Blum on Bridge Opening Leads vs. No Trump
	Continuing our discourse on opening leads against no-trump; we may have the option to lead from a broken sequence where the third card in the sequence is missing. Examples would be KQ104, QJ95, or J1086. Though the proper card to play is the top of the sequence, it could be a disastrous play. For example, leading the queen from QJ95 too often you will find K10xx on your left and Axx on your right. Declarer wins the ace and finesses the 10 for three tricks. This opening lead should not be at the top of your list. One broken sequence is treated differently than any of the others. Holding KQ109 against no-trump, if you make the standard lead of the king, declarer on your right may hold AJ5 and play the 5 on the first trick. When you then play the queen he will win the ace and have the jack for another winner. Incidentally, this play by declarer is called a "Bath Coup". To prevent this from occurring, lead the queen first. If partner has the jack he knows you are not leading top of a sequence but from the KQ109. He therefore must drop the jack. Now you can safely continue the suit. If the opening leader does not see the jack either in the dummy when it is tabled or from his partner's play, he knows declarer has it. Of course if partner has the ace, he will play it first and return the suit to your K109. Finally we come to a rather rare six card holding of AKJ10xx. Instead of making the normal opening lead of the king, play the ace. This demands partner to drop the queen if he has it. There are a number of differences between leading against no-trump and a suit contract. In most cases against a no-trump contract you are attempting to establish your long suit. This is rarely the case against suit contracts. When declarer no longer has cards in your long suit he will trump to win the trick. Thus, we must adjust our thinking when making the opening lead. Though it's still correct to lead fourth best you do not want to make an opening lead from an ace. Holding A432 where it's correct to lead the deuce at no-trump establishing your long suit, it is wrong to make that lead against a suit contract. (There are times in the middle of a hand you do lead from an ace, but that is beyond today's discussion). Last week we determined against no-trump that it is only proper to lead top card of a sequence when the sequence consisted of three or more cards; otherwise it is better to lead fourth best. However, against a suit contract it is better to lead the top card from a two-card sequence. Lead the top card from holdings such as KQ742, QJ632, J10542, and 109753 at a suit contract, but lead fourth best against a no-trump contract. Short suit leads, doubletons where you play high-low and singletons, will produce dividends against a suit contract because of the potential to ruff whereas the same lead against no-trump is poor. Unless pard has bid the suit a lead of the queen from Qx or the jack from Jx is a poor percentage play. There is a deceptive play from this combination we will discuss next week. Three card suits with no honor lead down the line. Holding 642 lead the 6, 4, then the 2. Don't play the 2 after the 6 as partner may think you originally held a doubleton. I've intentionally avoided three-card holdings headed by an honor like Qxx, but will talk about them next week in my column titled "Advanced Opening Leads". Though trump leads will be discussed later in detail, which trump to lead from two, three, four or five is important. ONLY if you think pard is interested in the number of trump you hold lead low from an even number and high-low from an odd number. From 642 play the second highest card, the 4 then the 2. The second highest is better than the top card as the top card may become valuable later. Note this is the exact opposite of leads from non-trump suits.