[jdiana]

Do you lead from an interior sequence only against notrump contracts or against suit contacts as well?

For example, you hold

♠K64 ♥632 ♦62 ♣K10953

and choose to lead a club against opponents' 4♥ contract. Assume that your general approach is to lead 4th best. Do you lead the ♣10 or the ♣5?

[Shugart23]

Some people play that leading a 10 against a NT contract promises the jack or nine and a higher honor . So in your example I am leaving the 10 against no trump. If my holding is king jack 10 5 3,, I’m likely to lead my 3 (or if playing 4th down my 5) Whenever I lead away from a king against a suit contract, it seems I’m always leading around to ace queen but if I must lead a club, I’m leading the interior sequence . I’ll be interested in others’ answers

[P_Marlowe]

The Ten.

But I would rarely lead from an interior seq. suit.

[Shugart23]

What do you lead if from king jack ten 5 3 against no trump? For me, leading the jack promises the ten and no higher honor

[DavidKok]

My comment on the other carding thread also applies here: I think it is most important to play a card that matches your partnership agreements about leads. If we are leading a club, my lead is the 10 (by agreement, regardless of denomination - though this time I also think it's a statistical slight winner).

Whether or not to lead the suit at all is a different question, and depends on several other factors. We never choose a lead in a vacuum, and that information might be decisive.

[jdiana]

DavidKok, on 2025-February-18, 12:06, said:

My comment on the other carding thread also applies here: I think it is most important to play a card that matches your partnership agreements about leads. If we are leading a club, my lead is the 10 (by agreement, regardless of denomination - though this time I also think it's a statistical slight winner).

Whether or not to lead the suit at all is a different question, and depends on several other factors. We never choose a lead in a vacuum, and that information might be decisive.

This came up on a practice hand I played this morning on Fun Bridge. Argine and I have had very few discussions on our carding methods. I had the ace and screwed up our defense a bit by not returning the suit. I assumed that declarer held the king.

[johnu]

jdiana, on 2025-February-18, 08:49, said:

Do you lead from an interior sequence only against notrump contracts or against suit contacts as well?

For example, you hold

♠K64 ♥632 ♦62 ♣K10953

and choose to lead a club against opponents' 4♥ contract. Assume that your general approach is to lead 4th best. Do you lead the ♣10 or the ♣5?

I lead a diamond.

If I was playing for fun, and somebody offered to pay me $10 if I lead a club, I would lead the ♣10 which is usually slightly better than a low spot. Against NT, a low spot is usually a little better than the 9 or 10.

Why the club choices? Against a suit contract, side suits for the defense rarely matter beyond the 2nd or 3rd trick in the suit. So a low spot could cost a potential trick by promoting declarer's spot cards at trick 1,

---

Against a NT contract, if the defense can run the suit, having 4th round control may be important, so wasting a high spot trick at trick 1 has increased importance. Of course, the 9 or 10 could still be better in NT as well.

[mike777]

As others have mentioned consider a more passive lead rather than leading from an interior sequence

Good bridging

[jdiana]

mike777, on 2025-February-19, 18:11, said:

As others have mentioned consider a more passive lead rather than leading from an interior sequence

Good bridging

My robot partner was on lead, but I'll pass along the advice. I'll let you know what he says.

[mike777]

 jdiana, on 2025-February-19, 18:54, said:

My robot partner was on lead, but I'll pass along the advice. I'll let you know what he says.

Great robots do listen and do talk and learn
Advanced robots can do even more
😊