[david_c]

Here is a hand from yesterday where I didn't have a clue what to do. Having just subbed into a tourney with a partner I didn't know, the opponents reached 4♠:

Scoring: IMP

W N E S
-- -- p p
1♣ 1♦ 1♠ 2♦
2♠ p 4♠ all pass

---

I led the ♦7 which partner won with the ace. Partner returned the ♦3 to my king. (Declarer followed with the 5 and the 6.)

Now what? I have four suits to choose from and all of them look like they could go wrong in some way. So, what would be a good lead here? And what would be a really bad suit to lead?

[ochinko]

♥K looks like a sure trick, so we have to wonder where the setting trick could come from.

If partner has ♠Qx leading a trump will be disastrous.

If he has the ♥A there's no hurry unless declarer has six clubs, and will be able to discard two hearts from dummy. Only if declarer was 5:5 in the majors, and partner ruffs right away with his only trump the leading of a heart is right. Combined with the ♦3 returned from partner, hearts are out of the question.

If partner has the ♣Q but not ♣10 then a club is bad because declarer won't have to guess where it is. If he has them both, again there's no hurry. Declarer has nowhere to hide the clubs, as we supposed he doesn't have five hearts.

It looks to me that leading the last diamond is safest. It is indeed passive but then again I see no reason for some active attempt at setting.

Petko

[pclayton]

Partner's diamond spots indicate he only has a 5 card suit. SO declarer has at least 7 cards in the pointed - and only 6 in ♥/♣. If declarer has 5 spades, then he's 5=2=3=3 or 5=3=3=2. With the latter, pard proabably would have shifted to his stiff heart, so I'm inclined to place declarer with the 1st. With this pattern, we don't have the time to build up a 2nd club trick, and I'll be endplayed when I win the K♥ anyway, either giving declarer a 3rd heart trick or opening up clubs. If pard has the A♣ we can't lose it.

Like Petko, I am worried about compressing our side's trump trick when pard has Qx.

So I think we need to focus on the likely 4=2=3=4. Again, a diamond is best, although we will be in a similar quandary when we win the K♥ at T8.

Hopefully pard can give me some help on his 3rd pitch on trump.

[mike777]

P should have bid 2d not overcall 1d with a 6 card D suit. I am a passed hand.
Really wish I had lead K of D at trick one, this problem was foreseeable.

Return a d now.