[sceptic]

Dealer: North Vul: NS Scoring: IMP

♠ AJ9864 ♥ 9875 ♦ 6 ♣ 97

West North East South

 -     Pass  1NT   2♠
 3NT   Pass  Pass  Pass
 

Hi all a couple of questions please about my overcall and my lead, we are vuln, opps are not

1/. would you overcall with this hand

2/. what would you lead and why

3/. is it right not to lead your 6 card suit with no entries back to your hand

4/. do you think that you may have an entry back to your hand if hearts break and play well for you

[matmat]

no
lowest heart
not that suit.
no

[paulg]

Generally why do you overcall? It is for a number of reasons including:

• to compete for the part score
  
• to tell partner the lead
  
• to find a good sacrifice
  
• to make life difficult for the opps

Opposite a passed hand, when you are vulnerable against not, and RHO has opened a strong 1NT, and you have 5 points and a ropey suit, bidding 2♠ achieves none of these objectives.

Instead you are offering the opposition the chance for a juicy double, telling them that suits are breaking badly, warning them about a weakness.

So I think this overcall is misjudged.

Instead just pass and lead a spade. You never know, partner may have ♠Kx and the suit will run. Once you've bid they'll never play in 3NT when it's wrong.

However, once you've bid I'd still lead a spade as it's the best chance to beat the contract.

Paul

[whereagles]

Overcall and lead a spade. If pard could beat 3NT on his own, he would have dbled

[skjaeran]

1. I really like interfering over opps strong NT, but there's a limit to what I'd bid on. This clearly exceeds that limit. There's no point to it red vs white. I'll just offer opps the opportunity to hammer me, or ease their bidding and declaring.

2. It would be nice to know opps' methods after intervention - what version of lebensohl they use, and follow-ups. 3NT might show or deny a stopper. That said, our best chance to set the contract is setting up my ♠'s, so I'll lead my systemic correct card in the suit.

3. Sure. Give partner three small, Qx or Tx, and there's several layouts where we can cash out the ♠ suit as soon as partner gains the lead.

4. If partner holds a 5-card ♥ suit (and some 4-card holdings), a ♥ lead would set the contract.

[Walddk]

Sure you could find a layout where you take the first 9 or 10 tricks (say partner has ♥AK + length and ♠Qx with K10 or Kxx in the East hand), but as Mike Hargreaves has put it many times: bridge is a game of probabilities.

There is no doubt in my mind that a spade lead will win in the long run. If you found a heart and it turned out to be the killing lead, I congratulate you.

Roland

[P_Marlowe]

Hi,

#1 Given the vul. no, but change the vulnerability
only slightly, the answer is yes, but patner has
to know, that the overcall style is destructive
... and given that partner is a passed hand I may
well overcall anyway

#2 spades, it is a 6 card suit and any other lead is
guessing

#3 see my answer to #2

#4 no, put partner can hold 3 spades with one or two
out side entries

With kind regards
Marlowe

This post has been edited by P_Marlowe: 2007-June-16, 12:33

[pclayton]

I don't overcall at these colors. Its reckless and it might steer them out of a 3N we can beat.

At IMPs, leading hearts is not the way to beat this hand. Pards strength sits under declarer and the hand will play easy. A spade lead will beat the hand more often when there''s a way to get 5 tricks.

At MPs I like a heart lead however. It wont blow a trick.

[Codo]

1. I am getting too old for this but I believe that it will work more often then not
2. A spade because I want to cash 5 tricks.
3. sometimes but unluckily I will know this just after the hand.
4. Ace of spade does look like a good entry. But maybe I mis understood the question?

[Free]

1/. would you overcall with this hand
Probably not at this vulnerability

2/. what would you lead and why
♥, canapé leads work a lot for me (read my blog )

3/. is it right not to lead your 6 card suit with no entries back to your hand
Sometimes

4/. do you think that you may have an entry back to your hand if hearts break and play well for you
Maybe, unless declarer can cut communications in ♠ early on...

[jdonn]

I strongly dislike the overcall at this vul when this weak, especially when partner has passed. I also consider a spade a completely obvious lead at any form of scoring. Of course with leads it's never 100% since your information is too limited, but I think any lead but a spade is too creative.

[whereagles]

You're right that 2♠ might drive opps into a minor suit game they might not bid otherwise, but, other than that I don't see why I shouldn't take away opp's 2-level... for example, it will block all of opps cool slamish gadgets. Or they might be afraid that 1 stopper is insufficient for 3NT and bid to a lesser 5m contract.