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2.  Reduce the number of tricks the declarer can take  Help your partner determine the best approach for defeating the contract  Avoid finessing partner  Lead Trumps  Lead your best suit  Lead your partner’s suit  Lead the left-hand opponent’s suit (lead through strength) 2

3.  The first question to ask is – “do I want to set up cards in my hand, or in partner’s?”  With a weak hand, consider trying to help partner set up his likely suits.  The second question to ask is – “did the bidding show the opponents had points, or distribution”  If points, take a passive approach.  If distribution, did they identify their weaknesses to you? 3

4.  If partner has bid a suit, and then doubled, lead her suit. If you have bid a suit and partner has doubled, lead your suit (likely) or trumps (depending on the bidding and the cards you hold)  Always consider whether or not leading trumps will help or hinder declarer  With no stand-out lead, lead through strength  The opening lead* of a low card asks partner to return the suit on the first opportunity  The opening lead* of a high card in a suit indicates a sequence, a singleton, a doubleton, or no interest in the suit  Coded 10’s and 9’s are often used against NT contracts – show 0 or 2 higher cards in the suit led  The lead of a Jack promises nothing. It may be from AJ10x, KJxx, QJ, J, Jx, J109x, Jxxxxxxx, etc  Recommendation: In Calgary, it is ‘standard’ to lead Ace from Ace-King. Ace asks for Attitude  Recommendation: In Calgary, the lead of a King asks for Kount; at the 5- level, lead King from Ace King, because you want count – not attitude 4

5. Most of the old slogans about leads are good guides; know and use them. (Note: these rules assume standard count signals)  Lead the top of honor sequences. With three or more to an honor (A,K,Q,J), lead the top one. This is the first lead taught in beginning bridge, and it's almost always a safe, aggressive lead.  Lead your partner's suit! If partner has bid, lead that suit unless you can name a specific good reason not to -- and your percentage of being right is above 80%. Don't lead 'highest of partners suit' automatically -- you'll give away a trick to declarer on your right quite often. Don't lead the ♣ K with ♣ Kxx in partner's suit, for example -- you'll lose to ♣ Qxx in declarer's hand. This one trick can be the difference between a top and a bottom score for that board.  At No trump, Lead 4th Best From Your Longest Suit. The oldest saw in the book, but still a good, sound rule. 5

6.  Lead the right card. Low from three to an honor (A, K, Q or J) -- high from any doubleton, including an honor doubleton, in partner's suit; middle (MUD) or low from three small (in order to play higher the next time, giving count as having three).  Lead through strength and toward weakness. Lead suits that the person bidding after you has bid -- those where he has strength. If his suit is solid, you've probably lost nothing. If it's got holes, maybe your partner can get his trick right off the bat, or maybe you'll put declared to the test before he's ready.  Lead Trump. If other leads will hurt your defense, lead trump. There's not a thing wrong with it. If you suspect a ruffing plan by declarer, lead trump every chance you get.  Don't lead away from an Ace, King or Queen. Sometimes you can't help it, but try not to. Lead trump holding honors everywhere else.  Lead Unbid Major Suits -- especially if they've ended up in a Minor suit contract.  Lead to Remove Entries From Dummy. Lead dummy's bid suits to get them off the board before the trump's out -- maybe you'll stop a running side suit 6

7.  The next few slides cover some additional lead conventions.  I played all of them with established partnerships, several years ago, but I do not recommend them with casual partnerships.  The exception is the Rule of 11, which most Calgary Players use regularly  I’ ve also added a couple of slides to indicate to newer players what the common expectations are after partner has led  I would be remiss if I didn’t recommend the following article by Larry Cohen on Opening Leads http://www.larryco.com/BridgeArticles/ArticlePrint.aspx?articleI D=80 7

8. Coded Nines and Tens (Jack Denies, 10 Implies) - An opening lead system designed to show honor holdings.  Normally used when defending NT contracts  A lead of a 9 or 10 implies either zero or two higher honors in the suit led  leading a Jack suggests no higher honors.  Normal "low from honor" lead carding still applies, as 4th best, etc.  When partner leads a 9 or 10, partner generally assumes leader has 2 cards above unless the player in the third seat can see the complimentary card. So if leader plays the 10 and the 9 is in either the dummy or the hand of third seat player, assume zero above; the same is true if the 9 is lead and the 10 is visible. Otherwise, assume partner has 2 cards above the 10 or 9. Incidentally, a common treatment is that the lead of the 9 promises one of the two higher honors is the 10 (otherwise, simply lead fourth best from a broken honor sequence when not holding the 10). 8

