In some circles a weak lead could be any guy who had the unfortunate pleasure of being Ginger Rogers' dance partner. With her own prodigious skill coupled with the fact that she was used to doing her dancing with Fred Astaire, anyone else taking the lovely Ms. Rogers out for an evening of high stepping would have seemed like trying to replace Napoleon with "Urkel".
In the poker world a weak lead is when a player makes an opening bet out of position in the face of somebody at the table who generally raises before the flop. The bet they make is generally lower than the one that raiser at the table would have presumably made.
Your opponent will probably call this bet and the fact that you have dictated the terms of the betting makes this move very similar to a blocking bet. In this particular case you also want your opponent to think that this is exactly what you are doing. The reason for this is that you have a promising drawing hand, and in this case your "blocking bet" is actually a sort of semi-bluff.
Not only have you seen the flop cheaper than you would have if you allowed the guy who tended toward pre-flop raises dictate the action, but the flop may either complete your draw, or give you some hope for the turn or river.
This also is a good strategy when you have premium hole cards. Not only may your bet knock a few people out of the hand, but your actions also won't project that sort of strength that will make a more aggressive player think twice about challenging you. If you are looking to get money into the pot, your show of muddled confidence will be like ringing the dinner bell for an aggressive opponent.
Good Luck!
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