, when one's partnei j has previously bid a. suit.. Iu uearlj every case of a No Trump declaration j over an opponent's suit bid, it can. b> i assumed that the declarer of No Trurni 1 has at least one high honour, or pos6ibU a. tenace, namely Q 10 x or lv J s. Often in fact the hold, may be oion' imaginary than real, simply because the declarer is convinced that tt.v' initial lead will bo the highest card of tho partner's suit bid. Thus .i Q 3 0 .y suit is a. sufficient ''hold" 5" such case. For this reason many players liov," favour a certain latitude of play i.'i exceptional cases, even at the risk oi. momentarily deceiving their partner. For iußtance, "A" holding K '■> 6 <'■ his partner's suit, with "Z" bidding into No Trump, ■ would load tho niri'j instead of the King. Certainly "B" might imagine that. "Z" held several honours in that suit, but against 111 rifc lio would play his highest card and U" it took tho trick ho would play | further round, as until "Z'b" cards were played "li" would bo uuabl'3 | to' establish aud make this long i "A" by making a trick with his King ■ on the second round would thus iu ail probability be able by the lead of his 6 on round, actually to establish this suit for his partner. The following leads would be justifiable if the bidding had been: — "A" No bid; "Y" No bid; "B" L Spade; "Z" 1 No Trump; all pas.-i. "A" holding:—Spades K 9 6. lead (b) S. A 7 3 . Lead 7. (c)S. J 30 £'. lead J; cte., etc. In all cases, however, where von hold a suit headed by Ace King, yoi should lead the King before playing partner's suit, in order that partner can get into your hand if he desires a second lead through Dummy. Another occasion when you should not lead the fourth card of your longest suit against a No Trump bid is when there is little or no prospect of being able to establish the suit, or of being able to make tricks in it even if >t is established, by reason of tbe fact that you have no cards of re-entry. In such cases I prefer to lead from a doubleton suit, especially if such suit is headed by an honour. This lead may be of immense use to partner yet can do little harm, insomuch that if declarer and dummy hold all the high cards in that suit they will be able to convert them into tricks anyway. Such hands as the following call for a lead from doubleton suit: — (a) S. j x n % X ,ead Jack of Spades D. 9 x x x x C. j x x I S. 10 x x j 11. q x lead Queen of Hearts j D. q x x j C.ji xxx l