9. 9 Suit HoldingLead J 10 8 2Jack - Jack denies (normally top of sequence, maybe broken) Q J 9 2Q - lead the top of broken sequence (not the 9, which could lose to opponents 10) A J 10 410 - shows two higher K 10 9 39 - shows two higher, one of which must be the 10 Q 10 9 79 - shows two higher, one of which must be the 10 J 9 7 5 3C5 - standard 4th best from an honor Q 10 9 79 - shows two higher, one of which must be the 10 9 7 5 3C7 or C9- without honor, lead top or next to top A 10 9 4 29 - shows two higher, one of which must be the 10 K Q 10 9 2Q - while K seems normal, an better treatment is the lead of the A or Q asks for an unblock of partners honor as J 2 from a doubleton A K J 10 2 or from A K Q 10 2, A Q J 10 2, A K J 9 2, lead the A, asking for an unblock or count A K 10 9 2 A Q 10 9 2 9 Exception! Leading the 10 may confuse partner the lead was from the top of a sequence. It's far better to ensure partner knows leader has at least two honors above the opening lead rather than be misled into believing Declarer has all the honors A Q 9 3 2Lead the 3. While leading the 9 shows two card above its value, by common agreement one of the outstanding honors must be the 10. Thus, lead fourth best 3, hoping partner holds the K or J. A 10 9 3 2This time lead the 9. The lead of the 9 shows two cards above its value, one of which must be the 10.

10. Is used when the opening lead is the fourth best from the defender's suit. By subtracting the rank of the card led from 11, a defender can figure out how many cards are higher than the card partner has led. The rule works because the defender is known to have three and exactly three cards higher than the cardopening lead 10 When West leads the ♠ 7 East applies the rule of 11. This shows that there are 4 cards higher than the ♠ 7 that dummy, declarer and East hold. East can see four cards higher than the 7: The ♠ Q8 on the board and the ♠ A10 in his hand. Knowing that declarer does not have any cards above the ♠ 7 (As out of the 4 cards East, dummy and declarer have, all 4 are in possession of dummy and East himself, leaving none for the declarer), if the dummy covers with the 8, East knows he can win the trick cheaply with the 10. ♠ Q82 ♠ KJ973W N↑ S↓ E ♠ AT5 ♠ 64 Note that the Rule of 11 can also be used very effectively by declarer. On the lead of the ♠ 7, declarer can deduce that he can win with the ♠ 8 Note that the Rule of 11 can also be used very effectively by declarer. On the lead of the ♠ 7, declarer can deduce that he can win with the ♠ 8 ♠ Q82 ♠ KJ973W N↑ S↓ E ♠ 64 ♠ AT5

11. In accordance with this convention the second highest honour card is led from touching honours against a suit contract. So from ♥ KQ94 a player using the Rusinow Lead convention would lead the Q. This eliminates the ambiguity of the lead of the King against a suit contract where the partner of the leader may not be clear whether his partner has the Ace or the Queen. 11 A Short Summary of Rusinow Leads Card LeadCard Combination Ace:Denies the King unless the holding is an AK doubleton. King:Lead from AK. Partner should unblock the Queen, if held. Queen:Promises KQ or longer sequence. Jack:Promises QJ or longer sequence. Ten:Promises J10 or longer sequence. Nine:Promises 109 or longer sequence. Middle-Up-Down:The play of a higher second card shows an odd number of cards in that suit. Up-Down:A high-low play promises and even number of cards in that suit

12.  With a holding of A-K-J-x, A-K-Q-10 or other similar sequence the defender would lead the King, which requests the partner to unblock by playing their highest card, King means 3 out of 5 honors.  In other situations the second of touching honours is normally played.  The lead of the Queen may be from K-Q-10-9 and requests partner to unblock the jack or may be from Q-J-10, in which case it is an exception to the rule to lead the second-highest of touching honours.  From A-J-10 or K-J-10, Q-10-9 and similar sequences the 10 is led, to indicate that a higher honor. From sequences without the higher honor, such as J-10-9- x the Jack would be led.  From long suits generally lead third or fifth best.  From long suits the defender does not want to see returned generally lead a high card. 12 64 KJ1092W N↑ S↓ EA53 Q87 The proposed advantage of Journalist leads is shown in this deal: When West leads the Jack his partner may win the Ace and switch to another suit. When the 10 is led East will know to return the suit.

