How Odd

How Odd!

“Fourth highest leads partner?” That is often one of the first questions resolved within a new partnership. Indeed, at club level in the UK, one rarely sees any other form of long-suit low-card lead against No-Trumps. Nevertheless, the question should still be asked, because there are alternatives.

The good news of your fourth highest lead is that partner can apply the “rule of eleven” to determine how many cards declarer holds that are higher, in that suit, than the one you led. The bad news is that declarer can equally apply the rule to determine how many such higher cards your partner holds. Fair’s fair, I suppose one might say. What if you could arrange for partner to able to do such a calculation more readily than declarer? Cheating! Unethical?

No, not really. Advocates of so-called “odd-card leads” claim a small but significant edge over the 4^th highest school. They lead either the highest, the third highest, or the fifth highest. The first advantage is that it can be harder for declarer instantly to deduce how long your suit is. Even if you lead the 2 it could be three or five long. From the previous bidding, however, partner will be able decide with virtual certainty. Getting over the message that you hold a 5-card suit on the first lead may well, in the long run, give you an edge in defence.

Similarly, if you lead third highest from a 4-card suit, it could be relatively high, so declarer may not be able to distinguish it from “top of nothing”. Partner will have a better idea by applying “the rule of fifteen”. To determine how many cards higher than yours declarer holds, partner subtracts your card from 12 if he thinks it was third highest, from 10 if fifth, [this secondary number 12, or 10, is derived by subtracting the led rank (3 or 5) from 15]. If neither makes sense then you will have led “top of nothing”, but declarer may not be able to deduce that.

Odd-card leads can be adapted in almost all circumstances to convey more information to partner. Using standard leads against NTs, you would lead the Jack, both from K J 10, and from J 10 8. The odd-card advocate will lead the 10 from the former (third highest), the J from the latter (first highest). Hence one sometimes still hears the adage inherited from the days of Auction Bridge: “the Ten implies, the Jack denies”. From 10 9 8 x, the 8 would therefore be correct. Even if you forget and lead the Ten, having no higher honour, partner glancing around the table will usually be able to spot sufficient honour cards to work out what has happened[i]. On the other hand, declarer may have more difficulty in locating any honours not visible.

Next time you play, check your opponents’ convention card. If you see 135, under leads, you now know to what they are up (sic). The original odd-card scheme was developed by several people independently in the USA during the late fifties and early 60s of the twentieth century. It remains in common use there. Its popularity in the UK, however, tends to fluctuate.