[ralph23]

Scoring: IMP

Partner opens 3♥.
South bids 6♣, ending the auction.

---

You lead the Ace of ♥ and East plays the Queen.

Declarer plays a very small ♥, the trey.

What is your lead at trick 2, and more importantly, why ?

Exp & adv pls hide your answers.

[neilkaz]

Spoiler

Nice hand, Ralph and perfect for the B/I forum, which when it comes to defence is likely where I belong .

OK the Q is clear not a signal to continue, but a blatant signal to shift. I shift to the 2 of ♠ and expect PD to ruff it. My reasoning to lead the 2 is suit pref. for PD to return a ♦ just in case declarer blasted to 6♣ with a ♦ stiff.

I honestly think that for the bidding, declarer has a ♦ void, and that if I try to cash my ace, it is ruffed and the hand is over. (But it cannot hurt to give suit pref. to PD as to what to return).

If PD played the Q and holds the K, I need to read some modern defense books if this can be at all standard and there's the chance that PD preempted an 8 bagger vul, and that the next ♥ gets ruffed and hand over.

.. neilkaz ..hoping he has this correct

No one's replied here..I hope my text really was hidden ? I can see it, but maybe one can see his own hidden text here ? I don't really understand how to do hidden text here. If someone else can see this, please tell me how to fix, or if a mod, fix it for me, please.

[cherdano]

Neilkaz, to make the text hidden, you have to use "[/HIDDEN]" the second time (WITH the slash).

[neilkaz]

cherdano, on Jul 28 2007, 06:30 PM, said:

Neilkaz, to make the text hidden, you have to use "[/HIDDEN]" the second time (WITH the slash).

Thx Arend !

[vuroth]

I'll lead a spade. Our winning trick could come from anywhere, but based on dummy, declarer isn't pitching any losers. Based on the bidding, declarer might not even have many/any losers.

Partner's discard COULD be heart preference, but it could be suit preference, too. We see 10 spades, so partner is definitely short.

The only winner we could have that we might lose based on my lead is partner's possible spade void.

(For better or worse, this one took me 5 seconds.)

V

[ralph23]

vuroth, on Jul 28 2007, 07:28 PM, said:

I'll lead a spade. Our winning trick could come from anywhere, but based on dummy, declarer isn't pitching any losers. Based on the bidding, declarer might not even have many/any losers.

Partner's discard COULD be heart preference, but it could be suit preference, too. We see 10 spades, so partner is definitely short.

The only winner we could have that we might lose based on my lead is partner's possible spade void.

(For better or worse, this one took me 5 seconds.)

V

LOL, you can take more than 5 seconds, friend .

But let's think a little more.... Think about partner's play of the Queen on trick one.

1. Based on that, who has the King?
2. Now that you know that, could partner be signalling for you to lead another ♥???
3. So what kind of signal is it, for goodness' sake ?

[Quantumcat]

Declarer would not bid 6♣ with two little hearts. He either has a singleton or Kx, but I'm sure it's Kx, if partner had KQJT what on earth could he expect the queen to mean? If he wanted me to do something urgently he would have chosen his highest or lowest consecutive card or a small spot if he didn't have any plans for my next lead.

I bet declarer hopes the lead gives him an extra trick in whatever suit is chosen, either with AQ or AQJ spades or Kx heart, he has to be void in diamonds since he already counted on one heart loser, and of course has a long string of clubs. He hopes that if we lead a diamond dummy might provide him with a trick or two.

Declarer's hand looks like either of these:

---

---

There's nothing we can do unless declarer has AQJ and not AQ of spades and we can give partner a spade ruff, cause as soon as he's got the lead he has about fifty tricks.

I have a feeling this isn't right as it seems way too obvious, with the ten visible spades and everything.

[vuroth]

ralph23, on Jul 28 2007, 08:21 PM, said:

But let's think a little more.... Think about partner's play of the Queen on trick one.

1. Based on that, who has the King?
2. Now that you know that, could partner be signalling for you to lead another ♥???
3. So what kind of signal is it, for goodness' sake ?

1. Good point. Partner throws K with KQ. Partner has QJ..., so declarer has K.
2. Now that I know what partner is saying, I don't want to lead a heart.
3. Now my original suspicion is confirmed, and it's suit preference.

[ralph23]

Good reasoning all around. You "know" from trick one that declarer has the King of ♥, so that suit can't be right to lead again. So the Queen of ♥ from partner can't be a signal to lead more ♥s. It must be suit preference for ♠ and surely partner must be void.

And now I will show you all four hands:

---

Hey, partner has the King of ♥ !! What is going on? Is partner a dolt ??

No, you have a good and thoughtful partner. He knew the standard rules about suit preference when third-hand is known to hold a whole boat load of cards in the suit: a high one is suit preference for the higher suit, a low one is suit preference for the lower suit, and a middle one is a come-on (encouragement) in the suit that was led.

He also knew that a lie would be helpful here.

His reasoning: "The King on trick one, yes, that will be understood by opening leader as suit preference .... er , won't it? Wait, often that is encouragement... here of course it's suit preference, but could opening leader get confused? Hmmmm..... Well, playing the Queen will tell him that declarer has the King, so he won't lead ♥ again, and what else can he think then except suit preference?"

You can see that with any lead other than a ♠ at trick two, declarer has all the remaining tricks.

Be a good partner and don't give your partner unnecessary "quizzes" about how much he knows. Don't test partner needlessly. When you can be clear without cost, be clear. When you can be emphatic without cost, be emphatic. And if you need to lie a little to help set the contract, do it.

NB - partner opened 3♥ on a 8 bagger when you were red and they were white, applying the rule of 2, 3 and 3/4/5:

1. When we are red and they are white, count your tricks in hand and add two.
2. At equal vule, add three.
3. At favorable, sky's the limit.
He counted 7 + 2 (add 2 at unfav vul) = 9 and opened 3.
Be sure to discuss the rules of preempts with your regular partner. I like the above stated rule, but there are other schools of thought and the main thing is that you and partner have agreement.

NB2 - Of course, you will lead your lowest spade at trick two, as your suit preference for diamonds on partner's return.

[elwood913]

What about the opening lead? Isn't the Ace ♦ a better lead?

Red vs. Black partner must be counting 7 tricks. Surely he doesn't have any aces. He very likely has 8 hearts. That leaves only 3 hearts for the opponents. Declarer is likely to be trumping one of your Aces, so how often will that A♥ not get trumped? Then declarer is in and can likely get rid of his other losers if he has them, and you might never get your A♦. Isn't it better to lead the ace that is less likely to get trumped? Then if p has counted another trick for a long suit or a king, you might get the king of diamonds or a diamond ruff before declarer ever gets in, or successfully switch suits depending on p's signal.

[ralph23]

elwood913, on Jul 30 2007, 10:49 AM, said:

What about the opening lead? Isn't the Ace ♦ a better lead?

It might be but (1) this wasn't an opening lead problem and (2) if the ♦ were led, then we would never have this cool suit-preference question, because declarer will win the first 14 tricks on a ♦ lead.