{"id":2623,"date":"2011-07-12T16:06:48","date_gmt":"2011-07-13T00:06:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bridgehands.com\/bridgeblog\/?p=2623"},"modified":"2013-01-08T20:22:28","modified_gmt":"2013-01-09T04:22:28","slug":"polling-you-70-leads-against-suit-contracts-day-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bridgehands.com\/bridgeblog\/?p=2623","title":{"rendered":"Polling You #70, Leads Against Suit Contracts, Day 1"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>(Please click the Title above to view entire article)<br \/>\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/survey.constantcontact.com\/poll\/a07e4c6in9ngq1it24w\/start.js?v=1&amp;w=300\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><noscript>JavaScript needs to be enabled for polling to work.<br \/>\n<a href='http:\/\/www.constantcontact.com\/survey\/index.jsp?cc=ViraWidPOL'>Online Surveys<\/a> by Constant Contact.<br \/>\n<\/noscript>&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8211;<\/p>\n<p><strong>While many leads against Notrump follow a limited number of guidelines, leading against opponents\u2019 suit contracts offers a far greater range of options.\u00a0\u00a0 Playing against a Notrump contract we typically seek to \u201cwin the race\u201d by first promoting our long suit the declarer.\u00a0 \u00a0While 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.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/bridgehands-videos.s3.amazonaws.com\/Polling_You_70_Part_1_everyone\/Polling_You_70_Part_1_everyone.html\">Click here to view Part 1 of the video commentary<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"..\/..\/freecontent\/Polling_You_70_Part_2_freecontent\/Polling_You_70_Part_2_freecontent.html\"><strong>Free Members &#8211; Click here to view Part 2, hand #1 of our video commentary<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<h3><a href=\"..\/..\/premiumcontent\/Polling_You_70_Part_3_premiumcontent\/Polling_You_70_Part_3_premiumcontent.html\">Premium\/ULTRA &#8211; Click here to view Part 3 of our video commentary<\/a><\/h3>\n<p><strong>Typical Declarer Play Strategies:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Pull trumps, avoid opponent ruffing<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Pull trumps, promote side suit, pitch losers<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Finesse, repeated finesses, pitch quick losers<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Use dummy shortness, ruff declarer losers<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Cross-ruff between hands, imbalanced hands<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>Defender Classic Suit Leads<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Ace from Ace-King<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Top of honor sequence<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Partner\u2019s bid suit (High-Low, etc.)<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Fourth best leads (not away from an Ace)<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Top of nothing (passive lead)<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>Lead Differences: <\/strong><\/p>\n<table border=\"1\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"265\"><strong>Notrump<\/strong><\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"265\"><strong>Suits<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"265\"><strong>AKx<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">x<\/span>x<\/strong><\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"265\"><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">A<\/span><\/strong><strong>Kxxx<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"265\"><strong>A<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">10<\/span>9x<\/strong><\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"265\"><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">A<\/span><\/strong><strong>109x<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"265\"><strong>Axx<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">x<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"265\"><strong>A<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">xxx<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"265\"><strong>AQx<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">x<\/span>x<\/strong><\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"265\"><strong>Avoid leading suit<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"265\"><strong>KQx<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">x<\/span>x<\/strong><\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"265\"><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">K<\/span><\/strong><strong>Qxxx<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><strong>Suit Contracts:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Honor Considerations<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Honor sequence suits as: <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">K<\/span>Q10x (better), K<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">J<\/span>10x (okay)<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Split honors as: KQxx (especially opposite game)<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Multiple split honor suit as: KJx<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">x<\/span>,\u00a0 <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">J<\/span>10[\u2026]<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Priority:\u00a0 Kxx<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">x<\/span> (often best),\u00a0 Qxx<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">x<\/span> (xx<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">x<\/span> better),\u00a0 Jxx<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">x<\/span> (<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">x<\/span>xxx better)<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Top of nothing: <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">x<\/span>xxx<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Polling You 70, Hand 1<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><!