Beginners are often given simple rules that aren’t necessarily “good bridge”,
but are intended as practical guidelines they can rely on while they’re learning
the basics. One of the first I remember was this advice about opening leads:
“There are only two reasons not to lead partner’s suit:
You’re void or you want a new partner.”
That is, of course, an exaggeration that has many exceptions. I was still learning them when this auction came up:
LHO Partner RHO You
3C 3H Pass
4NT Pass 5H Pass
6H DBL
I had just enough experience to know that it was unlikely (impossible?) that my preempting partner held enough trumps or high cards to beat 6H, but I didn’t yet have the reasoning skills to figure out what he did have. With nothing else to go on, I just went with the standard advice and led partner’s suit, thinking that had to be safe.
It wasn’t. As I was told later, after they made 6H, an unusual double of a slam contract asks for an unusual lead. That means that “normal” leads – the unbid suit, trumps, suits bid by you or partner – are out. In the auction above, the double’s main message is “Don’t lead my suit”. It suggests that partner has an unexpected trick somewhere else and asks you to find it.
Named for its inventor, Theodore Lightner, this is called a Lightner double. It always shows one of two hand types -- either a strong holding in the first natural suit bid by dummy or a side-suit void. You have to analyze clues from your hand and the auction to determine which one it is.
When partner preempts and then doubles the opponents’ slam, he has to be saying “Find my void.” The same meaning applies if dummy hasn’t bid any non-trump suits. In these situations, your best guess is to lead your longest suit. In the auction above, you’d lead a diamond from ♠54 ♥743 ♦Q97543 ♣J4 .
A Lightner double is not a convention and it isn’t alertable. It’s considered standard bridge -- another one of those “Everybody knows that” rules that most of us learned at the table instead of from a bridge teacher. For me, the lesson cost 1660 points.
Note that a double has the Lightner meaning only if the opponents are in a voluntarily bid slam. If you’ve pushed them into it or they’re sacrificing, partner’s double is just a normal penalty double that calls for a normal lead.
Surprise doubles of 3NT
Other unusual doubles can also send lead-directing messages that many players consider standard. The situation we discussed in the August issue – where a double of their game asks for the lead of dummy’s first-bid natural suit – is sometimes called a “Lightner game double”.
You have much less to go on after an auction where there were no natural bids. If the opponents bid 1NT – 3NT, for example, a double should say more than just “They can’t make this”. It should be lead-directing. Some pairs play it asks for a club (called a Fisher double). Others agree it shows spades.
The most common interpretation, though, is that partner has a solid suit (or a near-solid suit and an entry) and hopes you’ll figure out which one it is. This “Find my suit” request is often called a Lightner double, too, and it’s your safest assumption unless you’ve agreed on a different meaning.
Your honor holdings may give you clues about which suit partner holds, but if in doubt, choose your shorter major that has no honors. Holding ♠1098 ♥54 ♦9642 ♣QJ84 , lead a heart. With ♠QJ6 ♥QJ2 ♦6 ♣976543 , though, your honor holdings make it unlikely that partner’s suit is a major. Lead a diamond, which is the only suit where partner rates to have the length and honor strength to justify a double.
© 2025 Karen Walker