Leading A, K and Q's against NT

Hi All,

There are as many discussions about leading A/K/Q against no-trump as there are bridge players. I thought I'd get my opinion down on the matter and we can use these methods to win bridge competitions. Too fun.

Suppose your opponents have landed in 3N and you hold something like AKJT(x) in a suit. Cool. Now, you would not want to lead low, or the J and see Qx in the dummy. Nor would you like it if declarer had Qx. So with these types of power hands I lead the A. It requires my partner to unload the Q if he/she has it --so I'm not left to wonder. If he/she does not have that card, I require partner to give me a count card. Now, I know when the Q is falling in declarer's hand or if it's better that I abandon the suit and let partner lead through declarer later. In the meantime, partner knows my holding and can place some serious defensive points!

Now, suppose opponents have landed in 3N and you decided that it is optimum to lead from these holdings: AKxx, AKx, KQx, etc. Now, I lead the K! This requires partner to give me an attitude card. Do you like the suit I chose, pard, do you have an honor or length and shall I continue.

On every convention card you have the holding KQT9 in the "honor card lead" sections. It is usually advantageous to lead the Q from this holding requiring partner to unload the J if he/she has it. If partner does not unload the J, it is adventagious for partner to give you an attitude card. Sure, it would be good for partner to give a count card so that you know when the J will fall but here's the rub. One leads the Q in many situations --QJTx, QJ9x, QJx. For all these leads you obviously don't need partner to unload the J --you're staring at it. However you do need to know if you can continue the suit safely. On Q leads I require partner to unload the J or give me an atittude card. Heaven forbid I lead from QJ9x continually into declarer's AKT. Ugly. An attitude card from pard denoting honor cards in the suit or length and I/we can defend much better.

Hope this makes some sense. Not all people adopt these treatments so make sure it is a discussion point with your serious partners.

If you have any questions, let me know.

Isolde