13. 13 As third hand, play your highest card, except from equals play the lowest. If you like partner’s lead and want him to continue, play the highest card you can spare. Otherwise play your lowest card. Assume your partner makes the opening lead; dummy plays second and you play third to the trick. Generally, you should try to win the trick or force declarer to waste a high card to beat you. For example, with Q-10-2 you should play the queen, but with J-10-2 you should play the 10 because the jack and 10 are equivalent in rank. Observe that the play from equals as third hand is opposite to the practice of leading, in which the top card of a sequence is played. That is: If you are unable to win the trick, or if partner’s lead is already high, it would be senseless to waste your highest card. Then it is your duty to give an attitude signal to tell partner whether you like his lead:

14. 14 As second hand, play your lowest card. The player who plays fourth (last) to any trick has the best advantage; he will see three other plays before deciding his own. Therefore, when declarer or dummy leads a card, the defender who plays second usually should not deprive his partner of this advantage. In other words:

15. 15 You must lead the dummy's first bid side suit. 1. If your partner has not bid, and the contract is a slam, 2. If your partner has not bid and the contract is not a slam, You must lead the dummy's first bid side suit. 3. If your partner has bid and the contract is not a slam, You must lead partner’s first bid suit.

16. The opponents have bid 1♠-3♠-4♠. What is your opening lead? ♠632 ♥942 ♦KQJ7 ♣A43 King of Diamonds. Lead the top card from an attacking combination. Even if declarer has the ace, you'll set up tricks you can take later. Don't lead the club ace; that's more likely to set up tricks for declarer. ♠Q6 ♥Q92 ♦K104 ♣J6543 4 of Clubs. When no other lead looks safe, lead from your longest suit (the 4th card down). Declarer may be short in this suit, so your lead is unlikely to help him. 16

17. Your LHO opens 1 ♣, partner overcalls 1 ♠ and RHO bids 2 ♥. LHO jumps to 4 ♥. What is your lead? ♠ 1072 ♥ 642 ♦ 9843 ♣ KQ8 2 of spades. You should almost always lead the suit partner overcalls (with 3 or more, lead low). Although a KQ is sometimes a good attacking combination, it isn't here because you know clubs is LHO's suit. ♠ K4 ♥ 943 ♦ AJ8 ♣ 87532 King of Spades. Since partner has shown strength in spades, leading an unprotected honor is safe. If your king holds the trick, you'll lead the spade 4 to partner's ace and be able to trump the third round. From your high- low leads, partner will know you have only 2 spades. ♠ 5432 ♥ A74 ♦ 4 ♣ 108543 4 of Diamonds. This is an exception to the rule about leading partner's suit. Partner will know you had a good reason for not leading spades. If he has the diamond ace, he'll lead one back for you to trump. If partner can't win the first diamond lead, you'll have another chance later. When you win the ace of trumps, you can try to get partner on lead with a spade. 17

18. The opponents have bid 1NT-3NT. What is your opening lead? ♠ QJ1082 ♥ K43 ♦ A5 ♣ 10543 Queen of Spades. You should plan to keep attacking spades whenever you're on lead. Even if declarer has the AK, there's a good chance you can set up and "run" your suit later. ♠ AK8 ♥ 854 ♦ 75 ♣ KJ542 4 of Clubs. You have no sequence, so lead the 4th best card and hope partner has fillers. Resist the temptation to cash the spades. You'll need them as entries to run your club suit ♠ 95 ♥ 43 ♦ K10976 ♣ AQ102 Ten of Diamonds. Lead your longer suit, even though the clubs are stronger. To force out an honor, lead the top of an "interior" sequence. 18

19. Partner opens 1 ♣, RHO bids 1 ♥, you bid 1 ♠. LHO bids 2 ♥ and all pass. What is your opening lead? ♠ KJ43 ♥ 843 ♦ AJ2 ♣ 854 3 of Hearts. You could lead a club (partner's suit), but a trump is better for two reasons: (1)It's safe (partner didn't promise great honor strength in clubs, and a spade or diamond could give up a trick); (2)Your side has most of the high-cards, so declarer may have to trump losers in dummy to make his contract. A trump lead will take one of his trumps out of dummy right away. 19

20. Partner opens 1 ♣, RHO bids 1 ♥, you bid 1 ♠. LHO bids 2 ♥ and all pass. What is your opening lead? ♠ AK743 ♥ 86 ♦ J532 ♣ 105 King of Spades. An AK is usually a good lead because it lets you look at dummy and decide what to do next. Here, you're hoping partner has only one or two spades (a good possibility, since he didn't raise) and can trump the third round. Depending on dummy's spade holding and partner's signal (he'll play a high card if he has a doubleton, a low card if he has three), you can decide whether to continue with the spade ace or to switch suits. If you decide to switch to partner's suit (clubs), lead the 10 (the top card to show 2). If partner has the AK of clubs, you may get to trump the third round of that suit. Exercises 1-5 by Karen Walker 20