[billw55]

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IMP pairs, non vul. What is your lead choice?

I am interested in the expert approach here.

[rogerclee]

I would lead a low club, our best chance of beating this is surely taking 4 clubs and some other trick. RHO usually has 4 clubs on this auction (unless 3343 or 3352), but if partner has an entry we can take 4 clubs as long as he has Tx or Jx (if declarer ducks then we are likely to be able to get 3 clubs and 2 other tricks). I usually like to lead an honor here but on this hand it's right to play low.

[whereagles]

Club I guess. Pard didn't overcall.

[phil_20686]

 whereagles, on 2012-February-10, 14:13, said:

Club I guess. Pard didn't overcall.

I am majorly torn between a top club and a low club.

[mikeh]

Low club, for the reasons given by roger.

I can't see how a high club is a better choice....layouts where it is necessary are not easy to create, and it is trivial to show layouts where it is disastrous.

I do disagree with roger in his choice of 3352 as a possible holding for declarer....altho admittedly this is imp pairs. Only an idiot or someone with no respect for his partner bids 1N on that shape.

[quiddity]

 mikeh, on 2012-February-10, 16:09, said:

I do disagree with roger in his choice of 3352 as a possible holding for declarer....altho admittedly this is imp pairs. Only an idiot or someone with no respect for his partner bids 1N on that shape.

Did you misread the opening bid (1♦)? If not I don't understand the above comment.

[HighLow21]

Small diamond. Very close to leading a small club. Any major suit has almost no chance of defeating the contract and leading A or K from AKxxx is not good practice in most cases.

Partner had a chance to overcall with a decent major and didn't do so. An opening major lead is likely to expose that suit's lie at trick 1 and, in all likelihood, finesse partner.

1NT bidder is practically guaranteed to have 4 clubs. If they are good clubs, like QJTx or even QJ8x, leading them doesn't get us very far. If I had the 10 of clubs instead of the 3, I would lead a club.

Diamonds may actually be the best suit for our side. 1D opener may have 4-4-3-2 shape (in which case diamonds are definitely the suit to lead), but in any other case he will have 4+ diamonds. When leading dummy's 4-card suit, you should lead 4th best unless you hold a 4-card sequence.

[whereagles]

 phil_20686, on 2012-February-10, 14:37, said:

I am majorly torn between a top club and a low club.

Well, low seems better. You may not have an entry.

[mikeh]

 quiddity, on 2012-February-10, 16:21, said:

Did you misread the opening bid (1♦)? If not I don't understand the above comment.

Do you understand the difference between dummy and declarer? Or opener and responder? Assume partner opens 1♦ and you hold 3=3=5=2 shape. Would you be tempted to raise? Or to grab dummy with 1N? I was expressing my view of the latter.

[daveharty]

 mikeh, on 2012-February-11, 07:44, said:

Assume partner opens 1♦ and you hold 3=3=5=2 shape. Would you be tempted to raise? Or to grab dummy with 1N? I was expressing my view of the latter.

I know many people who are systemically constrained to respond 1NT with this shape, if the hand falls between their partnership definitions of 2D and 3D. The alternative seems to be bidding a three card major which is unpalatable to many people. Maybe not ideal, but quite common in "inverted minor" territory.

[gordontd]

 daveharty, on 2012-February-11, 08:39, said:

I know many people who are systemically constrained to respond 1NT with this shape, if the hand falls between their partnership definitions of 2D and 3D.

Why would they have a gap between 2D & 3D?

[BunnyGo]

 gordontd, on 2012-February-11, 09:26, said:

Why would they have a gap between 2D & 3D?

A lot of B/I americans play 3D is weak and 2D is GF, they have a gap for the constructive-limit hands.

[mikeh]

 BunnyGo, on 2012-February-11, 10:39, said:

A lot of B/I americans play 3D is weak and 2D is GF, they have a gap for the constructive-limit hands.

this is posted in the A/E forum...I doubt that we should cater to this sort of issue....

[wyman]

 BunnyGo, on 2012-February-11, 10:39, said:

A lot of B/I americans play 3D is weak and 2D is GF, they have a gap for the constructive-limit hands.

A lot of A/E play 3D is weak and 2D is limit+ (or they play criss-cross, or whatever). This leaves constructive hands to bid 1N, which I think is a somewhat normal treatment.

[quiddity]

 mikeh, on 2012-February-11, 07:44, said:

Do you understand the difference between dummy and declarer? Or opener and responder? Assume partner opens 1♦ and you hold 3=3=5=2 shape. Would you be tempted to raise? Or to grab dummy with 1N? I was expressing my view of the latter.

I thought you might have seen the auction as starting with 1♣ in which case I would tend to respond 1♦ with 3=3=5=2.
With the auction as shown I would bid 1NT with something like KJx Qxx Txxxx QT; 2♦ would be a limit raise and 3♦ would be mixed. I guess this could qualify as a mixed raise but for me it looks more like a 1NT response.

edit: The other thing that confused me about the first comment was "admittedly it is imp pairs.." With imp scoring I miss the constructive raise more; if this were matchpoints I would probably respond 1NT with that hand even if a constructive raise were available.

[daveharty]

As wyman says, it's not just B/Is who play this way. I didn't want to get off-track with an inverted minor discussion; I just wanted to point out that there are reasons aside from wanting to hog the dummy that someone might bid 1NT.

[BunnyGo]

 mikeh, on 2012-February-11, 10:46, said:

this is posted in the A/E forum...I doubt that we should cater to this sort of issue....

Agreed, I was simply answering the question.

As for the OP, I too thought a low club lead is much better.

[JLOGIC]

"Standard" in america is to have no constructive raise and to play 1D-3D as weak and 1D-2D as limit+ and to bid 1N with the constructive raise hand type as far as I understand. Whatever, I'd lead a low club regardless, clee nailed it.

[Vampyr]

 JLOGIC, on 2012-February-11, 12:25, said:

"Standard" in america is to have no constructive raise and to play 1D-3D as weak and 1D-2D as limit+ and to bid 1N with the constructive raise hand type as far as I understand. Whatever, I'd lead a low club regardless, clee nailed it.

This is very strange. There has got to be a better way... I use 2NT as the weakest raise, which allows for all raises. I am sure you have something sensible too. This is kind of a side issue I guess, but it would be nice to know the opponents' approach here.

[billw55]

OK, low club seems to be the winner. I thought this would be the case but wanted to be sure. A low club was in fact the table lead, next I will post the follow up as a defense problem.

As an aside, would anyone have chosen to open the bidding in second seat with east's hand?