Defending Against No Trump Contracts

The Opening Lead

Only on rare occasions will the defenders have enough immediate winners to defeat the contract out of hand. In most cases it will be necessary to develop extra tricks in one suit or another. The best place to look for them will normally be in the longest combined suit held by the defending partnership. If the declarers stoppers can be knocked out quickly enough, the established small cards in the long suit may provide the extra winners that are needed to defeat the contract.

The defender on lead has to ask himself two questions:

Which suit offers the best chance of defeating the contract?
- Listen to the bidding
- Has Partner bid?
- What is your own long suit
Which card should be led from that suit?
Leads are standardized.
It is conventional to lead a particular card from a particular combination.
Partner will have a good idea of what you are leading from.

Standard Leads Against NT Contracts

Suit headed by three or more honour cards in sequence.

K Q J 9 3	Lead the KING
Q J 10 9 5	Lead the QUEEN
J 10 9 4	Lead the JACK

The top card is still the right choice from a broken sequence where the third card is missing.

K Q 10 6 5	Lead the KING
Q J 9 8	Lead the QUEEN
J 10 8 7 2	Lead the JACK

An exception arises when your sequence is headed by the Ace and King. Now the King is the normal card.

A K Q 7 4	Lead the KING
A K J 6	Lead the KING

From an interior sequence where the second card in line (or second and third cards in line) are missing.

A Q J 9 3	Lead the QUEEN
A J 10 7 5	Lead the JACK
A 10 9 8 4	Lead the TEN
K J 10 8 2	Lead the JACK
K 10 9 7 6	Lead the TEN
Q 10 9 6	Lead the TEN

From a suit headed by no more than two high cards, lead the fourth highest card.

A K 8 5 4	Lead the FIVE
K Q 8 3 2	Lead the THREE
Q J 7 4	Lead the FOUR
K 10 6 4 3	Lead the FOUR
Q 7 6 5 3	Lead the FIVE
A 9 7 6 4 3	Lead the SIX

Leading Partners Suit

When partner has been active in the bidding, it is usually right to lead his suit rather than try to establish a suit of your own.

Lead the top card in partners suit when you have:

Two honour cards in sequence
Three small cards
Any doubleton

Q J 5	Lead the QUEEN
J 10 2	Lead the JACK
8 5 3	Lead the EIGHT
9 4	Lead the NINE
K 5	Lead the KING

When youy have three or four cards headed by an honour card in partners suit, lead the lowest card.

A 7 6	Lead the SIX
K 10 2	Lead the TWO
Q 5 3	Lead the THREE
J 8 5 2	Lead the TWO

Rule of 11

When you think your partner has led fourth highest from a suit. Subtract the value of parners card from 11. The answer is the number of higher cards in that suit held by Dummy, Declarer and Yourself. As you are able to see Dummy and your own cards it is possible to know how many higher cards are held by declarer.

	K 6 5
7 (lead)		A 10 9 4
	?

(11 - 7 = 4) cards higher than the 7.
Dummies King and your A 10 9 account for all these, so declarer cannot have a card higher than the 7. If declarer plays the 5 from dummy you can play the 4 in perfect safely leaving partner on lead through the King again.

	J 8
6 (lead)		K 10 3
	?

(11 - 6 = 5) cards higher than the 6.
Dummies J & 8 and your K & 10 account for 4 of these. So declarer has one card higher than the 6. It cannot cost for you to play the King.

Returning Partners Suit

These are again standardized. Play:

The highest remaining card from an original holding of 3
The original 4th highest from an original holdingh of 4 or more.

Examples

	4
K 10 8 5 2		Q 7 6 3
	A J 9

West leads the 5 and the first trick goes 5, 4, Q, A. West knows that East does not have the Jack because third hand plays the lower of touching honours. When East regains the lead in another suit, the 3 is returned. West knows that this must be the original 4th highest of 4 so can beat whatever card South plays and clear the suit taking 4 tricks.

	4
K 10 8 5 2		Q 7 3
	A J 9 6

West leads the 5 and the first trick goes 5, 4, Q, A. West knows that East does not have the Jack. When East regains the lead the 7 is returned. West knows that this must be the original holding of 3 and therefore the declarer (South) started with 4 cards in the suit including the A, J, & 9. West therefore beats whatever card South plays and hopes East can regain the lead to play the suit again.