Killer Lead

WARNING! The following post talks about Jacoby Transfers. If you do not know what they are then do NOT bother reading this post.

Here is a hand from a few days ago where I was an Opponent. You are now my Partner who has to make a killing lead against a game contract.

The previous post discussed the bidding. Check out this post first:
Was the Bidding Correct?

So, to get the bidding from your perspective, here's what happened from your point of view.

Your RHO opens the bidding 1NT. ("15 to 17" their Partner announced.) You Pass. Your LHO bid 2♦. ("Transfer" your RHO announces.) Your Partner Passes. 2♥ your RHO bid. You Pass. 2NT bid LHO. Partner Passes. 3♥ RHO bid. You Pass. 4♥ LHO bid. This ended the auction.

Here's a recap:

RHO	You!	RHO	Partner
1NT (15-17)	Pass	2♦ (Transfer)	Pass
2♥	Pass	2NT	Pass
3♥	Pass	4♥	Pass
Pass	Pass

The last post talked about what was wrong with the bidding. LHO has somehow misbid. You don't know WHAT the misbid was. Maybe they bid 2NT with more points than they should and are now making up for it. Maybe they are now overbidding their hand with the 4♥ bid. You don't know. But you do have to make a lead. What will you lead from this holding?

Your hand:
♠AJ9
♥765
♦Q73
♣K985

Show Answer

My Partner made a very good lead. He lead trump!

Many players don't realize you CAN actually lead trump. Sometimes it IS a good lead.

Why did he lead trump? Basically he didn't want to lead ANY OTHER SUIT.

He didn't want to lead a ♠ with the AJ9. Too easy to give up a trick.

He didn't want to lead a ♦ to help Declarer find the Q♦.

He didn't want to lead a ♣ with the K985. Too easy to give up a trick there also.

So he eliminated all the suits he did NOT want to lead from and came up with only one suit he didn't mind leading from. The trump suit.

Here are the four hands.

	Dummy ♠532 ♥AKJT4 ♦T942 ♣6
You! ♠AJ9 ♥765 ♦Q73 ♣K985		Me! ♠KQ764 ♥98 ♦865 ♣Q72
	Declarer ♠T8 ♥Q32 ♦AKJ ♣AJT43

If you lead a ♣ you help Declarer set up the ♣ suit for winners.

If you lead a ♦ you finessed your own Q♦.

If you lead a ♠ Declarer can now eventually trump a ♠ in his hand to establish a tenth trick for himself no matter what you do next.

Sometimes making a good lead means just not making a bad lead.