3/low leads - are there advantages to leading high rather than 3rd?

[hirowla]

Hi,

 

When you lead 3rd and low, are there advantages to sometimes leading 2nd highest rather than 3rd highest in some circumstances?

 

I'm thinking of s common situation when you hold 4 spot cards like 9732. If you strictly lead 3rd, you would lead the 3. However how can you tell if it is a 3rd lead or a low lead? Wouldn't it be better to lead the 7, showing an even number? I'm thinking of situations where the 3rd doesn't really indicate even but the 2nd highest might delver the message. For 6 card suits you can usually tell but in 4 card holdings you might not.

 

Am I missing something by doing this, when leading 3rd strictly gives some other information?

 

Thanks,

 

Ian

[spotlight7]

Hi,

 

When you lead 3rd and low, are there advantages to sometimes leading 2nd highest rather than 3rd highest in some circumstances?

 

I'm thinking of s common situation when you hold 4 spot cards like 9732. If you strictly lead 3rd, you would lead the 3. However how can you tell if it is a 3rd lead or a low lead? Wouldn't it be better to lead the 7, showing an even number? I'm thinking of situations where the 3rd doesn't really indicate even but the 2nd highest might delver the message. For 6 card suits you can usually tell but in 4 card holdings you might not.

 

Am I missing something by doing this, when leading 3rd strictly gives some other information?

 

Thanks,

 

Ian

 

 

3rd and low users also tend to use the Rule of 10 and 12 rather than the Rule of 11.

 

 

The bidding will often help answer to what the lead is.

[The_Badger]

Just my personal choice, but with 4 small I usually lead 2nd highest, and with 4 to an honour I lead 3rd highest playing 3/5 leads.

 

However, it also depends whether the opponents are in a NT or a suit contract, whether my partner has bid, and whether I have supported him too.

[nullve]

Am I missing something by doing this, when leading 3rd strictly gives some other information?

You're not missing anything and it seems to me that what you're suggesting is becoming more and more common. (In Norway, 3rd highest from 4 is part of "norske (utspill)" ("Norwegian (leads)"), while I've heard 2nd highest, or the highest affordable, from 4 (for greater legibility) being referred to as "overnorske" (""über-Norwegian").)

 

Suits containing 32 are interesting in a style where leads are supposed to be as legible as possible, because apart from the meaning that a lead of either the 2 or 3 (i.e. a low card) has such as odd length, meanings can in principle also be assigned to the different orders in which the 2 and 3 can be played.

 

This (new?) type of secondary signal can also be given at a later stage, e.g. by the opening leader's partner on the lead of a high honour, from a suit containing a different combination of low cards (e.g. 53) if the remaining low cards (in this case, the 4 and 2) are in dummy.

[awm]

I've played for a while in one partnership that we lead high or second from four against suits when it's not likely to be mistaken for doubleton. This last part can require some judgment, but otherwise it works quite well.