grizz: Hi everybody, thanks for attending another in a series of lessons on Defense. grizz: Chat logs and hand records are stored in your computer for later review. For information on how to retrieve them, go the BIL homepage or email me at Grizz@GrizzBridge.com. grizz: I teach private individual, pair, and small group lessons. If you would like to know more please email me at Grizz@GrizzBridge.com. grizz: Archives of previous sessions are available at GrizzBridge.com, on the Lessons and Archives page located at: http://www.grizzbridge.com/Lessons_and_Archives.php grizz: There will be lots of questions. I want to address them all, but in a manner helpful to all, so please ask them in open chat. grizz: There are 40+ sessions logged there now, and 30+ from IAC, a lot of good information. grizz: If I forget a question while answering another, please remind me. grizz: I encourage participation by all kibitzers grizz: So jump right in with a comment, question, or bid at any time, but please do so in open chat. grizz: There are only 5 basic types of defensive strategy at the beginning of a hand. grizz: These concepts are out of the book "How The Experts Win At Bridge" by Burt Hall and Lynn Rose-Hall, the Book of the Year in 1997. grizz: By way of review, and for those who are new here, the 5 lines of defense are: grizz: 1. Force declarer to ruff, and lose control of his own trump suit. grizz: 2. Active defense. grizz: 3. Passive defense. grizz: 4. Reduce ruffing power. grizz: 5. Create trump tricks. grizz: We have looked at Forcing, Active and Passive defense, Reduce ruffing power and Create Trump Tricks for several weeks, and now it is time for us to put that knowledge to work by ... grizz: choosing opening leads. grizz: Again, if you need review on the 5 Lines of Defense check out http://www.grizzbridge.com/Lessons_and_Archives.php and scroll down the page until you find those lessons under the ... grizz: BIL listings. grizz: Briefly, here are the guidelines for each of these different strategies. grizz: 1. Forcing defense - lead your side's strongest suit. grizz: 2. Active defense - also, lead your side's strongest suit. grizz: 3. Passive defense - top of a sequence, or a worthless suit grizz: 4. Reduce ruffs - start a trump grizz: 5. Creating trump tricks - lead from your own or toward partner's shortness grizz: So choosing a lead depends on what your defensive game plan is, referring back to the 5 Lines of Defense. grizz: When you know WHAT you intend to accomplish, it is easier to decide HOW to get it done. grizz: In addition to the 5 Lines of Defense the special situations requiring special leads are as follows: grizz: 1. Gambling NT - lead an ace, look at dummy and try to locate declarer's weakness. grizz: 2. NT slams - if you and partner have not bid, lead top of a sequence or a worthless suit, avoid giving declarer a free finesse or other help. grizz: 3. Suit grands slams - a trump is almost mandatory, unless both ops have bid and raised a suit and you have the Ace. grizz: 4. Doubled part-score contracts - lead trump, try to kill ruffs in side suits. grizz: There are some special rules for lead-directing doubles: grizz: 1. If neither defender has bid, ops bid a NT game or slam and partner doubles, lead dummy's first bid suit. grizz: 2. If only partner bid and later doubles, lead his suit. grizz: 3. If only you bid and later partner doubles, lead your own suit. grizz: 4. If both you and partner have bid and partner doubles, lead the suit of the stronger hand - that is where the entries are. grizz: 5. If ops have not bid any suits (e.g. 1NT-3NT) and partner doubles, lead your shortest major. grizz: So this week we are going to look at example hands and auctions, consider defensive plans and choose leads. abrown1: what if partner did not double still shortest major? grizz: aha - "the dog that didn't bark" grizz: negative inferences are a huge part of good bridge kyno40: and which one highest or lowest ? abrown1: my pard has 4 card and 2 card major and led 2 card turns out 4 card major would set grizz: so if pard bids and later does NOT double, take your best guess but know that he doesn't have a powerhouse suit grizz: hard for me to comment on that without seeing the whole hand, auction and lead grizz: but remember also that on any given hand, the right lead could be wrong and vice versa grizz: we are talking probabilities here grizz: follow these rules and you are guaranteed to get better score over the long run grizz: "what if partner did not double still shortest major?" grizz: depends on