Tennyson’s poem, “The Charge of the Light Brigade,” puts into words the nearly hopeless attack of light cavalry against overwhelming forces. Facing cannons to the left of them, cannons to the right of them, volleying and thundering, they rode forth on their must do – or die – mission.

Many times in Bridge, we may feel nearly hopeless defending against a slam. The opponents have overwhelming forces, yet it is our mission to defeat them.

And being on lead, defending against a slam, is a lonely mission. There aren’t hundreds of you charging out at thousands of the enemy – there is only you, on opening lead. Your partner will assist you, if possible, but on your lead – the initial foray into the engagement – may rest the outcome of the battle and the fate of your empire.

In the Swiss Teams at the recent Brooksville Sectional (June 5 – June 7, 2008), my team was involved in such a battle. At my table, the opponents stopped short of slam, playing in 4H. At the other table, my teammates pressed on to 6H.

At both tables, East opened 1NT (15-17), West transferred to 2 and bid 2 over East’s transfer. At my table, East bid 3NT and West corrected to 4. East passed. At the other table, East went through Blackwood to reach 6.

Sitting North, I held this hand. Leading a heart seems safe, but declarer could be missing the queen. A heart lead would help him find it. At best, leading a heart loses a tempo and gives declarer time to develop his plan. A spade lead seems safe. It sounds like declarer has two hearts and probably three spades. If partner has the spade king, or better yet KJ, we can hold her to four and possibly beat her. Declarer could be 2-2-5-4 or 2-2-4-5, but that’s unlikely. On my opening lead of the 2, declarer had an easy time to twelve tricks for plus 480.

At the other table: well, what would you lead against 6 – how would you charge Into the Valley of Death, how would you defend against the slam?

North at the other table lead the K. Declarer had no chance and went down one for minus 50.

The complete deal (Hands rotated) was:


The tactical Bridge lesson from this deal is to LEAD AGGRESSIVELY AGAINST SLAMS.

From the bidding, West is known to be at least 5-4 in the majors and, therefore, short in the minors. Declarer probably holds 17 hcp and dummy’s hand (unless 6-5 or more) must have at least 12 hcp or so to consider slam. With that minimum of 29, plus your 5 hcp, South, at most, can only have 6 hcp – not enough for the spade king and the ace the opponents apparently are missing. However, South may hold a queen and an ace.

If the queen is in spades, leading a spade probably will help declarer pick up the spade suit. If the queen is in hearts, leading a heart will only help declarer, as discussed above. If the queen is in diamonds, East probably will ruff out her diamond losers. Only if South holds the club queen will it cause declarer problems.

Indeed, if South holds either the queen or the ace of clubs, the aggressive lead of the club king is a winning play. Of course, if East has the AQ of clubs, the lead of the club king will give up a trick. Yet, against a freely bid slam, what choice do you have?

From this perspective, leading a club against the slam contract of 6 becomes mandatory. Leading the club king will make completely clear to South the importance of his club queen. In with the missing ace, South will cash the club queen for down one.

The defensive takeaway here is two-fold: (1) defending against a game and defending against a slam is a totally different mission; (2) leading aggressively, yet thoughtfully, against a slam is an essential tactic.

Many times in Bridge, leading aggressively against a slam is the only chance you have to win the battle.

Yours, at the Bridge,
Michael

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