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Promotion
- To forfeit a trick or
tricks in a given suit in order to establish future tricks in a long
suit.
Leading a long suit helps your side get a step ahead in winning the
promotion race. However, since the powerful declarer holds honors, we may
finesse ourself or our partner when trying to promote our suit. So it’s
occasionally a game of give and take, trading a promotion attempt for a
possible finesse. But it’s the best offer the opponents give us so we might
as well make the best of it. While fourth best leads are often a sound
practice, we should consider other
Environmental Factors such as the bidding, the final contract, and hand
attributes when choosing our most profitable lead.
Before we get
down to the nitty-gritty, a quick review of sequence leads will provide us a
sound foundation. Often, sequences of 3 or more connected honor combinations
can be powerful forces to setup a longer suit to win the promotion race. We
lead the top of our honor sequence and our partner should immediately
understand we have a long suit; it would not make sense to lead an
“unprotected” honor (not adjoining other honors), so normally an honor lead
shows a sequence of 3+ connected cards (ore nearly so).
Remember,
this lesson focuses on Notrump contracts so our lead criteria will change
when opponents are playing a suit contracts. For instance, it's usually
unwise to "underlead" a fourth best lead when holding an Ace. For suit
contracts, should we mistakenly lead a low card away from our Ace and
opponent holds a singleton King, we probably lose at least one trick.
Declarer will ruff our Ace and perhaps promote their Queen or pitch a second
card on a dummy winner in a side suit. Fortunately, our honor sequence leads
are the same regardless of the final contract.
At any rate,
this month we’re focusing on Notrump contracts so leading away from an Ace
is usually fine and dandy. When the suit is replayed, we hope to win our Ace
and many more on our long suit. Aces make unbeatable entries in Notrump
contracts to help us promote our long suit – that’s an important reason why
we don’t lead our Aces in a Notrump contract; otherwise we many not have an
entry later when we most need it. Okay, let’s begin looking at sequence
leads.
K Q J 9 2
Lead the King
Q J 10 9 4 2 Lead the Queen
J 10 9 7 Lead
the Jack
When you hold a honor sequence with the top 2 honors connected:
K Q 10 4
Lead the King (adjoining top)
Q J 9 4 2 Lead the Queen
(adjoining top)
10 9 7 4 2 Best suit? Optimists lead the 10
When you hold a honor sequence with the top 2 broken honors (interior
sequence):
K J 10 4
Lead the Jack (bottom adjoining)
Q 10 9 4 2 Lead the 10 (bottom adjoining)
10 8 7 4 2 Not worthy of promotion
A Q J 10 5 Lead Queen (bottom adjoining)
Without a
connected honor sequence – perhaps only one, we normally lead our fourth
best card. In addition to helping promote a long suit with strength, we
advise partner of our long suit. Even better, our fourth best lead signals
partner to use the “Rule of 11” to calculate how many outstanding honors are
held by the opponents. Here’s the formula: 11 – lead card value = remaining
cards above the lead card spot value. Let’s try a few lead examples – you
can remove a suit from a deck of cards to prove this formula really works:
Lead Cards
outstanding
1. 11 – 8 = 3
Three remaining above the 8
2. 11 - 7 = 4
Four remaining above the 7
3. 11 - 6 = 5
Five remaining above the 6
4. 11 - 2 = 9
Nine remaining above the 2
Incidentally,
if partner leads their fourth best, the lead of a 2 shows they have exactly
four cards (assuming they are not leading a 3 card suit for some reason).
Why is the
Rule of 11 significant, you ask? Of course, we always want to cooperate with
our partner so it helps to know where the remaining high cards are held.
This helps us understand the declarer’s assets when promoting the opening
leader’s long suit. After partner leads and the dummy is exposed, you not
only see two hands (yours and dummy’s), you can now calculate the declarer’s
remaining high cards in partner’s led suit.
On #2 above,
11- 7 = 4. If dummy exposes one card above partner’s 7 and you hold two
cards above the 7, then only one card remains above the 7 in the declarer’s
hand, as:
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9 3 2 |
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A J 8 7
5 |
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K 10 |
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Q 6 4 |
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When the play
comes around to us (East), without knowing declarer’s cards, we can deduce
declarer's honor must be an Ace, Queen, or the Jack (we can see our King,
10, and dummy’s 9). Being a good partner, we go up with our King, normally
playing third hand high. When declarer does not win the trick, and return
the 10 partner can pin South’s Queen to take the first 5 tricks.
