[Creeksider]

More than once recently in pickup games I've found myself with a partner whose profile says he or she doesn't like trump leads. What's the deal with that? Is there an epidemic of inappropriate trump leads? Some advance in bridge thinking that makes all trump leads incorrect? Some joke I'm not getting?

[ArtK78]

In my opinion, trump leads seem to be the failsafe lead for most players. I find trump leads to be wrong most of the time.

One should not lead trump because one does not know what to lead. One should lead trump because one knows what to lead.

If the average player would decide to never lead trump, it is likely to improve that player's scores.

[Creeksider]

So it makes sense to use a profile that implicitly assumes partner is a lousy player?

[tolvyrj]

There r good leads and bad leads and then there r trimp leads. Im with Art that u shld not lead trumps just because u dont know what else to do, but that they r wrong most of the time im not so sure bout.
It makes sense not to play with partners that implicity assumes u r a lousy player .

[CSGibson]

I very much appreciate those people who have "don't lead trump" in their profile. It lets me know that I shouldn't play with them without wasting 2-3 boards worth of time.

Edit: This is not because I lead trump a lot, but because if someone is already lecturing in their profile, they are obviously too obnoxious to play with as a pick up partner.

[Free]

This reminds me of a vugraph of the Belgian pairs final from a few years ago, they never lead trumps and many times it was the best lead. Some commentator asked if there was a regulation against trump leads.

[MrAce]

Creeksider, on 2011-October-19, 12:11, said:

More than once recently in pickup games I've found myself with a partner whose profile says he or she doesn't like trump leads. What's the deal with that? Is there an epidemic of inappropriate trump leads? Some advance in bridge thinking that makes all trump leads incorrect? Some joke I'm not getting?

Of course saying that "Don't lead trump ever" is silly. This is actually Bob Hamman's quote. He also didnt want his pds to lead trump. Of course he wanted to express how much it is abused rather than making it a rule for the pdship. Probably the guy you ran into was frustrated a lot recently and put that in his card. I have been dealing with this same issue in my current pdship. It really becomes frustrating after a while.

Pd has unbid QJT9 suit, he leads trump from xx

Pd has KQT9 unbid suit, he leads his stiff trump

Pd has no value in their side long suit, he leads trump ....

And at some point i lost my temper and said " Please lets go easy on these trump leads" Which i shd not have. Just telling you the story of the guy on the other end why he/she says/writes something like that.

[jmcw]

Creeksider, on 2011-October-19, 12:11, said:

More than once recently in pickup games I've found myself with a partner whose profile says he or she doesn't like trump leads. What's the deal with that? Is there an epidemic of inappropriate trump leads? Some advance in bridge thinking that makes all trump leads incorrect? Some joke I'm not getting?

Prefer a partner who doesn't like bad leads

[barmar]

Yes, it's kind of obnoxious to lecture in your profile, but sometimes it feels necessary. Back when I used to play with pickups frequently on OKbridge, my profile had a reminder that SAYC includes Jacoby 2NT, because I'd had too many disasters playing with partners whose profiles said SAYC but they didn't realize this.

The solution I've come up with since then is simple: don't play with pickups. I play in some of the Express Automated Fun tourneys, but I only have to put up with a particular partner for one board. I either play with friends or robots.

[Antrax]

I wonder what you think of the also-popular "please return my lead".

[gwnn]

jdonn's rule for trump leads:

When you have non-touching honours in all three (non-trump) suits, always lead a trump.

[Free]

gwnn, on 2011-October-20, 04:59, said:

jdonn's rule for trump leads:

When you have non-touching honours in all three (non-trump) suits, always lead a trump.

Does he have other rules as well? Otherwise opps will know a lot about the hand if Josh leads trumps

[gwnn]

The rule doesn't say that you shouldn't lead a trump when the rule doesn't apply.

[bd71]

It's ironic that you bring up a jdonn "rule" when his series of articles at Bridgewinners is titled "Breaking the Rules."

[Free]

gwnn, on 2011-October-20, 05:42, said:

The rule doesn't say that you shouldn't lead a trump when the rule doesn't apply.

I know, but if it's his only rule, the chance of him holding some honors increases considerably.

[barmar]

I'll bet Josh has lots of rules, and as the title of the article bd71 mentioned, he also knows when to break them. So it's unlikely you can deduce anything so simply.

[mycroft]

The only one I've taken to heart (save Simon's, of course) is "when they each bid a suit, and end up in a third, lead trump."

[JLOGIC]

I lead trumps a lot. I think leading trumps to be passive/least of evils is a reasonable strategy, especially at MP or against opps who bid a lot. Probably when people didn't bid so many thin games, super attacking leads vs games were a much superior strategy.

[xxhong]

Trump leads are often effective leads against partials, especially when they have a 8 card fit. Trump leads are also normal leads against opps who have shown cross ruffing potentials. Also, against grand slams, it is often right to lead trumps.

There are also other situations that screams for trump leads. For example when you can control all side suits well against a doubled sacrifice. For example, when your one level direct seat takeout double is passed.

Creeksider, on 2011-October-19, 12:11, said:

More than once recently in pickup games I've found myself with a partner whose profile says he or she doesn't like trump leads. What's the deal with that? Is there an epidemic of inappropriate trump leads? Some advance in bridge thinking that makes all trump leads incorrect? Some joke I'm not getting?

[JLOGIC]

Sorry bob