What is the best card to lead in bridge?

What should you lead in a bridge game?

Lead the ace against suit contracts. Against no-trump contracts, the queen asks partner to unblock the jack if he has it. Against no-trump contracts, many players also lead the second-highest card, i.e. xxxx. For those who play third and fifth best leads, the third-highest card is led instead.

Should you lead an ace in bridge?

“NEVER underlead an ace against a suit contract” is one of the more reliable rules of thumb at the bridge table. Nevertheless, there are occasional exceptions. These usually occur when dummy seems likely to be strong in the suit, perhaps because of a one no‐trump opening bid.

Should you lead a doubleton in bridge?

Leading a doubleton is usually poor, unless partner has bid the suit. Leading a singleton is OK, but not in declarers suit, as this will usually cost at least one trick.

What is the rule of 11 in bridge?

Always check your partner's opening lead using the “Rule of Eleven.” which states that the player subtracts the number of the first card lead from the number 11, and then the result is the number of cards higher contained in the hands of the partner of the opening leader and the declarer and the dummy.

Opening leads against suit contracts with Joan Butts - Should we ever lead trumps?

Why don't you lead away from an ace in bridge?

Leading away from an Ace is common against notrump contracts. Declarer won't later be able to ruff our Ace. If we lead the ♦K, declarer will eventually get a trick with the ♦Q. If we lead the ♦5, as recommended by the guidelines, declarer's ♦Q is trapped, and we get all the tricks to which we are entitled.

Can you preempt with a 4 card major?

Don't preempt with four cards in a major suit (preempts with four cards in a minor suit are generally acceptable). This point only applies to preempts in first or second seat. Once partner is a passed hand, it is no longer a concern. Once you have made a preemptive bid, partner is in charge.

When would you lead an unsupported ace?

If you have a long suit (5 cards or more) with an unsupported Ace and you decide that's your best suit to lead against a trump contract, lead the Ace, rather than a low card. If you lead low, it may be the opponent's short suit.

What is a passive lead in bridge?

A passive lead has little or no risk attached to it. It means playing safe and waiting for declarer to go wrong. An active lead is more risky. It involves trying to make or establish tricks and taking some risks to do so.

What is a safe lead in bridge?

You usually want to make a "safe" opening lead that will set up tricks for your side without giving declarer extra tricks. Your general order of preference can be: A singleton (hoping partner can lead the suit back for you to trump). A suit partner has bid. Lead low if you have 3+ cards; lead high from 2 cards.

What is the rule of 20 in bridge?

You can open the bidding with slightly fewer than 12 points when you have a shapely hand. Use the Rule of 20 – which states that you can open the bidding when your high-card point-count added to the number of cards in your two longest suits gets to 20.

How do you lead in bridge?

Should you lead from a king in bridge?

Leading an unsupported King or Queen is sending him or her to the slaughter house. You should not lead an honor unless you have the next lower one. This can be an acceptable lead if you have 2 cards in a suit that partner has bid, an honor card and a low one.

How do you finesse in bridge?

When you finesse, you play the suit as if a certain opponent had one or more of the honors you're missing. To run a finesse, first try to visualize where you need a missing honor to be. Then lead the suit through the opponent you hope has the honor (arrange for him to be second to play to the trick).

Who bids first in bridge?

A bridge deal consists of two phases: bidding and card play. In this phase, players bid for the minimum number of tricks they think they can take to win the deal. The dealer makes the first call. He is the "opener".

How do you know when to double in bridge?

The most common takeout double is after an opponent's opening bid of one of a suit where the double shows a hand with opening values, support for all three unbid suits (at least three cards in each) and shortness in the suit doubled (preferably, no more than two).

How do you signal a doubleton in bridge?

If partner leads the Jack, signal high with the equal honor (the queen). Signal high for a doubleton only if all three higher honors are visible (or will be after play to this trick). If partner leads the jack and the queen is in dummy while you hold Ace or King, signal high to encourage.

Why is ace king lead king?

If playing Ace from Ace-King, you should lead the king from an Ace-King doubleton. (This is the opposite of standard leads, in which the ace is led.) Leading the king followed by the ace tells partner that you have a doubleton (and may be able to ruff the third round of the suit).

What does a 2 Heart bid mean in bridge?

Two hearts (2♥) is a bid in bridge which specifies a contract for the partnership to take 8 tricks with ♥ as the trump suit. It's a partscore contract in duplicate bridge, but becomes a game contract if doubled or redoubled.

How do you respond to a weak two bid in bridge?

Responses to a Weak Two

Usually shows a weak, preemptive hand (with at least 4-card support). It is also common to make a 4 / jump raise with 5-card support regardless of strength. However, a major suit jump raise may also be made by a strong hand that believes the game contract will succeed.

How do you respond to a preempt?

Responses. Since the preempter has a weak hand, responder will pass most of the time. However, responder also has the following options: Raise opener's suit: Usually done to further the preempt with 3-card support (or jump with even more support), making it even more difficult for the opponents to compete.

What does Underlead mean in bridge?

Often this means that in a suit contract our leads will be passive and aimed at making declarer work for every trick. We NEVER lead a low card from a suit in which we have an unsupported ace or an unsupported king. This is called “underleading”. You will hear bridge players say: “We never underlead an ace”.

What does Ruff mean in bridge?

In Bridge, to ruff means to play a trump card on a trick when that player has run out of the suit which was led. If trumps were the suit led then following suit and playing a trump card is not 'ruffing' . As all the other players must follow suit if they can, even a low trump card can win a trick.

What is Tenace in bridge?

tenace. / (ˈtɛneɪs) / noun. bridge whist a holding of two nonconsecutive high cards of a suit, such as the ace and queen.