[Walddk]

Scoring: XIMP

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Expert game on BBO. You are South and the auction is as follows:

1♥ 2♦ 4♥ p
p dble p 4♠
all pass

Before you ask, I may just as well tell that this NS pair can't have a 5-card major when opening 1NT. Anyway, you lead ♥K and partner follows with the deuce. You have this agreement:

1) Low card is encouraging.
2) High even card is suit preference for the lower side suit.
3) High odd card is suit preference for the higher side suit.

So North has no help in diamonds or clubs; not ♦A, not a singleton diamond and not a singleton club either. Basically, your partner asks you to continue hearts unless you have an obvious switch.

Do you? What do you lead at trick 2?

Roland

[Poky]

If partner has "nothing", obviously, he has 5 hearts. Since I do not know if he has the ♠J, it is better if I do (hidden text follows...)

Spoiler

not return another heart. A passive return can spoil declarer's communication allowing me to score 3 trump tricks. The only card I hope partner has is the club Jack. If I allow 2 heart ruffs, this becomes a non-problem hand.

Nice problem.

[brianshark]

If partner has the ♣J, I can hope for declarer to have 3+ ♣s and a club switch now will set up an eventual trick.

If partner has the ♠J, I can either lead a small ♠ now, hope declarer plays low, assume partner will read and duly returns a ♠, draw dummy's trump and cash a ♥.

I'm going to err on the side of my partner's signal, however clairvoyant he must be to foresee my problem, giving him ♠J instead of ♣J, so a small spade is my play.

[Codo]

If I simply continue hearts, declarer has 3 Spade tricks (if he has 5), 5 Diamonds two clubs and the heart ruff. Okay, he cannot take them all, but I see no way to get more then three tricks with this approach.
If I switch to a spade and declarer does not have the jack, he may still play the queen. After all I showed an opening bid, so this trick may not work. And expecting 5 Spades in declarers hand, he is the 5:2 favourite to posess the Jack. If he has 6 spades it is even worse.
A diamond seems to be fruitless, there is no ruff, so this can only work if it cuts down communication or if he misplays, fearing a singelton.

That leaves a club, hoping to find pd with the jack.

This looks like a legitimate chance which I try to find.

[Apollo81]

I'd switch to the ♣8 hoping partner had ♣Jx(x). Also declarer could assume the ♥2 was standard and decide to win in dummy and play on diamonds trying to pitch a club. For instance if his hand was 6-2-2-3 then he might make this play even with both black jacks.

[Fluffy]

I'd go with a club

[skjaeran]

Can't see any reason for leading anything but a club. I'll switch to a somewhat deceptive ♣8.

[Apollo81]

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