[jillybean]

Scoring: MP

P (P) P (1♥)
(4♦) : (4nt)
(5♦) : (6♥)
AP

---

Which leads do you consider and why?
Are there any leads you deliberately avoid and why?

tyia
jb

[mike777]

I will try the Jack of clubs.

See no particular reason to lead one of the other suits but.....

[Gerben42]

♦: Not very useful since responder is short. In addition you give them a free finesse through pd which might not be taken otherwise.

♥: Passive and slightly dangerous, opener may have decided 5-4 trumps is enough to find the Q.

♠: Helps opps more than us. Ace might be important if we don't see it again but I don't buy that.

♣: Best chance to develop an extra trick, I lead the Jack.

[Walddk]

♣J. Do we have two spade tricks? Too bad, blame it on RHO who Blackwooded with no spade control; or maybe we have a spade ruff if I cash ♠A and lead another.

No, I would not lead ♠A at the table. It takes two tricks to defeat a slam, and leading an unsupported ace on an auction like this is usually wrong.

Roland

[jillybean]

Jlall, on Apr 24 2007, 08:16 AM, said:

The spade jack would not be a good choice.

I see I need to make my questions a little more specific

[plaur]

Opener did not open 2♣ in 4th pos but liked a splinter in ♦ so much he went right to blackwood when partner showed zero or one ace. Why did he like a ♦ splinter? Because he does not have many wasted values in ♦. So he might vere well have ♣ values. I dont think my ♠E will go away, and I dont like to open ♣'s!
I am going passive with a ♥.

[Walddk]

Jlall, on Apr 24 2007, 06:11 PM, said:

Roland, it's MP.

I realise that but I still would not lead ♠A. I also accept that I am hopeless at matchpoints and that I am very reluctant to play the format. Unless they twist my arms of course

I will stick to my ♣J. If this means a bottom, it won't be the first time.

Roland

[han]

Well, clearly we lead ♣J or ♠A, no other card comes to mind. A diamond lead is hopeless, a heart lead seems wrong and given that we have the spade jack it can't be right to underlead the ace.

[ArcLight]

Lead a trump to hopefully cut down on Dummy ruffs.

I assume 5♦ shows 1 key card.
Declarer bid blackwood without cue bidding

I think declarer has something like
♠ Kx or better
♥ very good
♦ Axx or Axxx He expects no losers here, and would not assume that with xxx
♣ very good

Our side probably has ♦ K Q J, ♠AJ, and the ♣ J. Thats 12, leaving them 23, about what I'd expect for a jump to slam. We might have a tad more, like a Q.

Lead a trump to hopefully cut down on Dummy ruffs.

A trump lead is unlikely to do damage as they are 2=2 or else pard has 1. And they are under declarer. I would be more concerned if we had just 1, implying pard might have 3.


Declarer might be short of entries, if he has something like:

KQ
AKxxx
Axxx
Kx


You lead a trump, declarer can ruff a dime, and reneter via teh Club K for another ruuf, but doesn't have teh entries for the 3rd ruff.

I dont see the need to lead the ♣ Jack.
Where will declarer build a trick?
Not in ♦ or ♣, if our failure to lead a ♣ was to have cost.
♠? I dont think so.

[bid_em_up]

Well, my thoughts were:

Diamond is out. Would likely help declarer too much in that suit and give him extra timing on the hand.

A trump is certainly possible, but we are likely only able to prevent one ruff which wont be that much help. (If I held the diamond Ace instead of the spade Ace, I would be much more likely to lead a trump).

That leaves a spade or club.

A club wins if partner holds the K and dummy has either the Ace or the Q. It could lose if declarer has AQx clubs and dummy has K9xx(x) or any similar holdings. Dummy may easily have this type of holding, since we know dummy is short in diamonds. This may allow declarer to pitch spade losers on the club suit. I won't rule a club out yet, but I won't decide thats the best lead just yet.

This leaves a spade. Now, the spade Ace gives us the best chance of either 1) holding 6H to 6, 2) beating 6H if partner holds the spade K, or 3) beating 6H when partner has a stiff spade. But is it the best lead?

We know dummy has a stiff diamond, and only 1 keycard. Where are the other his other points? He is a passed hand, so we can expect approximately 10-12 in dummy along with his 4 trump. So dummies likely hand may well be something like:

K10x Kxxx x KQxxx or Kxx Qxxx x AQxxx

Given that declarer is likely able to pitch spades from his hand on either of these holdings, leading the spade Ace seems right. It appears declarer likely has 13 tricks if we don't cash.

But at IMP, I would seriously consider leading a small spade......since putting declarer to the test at trick one may be our only shot at beating it. He is unlikely to go wrong later in the hand, even if he has to play a spade towards the K. (I also would prefer not to hold the spade J, if attempting this, but oh well.)

[bid_em_up]

ArcLight, on Apr 24 2007, 01:00 PM, said:

Declarer might be short of entries, if he has something like

KQ
AKxxx
Axxx
Kx

Tad short of entries to do what?

If declarer has something like this hand, then doesn't dummy have to hold:

xx(xx)
QJxx
x
AQxx(x)

as a bare minimum for the splinter?

I don't see your point.

[cherdano]

bid_em_up, on Apr 24 2007, 02:23 PM, said:

But at IMP, I would seriously consider leading a small spade......and putting declarer to the test at trick one may be our only shot at beating it.

You have to pass your ♠J to declarer for your spade underlead to make any sense at all.

[bid_em_up]

cherdano, on Apr 24 2007, 03:31 PM, said:

bid_em_up, on Apr 24 2007, 02:23 PM, said:

But at IMP, I would seriously consider leading a small spade......and putting declarer to the test at trick one may be our only shot at beating it.

You have to pass your ♠J to declarer for your spade underlead to make any sense at all.

I was already adjusting my post.

But it is not necessarily true. I would prefer to not have the spade J. It wouldn't have to be in declarers hand, it could be in dummy.

Declarer can also take the view that his best shot is to hope for a stiff A in partner's hand via leading a small spade. (It does happen occasionally.)

But ty 4 your astute observations.

[jdonn]

Spade ace is clear to me. The best chance to set seems to be partner ruffing a spade, which could easily happen since LHO is short in diamonds. Plus since it's mps at least I will make sure to get it, though I would definitely lead it at imps too.

Leading a low spade is just absurd. For one thing the king (or a singleton) is probably on your right. For another how will you feel when partner has a stiff spade?

[P_Marlowe]

Hi,

I would go with a diamond, although partner did
not double diamonds, which means he does not
look at KQx, which makes it a bad lead .

A Trump is passive, if you believe they dont have
their tricks (knowledge of the oppoenents helps).

Clubs is dangerous as well, if decalrer does not have
wastage in diamonds, he has the other suits.

With kind regards
Marlowe

[mike777]

Ok JB you have clear votes for a lead in every suit.

I hope that is clear now.

Thank goodness this is only a beginner level problem and not advanced or expert.

[pclayton]

Odd; I find a trump appealing. There isn't an obvious source of tricks, and this is one of those times I'd be concerned about blowing a trick into dummy's Q9x or K9x with a club lead. Hard to see where anything can go.

[jdonn]

The only lead that is clearly wrong is a diamond. Partner has a spade ruff, you lose. You needed to lead trumps to stop a crossruff, you lose. Dummy has a diamond void, you lose. You needed to set up a club trick, you lose. At least everything else seems to have some way where it could possibly work, I can't even imagine a diamond accomplishing anything.