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Opening Lead against slam

#1 User is offline   ralph23 

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Posted 2007-July-20, 16:02

♠♣♦♥

♠ __
♥ 842
♦ AKQ942
♣ 7542

Holding this as West, you hear the following:
North deals and opens 1♠, and South bids 2♥.
North raises to 3♥, and South bids 4NT, regular Blackwood.
North bids 5♦ to show one Ace, and South bids 6♥.

Your opponents are very good players.

It's your lead. Any ideas ? :)
♣♦♥♠ Philosophy consists very largely of one philosopher arguing that other philosophers are all jackasses. He usually proves it, and I should add that he also usually proves that he is one himself. H.L. Mencken. ♣♦♥♠
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#2 User is offline   Echognome 

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Posted 2007-July-20, 16:03

Hero lead is obviously a small diamond.
"Half the people you know are below average." - Steven Wright
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#3 User is offline   ralph23 

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Posted 2007-July-20, 16:11

Echognome, on Jul 20 2007, 05:03 PM, said:

Hero lead is obviously a small diamond.

Why not AK of ♦ to the first two tricks ?

Adv & Exp, pls hide your answers.
♣♦♥♠ Philosophy consists very largely of one philosopher arguing that other philosophers are all jackasses. He usually proves it, and I should add that he also usually proves that he is one himself. H.L. Mencken. ♣♦♥♠
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#4 User is offline   mikeh 

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Posted 2007-July-20, 16:13

Spoiler


Sorry partner, but as one of my favourite bridge cartoons has it: I'm not good enough to be brilliant.
'one of the great markers of the advance of human kindness is the howls you will hear from the Men of God' Johann Hari
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#5 User is offline   vuroth 

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Posted 2007-July-20, 16:20

I was pondering a trump lead. North is 5/4 or better in the majors, and south has at least 4 trumps. If south is evisioning a crossruff, though, I may have an overruff coming.

A♦
Still decidedly intermediate - don't take my guesses as authoritative.

"gwnn" said:

rule number 1 in efficient forum reading:
hanp does not always mean literally what he writes.
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#6 User is offline   ralph23 

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Posted 2007-July-20, 16:34

vuroth, on Jul 20 2007, 05:20 PM, said:

North is 5/4 or better in the majors, and south has at least 4 trumps.

South must have at least 5♥ for his bid, and North is permitted to raise with 3♥. North could have a minimal balanced hand with 5♠. After all, he hasn't done anything except open the bidding and raise South, and South has launched Blackwood without any further explorations.

Do you think South has a very strong hand?
♣♦♥♠ Philosophy consists very largely of one philosopher arguing that other philosophers are all jackasses. He usually proves it, and I should add that he also usually proves that he is one himself. H.L. Mencken. ♣♦♥♠
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#7 User is offline   FrancesHinden 

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Posted 2007-July-21, 03:49

I agree with mike. From an admittedly limited selection I've seen more slams be let through on the 'brilliant' lead than beaten.
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#8 User is offline   skjaeran 

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Posted 2007-July-21, 05:10

FrancesHinden, on Jul 21 2007, 11:49 AM, said:

I agree with mike. From an admittedly limited selection I've seen more slams be let through on the 'brilliant' lead than beaten.

Count me in too.
Kind regards,
Harald
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#9 User is offline   ralph23 

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Posted 2007-July-21, 08:37

♣♦♥♠



This one is a true story and it was in the newspapers (according to Bill Root, who used this example in his classes), probably about 60 years ago. West thought the slam was making due to the strong bidding by South, and his having 9 HCP militated against his partner having anything. He reasoned that if partner had the Jack of ♦, then he could get a ♠ ruff. However, he also figured, better lead a low one, as if dummy has the ten and partner the Jack, declarer may duck and partner may get cute and duck also.

So he led a low ♦. Of course, his heart sank when he saw the Jack of ♦ in dummy. But wait ! Declarer got complacent and played low from dummy !!

When partner got over the shock of winning the first trick with the Ten, he realized that West was desparate to put him on lead, and seeing 11 ♠ between his hand and dummy, he did the right thing.

Declarer was according to Root a "well known expert" and his name was never mentioned.
♣♦♥♠ Philosophy consists very largely of one philosopher arguing that other philosophers are all jackasses. He usually proves it, and I should add that he also usually proves that he is one himself. H.L. Mencken. ♣♦♥♠
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