what Line Of Defense you have in mind grizz: remember that you choose defensive strategy first, THEN select a lead grizz: In all cases you are West and must choose a lead, so kib just West if you want the full benefit of this lesson. grizz: Otherwise kib all four hands to get a birds-eye view of the layout. grizz: If you want to kib just one hand, click on the yellow gear at the bottom of the page grizz: At lower right there is a box where you can check which hand you want to kib grizz: You are West, your RHO opened 1NT and the auction went 1NT-P-2!c-P- grizz: 2!h P-4!h-all pass grizz: I can't show you just the West hand, the BBO program won't allow it. grizz: Your hand is !SQT53-!HJT98-!D6-!CA982, what is your lead and why? vanyvon: but you can ask that we kibitz only West abrown1: J !h kyno40: y johnshade: 3 spade tmortada: j!h grizz: This hand is not so clear, but some general principles apply. abrown1: clubs out, no need to lead sing since have natural trump tricks stefsched: 6!d kelsey321: 6 !D geno23: ace sp grizz: You have a natural trump trick with the !HJT98. grizz: Many players would automatically lead the singleton !D, but as we have seen in previous that seldom works when you have 4 trumps. grizz: Forcing Defense is usually best when you are long in trumps, but what is your best suit? How do you know where declarer is short? grizz: A low !s lead may set up tricks in that suit, or maybe force declarer to ruff in hand. geno23: he diid n nt bid grizz: here is the auction again, starting with S: grizz: 1NT-P-2!c-P- grizz: 2!h P-4!h-all pass wyoming33: could have 4 !S - grizz: true grizz: Then again, maybe declarer needs ruffs in dummy, and a trump lead will kill a ruff without surrendering a natural trump trick. grizz: The trump lead has the advantage of not finessing partner out of anything, so declarer has to find side suit honors without help from the defense. grizz: Or maybe declarer has an undisclosed source of tricks and the trump lead works to his advantage, not yours. kyno40: thats why a trump lead maybe best grizz: Here is one possible layout: grizz: On a !S lead the defense collects 1!s, 1!h and 2!cs for down 1. grizz: On a !h lead the defense collects the same tricks. kyno40: look at all hands ? grizz: sure grizz: So on this layout it makes no difference. grizz: But here is another possible layout: grizz: On a !s lead this time declarer cashes 2!s, 3 top !hs, 2!ds, and 3!C ruffs. LadyStar17: sorry late : )) ->LadyStar17: :) grizz: It would have been better to lead a !h, to kill a ruff. grizz: Then again, maybe the layout is like this: grizz: A !h lead here helps declarer, who who pulls 3 rounds of trump and then cashes !d for an easy make. grizz: It turns out on this one that a !s lead would have collected 2!s, 1!h and 1!c for down 1, and Active Defense would have worked. grizz: This is one of those hands where you must make a mental coin flip and choose a major. grizz: And be prepared to change the strategy after dummy hits the table. grizz: It is clear though that the !CA or low from the A is bad, and in most cases the singleton lead won't generate any extra tricks when you are long in trumps. grizz: So these principles may not give you the right answer all the time, but they may steer you away from a wrong answer. grizz: And sometimes that's as good as it gets! grizz: So the answer is that you can't know the answer. telia: this last one is down on a !H lead abrown1: nooo grizz: Let's look at something different now. You hold !Q63-!h97532-!d642-!cA7. Your RHO dealt and the auction went: grizz: !SQ63-!h97532-!d642-!cA7 Miksa: it is: 2!s, 1!H and 1!C grizz: maybe, if W ever leads !s grizz: otherwise S pitches a !s on a !c abrown1: W always gets in kyno40: the reasonwhy i always would be that i assume that if north did not go for slam try i would mark n hand only between 8 to 10 points am i thinking wrong ? Miksa: W will get a signal from East grizz: N has a nice hand, but opposite a flat 15-17 they are well short of slam grizz: y, the point here is that W must be prepared to change his line of defense depending on what shows up in dummy, and signals from pard grizz: sidebar - grizz: if W chooses one line of defense and E thinks another is best, what then? abrown1: dump partner grizz: lol johnshade: lol...she might dump you abrown!!! abrown1: happens lots :( grizz: as a general proposition it is better to continue with the same line rather than fight with pard during the play of the hand grizz: but there are a lot of exceptions to that principle! grizz: ok, back to our next