[Chamaco]

Hi all,
can anyone discuss Polish leads with in mind:

1- how they work: e.g. only at trick 1 or also in middle of play ? What does a honor lead mean (standard or not) ? What kind of inferences can pard draw from our Polish lead (when different from std leads) ? What do you lead from holding that can result in blockage (e.g. KJx, QTx, etc) ? What do you lead from 3 small ?

2- advantages/disadvantages with other lead systems (std, 3rd/5th, Journalist, etc)

[Flame]

I lead according to WJ2000, this mean 2/4 wather you have an honor or not , and high from honor squence.(but K from AK)
so from xx (10 is not included) we lead small.
862 we lead 6
J62 we lead 6
J6543 we lead the 4.
KQJ we lead the K
AKx we lead the K.
about non honor leads i like the lead of small of xx, also like the second with no honor, but i really dont like the lead of second from an honor.
I can give an example of where it helped me.
Yesterday in abalucy partner lead the 5 of diamond
dummy had
K109
and i had AQ654
I took the Q and declarer played the J.
Now i had to know wather or not i can cash the A, with our leads it was easy, i know partner can only have 1 higher card then the 5, so he cant have both the 7 and the 8, therefore i cashed the A succesfuly.
As i said i really dont like the lead of middle from Hxx, my general method in diffence is that attitude come before count, (i rerly give count at all) leading small from Hxx serve as an ittutude signal, you tell your partner you like the suit, while leading middle server as count , you tell him you only have 1 card higher. to me telling partner wather i lead passively or actively is far more importent then the count. Anyway you can see in the thread given by The_Hog that this count thing can be solve too.
Despite all i play those leads even those i dislike, because im first a partner and only second a player , and thats what partner is used to.
About honor leads i dont have an opinion about the new approaches of low from sequence, about AKx we lead K but i know A is a bit better.
3/5 might be better then forth best.

[Chamaco]

Flame, on Nov 2 2004, 02:02 PM, said:

J6543 we lead the 3.

I find this a bit confusing ?

I mean, 2/4 leads but here leading 5th card ?

[doofik]

I've been indoctrinated into 2/4 leads a while back. xx - always lead small, Qxx lead second, Kxx - personally I prefer to lead low. When holding AKQxx the lead of Aor Q is asking for count and the lead of a king is asking for attitude. Or is vice versa:-) Anyway, that is subject to partnership agreement.

Jola

[inquiry]

Chamaco, on Nov 2 2004, 05:05 AM, said:

Hi all,
can anyone discuss Polish leads with in mind:

1- how they work: e.g. only at trick 1 or also in middle of play ? What does a honor lead mean (standard or not) ? What kind of inferences can pard draw from our Polish lead (when different from std leads) ? What do you lead from holding that can result in blockage (e.g. KJx, QTx, etc) ? What do you lead from 3 small ?

2- advantages/disadvantages with other lead systems (std, 3rd/5th, Journalist, etc)

1. How do they work? Very well.
1a. Only trick one or in middle of hand? In middle of hand too, using remaining count
1b. What does honor lead mean? Whatever you play now.
1c. Inference partner can draw? Attitude lead, lead 2nd best with a suit you have no interest in, 4th best otherwise.
1d. If I am worried about blocking, I start unblocking, other rules ignored.

2. Advantage/disavantage over others?
2a. Versus standard 4th best, superior due to attitude mixed in....
2b 3/5... three five gives you better count info at trick one, 2/4 gives you better attitude information. Which is more important to you?
2c. Journalist, you can tack on whatever honor leads you like
2d.. extra, 2nd best lead gives you some really clever chances at double dummy defense in a suit.

Try it for a week, and you are likely to be like me, and never want to go back to standard or 3/5.
Ben

[Flame]

Chamaco, on Nov 2 2004, 09:23 AM, said:

Flame, on Nov 2 2004, 02:02 PM, said:

J6543 we lead the 3.

I find this a bit confusing ?

I mean, 2/4 leads but here leading 5th card ?

ment 4 sry.

[inquiry]

Chamaco, on Nov 2 2004, 10:23 AM, said:

Flame, on Nov 2 2004, 02:02 PM, said:

J6543 we lead the 3.

Playing 2/4 leads from this, I would lead the SIX... :-)

Ben

[Chamaco]

When I do not have an honor sequence I usually play the following, please tell me how different this is from Polish:


4th best under an honor (ten is considered an honor)
3rd best from honor third
2nd best from 4 small
with 3 small either top of nothing or MUD, according to what I think will be most important (but I try to avoid xxx leads)

[luke warm]

i prefer journalist/rusinow honor leads.. the main complaint against them concerns declarer's ability to read the hand... but this is the reason defenders sometimes false card (depending on the declarer and the importance of the information to be conveyed)

[Chamaco]

inquiry, on Nov 2 2004, 02:59 PM, said:

2b 3/5... three five gives you better count info at trick one, 2/4 gives you better attitude information. Which is more important to you?

About Polish leads:

I am a bit suspicious because of leading small from xx.
If Polish is supposed to give better info on attitude (small lead likes the suit), then small from xx may lead pard astray?

[inquiry]

Chamaco, on Nov 2 2004, 02:28 PM, said:

inquiry, on Nov 2 2004, 02:59 PM, said:

2b 3/5... three five gives you better count info at trick one, 2/4 gives you better attitude information. Which is more important to  you?

About Polish leads:

I am a bit suspicious because of leading small from xx.
If Polish is supposed to give better info on attitude (small lead likes the suit), then small from xx may lead pard astray?

The assumption here is that your partner can figure out that you do not have four cards in this suit... I mean, he has heard the bidding, he can see the dummy, and he can see his own hand. Leading lwo from 32, there really will be very few situations where partner will play you for KJ32... trust me...

Ben

[doofik]

Chamaco,

108xx, you'd lead the 8, 109xx, you'd lead the nine, J9xx, you'd lead the nine, J10xx, you'd lead the jack. Hope this helps.

Jola

[Ulrich]

Mauro, I think the Hog knows a little about this but I will try.
There are a number of different methods.
Pretty much standard is 4th highest and overlead.
Low from xx
Middle from Hxx
and top from xxx

A number of Polish experts decided this was ambiguous - Combine leads is the result
Low from xx
Top from 4 small - or second highest if top might cost a trick
Third and fifth from an honor

These are used in the middle game as well.