Bridge lessons · Lesson 24 of 26
The Opening Lead
Updated 16 October 2026
The first card of the defense is chosen before anyone has seen dummy, from your own thirteen cards and what the auction told you. Against notrump, lead your longest unbid suit, the top card from a sequence of three and fourth best from anything else. Against a trump contract, prefer the top of a sequence, partner's suit or a singleton, and do not lead low away from an ace.
Leading against notrump
The player on declarer's left makes the opening lead, and only then does dummy go down. Against notrump, declarer has no trumps to stop a long suit, so the defenders try what declarer did in the lesson on long suits and set up their small cards as winners. Lead your longest suit, as long as the opponents have not bid it.
The card depends on what the suit holds. From three touching high cards at the top, such as KQJ, QJ10 or J109, lead the top card. The same goes when only the third card has a gap, as in KQ10 or QJ9. It costs nothing and tells partner you hold the cards just below it. Otherwise lead your fourth highest card, known as fourth best. Count down from the top of the suit and lead the fourth one.
A low card keeps your honors back to take tricks later, and lets partner win with a high card and lead the suit back to you. Fourth best also lets partner work out how the suit lies with a short sum called the rule of 11, worth picking up once you are at home on defense.
Leading against a trump contract
In a suit contract your long suit counts for less, because declarer will ruff it as soon as the short hand runs out. The defense wants its quick tricks before declarer can throw losers away, and the safest source is a sequence. Here two touching honors are enough, so lead the top of a sequence, the king from KQ5 or the ace from AK73.
Two other leads are often good. Partner's suit, when partner has bid, is usually the safest choice of all. A singleton in a side suit can win a trick with a small trump, since you may ruff the second round once partner gets the lead. One lead is best avoided. Do not lead a low card away from an ace. Declarer's king may win a trick it could never take otherwise, and your ace may later be ruffed. If you must lead that suit, lead the ace itself.
Listen to the auction
The bidding tells you about the hands you cannot see. If partner bid a suit, lead it unless you hold a much better choice. From two cards in partner's suit lead the higher, and from three cards headed by an honor, such as K73, the lowest. If the opponents bid a suit, they hold length or strength there, so look elsewhere, above all against notrump. And when declarer and dummy have each shown a suit, the unbid suits are where the defense usually finds its tricks.
Watch it in a deal
You are West, on lead against 3NT.
South opens 1NT with 17 points and North raises to 3NT. Your longest suit is ♥KJ853, and nothing in the auction points elsewhere. It has no sequence, so you lead the fourth highest card, the ♥5.
Choosing your lead
The two kinds of contract call for different aims. Against notrump the lead starts setting up the small cards of a long suit. Against a trump contract it goes after quick tricks before declarer can throw losers away, and it avoids giving declarer a cheap trick, such as a king that an underled ace lets through. Before you put the card on the table, go through the auction once more for anything it told you.
For more lead choices, including what to lead from three small cards against notrump, see opening leads.
Practice: the opening lead
Eight quick questions on what you just read.