[arthh]

My choice of opening lead is club ten. My reasoning is that given a choice of equal leads, I choose the weaker one. T3 is weaker than T4.

[joris999]

The lead i dont know, but this hand is a perfect rubensohl bid: 3D and opener must bid 3H.

With invitational hand responder starts with 2NT (puppet for 3CL) and bids 3H over 3CL

[phoenixmj]

Hi - thanks so much for all of the feedback. We defended this hand and it was a loser for us. Almost all of the tables wound up in the same contract but most defended better than us - and our lead was the issue. My partner led the 4th best heart - and as you expected, they were short and my memory says that they had first round control. The ten of diamonds was the killer lead - and I wanted to see if others would lead either one of the minors (both doubletons) going for the ruff.

at least 2/3 of the room did just that (led the diamond ten) - and I wondered the reasoning. I think it does come down to a guess between diamonds and clubs, but the distribution factor should eliminate the heart guess.

Thanks so much.

[thepossum]

Not sure if NT is balanced or semi-balanced and how strong N and S are for their bids but in order

C
D (essentially identical to C)
H
S

Hoping for 3 or 4 tricks

Not much difference between C,D,H but spades seems consistently worst option according to basic sim. It does vary considerably if opener can have a semi-balanced hand

As you hope for more tricks the difference between those leads increases

But clearly it would help to know more about the meaning of all the bids and how partner would interpret the lead. But its looking like a good old doubleton is best

Edit Thats a shame, the "answer" was just posted while I was working it out

[miamijd]

phoenixmj, on 2019-April-01, 20:41, said:

Hi - thanks so much for all of the feedback. We defended this hand and it was a loser for us. Almost all of the tables wound up in the same contract but most defended better than us - and our lead was the issue. My partner led the 4th best heart - and as you expected, they were short and my memory says that they had first round control. The ten of diamonds was the killer lead - and I wanted to see if others would lead either one of the minors (both doubletons) going for the ruff.

at least 2/3 of the room did just that (led the diamond ten) - and I wondered the reasoning. I think it does come down to a guess between diamonds and clubs, but the distribution factor should eliminate the heart guess.

Thanks so much.

I don't think the fourth best heart is so bad at all. Let's give your partner the following hand:

xx AJxx AQx Axxx

Let's give declarer the Kd and dummy the Kx H, with declarer having a stiff H.

Now you lead a H, and partner plays the J and Ah. Let's say declarer ruffs the second heart (perhaps not best). Now if he tries to establish a minor suit first, your partner can duck and give you a third round ruff. And if declarer draws trump, your side will end up with control

If declarer pitches a minor card at trick two, you just got a trick you wouldn't have gotten if you had led a minor card.

As I said, any of the four suits could easily have been right. If the lead was the problem, you just got unlucky. I wonder, however, if the bidding went the same way at all tables. I also wonder what the entire hand was; perhaps there was something you overlooked. I can't imagine 2/3 of expert players leading a diamond (there's nothing wrong with a d lead, but with no standout lead, there's nothing especially right about it, either).

Cheers,
mike

[phoenixmj]

miamijd, on 2019-April-01, 22:34, said:

I don't think the fourth best heart is so bad at all. Let's give your partner the following hand:

xx AJxx AQx Axxx

Let's give declarer the Kd and dummy the Kx H, with declarer having a stiff H.

Now you lead a H, and partner plays the J and Ah. Let's say declarer ruffs the second heart (perhaps not best). Now if he tries to establish a minor suit first, your partner can duck and give you a third round ruff. And if declarer draws trump, your side will end up with control

If declarer pitches a minor card at trick two, you just got a trick you wouldn't have gotten if you had led a minor card.

As I said, any of the four suits could easily have been right. If the lead was the problem, you just got unlucky. I wonder, however, if the bidding went the same way at all tables. I also wonder what the entire hand was; perhaps there was something you overlooked. I can't imagine 2/3 of expert players leading a diamond (there's nothing wrong with a d lead, but with no standout lead, there's nothing especially right about it, either).

Cheers,
mike

Definitely not critical of partner for the lead - just wondering how we can improve our chances. 4th best is a standard lead for us.

I also wonder about the bidding. At our table, when the overcall of 2S was made, there was no alert and we asked if it was natural. We were told yes. My guess is at other tables interference would have consisted of a convention. As the NT opener, I had a minimum 15 points. When partner passed and they upped the ante, I decided to pass rather than compete. As it turns out, we cannot make anything above 2 spades let alone 3. I had no chance to provide any clues to partner about the lead.

At other tables there may have been more clues. I was also very surprised that "so many of the people playing" got it right and it made me think it was not just blind luck. Definitely the bidding might have given clues at other tables. Lots of Canadians there and they play a weak NT - so their open would be different. That might account for about 1/3 of the room at that point.

4th best is a standard lead for us - but reading here I do see that distribution should be considered more in making the lead. I lost the handout with all of the hands, but my recollection is that dummy came down showing a singleton heart - ace. So - the heart lead did not work well. As the opening NT bidder, I had the ace and the queen of diamonds - and the king came down in dummy - so a diamond lead is clearly a winner.

I think your point about the bidding is well taken - as I found it unusual that the bid was 2 spades natural rather than a conventional bid. A conventional bid as single suited might have provided an opportunity to signal a diamond lead.

Anyway - thanks for all of the info. Lots to chew on.

[msjennifer]

Sirs,we do not bid 2C over West s 1D with the given hand as there are 9 losers and just a five card broken suit.However as South we will certainly make a TOD with the given hand over Easts 1H.to indicate a four card spade suit and tolerance for clubs.

[rickdey55]

phoenixmj, on 2019-March-31, 09:21, said:

2 spades was natural

---

Leading a trump here makes sense. with a six card heart suit one defender is going to be ruffing hearts, probably the three spade bidder who has no reason to raise otherwise. Cut off that ruffing power.

What does east lead against 3 spades and any reasoning?

This was MPs.

Thanks