-- Board 3: Diagram --><\/p>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"left\" valign=\"top\"><strong><em>Board 3<\/em><\/strong><br \/>\nSouth Deals<br \/>\nE-W Vul<\/td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" align=\"left\">\u2660 J 3<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2665<\/span> K J 7<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2666<\/span> K J 7 2<br \/>\n\u2663 9 7 6 3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"left\">\u2660 K Q 10 2<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2665<\/span> A 4 3 2<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2666<\/span> 5<br \/>\n\u2663 K J 10 2<\/td>\n<td>\n<table border=\"1\" frame=\"box\" rules=\"none\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td colspan=\"3\" align=\"center\">N<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"left\">W<\/td>\n<td><\/td>\n<td align=\"right\">E<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td colspan=\"3\" align=\"center\">S<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<td align=\"left\">\u2660 9 8 7 6<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2665<\/span> Q<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2666<\/span> 10 9 8 6 3<br \/>\n\u2663 8 5 4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><\/td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" align=\"left\">\u2660 A 5 4<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2665<\/span> 10 9 8 6 5<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2666<\/span> A Q 4<br \/>\n\u2663 A Q<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><!-- Board 3: Auction --><\/p>\n<table>\n<colgroup span=\"1\">\n<col span=\"4\" \/> <\/colgroup>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><em>West<\/em><\/td>\n<td><em>North<\/em><\/td>\n<td><em>East<\/em><\/td>\n<td><em>South<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><\/td>\n<td><\/td>\n<td><\/td>\n<td>1 <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2665<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Pass<\/td>\n<td>2 <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2665<\/span><\/td>\n<td>Pass<\/td>\n<td>3 <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2665<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Pass<\/td>\n<td>4 <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2665<\/span><\/td>\n<td>All pass<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><!-- Board 3: Play --><\/p>\n<table>\n<colgroup span=\"1\">\n<col span=\"5\" \/> <\/colgroup>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><em>Trick<\/em><\/td>\n<td><em>West<\/em><\/td>\n<td><em>North<\/em><\/td>\n<td><em>East<\/em><\/td>\n<td><em>South<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>1. W<\/td>\n<td>\u2660 K<\/td>\n<td>\u2660 3<\/td>\n<td>\u2660 7<\/td>\n<td>\u2660 A<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>2. S<\/td>\n<td><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2665<\/span> 2<\/td>\n<td><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2665<\/span> J<\/td>\n<td><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2665<\/span> Q<\/td>\n<td><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2665<\/span> 5<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>3. E<\/td>\n<td>\u2663 K<\/td>\n<td>\u2663 3<\/td>\n<td>\u2663 4<\/td>\n<td>\u2663 Q<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>4. W<\/td>\n<td>\u2660 Q<\/td>\n<td>\u2660 J<\/td>\n<td>\u2660 6<\/td>\n<td>\u2660 4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>5. W<\/td>\n<td><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2665<\/span> A<\/td>\n<td><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2665<\/span> 7<\/td>\n<td>\u2660 8<\/td>\n<td><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2665<\/span> 6<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>6. W<\/td>\n<td><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2665<\/span> 3<\/td>\n<td><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2665<\/span> K<\/td>\n<td><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2666<\/span> 3<\/td>\n<td><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2665<\/span> 8<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>7. N<\/td>\n<td><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2666<\/span> 5<\/td>\n<td><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2666<\/span> 2<\/td>\n<td><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2666<\/span> 8<\/td>\n<td><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2666<\/span> A<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>8. S<\/td>\n<td><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2665<\/span> 