Leads Basics

Leads are our initial defensive tool and possibly the most important one.

Start the Attack. As the defense gets to make the first lead, it's an important advantage because it starts the attack in the suit of defenders' choice.

There are a variety of systems of leads, just as there are a variety of systems of signals.

(The following is a standard lead description, but it's the one we use quite successfully. As with signals, there's  other varieties of Leads).

Learn  Standard Leads First. They have been developed during the course of hundreds of years of card playing and are very effective. Standard leads are printed on the front of the Convention Card, indicating in bold type the standard card to lead from various combinations of cards. If you don't use standard leads, you must indicate on your convention card what you lead in the situations described.  (See Convention Card )

What Should I Lead?  Players have problems with leads when they are puzzled about which card to lead -- they should first decide what suit to lead, as the card chosen is then often obvious.

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(c) Robert D. McConnell, 1998  All Rights Reserved