example grizz: You hold !SQ63-!h97532-!d642-!cA7. Your RHO dealt and the auction went: grizz: 1!d-P-2!c-P- grizz: 3!c-P-4!d-P- grizz: 4NT-P-5!d-P- grizz: 6!d-all pass grizz: Dummy has good !cs, !ds are breaking well and declarer has a double fit in the minors. Bad news for defense. grizz: It sounds like losers will get pitched on !cs after S draws trump and knocks out the !CA. grizz: So Active Defense is indicated - we need to grab our tricks before they go away. grizz: But which major should we lead? Small from !SQ63 or any card in !hs? abrown1: spades wyoming33: do we have any grizz: !SQ63-!h97532-!d642-!cA7 abrown1: !s grizz: Or could partner have a stiff !c, and !CA-!c gives him a ruff right away? cdt: !H abrown1: nooo grizz: Let's deal with !cs first. If West had !CAxxx or Axx that lead would have some appeal. Miksa: A!c and see dummy (or P's signal) grizz: But from only Ax there are long odds that partner will have a singleton. grizz: and if you burn your ace entry now, you may never get in again abrown1: active defense slam suit grizz: So which major? abrown1: !s grizz: In this situation, attack from your strongest values. If partner has so much as the !SJ you might develop a trick this way. grizz: The !h lead gives up, and runs right into a probable tenace. grizz: Here is one possible layout: abrown1: hopeless grizz: No lead helps on this hand, 6!d is cold. grizz: Here is another layout: wyoming33: 3!C :) ? grizz: But on a layout like this the !s lead is golden, but the !h would lose: abrown1: down 1 grizz: but it makes on the lead of the !CA Miksa: so 5!d means 0 or 3 key cards? grizz: 1/4 grizz: no grizz: 0/3 Miksa: right grizz: but if W came out with the !CA to "have a look around", then losing !ss get pitched on good !ds Miksa: yes, you are right grizz: sry, good !cs grizz: these are tough hands today grizz: some with no good answers, just as in real life gamelynx: wudn't that be strong temptation against a slam? grizz: leading the A? gamelynx: to lead the a i mean gamelynx: y grizz: maybe, if neither op had bid !cs strongly abrown1: they bid !C gamelynx: k grizz: or if you are a supreme pessimist and think it's cashout time at Trick 1 :) gamelynx: rt, but maybe hope for ruff from ptr on 2d rd? grizz: i prefer to look for a way to set the contract, rather than limit overtricks grizz: especially at imps gamelynx: k grizz: If West had !CAxxx or Axx that lead would have some appeal. grizz: But from only Ax there are long odds that partner will have a singleton. grizz: any other questions? Miksa: Your lesson proves that choosing the lead is not the science, but there are guidelines we should apply grizz: exactly grizz: we are back to probabilities, and the long haul TapTap: which sp best to lead? grizz: still, it will pay big dividends if you think about defense in terms of strategy before selecting a lead grizz: low from an honor is best, and standard grizz: there are lots of books that will tell which card to lead from any given holding grizz: but most of them are weak on why you should choose a given suit to lead from at all grizz: so my goal in this phase of Defense is to show you some guiding principles grizz: Do we have any final questions? Miksa: Right, this is another great benefit from your lesson grizz: That concludes today's lesson, and next week we will have more quiz hands on opening leads. PedroG: ty Pete Great lesson grizz: If anybody needs help retrieving the hand records or chat log, please email me at Grizz@GrizzBridge.com. grizz: I teach private individual, pair, and small group lessons. If you would like to know more please email me at Grizz@GrizzBridge.com. gypsy1308: when defending against NT should you lead 4th highest or if you have an internal sequence the top of that? ydannac: Thanks Grizz!H!H< you should write a book, we will all buy it Miksa: Thank you very much, excellent summary and "food for thought" ->isabable: :( chat log and hand records will be up on the website before tomorrow grizz: I am planning three different one-day courses on Defense, Declarer Play and Balancing, so it you are interested in any or all of these topics please drop me a line at ... grizz: Grizz@GrizzBridge.com ali024: tyvm grizz isabable: ty s that helps me a lot tys grizz: Thanks for your interest and participation, and I hope to see you next week. grizz: Thanks also to Maureen, Rosemary, Fred and the wonderful people at BBO who make this all possible. grizz: Thanks all for coming, i'll see you in a week wyoming33: TU dotfl: tks Grizz JohnnyHiLo: thanks once again. grizz: Bye now