The auction and your hand provide clues to help you choose the right defensive strategy. The chosen strategy influences the lead.
When dummy tables, ask yourself if the selected strategy looks right? If If not, switch to the strategy that looks right.
Here are the 5 most common defensive strategies.
Active Defense
When declarer has a source of tricks that will allow losers to be discarded, the play is often an establishment race. You typically need to make aggressive leads and work to establish winners and cash your tricks before the declarer can setup their suit and discard their losers.
Because aggressive leads risk giving declarer extra tricks, be cautious about choosing an active defense.
Passive Defense
When declarer will need to work to establish tricks and there is little risk of declarer can quickly discard their losers, a passive defense is typically best. Choose a lead which is unlikely to give declarer an extra trick, and defend accordingly. The suit layout below illustrates why a passive defense can be so effective. If West or East leads the suit, North-South will win a trick. If North or South leads the suit, East-West can win all 3 tricks. It is to your advantage to play passively and let your opponent break the suit.
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Layout #1 |
Q 4 2 |
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K953 |
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AT6 |
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J87 |
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Forcing Defense
When you have length in the trump suit (or can infer your partner has length in the trump suit), it may be possible to gain trump control by forcing the declarer to ruff in their hand with the long trump. You make an attacking lead in your long suit (or your partner’s long suit) hoping to force declarer to ruff, weakening their trump control.
Reducing Declarer’s Ruffing Power
When the auction indicates declarer is planning to ruff losers in the short hand or is planning to cross-ruff the hand, a trump lead consumes a trump from declarer’s hand and dummy’s hand. Trump leads and continuations reduce declarer’s ruffing power.
Creating Defensive Trump Tricks
Leading your short suit can help navigate a defensive ruff. In their “Winning Suit Contract Leads” book, David Bird and Taf Anthias advise “Side-suit singletons are excellent leads and should nearly always be chosen.” Trump length and entries in your partner’s hand help make this strategy successful. However, when you have a sure trump trick(s), there is little upside to leading your short suit.
If the auction and your hand suggest your partner is short in a suit, leading the suit may help navigate a ruff for your partner. Entries in your hand and trump length in your partner’s hand help makes this strategy successful.
Practice Selecting Your Defensive Strategy:
Choose your defensive strategy based on your hand and the auction.
What would you lead? Explain your choice of lead.
