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All Things Bridge: Leading an unguarded ace

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    Under what circunstances should one lead an unguarded ace as an opening lead?
    • CommentAuthorJeremy
    • CommentTimeNov 9th 2009
     
    Worth considering against slams, pre-empts, a gambling 3NT. Also if the auction suggests a number of quick discards are likely.
    Overrated from Ax looking for a ruff because for every ruff you get you blow the suit at least twice by ruining partner's holding.
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    It seems to me that one should certainly not consider it in no-trumps. In a trump contract it may be worth thinking about from Ax or from Axxxxx. In the case of leading from a doubleton, I don't fully understand what Jeremy means, and to my mind it seems reasonable to try it (because if partner has the King you get three quick tricks). Leading from a six card+ suit one may also find partner with a void or a singleton in the suit, particularly if he did not raise an opening weak two bid in that suit.
    However where I think it is hardly ever advisable is leading from three or four card suit, as for every chance that your partner may have the King, there are two chances that the opposition may have it. It also has a tendancy to confuse one's parner as often leads of an Ace followed by a low card to signal a doubleton.
    My partner argues that leading an unguarded ace gives one a chance to have a look at dummy and one may find one's partner with the King, but I personally think that the potential downside to this lead far out weighs this benefit.
    Does anyone have any counter arguments?
    • CommentAuthorJeremy
    • CommentTimeNov 11th 2009
     
    If you lead from Ax then the advantage is that you might get a ruff of course. The disadvantage is that you can resolve a KJ guess for declarer and you can give him a trick when your Ace was sitting over the KQ or just the King. Yes you get to see dummy but on a disagreeable number of occasions it is only to see that you have given a trick. It's really just odds because the chances of finding the king with partner are lower than finding it with the opposition because as they are declaring they typically have the majority of the points and where they do have the King you are more likely than not to blow a trick in the suit. If delcarer has something like Kxxx opposite Qxx he will have to guess to duck the correct way to avoid two losers and if he has K10xx opposite Qxx he will typically finesse the 10 if you don't lead the suit. If you want to lead the Ace from Ax then at the very least you should be guided by your trump holding i.e. don't take a high risk to get a ruff when you hold QJx of trumps because the upside of doing this is very small.
    • CommentAuthorTerrence
    • CommentTimeJun 11th 2010
     
    When I suspect dummy has KJx(xx..) of a suit, I have several time led the A from AQx. When declarer has the K, I discontinue the suit, when dummy has it, I continue, and I dare declarer to duck the King (for fear of my ruffing the third round). When it works, it brings a big smile to my face. This technique works WONDERS when you hold AQx of trumps, with no outside short suits in which you might get to ruff with the x of the AQx trump suit.

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