cr|264|cb|2255|cg|2255|cr|1255|cb|164|cg|1255|cr|364|cb|364|cg|3255|cr|4255|cb|464|cg|464|cr|5255|cb|5255|cg|5255|bg|5|bt||mn|Leading through Strength, Up to Weakness ????|cs|3|at|

 




                  {compiled by Harold Schogger}|cs|5|at|






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            (6th blackened icon along bottom line)

            Once you start, Use the  5th ^$40  button on the toolbar below to go back
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            (5th blackened icon along bottom line)|pg||nt|
             What does the phrase "Leading Through Strength and Up to Weakness" 
              mean and when should you be applying it ?|st||cs|4|at|

   {It is for DEFENDERS when they are not sure what suit they might play next or what to lead}|pg||nt|
              in the above example West is on play and not sure what to play next so looks at 
               DUMMY ON HIS LEFT|cs|4|at|

  {so he will lead DUMMY'S STRONG SUIT and WILL MAKE A LEAD THROUGH STRENGTH}|md|S983,S654H92DA86CQ54,SKJ7H876TD54C76,SAQt|mb|1h,p,2h,p,4h,p,p,p|sk|wn|pg||nt|
       Dummy's Strong Suit is Spades so now switches to the @S5|pc|s5,sj|pc|sq|pc|s3|cs|3|at|

          { delighted to see partner beat dummy's Jack with the Queen and win the trick}|
pg||nt|
Several tricks later when West gets the lead he again plays a Spade, dummy's Strong suit this time delighted to see partner beat dummy's King with the Ace 
















|wt|w|pc|s6|pc|sk,sa,|pc|s8|pg||nt|

        and then to the play the established @S10
|pc|st,s9,s4,s7|pg||nt|Let us now examine just the spade suit and see why playing dummy's strong spades produced three tricks for the defence|md|s9832,S654,Skj7,Saqt|sk||cs|3|at|
              {making this lead twice has created a finesse against dummy}|cs|2|at|

              { and produced  3 very valuable defensive tricks}|pg||md||nt|
                Now let us look at the other expression

|cs|3|at|               {Leading up to dummy's weakness}|pg||md|S5HAQ9dKj7C32,S87H84DAQtC86,K6HK9D864CA5,SQ32D9532Ck7|mb|1h,p,3h,p,4h,p,p,p|sk|en|nt|in the above example 4 tricks have already gone and you as East are not sure what to play next|pg||nt|
          dummy is now on your RIGHT|cs|4|at|               
 
           {so when dummy is on your right you lead dummy's weak suit}|pg||nt|
        Dummy's weak suit is Diamonds so you switch to the@d5
       delighted when partner can beat declarer's Jack with the Queen|wt|e|pc|d5|wt|s|pc|dj,dq,d4|pg||nt|
      several tricks later you regain the lead and again you decide to play dummy's weak suit ,     
       still Diamonds|wt|e|pc|d9|pc|dk,da,d6|cs|3|at|

            {partner winning declarer's King with the Ace}|pg||nt|
partner is now only too happy to cash the established Diamond  @D10  and three very nice defensive tricks  - thank you very much|pc|dt,d6,d3,d7|pg||nt|
      so again let us look at just this Diamonds suit and see why playing this suit works wonders|sk||md|dkj7,daqt,d864,d9532|pg||nt|now that you can see all four hands you should be able to see that you can create 
a finesse against declarer, the closed hand South, and eventually build 3 defensive tricks





































































|pg||md||nt|Can you make a lead through strength before you have seen the exposed dummy ?|cs|4|at|

            {Yes you can, if you have listened to the bidding }|pg||nt|
    look at this example when we are a little stuck for a lead |md|,S865HQ85DK762CKQ2,|mb|1d,p,1s,p,2h,p,3h,p,p,p|cs|4|at|     

       {so you settle on a lead through strength lead}|pg||nt|North, dummy to be, bid Spades during the auction so presumably that is dummy's strong suit so making a lead through strength will mean |cs|3|at|

       {leading a Spade and leading @s6 (MUD)}|pc|s6|pg||bt||nt|


            so leading through strength and up to dummy's weakness means that as a defender 
            when you are not sure what to do next then :-|cs|3|at|    

         {look at dummy and if it is on your left play dummy's weak suit}|cs|4|at|

         {Look at dummy and if it is on your right then play dummy's weak suit}|cs|2|at|


        {If the bidding is over then make your opening lead dummy's first bid suit}|