[sceptic]

bidding goes 1NT - pass - 3NT pass out

you hold

spades first then hearts

1/. HXXX Hxx

2/. Hxxx hxxx

3/. xxxx xxx

4/, Ajxx QJ10

5/. kxxx akx

which major do you lead and why

[whereagles]

1, 2, 3: spade. No reason to devitate from the "4th from longest and strongest" guideline.
4: spade, but might try a heart depending on the vibes at table or state of the match.
5: as above, but might try a top heart, especially at matchpoints (if dummy comes up with a battleship, I'd probably cash out and concede ).

[hatchett]

1. Spade 4th highest, longest strongest etc

2. If you mean hearts and spades are each 4 to an honor, my lead would depend on what the honors in each suit were. If they were the same honor my lead may depends on the pips in the majors.

3. as 1

4. Might depend on the rest of my hand. If I held xxx xxx in the minors, then I would probably lead a spade the most aggressive lead, although a think a heart is reasonable as well. If you hold say xx JTxx in the minors with a potential nasty surprise for declarer then the more passive heart lead is more attractive.

5. Probably a spade, but again either major will work.

4/5 are the sort hands over which experts will argue which is the best lead.

[awm]

1. Spade. May as well lead longest suit.

2. Depends on the honors and the spots.

3. Heart. With no potential to really develop tricks in my hand, I want to lead partner's good suit. If partner has a fairly typical three spades and four hearts, given my spade weakness I expect a heart lead to do better. This may also depend on my minor suit holdings (how many entries we each have).

4. Heart. Spade lead is too likely to give a trick. Similar reasoning to 3, but also a spade lead from partner's side will often be better than from mine.

5. Heart. It'd be unlucky if this blows a tempo, whereas I might catch partner with Qxxx(x) of heart. Switching to a spade at trick two is quite possible.

[luke warm]

sceptic, on Mar 18 2006, 05:37 PM, said:

bidding goes 1NT - pass - 3NT pass out

you hold

spades first then hearts

1/. HXXX Hxx

2/. Hxxx hxxx

3/. xxxx xxx

4/, Ajxx QJ10

5/. kxxx akx

which major do you lead and why

1) spade
2) depends
3) top heart
4) heart queen
5) heart ace

[luis]

Depends on the rest of the hand, which honors you have, what are the spots in each suit etc.
Saying I would lead a spade or a heart with Hxxx/Hxx is a very simplistic position.
I strongly recommend you to ignore any recommendation that doesn't take into consideration the whole hand.