Now let’s
look at a hand where the Rule of 11 really pays off. Partner leads the 3,
so:
11 – 3 = 8. Here are the hands:
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Q 9 5 4 |
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A 10 6 3 |
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K J 8 7 |
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2 |
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Play begins
with partner’s 3, dummy’s 5 and it’s our play. Do we automatically play
third hand high? Hopefully not for several reasons! First, we should never
play the King – if we decide to play “high”, the Jack would be a more
efficient play. Declarer South cannot hold the Queen so if we play the Jack,
our King remains to pin the dummy’s Queen on a subsequent play. This concept
is known as playing from “lowest equals”, meaning third hand player should
hold “cover cards” over the dummy’s potential winners.
Yet before
jumping up with a high card in third seat, let’s see if we can learn more
about the declarer’s hand using the Rule of 11. 11 – 3 = 8. Dummy exposes
four cards above leader's 3. Well, small wonder – we have four cards above
the 3 in our hand as well! Interesting - the declarer cannot beat the lead
of the 3! If we don’t use the Rule of 11, we go up with the Jack, win the
King, play to partner’s Ace, giving dummy the fourth trick with the
remaining Queen. But if you play the lowly 7 on the first trick which
smartly wins (etiquette says we should try not to look smug), return to
partner’s Ace, and your remaining King-Jack have the dummy’s Queen pinned.
Ah, the joys of nicely executed promotion and a finesse – well done!
The subject
of which card to lead from an honor-less suit has two schools of thought.
While some still advocate leading their fourth best card, others insist the
lead should promise honor values; the lead from honor cohorts recommend
leading the top card or second from top to warn partner you do not wish to
see the suit continued. This tactic works well when making a neutral,
passive lead as dictated by bidding, contract, and the leader’s holding.
When the leader’s partner tries the Rule of 11, the result is a negative
number – warning partner the leader has no interest in the suit. Example
11 – 8 = 3. Yet if you have two cards above the 8 and the dummy holds three,
then the declarer would have less than zero. Forget “the rule” in that
situation and begin looking for another suit.
Next we will
explore which suit to lead against opponents’ Notrump contract. Earlier we
mentioned the importance of the bidding, the final contract, and the
leader’s holding. Let’s say the bidding goes:
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W |
N |
E |
S |
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P |
(P) |
P |
(1N |
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P |
(2N) |
P |
(3N) |
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As West, here’s what we have learned from this auction:
1. North did not open: less than 13 points
2. Partner (East) also has less than 13 points
3. South shows a balanced Notrump hand
4. North has invitational values. If opponents would
normally bid conventions (Stayman, Jacoby
Transfers) to find a major suit fit, the responder’s
lack to do so here implies responder probably has
a 4 or 5 card minor suit
5. South accepts the game invite, showing the upper
end of the Notrump opening values
Now let’s look at various hands to determine our opening lead:
S A Q 10 7 2
H 7
D 9 6 3 2
C 8 7 6
Leading the
Spade 7 is ideal, especially if partner has the Spade King – perhaps making
5 quick tricks. Even if partner holds the Spade Jack, if partner can get in
and return a Spade, there is a good chance to win 4 tricks. Actually, a nice
attribute of this hand is not having too many honors. Since opponents
bidding shows they barely have enough to bid game (25-26 points) and we hold
6 points, partner rates to hold around 8 points. Maybe partner has an Ace
and a King – on this hand, we’d love to see partner win and return a Spade.
