Lead Problem - Underleading Aces in a Trump Contract

So here is a lead problem. Here is your hand:

♠J63
♥J6
♦A8654
♣K97

The dealer is on your left and they Pass. Partner also Passes. Your RHO opens the bidding 1♥. You decide to Pass (good bid!). Now your LHO bids 1♠. Partner Passes. RHO bids 2♥. You Pass again. Now your LHO bids 4♥. Everyone Passes. It is your lead. What will you lead?

To recap the bidding your RHO bid ♥ twice and your LHO bid ♠ once. The opponents are in game. Lead?

Did you make your lead? This is actually not a difficult lead problem. Only a bad lead will allow this contract to make. Unfortunately EVERYONE in the novice game on Tuesday (and I mean EVERYONE) found the incredibly bad lead that was needed for this contract to make.

Curious as to what that bad lead was?

A low ♦. Against a trump contract everyone underlead their A♦ in order to allow this contract to make.

What is underleading your Ace? Just what exactly does that mean?

Underleading your Ace means to lead away from your Ace. Leading a card UNDERNEATH your Ace. If you lead a suit with an Ace in it and don't lead your Ace, you are underleading your Ace. This is something that you NEVER, NEVER, NEVER do in a suit (or trump) contract. By a suit contract I mean a contract in which the opponents are playing where there is trump.

Why not underlead your Ace in a trump contract? What's the big deal?

Because quite a bit of the time you no longer get to score a trick with your Ace because Declarer has a singleton in one hand and the King in the other. That means they get to win their King (because you have the only card that can beat the King but you didn't play it) and the next time the suit is lead they can trump.

Which is exactly what happened on this hand.

Here are the 4 hands:

	Dummy ♠KQT85 ♥875 ♦Q ♣QJ86
LHO (you) ♠J63 ♥J6 ♦A8654 ♣K97		RHO ♠A974 ♥Q2 ♦T93 ♣AT42
	Declarer ♠2 ♥AKT943 ♦KJ72 ♣53

With the lead being the 5♦, Declarer gets to win the Q♦ in Dummy. Now when they play their K♦ later on if you play your Ace they will trump it. You do not get to win a ♦ trick.

Big deal you say? Look at the hand and think of the auction. First of all your LHO started with a Pass. They do NOT have an opening hand. Your RHO opened 1♥ and rebid 2♥. They do not have anything extra. Then your LHO put them into game without even inviting. This means that the hand that LHO couldn't even open has now magically changed to a full opener.

Hmmmm. Suspicious. Sure this can happen. Perhaps now LHO is counting distribution and does have an opening hand. But it could also mean that the opponents don't have the values for a game. Further investigation of the hand reveals that the opponents are off 4 tricks right off the top. That means that you and your partner can take the first 4 tricks without Declarer being able to do anything. If the opponents are in 4♥ and you take the first 4 tricks they are down in their game contract.

But the underlead of the A♦ killed the defense. Now the defense can no longer take 4 tricks. The opponents will make the game.

What is the proper lead?

Leads are tough. You do not have a great lead on this hand. Leading an unbid suit is fine. But the point is that if you decide to lead a ♦ (one of the unbid suits) then lead the ACE♦!

In fact if you lead anything other than a low ♦ Declarer cannot make this contract.

If you lead a trump, Declarer will take out trump and probably play a ♠. Then you and Partner can take your A♠, your A♣ and K♣ and your A♦. Down 1.

If you lead the A♦, then no matter what you play next Declarer will go down. You can take your 4 tricks right away or win the A♦ and play trump. Declarer will take out trump and probably play a ♠. Then you and Partner can take your A♠, and your A♣ and K♣. Add that to your A♦ trick and get down 1.

If you lead a ♣ the proper lead is the 7♣. Low from an honour. Partner will win their A♣ and perhaps return a ♣. You can win this and win your A♦. Then you can play a ♠ for Partner to win. 4 tricks. Down 1.

So NEVER underlead (lead away from) an Ace in a suit contract.

In NT underleading Aces is fine. This is because in NT the Ace cannot get trumped later on. So underleading Aces is fine against a NT contract. Just not against a trump contract.