[the hog]

You hold:

AKT9xx
Jx
xxx
KQ

1S (2N) P (3C)
P (4C) P (4H)
P (4S P (6C)

Where 2N was UNT, 4C was the strong version of UNT, 4H and 4S were cue bids.

What is your lead and why?

[luke warm]

i know i should stay out of this one, but i'm a glutton for punishment.. i'd probably lead a heart.. opener has void in spades and responder has ace or king of hearts.. maybe my jack helps partner.. then again, maybe it finesses him

on the other hand the club king can conceivably shorten dummy's trumps somewhat and maybe help pard make a diamond trick

ok tell us, what's best?

[inquiry]

Quote

AKT9xx
Jx
xxx
KQ

1S (2N) P (3C)
P (4C) P (4H)
P (4S P (6C) What is your lead and why?

Against random opponents who I don't trust their bidding, I would lead spade ACE. But against "good opponents this lead can not be right. Good players seldom bid 6 off ACE/King in the suit you open AND the KQ of trumps unless one has a void. Add to that the 4S cue-bid, if WEST had a singlton he ould have just pulled out blackwood. So against sound opponents, one has to consider a lead other than the obvious spade ACE.

What about the bidding. If partner had 4/5 Spades, he could have raised preemptively to 3S. So partner rates to have 3S at most. This gives west a spade void, and east at least four spades (of course if we are vul, partner may not bid 3S on four babies). If east has spade QJxx, the spade ACE might even provide a parking spot of West's potential heart loser (give WEST something like 0-3-5-5, or more likely 0-2-65/56).

So if you "trust" the opponents, two lines of defense suggest themselves. The CLUB-KING or a heart (maybe the jack). My holding of three small diamonds presuade me that with four spades, East will be able to throw his heart losers away on dummy's diamonds (east has 4/5S, 4/5 clubs, so not too many red cards), so I will start the heart JACK, and plan to win a club and continue hearts. If I had a singleton diamond, or maybe a doubleton diamond, I could well start a club instead.

Ben

[the hog]

Against random opponents who I don't trust their bidding, I would lead spade ACE.

ROFL. Ok, Ben I'm putting you on the spot. My pd and I bid 6C. Now what do you lead?

Ron

[inquiry]

Quote

Against random opponents who I don't trust their bidding, I would lead spade ACE.

ROFL. Ok, Ben I'm putting you on the spot. My pd and I bid 6C. Now what do you lead?

Ron

Against you? LOL.... Of course I double and lead the spade ACE...who the heck trust your bidding... :-)

[the hog]

Even more rofl

Will post the winning lead later.

[Free]

According to my calculations, this contract is full proof. If north has the strong unusual, he must have AKJxx or better in D and AJxxx or something in C. Next to that, I don't know if you guys bid first and second round controls, so SK (that's right, not the Ace) might be the right lead... But then again, the C bidder has probably 5 spades from QJxxx and if you lead SA or SK, he'll throw away a H loser on SJ, and he probably doesn't have any losers in D.

So we suspect that H might need some attention. Say he has AQ10, then you can't do anything about the contract if you lead H. If you don't lead H, he has to give away HJ. So no H for me.

So it's between C and D. If I'd lead C, it would be CQ, just to fool the opponents. You never know that AJ is in front of me, but I doubt it. If I'd lead D, well, it would be small ofcourse I suspect that partner has some D, so I won't lead them. I'll lead CQ, just to make sure that the 6C player wont ruff too many Diamonds, and he'll lose a trick to either HJ or HK.

my lead: CQ.

[Codo]

Hi Ron,

against you I led the ace of spade: You are so good, that you may just want just to suggest your opponents that you have a void....
Okay, in reality: If we have a diamond trick, we will get it anyway. A club is just loosing time you may need. So it should be a major. Heart can loose, if dummy has QTx or loose a tempo if declarer has AQx

Spade ace can loose, if they have a void, a small spade, if dummy has one spade and bid his second round control.

Dummy bid a strong unusual and declarer bid slam after hearing about the spade and diamond control. So, there are exactly nil quick tricks to develop by pd.

So I ask my opponents about the cuebids and if they do promise first round control, I lead a spade. If they promise second round control, I led the ace.

Kind Regards

Roland

[luis]

Spade king.

Luis

[the hog]

Cue bids generally promise first and second. Would that really apply here though. Would not overcaller have bid 3S rather than 4C with second round control?

The full hands

void
xx
AKQxx
AT9xxx

QJxx
Axxx
x
Jxxx

It takes a H lead to beat it. How would others bid it? It is not an ironclad slam, but its not the worst one you will ever be in.

[inquiry]

Quote

void
xx
AKQxx
AT9xxx

QJxx
Axxx
x
Jxxx It takes a H lead to beat it.

Earlier I said... "What about the bidding. If partner had 4/5 Spades, he could have raised preemptively to 3S. So partner rates to have 3S at most. This gives west a spade void, and east at least four spades (of course if we are vul, partner may not bid 3S on four babies). If east has spade QJxx, the spade ACE might even provide a parking spot of West's potential heart loser (give WEST something like 0-3-5-5, or more likely 0-2-65/56). ". Now let me tell you who is going to win the world series... (PS... don't tell steve).... :-)

Ben

[the hog]

Yes you predicted the hand well Ben, though you can make 6C on a S lead even if pd does not have the QJ of S. Cash C A, play A of D and ruff a D, ruff a S and play D from dummy pitching H. Opener can ruff a D eventually, but the H losers have disappeared.