Hopefully partner is awake and using the “Rule of 11”, 11 – 7 = 4
outstanding cards above your Spade 7. By the way, leading away from double
tenaces is best with a five card suit; with a four card suit, consider a
different lead. With the same auction, consider your lead with this hand :
S A 7
H K J 7 3
D 3 2
C K 10 9 6 4
While our
Heart honors are better than those in our Club suit, we normally lead our
five card suit with a primary honor. If the four card suit has an extra
honor, three versus two, then we should lead the honor bound suit. Speaking
of triple honor suits, here’s our next hand:
S Q J 9
H K Q 10 8 7
D A 3
C 10 9 8
A Heart lead
works well on this hand and since we do have touching honors, we lead the
King – the top of our adjacent sequence. We appreciate our outside entry,
the Diamond Ace, which provides a helpful entry later when opponents try to
promote their long Diamond suit. Note that if we led our fourth best lead of
the Heart 8, opponents might have two winners: the Jack and Ace. Leading the
King may hold them to one trick, especially if an opponent holds a Jack
doubleton. Incidentally, don’t expect help from partner on this hand. With
opponent’s 25- 26 points and our 12 points, partner does not hold the Heart
Ace. Yet we would be happy if partner held only the precious Heart Jack on
this hand. By the way, hopefully you didn’t look twice at leading the Spades
or Clubs. True, they are sequence suits but your best bet is to promote the
powerful Heart suit with three honors. Here’s a hand almost devoid of points
(same auction):
S J 10
H 9 3
D 10 8 6 5
C 9 8 7 3 2
It’s highly
unlikely this hand will get on lead again so choose your lead wisely. First
off, remember that Bridge is not a solo venture – you do have a partner with
a lovely hand! This is a good time to forget those funky minors and focus on
your partner’s majors with lots of entries! After all, since opponents
didn’t try to find a major suit game, partner must have a heap (we don’t).
Choosing among the majors, the Spade suit is far better so lead your Spade
Jack – the best sequence you have to offer. If conditions are right, you
might be a hero by pinning one of the dummy’s honors.
This time we’ll boost our hand to an Ace and a flat 4=3=3=3 shape:
S A 9 5 4
H 8 6 4
D 5 3 2
C 7 5 3
Okay, only 4
points here. Opponents 25-26 plus our 4 leaves 10-11 points for partner.
Leading the Spade 4 seems reasonable but may cost your side tricks when
declarer holds the King or Queen. Instead, consider leading the Heart 8 – a
passive lead telling partner you do not have interest in that suit based on
the “Rule of 11”. Perhaps partner holds a Spade honor sequence (ideally
Queen-Jack) and can pin declarer's Spade King. Regardless, your Ace is
unlikely to go away – when you get in the lead, you can always cooperate
with whichever suit pleases partner, considering partner's 10-11 points to
establish a suit.
Let’s keep the same hand but the bidding is quite different:
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W |
N |
E |
S |
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P |
(1D) |
P |
(1H) |
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P |
(3D) |
P |
(3N |
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This time the
dummy promises a powerful Diamond suit with 6+ cards, which declarer will
undoubtedly promote at the first opportunity. So forget the passive Heart
lead, particularly since declarer bid the suit. With the threatening Diamond
suit, make the aggressive lead of the Spade 4 and hope for the best. Okay,
here’s a new auction and hand:
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W |
N |
E |
S |
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P |
(P) |
P |
(1H) |
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P |
(1S) |
P |
(1N) |
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P |
(2N) |
P |
(3N) |
S 10 8 3
H 9 7 5
D Q 10 7 2
C A 9 3 2
Actually,
this auction is quite illuminating. The opponents did not find a major suit
fit, slowly working their way into a 3 Notrump contract. So with the choice
between the remaining suits, favor the Aceless suit. Why? The Ace always
gives you an entry to promote partner’s favorite suit. If partner holds the
Diamond King-Jack, all is well – even better holding the Diamond Ace. So
lead the fourth best Diamond 2; partner will know you hold four (you do lead
fourth best, after all) and have an honor.
Normally it’s
not a good idea to lead a suit bid by the opponents, particularly when the
bidding indicates the suit is 5+ cards in length. Yet when opponents began
with a “convenient minor”, perhaps 3 or 4 cards in length, your lead from a
long minor suit with accompanying honors may generate extra tricks.
