[Wiste1]

Scoring: IMP

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1♠ - (pass) - 3♠ - (4♥) - dobl

3♠ = 0-6 hcp and 4♠

What do you lead?

[Walddk]

♠3 or 2 according to agreement. Golden rule: with a trump stack, lead from your longest side suit.

Roland

[the hog]

A S.

[keylime]

Lead a spade and get the tap going. Declarer is going to have one hard time avoiding -800 on spade leads (holding the A of clubs and shortness in diamonds isn't too shabby either).

[joker_gib]

I agree with Roland and others if you want the max penalty but here I'm a bit afraid that the declarer has some kind of 2 suiter with short clubs that should dissapear on AK of ♠ !

So, as this is imps, I would lead the ace of ♣ !

Alain

[brianshark]

♣s could just as easily be his side suit, and you;ve now lost tempo on the taps. Definately a ♠ for me.

[whereagles]

In this particular situation, it seems RHO isn't taking a flight of fancy. He has probably has a genuine 4♥ overcall.

There is the danger of a club loser to disappear, but that seems unlikely, as it requires RHO to be 4711 or 3811.

On the other hand, it's not very likely either that we have more than the ♠A to cash, so I'm leading the ♣A after all.

[pclayton]

A ♠. This could be very expensive.

[mikeh]

A ♠.

Any non-diamond lead could be right... yes, even a trump lead altho no-one would ever lead it. However, this auction suggests that RHO, under pressure, took a gamble and our trump holding says he guessed wrong. Accordingly, our concern should not be merely to go plus but should be to maximize the set, and the ♠ lead just has to be the way to do this.

I think I would lead a ♠ anyway, but given my view of the auction, it is clear...of course, what is 'clear' single dummy may be silly double dummy

[jtfanclub]

I am not convinced a spade is right.

After the X, when declarer sees dummy and realizes that his side has about 24 hcp between them, he's going to know you X'd with a trump stack. For that reason, you can't pump him.

Let's say that you lead a spade, and miracle of miracles, your partner has the king. Declarer takes the A, leads one round of trump, and start on his diamonds, which are loserless. You can't tap him, because you're ruffing as often as he is, and he has more trumps. You lose and gain nothing.

Let's say you lead a spade, and partner doesn't have any spade honors, but does have a diamond stop. Now you can't tap him enough (too many spade winners) and he takes the same tricks. You lose and gain nothing.

But let's say you lead a spade, partner doesn't have any spade honors or a diamond stop. Now he's going to sluff at least one losing club on a spade, and you still can't tap him out- not enough entries.

So what it comes down to, I think, is....


A) Partner has 0 entries outside of clubs- you need to lead the ace of clubs and another.
B ) Partner has 1 entry outside of clubs- any lead is equally good.
C) Partner has 2 entries outside of clubs- you need to lead a spade.

With 0-6 on that pre-emptive bid, I'm nervous that it's option A. If it had gone
1♠-2♠-(4♥) I think a spade lead is automatic.

[whereagles]

mikeh, on Jan 25 2007, 06:58 PM, said:

However, this auction suggests that RHO, under pressure, took a gamble and our trump holding says he guessed wrong. Accordingly, our concern should not be merely to go plus but should be to maximize the set

It's true that RHO might have incurred into an indiscretion, but why be greedy? If RHO goes down, you're bound to get a good score anyway, as we couldn't make more than the 3♠ partscore (if that much).

[Wiste1]

I normally follow Rolands golden rule and lead from my best/longest suit with a trump stack and i would lead a♠ if partner shows 6-9 or better. But this time partner shows 0-6......a big difference i think. So i lead ♣ace (read joker-gibs post) and that was the only right thing do this time:

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Of course often a♠ lead could be right but the reason i post this was that the dummy (a friend) said it was a bad lead and i was just lucky this time.
So i ask a lot of norwegian experts what they would lead and get the same answers from all of them: ♣ace

[han]

Congrats to the declarers who win the spade ace and finesse the heart at trick 2, I must hold my cards closer. I would think most declarers will play a heart to the ace to pitch a club immediately.

I also think that partner's 0-6 points are usually in spades, and east will have the heart ace 90% of the time.

[jtfanclub]

Hannie, on Feb 13 2007, 11:21 AM, said:

Congrats to the declarers who win the spade ace and finesse the heart at trick 2, I must hold my cards closer.

If you had the AK of clubs, surely you'd lead a club. You X'd in spite of a possible 0 count across from you, so you must think you have 4 tricks. Those 4 tricks must be the KQJ of hearts and a club....there aren't any other outstanding tricks.

Quote

I also think that partner's 0-6 points are usually in spades

OK, so exchange the KJ of spades for the KJ of clubs. Now he makes on any lead.

You got hit by the heart ace being offside. If dummy had had the A♦ instead, you would have put it down 1 instead of down 2 with your lead. I don't think that helps your case.

[han]

jtfanclub, on Feb 13 2007, 11:46 AM, said:

Hannie, on Feb 13 2007, 11:21 AM, said:

Congrats to the declarers who win the spade ace and finesse the heart at trick 2, I must hold my cards closer.

If you had the AK of clubs, surely you'd lead a club. You X'd in spite of a possible 0 count across from you, so you must think you have 4 tricks. Those 4 tricks must be the KQJ of hearts and a club....there aren't any other outstanding tricks.

Quote

I also think that partner's 0-6 points are usually in spades

OK, so exchange the KJ of spades for the KJ of clubs. Now he makes on any lead.

You got hit by the heart ace being offside. If dummy had had the A♦ instead, you would have put it down 1 instead of down 2 with your lead. I don't think that helps your case.

You are right about the first, I missed the double (I wouldn't have doubled btw, but I'm a chicken).

As for switching the black honors:

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I believe that a spade lead beats it, and it is the only lead that beats it.

[jtfanclub]

I don't think it's chicken not to X...you may easily have it down 3 without an X, down 1 with one. It certainly tells the opponents how to play it!

You may be right...a spade lead may beat it, if you realize what's going on and cover the 7 of hearts.