Lead Trainer - Opening Leads Against 3NT

Master the opening lead

Choose the opening lead from a real auction, then see how every lead fares over a thousand double-dummy layouts that fit the bidding. A daily set shared with everyone, a practice pool of a thousand hands, and a link to the simulator to run lead problems of your own.

Five hands each day, the same for everyone, scored at IMPs one day and matchpoints the next. Your first lead on each hand is the one that counts.
Your day adds up the cost of your leads against the best lead on each hand, in IMPs or matchpoints. A perfect day is 0.0. After you finish, the day's board and chat open.
The archive calendar keeps every day you finished. Days you missed stay sealed.

Your hand is fixed and the other three hands are dealt a thousand times within what the auction allows. Each layout is solved double dummy after every possible lead.
At IMPs, a lead's cost is the IMPs lost per board against the best lead. At matchpoints, every lead is a table in the field and the cost is the matchpoint percentage you give up.
Touching cards (the king from K-Q, the ten from T-9) count as one lead: they cannot be told apart at the table.

Pick an auction and a scoring form and lead a hand you have not seen. The free plan gives three practice hands a day, Pro ten, Master unlimited. The Daily is always open.

Common questions

Because one layout is a coin flip. The queen from Q-J-9-x can be the right lead over the long run and still hand the contract over on this particular deal. Grading over a thousand layouts that fit the auction measures the decision, not the luck.

At IMPs the setting trick is what matters, so an aggressive lead from a broken suit is often right. At matchpoints every trick counts and a safe lead that concedes nothing can score better. The reveal shows both rankings so you can see the switch.

Any card in your hand. Touching cards are graded as one lead, since the double-dummy result is the same whichever of them you table.

The Daily and duels are unlimited for everyone. Practice and the Arcade (Survival and Rush share one allowance) each give you 3 hands or runs a day on a free account, 10 a day with Pro, unlimited with Master - the same allowances as the Suit Trainer.

Practice Compete Simulator