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W |
N |
E |
S |
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P |
(1C) |
P |
(1S) |
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P |
(1N) |
P |
(2N) |
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P |
(3N) |
AP |
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S A 8 6
H 7 3
D 10 4 2
C Q J 10 5 3
Lead the Club
Queen, a nice top of sequence play. If partner has either the Ace or King,
your side may take 4 Clubs and the Spade Ace to set the contract. On the
next auction, South jumps up with a 2 Notrump opener:
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W |
N |
E |
S |
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P |
(P) |
P |
(2N |
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P |
(3N) |
AP |
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S Q J 9 8 4 3
H K 6 2
D Q 7 3
C 10
Recall we
lead the top of adjacent honors, here it’s the Spade Queen. The hands might
look like this:
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2
J 10 5
Q J 4 2
Q 9 7 6 2 |
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Q J 9 8 4 3
9 6 2
K 7 3
10 |
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K 10
K 7 4 3
6 5
J 8 5 4 3 |
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A 7 6 5
A Q 8
A 10 9 8
A K |
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Hopefully our
partner East is awake and covers our Queen with the King. Leading our Queen
promises the Jack and either the 10 or the 9. Since East holds the 10, it's
clear West holds the 9 and more Spades – probably many more since dummy has
a singleton and East only holds a doubleton. But what happens if East
supposedly “saves” the King and plays the 10? Declarer South can see a
problem with the suit and should hold back winning the trick (see Rule of
7). West continues the suit and East must now win with the King yet cannot
continue the suit – how unfortunate! We can see South has only 5 quick
tricks, needing 4 more to make the 3 Notrump contract. The dummy Club Queen
and three Diamonds will do the trick, with South happily giving up the lead
once to bring the contract home (still holding the Spade Ace). A thoughtful
East will unblock the opening lead by covering with the Spade King and
return the favor with the 10.
This play
allows West to set the contract – the Spade suit is now established and when
West wins the Diamond King, the party is over for declarer who also loses 5
Spade tricks. Last month we saw how the opener needs to be careful to
unblock a long suit by playing the top card from the short suit side to
provide a critical entry to the dummy hand. Notice the parallel here – West
must play the top card from the short suit side to unblock the suit,
providing partner a similar entry.
What should
we lead when partner has bid and the opponents end up in a Notrump contract?
Remember, Bridge is a partnership game – keep your partner happy by leading
the bid suit unless you either have a stunning play or are prepared to
apologize for not listening to partner's request for your help. Partner
overcalls 1 Diamond showing 5 or more and it’s your lead:
S 9 3
H K 8 7 4 2
D K 8 5
C 8 4 3
Initially you
hoped to lead your Heart 4, however you being a good partner, you lead your
Diamond 5 to help the team effort. Holding a doubleton in partner’s suit,
initially lead the top card. Holding the King and 8 against a Notrump
contract, lead the King to help partner promote the suit. But how about when
partner makes a preemptive bid and you have a suit of your own:
S K Q J 9 7
H 10 6 5
D 9 6
C K 4 3
Apparently
South has a Diamond stopper, but with our own honor sequence lead and the
outside Club King entry, this time we have a reason to be disobedient and
lead our Spade King. If all works well, we may get four Spades, one Club and
perhaps a Diamond from partner.
Finally,
let’s consider leads against Notrump slam contracts. If we have a nice Queen
high honor sequence or above, by all means lead the suit. If partner bids a
suit or doubles opponents’ artificial bid, our lead direction is also clear.
But the majority of opponents’ slam auctions are not quite so easy for us to
discern our best lead. Unlike Notrump contracts beneath slam, when the
opponents have 33+ points and we do not have an obvious lead direction, we
should make a passive lead. In opponents' 3 Notrump contracts, we're assured
to win several tricks so promotion is our mantra. In opponents' slam
contract, it's a real challenge to grab two tricks. Of course, when you do
not have any honors the lead is fairly easy – your only criteria is to avoid
finessing partner’s possible honors; leading an unbid suit often is a safe
lead. When you hold an Ace, King or Queen without an assisting honor,
consider leading another suit, unless of course they bid a grandslam
contract and your Ace immediately sets the contract! Similarly, if the
opponents had a bidding misunderstanding going too high and you have an
inspired lead, go for it. In summary, the general idea when opponents bid
slam is to make them earn all their tricks by making a passive lead (next
month we will see the opposite is true when opponents bid slam in a suit
contract). |
