We wear many hats during our average 30-45 minute Spades game and the role of defender may or may not cause even the slightest hesitation for most. It should, however! The opening lead especially is most crucial. The right opening lead can make or break many bids and/or nils.

How many times have you made some opening lead to set a nil on the very first trick, "wowowow!"   When you're right, "woo-hoo!" but when you're wrong trying to get back what you have lost can be almost impossible. Even when your opening lead does not set a nil or possibly aid in setting the opponents it may still be some essential first step to the winning defense.

Obviously you can realize immense profits or losses from your opening leads. If you merely take your next game and really study your leads and the impact I'm quite sure you will find at least one or two hands that points were lost. In our little niche on the "Zone" I typically see 50-200 points pitched in every game from poor opening leads.

The opening lead is not going to be absolutely of grave importance on every deal. Some nils and bids are cold, cold, cold and can't be set even if you could see all four hands.

Lead Onward!

I'd venture to say that many of our spades associates have not discussed opening leads and things like what they lead from AKx. Do they lead the same every time? Do they lead the Ace or the King? What about leads from three small cards? Do they lead the top, middle, or bottom? It really is not that important but the discussion is paramount. You and your pard can never realize any benefits from opening leads unless you're on the same page regarding carding.

To be a great opening leader is of immense value at the Spades table. Most Spades players are not adept at this facet of the game. Most are not nearly as good with opening leads as they could be, and I'm really not sure if it is totally the fault of the players. I haven't read anything really good regarding opening leads in a long time. Years ago a Bridge book was published that was dedicated to opening leads but that's just about it. It might be nice to see a few chapters in a book, or even just a few articles that might stimulate some new concepts or just review some old ones. Opening leads really need to receive the necessary attention due them and I hope I can touch on some of the basic concepts in this article.

Considerations

At a bare minimum, four to six strategies should be well thought out before selecting that first card.

• Are we trying to set up high cards in our hand?
• Are we trying to become void in some suit so we can trump/ruff the opponents high cards?
• Should we be trying to cut out the opponents from ruffing/trumping our high cards?
• Should we force some opponent to trump repeatedly and tap him in trumps, (Forcing game)?
• Are we going after setting the nil bidder or his partner?
• Are we undecided about setting vs. bagging and need more information from pard?

Most of the time simply reviewing the bidding and the score is the key to our success in choosing which strategy to select. Once we decide upon the strategy to use we are better placed to select the suit, and the card to lead.

An Example

Suppose you sit South and in some mid-ame deal that is not life-threatening but you must make a decision holding the following cards.

K5

A8

KQ874

KJ73

The opponent on your left bid 1, your pard bid 2 and the opponent on your right has bid 5. You decide on 3 and must make a decision. Every lead you have is basically an attacking lead. You have no passive suit to lead, meaning you hold picture cards in every suit and will risk losing tricks in any suit you break. Why is this? Because the strength based on the bidding is to your right. You're leading right into "Jaws" and very likely to give a trick away when you make your opening lead. Considering that, you should now decide which suit is the least likely to cost a trick?

Some would plunk down the Ace of hearts without a moments thought, while others would lead the King of diamonds. Still others would lead the seven of clubs trying to retain bagging options while hoping to catch pard with the Ace or Queen of clubs.

Actually the choice is an easy one for this simple reason. If you are considering a heart ruff will it take a natural spade trick away from your hand? I think it will! The Ace of hearts might very likely cost your side several tricks. From the bidding it is very likely that the Ace of spades, if not in your pard's hand, resides with the right-hand opponent. Since it is very likely that it is there, your King of spades is safe. Since you have the King and a small spade, you essentially have a natural spade trick. If you do trump some heart later in this hand the Ace will fell your King. "Poof", ruffing with a natural spade trick is almost never correct. Your heart Ace also will very likely promote the King and/or Queen in Righty's hand while you collect the two, three, and four in this suit.

We have a very good shot at setting this bid since our face cards are very strategically located. With the strength sitting on our right we are in the shotgun seat, so to speak. The opponent to our right will find himself losing to our face cards as long as we are patient. Since we have no real passive to lead to make however, the King of diamonds is still the best choice. It may cost us one trick but it certainly is the safest and retains options in the other three suits and the possibility exists that pard holds the Ace or Jack of diamonds. If pard holds a bad hand with four of five spades, we might have a forcing defense available and this lead might just be the ticket!

After the Lead

Making a plan is something we all need to consider early in the game, early in the hand. What components comprise the thought process when we formulate our plan?

Anything worth doing well requires a plan! Playing spades is no exception to this rule. Without a plan we are simply going through the motions. Even a backup plan is not a bad idea. A hasty play to Trick One can be devastating. It cannot be undone! Your opening lead and your play to trick one are so important, why risk the rest of the hand carelessly before making some mental notes and a plan. I use the following acronym as a reminder:

RE. Review the bidding. Is the strength on my right or on my left? Does the opponents' bidding indicate that my values are well placed, or am I likely to lose a specific trick? Are the opponents bidding the full value of their hands? Does it look like suit shortness in my hand is a threat to our partnership or the opponents? Does the bidding indicate a bagging hand?

A. Analyze the opening lead! Does it look like a short-suit lead? How much time elapsed before the lead was made? Timed opening leads indicated mixed face cards, or other problems. Does the lead allow you to place any cards in the defender's hand? Does the lead improve your hand? Does the lead indicate a bagging game?

C. Count your winners and losers! How am I going to make my bid?

T. Time for a plan of action. Put it all together and form some kind of plan before playing to the first trick. The time that it takes for an opponent to make an opening lead may give you considerable information about that hand. If a face card is not led, or what appears to be a short-suit lead the opponent is somewhat balanced and faced with a tough lead. Probably leading from an honor and may indicate a need to play a Queen or Jack if in second position. This plan does not need to be firm, but any plan even a temporary one is better than no plan at all.

R.E.A.C.T!

Regards,
Ruffkid1 (Jay Tomlinson)