Leads & Signals

Leads

The choice of suit to lead is not a subject of this document.
This will depend on your conclusions drawn from all of the following considerations:

The all important decision: To be Passive or Aggressive?
Get a good understanding of the bidding
Consider the potential of your own holding: Consider available entries, suit lengths, trick establishment chances & controls in opponents suits
Has partner's bidding suggested opening in his declared suit?
Your analysis will also be very different if defending NT or a suit contract
Remember Aces are for killing Kings - take care before leading an Ace! Similarly Kings are for killing Queens!
Is it safe to lead through dummies suit(s) if partner has not suggested it?

Honour Leads...A-9

Major HONOURS are the AKQ & minor honours are the JT9 which boost the Majors!

We have developed a near common approach to leads from honour combinations against NT and suits contracts alike. Of course this is nothing to do with the choice of suit to lead which could be a very different choice whether against a NT or suit contract.
The first alternatives shown below for each possible opening lead has the usual normal meaning. Other considerations arise when shortages are in your hand and in your partner's hand are likely.
If my memory serves me well the idea to lead the lower of 2 touching honours and the strong K are ideas proposed by Rusinov. These leads are still seen in many advanced pairs.
In most cases these leads apply to the initial suit attacked by either yourself or partner.
However we have extended it to initial leads in any suit. We also apply it on your further lead of partner's suit. The use of Rusinov leads must be declared.

In the following schema please note that honour leads relate to AKQ & also to minor honours: JT9!

In the following detail, the primary use of Rusinov relates to point '1'

ACE

1. Promises King but denies holding either Queen and/or Jack
2. Doubleton Ax or singleton A when leading against a suit contract & often partner's suit! - interested in a 3rd round ruff
3. Leading from A, Ax or sometimes from Axx in your partners bid suit

KING

1. Promises 3 honours - one of which may be a minor honour! These are the possible combinations: AKQ{x}, AKJ{x}, KQJ{x}, & KQT{x}
2. Doubleton Kx when leading in partner's suit against a suit contract. Leading from Kx or Kxx in your partners bid suit
3. Leading from AK bare
4. Leading from KQ doubleton

QUEEN

1. Top of sequence: can be either QJT{x} or QJ9{x}
2. Lead from AQJ{x} or even AQTx{x}. Attempting to establish tricks in NT's - these leads are technically correct.
3. Leading partners suit holding: Qx or QJ x or simply Q bare
4. Leading from KQx{x}

JACK

1. Top of sequence: can be either JT9 or JT8 possibly
2. Leading from QJx{x}

TEN - an important minor Honour.

Note the lead of a TEN: ALWAYS promises a single HIGHER major honour 'any' (unless a singleton!)

AJT{9}{x} AT9{x} KJT{9}{x} KT9{x} QT9{x} & JT

Essentially - 'le dix prommetteur' - concept of the TEN promising!
This lead from a touching card and a higher non-touching honour:- is more common in a NT contract.

NINE - treated by BETA also as a minor honour! 9's are important!

The lead of a NINE also always promises 1 higher honour (any of: A...T) unless its a singleton

Ex: 3-card holdings: K93 or Q94 or even T9x.
Ex: 2-card holding T9
Note in BETA with 93 we lead the 3 it suggests a doubleton

With just 3+ small cards Lead the highest, as long as its not a 9 or 10, then lead 2nd highest.
With a doubleton lead the lowest always. Inverted signals! Inverted signals throughout!

Leads from other combinations

When leading from suits (4+ cards) headed by a single or 2 non-touching honours - [with 2 touching honours we will usually lead with the lower if its decided to lead that suit]

The method we are proposing is best described by the following statement:

“The stronger your holding in the suit and the more you desire the return of the suit at the earliest possible moment by your partner, the smaller the card you should lead”.

A good and frequent example where the smallest should be led is when there is a distinct possibility that you could be left with a tenace after the first round of the suit being played. For example, with KT52 lead the 2. If partner puts up the Q which is taken by declarers ace then this will leave you a tenace over declarers supposed AJ9x holding in the suit. However with K852 lead the 5. This intermediary card would tend to show an honour but the return of the suit is not then imperative and partner must make his own judgment on the future of the suit. With T852 lead the 8. This denies a higher honour such as Ace, King or Queen and clearly leaves further development of the suit entirely at partners discretion.

In this scheme of things it is clear that we are making each card we hold have a meaning. These leads are neither 4th highest or leads made by the rule of 3rd & 5th

These leads allow the declarer to ascertain the probable distribution of the suit. The well known 'rule of 11' associated with 4th highest leads seems to be more in declarer's favour rather than the defense's favour!

. We are passing information to declarer, that's true, but more importantly and usefully we are literally passing 'quality' information to our partner. Also this approach denies declarer use of the rule of 11! This approach is consistent with reversed signals...the lower the lead the more the interest of the return of the suit.

Leading from suits NOT headed by a top honour (A, K or Q)

*With 3 cards Lead the highest (unless a T or 9 then lead 2nd highest)
* With 4 cards Usually lead the 2nd highest
* With 5 cards Usually lead the 3rd highest

Note: We do not encourage leads from suits headed by a minor Honour: J, T or a 9 unless partner's bid suit of course. - consider leading it if a doubleton:
* lead lowest with a doubleton - inverted signals throughout.
* Middle with 3 cards.
Important general remarks on leads:

Underleading a suit headed by just one top honour, A K Q that has not been bid by partner almost always loses a trick and should not be undertaken.
Remember Aces are to Kill Kings, Kings are born to Kill Queens etc! Playing them in the air, so to speak, sets a lower honour free! Simply to be avoided - unless indicated by partner of course!
If partner plays unexpectedly a really higher pipped card consider it a signal to switch to a high ranking suit
If you play the next to lowest card consider it a possible switch to the other lowest suit. Be careful this requires a close look at dummy the cards played by partner and declarer besides your own cards. If you do all this defence improves.

