[FrancesHinden]

You haven't discussed in any great detail whether double asks for a lead of dummy's first bid suit, or an unusual lead, or to find your two cashing tricks.

1♦ P 1♠ P
2♣ P 4♣ P
4♦ P 4♠ P
4NT P 6♣ x
all pass

---

Hybrid scoring (combination of point-a-board and "net swing")

4D/4S = cue bids, partnership style is to cue first round controls
4NT = a bad hand in context of the auction ("discouraging")

Lead

[whereagles]

I'm gonna take my chances on a diamond lead. After all, opener is probably 54 in the minors

[mike777]

spade, who knows. KISS

[Free]

I'm going for a ♠. In this case, imo a ♥ lead would've been normal, so that's out. Choice is between ♠ and ♦. West has ♠s, ♣s and some ♥s (no ♥ cue), so I don't think leading ♦ will be helpful. That leaves ♠.

[neilkaz]

I'll lead a ♦ hoping PD doubled for an unusual lead and can ruff it.

The opps have shown first round ♠ control (ie the ace on this auction) so I cannot see why PD would be doubling for a ♠ lead. From his standpoint, that could be the best lead, (maybe he has KQ and a ace in another suit), but would he really double on that ? Perhaps..

But I'll take the reasonable chance he is void in ♦ .. neilkaz ..

[ArcLight]

The Lightner Double calls for an unusual lead, typically the first bid suit of dummy. But it also requires that you use your brain. Its not a bling command.

In this case, its likely that declarer has at least 5 diamonds. So there are 2 outstanding diamonds, and its reasonable to assume that pard is void.

Lead a diamond.

[Trumpace]

What would partner's double of 4♠ have been, if he had done so?

[Free]

Trumpace, on Jun 20 2007, 06:01 PM, said:

What would partner's double of 4♠ have been, if he had done so?

doubling 4♠ may be dangerous, so I wouldn't put that much trust in that pass...

[FrancesHinden]

Trumpace, on Jun 20 2007, 06:01 PM, said:

What would partner's double of 4♠ have been, if he had done so?

Without wishing to sound facetious: a desire to play in 4Sxx i.e., lead-directional, but must have a huge holding in the suit as dummy is known to have a strong hand with spades as its primary suit.

(Further to other threads elsewhere, dummy does not have 4 spades and longer clubs, they bid their suits in the natural order so spades are at least as long as clubs given dummy has a strong hand)

[kenrexford]

♦2. I'll let partner know about my heart feature for his return.

[goobers]

Diamond seems natural to me. Surely the odds are better that partner will ruff a diamond instead of a spade.

[bid_em_up]

After spending all afternoon writing an extremely long post (even for me), I changed my mind about actually posting it. I do have it saved for later though....

I refuse to answer this question on the grounds it is a trick question. No matter what I choose as my lead, the corresponding hands are going to reflect that another lead would work and mine wouldn't.

I know what the right lead should be, given the auction and my holdings. However, I think it is such an obvious choice, that I am positive Frances is going to attempt to claim partners double is asking for something else, which, imo, is equally likely to be wrong.

There, thats the short answer.

[asc]

♦

[ceeb]

Odds are that the 4♦ bidder has at least 5, that I have 6, and that the slam leaper is not void in partner's suit and cue bid. That leaves zero or one diamond for our doubling partner. That's reason enough already to assume zero on the double but in addition, partner would be reluctant to double with a singleton knowing that quite likely we would diagnose diamond shortness as we do and would therefore be likely to take the double as a diamond void.

I would lead a high diamond spot. If I'm wrong about the ruff I don't see that an honor lead would help me and if I'm right it could only hurt. If partner has the ♥A no signal from me will matter; if not I don't want to put partner off a trump exit if that is best.

-- Charles

[FrancesHinden]

bid_em_up, on Jun 20 2007, 10:11 PM, said:

After spending all afternoon writing an extremely long post (even for me), I changed my mind about actually posting it. I do have it saved for later though....

I refuse to answer this question on the grounds it is a trick question. No matter what I choose as my lead, the corresponding hands are going to reflect that another lead would work and mine wouldn't.

I know what the right lead should be, given the auction and my holdings. However, I think it is such an obvious choice, that I am positive Frances is going to attempt to claim partners double is asking for something else, which, imo, is equally likely to be wrong.

There, thats the short answer.

paranoid much?

[Fluffy]

Its not frances, it is the devil himself who changes the hand into Frances's head to make you fail again and again.

[hatchett]

♦ has to be right. Is LHO bdding like someone with 2 ♠ losers ? No.
Could partner have a diamond void. Yes.

[FrancesHinden]

There was not supposed to be anything dramatic about this hand, and the large vote for a diamond is correct. Partner has a diamond void and the ace of hearts (dummy has AKQ10x K xx KQJ10x and declarer x J10x AK10xx Axxx).

This was following on from the other thread, notably about what exactly double asks for: dummy's first bid suit, or something 'unusual'. What _is_ notable is that this hand was played at the 'Pachabo', an English tournament for teams-of-four who had won their local county KOs. So not top expert stuff (the very best players either can't be bothered to play, or are split across multiple teams) but a fair standard overall.

I was dummy on the hand. We were not doubled in 6C. My team-mate at the other table also did not double 6C because he was concerned partner would lead a spade.

In fact, of the 26 results on the board, there were:

16 results of 6C making (sometimes with an overtrick)
4 silly results (5C+2, 6NT= (I don't know if 6C was doubled first), 4S-4, 3NT+2)
2 6Cx making (on a spade lead, I imagine)
3 6Cx-1
1 6C-1

so only a little over 20% of the defenders doubled, and had a 60% chance of partner leading the right thing.

[NB: There is a f2f UI problem here: if you think for a long time and then don't double, that blatantly suggests a diamond lead, so you definitely can't do that.... ]

[skjaeran]

♦2 - standout lead IMO.
Expect partner to ruff this and have another defensive trick, probably the ♥A.