4<\/td>\n<td>\u2663 6<\/td>\n<td>\u2660 9<\/td>\n<td><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2665<\/span> 10<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>9. S<\/td>\n<td>\u2663 2<\/td>\n<td>\u2663 7<\/td>\n<td>\u2663 5<\/td>\n<td>\u2663 A<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>10. S<\/td>\n<td>\u2660 2<\/td>\n<td><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2666<\/span> 7<\/td>\n<td><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2666<\/span> 6<\/td>\n<td><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2666<\/span> Q<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>11. S<\/td>\n<td>\u2663 10<\/td>\n<td><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2666<\/span> J<\/td>\n<td><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2666<\/span> 9<\/td>\n<td><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2666<\/span> 4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>12. N<\/td>\n<td>\u2660 10<\/td>\n<td><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2666<\/span> K<\/td>\n<td><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2666<\/span> 10<\/td>\n<td>\u2660 5<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>13. N<\/td>\n<td>\u2663 J<\/td>\n<td>\u2663 9<\/td>\n<td>\u2663 8<\/td>\n<td><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2665<\/span> 9<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><strong>Despite poor suit values, South opens 1 Heart with 16 High Card Points (some might open 1 Notrump with a balanced hand to show points, perhaps missing the 5-3 Heart fit on these hands).\u00a0 With a singleton Diamond (ergo no Takeout Double) and lacking a 5 card suit, even with 12 HCP West cannot manufacture a bid.\u00a0 North holds 9 HCP, 3 Hearts and working red suit honors, easily bidding 2 Hearts.\u00a0 South counts 6 losers (2 Clubs, 3 Hearts, 1 Diamond), making a game try in Hearts which North easily accepts bidding 4 Hearts.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>On lead North leads the Spade King, the better of touching honor suits.\u00a0 Should West mistakenly lead the broken Club inner sequence or a trump, the declarer will easily make game. \u00a0Assuming the correct Spade King lead, South wins the Spade Ace and plays a low trump to North\u2019s Jack, attempting a repeated finesse (actually returning a Spade to ensure a ruff seems a better play).\u00a0 On South\u2019s Heart lead East is surprised to win with the singleton Heart Queen making it clear partner holds the Ace. \u00a0Yet East\u2019s who count points already knew partner West has an opening hand based on the auction and East\u2019s near-bust 2 HCP hand, \u00a0Unless the declarer plays \u201cdouble-dummy\u201d going against the odds and rises with the King, South will soon be set assuming West makes the correct lead (should South go for the unusual 4-1 split to East\u2019s highly unlikely singleton Queen, the East player might wonder if they are exposing their cards to the declarer!) \u00a0\u00a0Noting the dummy\u2019s remaining singleton Spade and poor Club values, after winning the Heart Queen East switches to a Club and South tries the Queen to West\u2019s King.\u00a0 Despite the singleton dummy Spade, West wins Queen followed by cashing the Heart Ace and another Heart to dummy\u2019s remaining King.\u00a0 While South has the remaining tricks, the defenders earned 4 tricks to set the declarer by 1 trick.<\/strong><\/p>\nPlease login or register to view this content.<br \/>\nPlease login or register to view this content.<br \/>\nPlease login or register to view this content.<\/h3>\n<h3><strong>Happy Bridge Trails and Tales,<\/strong><\/h3>\n<h3><em><strong>BridgeHands<\/strong><\/em><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(Please click the Title above to view entire article) JavaScript needs to be enabled for polling to work. Online Surveys by Constant Contact. &#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8211; While many leads against Notrump follow a limited number of guidelines, leading against opponents\u2019 suit contracts offers a far greater range of options.\u00a0\u00a0 Playing against a Notrump contract we typically seek [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[39],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgehands.com\/bridgeblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2623"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgehands.com\/bridgeblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgehands.com\/bridgeblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgehands.com\/bridgeblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgehands.com\/bridgeblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2623"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgehands.com\/bridgeblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2623\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2625,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgehands.com\/bridgeblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2623\/revisions\/2625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgehands.com\/bridgeblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgehands.com\/bridgeblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgehands.com\/bridgeblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}