E.g. When leading Ace from AKx[x] and partner plays high: one should not continue that suit. Continuing with the King will establish the Q or more for the opponents - if partner posses the queen then he will play his lowest and expect you to continue with the King or small!.
In general it may make sense to establish a 4+ card suit with a potential Tenace situation in a NT contract. In a suit contract it is generally bad to lead from nothing - its like cutting up partner! try a suit where you can have some expectation of an honour in partner's hand.
We never lead 4th highest with 5+ card suit. The lead showing interest of the 'return' is the lowest. leading the 4th will would deny holding 5 cards! and so mislead partner. Why signal your length to opponents!
If partner in his BID suit plays an unexpectedly higher pipped card, when not attempting to win the trick, consider it a signal to switch to a high ranking suit & vice versa.

A Special note: Leading doubletons against suit contracts

First we give a 'health warning' that systematically leading a doubleton can often lead to giving the declarer the contract instead of it helping to find that extra defensive trick, by means of a ruff, for the defense.. If you have a natural trump trick for example there is usually no sense in using it to ruff with. If you are unlikely to have a trump when you would need it, don't go for a doubleton - it may well injure your partner! In general doubletons are led too often. The dice is loaded against the lead being profitable in the longer run except when the suit has been bid by partner!. e.g. implied by the bidduing. Therefore it is necessary to be more selective with doubleton leads. You need entries in partners hand and you need to be reasonably sure of still having a trump! Don't do it, for example, if you would be using up a natural trump trick anyway!
Therefore we lead the lowest card of a small card doubleton if considering a ruff - it is therefore recognised by partner as asking the return of the suit. Leading the highest will be a clear signal to partner -not to try for a ruff.
Partner should also consider all the cards played, his remaining cards in order to conclude the objective of his partner.
One last remark about probable doubleton leads is for partner to duck the lead when holding the Ace (except if he believes his partner holds a singleton!) - which then provides a vital entry to enable giving partner a ruff!

This is natural for us as HL signals an ODD length in the suit while LH signals EVEN length..

Signals & showing Length

Attitude always takes precedence over length indications whenever judgement requires it

On Partners lead of a suit for the first time (opening lead or subsequent when on lead):
If showing attitude: Playing LOW suggests that partner is invited to continue with the suit.
Playing high discourages continuation.
If partner is leading a suit you have bid the above still applies - however additionally playing an unusually high card (when not attempting to win the trick) suggests an immediate switch is in order (but suit is not specified - left to partner's powers of logical deduction! )
In partner's suit or any other suit except trumps length is shown as

EVEN_length When playing low then high it shows an even number of cards
ODD_length While playing high then low shows an odd number of cards

Length Signals do never take priority over Attitude signals.
When length signals are clearly required for your partner they must be given. If not required info for your partner use it to suggest a higher suit, avoid the lowest as this suggests interest - but next lowest lower ranking suit of interest. Partner can often figure out your intent by examining all visible or played pipped cards.

Not playing your lowest card discourages interest - and the lowest card always encourages interest

Following suit

When following to declarer's trump suit or to his long suit in a NoTrump contract, we use the following convention: (This is optional and needs to be agreed in any partnership)

LOW-HIGH shows an EVEN hand type i.e. 3 even length suits e.g. 4432 or 4405 ....
HIGH-LOW shows an ODD hand type --> 3 odd length suits e.g.5431 or 4441 ...

Using this convention aids understanding partner's distribution. Note both partners can inform the other.
This convention is an original one devised 20+ years ago. Partners should be advised that interpreting partner's distribution needs thought - therefore only recommended when time is available - like in team matches.

When playing to any side suit opened by declarer

If it is essential that partner must be aware of your length (e.g.declarer trying to establish dummies suit) then use inverted signals - lowest shows EVEN and a higher card ODD length. When showing ODD do not be afraid to play 3rd highest if safe to do so as it clarifies 'no interest' to your partner while showing ODD length.
Otherwise playing lowest shows possible but most unlikely interest.

Discard Rules

In general we advocate discarding NOT the lowest card from suits in which one has the LEAST interest
In general a small card is ONLY significant if it is your 1st discard.
If your 1st discard is your smallest (and partner needs to check all the pips visible) Then partner must take it as an imperative demand for that suit.
A lack of interest is signaled, in keeping with our style of reverse signals, is shown by a higher card: this is preferably a higher pip card (6, 7, 8, 9 or even an honour) to avoid any possible ambiguity - Look carefully, check all the visible pips around the table and don't trust declarer! - and the same goes for your partner when interpreting any card played by you - an apparently high card may well be your partner's lowest!

Conclusions

In practice the above practices, once one becomes used to them, can be utilised with fewer complications and less effort than those experienced with systems that depend on EVEN or ODD pipped signals such as DODDS or ITALIAN.and provides partner with a quicker analysis allowing more attention on the defence..

A final remark: we have used this method now for several years and it really does require less effort than other methods