Opening Leads by Mike Lawrence

Withe the publication of his first book, How to Read Your Opponents' Cards, over 20 years ago, Mike Lawrence demonstrated that he has no peers in presenting practical advice on every phase of the game to both intermediate and advanced players. His books are always extremely readable, and teach the thought processes required to solve each bridge problem, rather than offering sets of rules to be memorized. Opening Leads is one of his best. Other books on opening leads offer advice about which suit to lead against a suit contract, against a notrump contract, or against a slam, and suggest which card to lead from specific holdings in the selected suit.

Mike goes beyond this canned advice, and shows in detail how the choice of suit to lead and the choice of which card to lead within that suit depend not only on the final contract but on the auction which led to that contract. He emphasizes this point by giving a number of auctions and asking what you would lead without showing you your hand. When you finish this book, you will not remember what Mike recommended in the hundreds of situations he discusses, but you will find yourself following the same thought process Mike used in arriving at those recommendations. So, when you inevitably encounter a lead situation Mike failed to discuss, you will be armed with the methodology to choose a reasonable lead. A random sampling of some of the 21 chapter titles will give some idea of the scope of this book:

* Should You Attack or Should You Lead Passively

* How Do Spot Cards Affect Your Lead

* Leading From Three or Four or Five Small Cards

* Leading Unsupported Tens and Nines

* Leading Doubletons

* Leading From Kings and Lesser Honor Holdings

* Leading Trump or Not Leading Trump

* When You Should Lead Doubleton Honors

* Leading When the Opponents Have Bid Your Suits

If you're wondering whether you need this book, consider this opening lead problem: Suppose you hold S Q1076 H Q1076 D 2 C Q1076 and with no opposition bidding, the opponents have bid 1C/1H/1S/1NT. Unless you want to lead your singleton (bad idea!), you are going to have to lead one of their suits. Which one would you choose? If you get this one right (except by flipping a 3-headed coin) you may not need this book. Be warned, however, that many top experts have gone wrong on this problem. Mike explains why one lead is clearly superior. Buy the book to find out why.