[jerdonald]

BBO forum,
This may be an old topic but I'm looking for some opinions on
using BOSTON(Bottom of Something/Top on Nothing) for the opening
lead. Is seems reasonable but gives a lot of information to the
declarer.

Thanks,
Jerry

[SteveMoe]

I find Boston very effective. We use top (sequence) or 2nd best from length and nothing, but 3rd/low from Hxxx(x...) vs suits (4th vs NT). Mitigates need for Smith Echo.

Any lead approach gives information to both sides. 4th best (adding in Smith Echo) is also revealing to declarer. Defenders can grab the initiative with a good lead. It's more important to communicate clearly with partner - wouldn't worry about what declarer might or might not understand. Better to choose the right strategy (active or passive) and the right suit. Then the right card depends on what you want to communicate.

[jerdonald]

Stevemoe,
Thanks for the reply and opinion.
I'm hoping there will be more pro and con replies.

jerry

[Zelandakh]

BOSTON from the OP sounds like a simplification of Busso (attitude) leads, where the size of the card led indicates how good your holding in the suit is. In general, attitude opening leads are more helpful against NT than against suit contracts. The reason for this is that in NT we usually want to attack where we have strength whereas in a suit contract we also need to know how many winners are available in a suit before it gets ruffed. Therefore I would recommend not using BOSTON against suit contracts but rather a system that also incorporates count such as 2nd and 4th (2nd from nothing, 4th from something) or 1-3-5 (1-3-bottom) (top of nothing, 3rd from something + even, bottom from something+odd).

Against NT it is more reasonable to play it but you can refine the concept a little by, for example, leading the 5 rather than the 3 from K953 or K9853 trying to show that you have a suit with something but it is nonetheless a weak suit.

As Steve has already written, it is usually a good thing to show as much information as possible in our suits. It is different in declarer's suits - there you want to hide attitude information so that declarer has to guess the location of missing honours.

[SteveMoe]

BOSTON
Bottom Of Something, Top Of Nothing