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While many leads against Notrump follow a limited number of guidelines, leading against opponents’ suit contracts offers a far greater range of options.   Playing against a Notrump contract we typically seek to “win the race” by first promoting our long suit the declarer.   While a sequence lead might be safe, now we must pay special attention to ruffs, cross-ruffs, side-suit promotion after declarer pulls trump, as well as other factors.

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Typical Declarer Play Strategies:

1. Pull trumps, avoid opponent ruffing
2. Pull trumps, promote side suit, pitch losers
3. Finesse, repeated finesses, pitch quick losers
4. Use dummy shortness, ruff declarer losers
5. Cross-ruff between hands, imbalanced hands

Defender Classic Suit Leads

1. Ace from Ace-King
2. Top of honor sequence
3. Partner’s bid suit (High-Low, etc.)
4. Fourth best leads (not away from an Ace)
5. Top of nothing (passive lead)

Lead Differences:

Suit Contracts:

Honor Considerations

1. Honor sequence suits as: KQ10x (better), KJ10x (okay)
2. Split honors as: KQxx (especially opposite game)
3. Multiple split honor suit as: KJxx,  J10[…]
4. Priority:  Kxxx (often best),  Qxxx (xxx better),  Jxxx (xxxx better)
5. Top of nothing: xxxx

Polling You 70, Hand 1

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