[JLOL]

This might not be worthy of a thread since it's kind of random but just wanted to see:

KJ8 Tx Q9xx QTxx

1N p 3N p p p. Your lead. Imps.

[Walddk]

♥10.

[mikeh]

I lead a club... yes, I know that LHO didn't stayman, but that doesn't mean clubs is not our best suit, and it is the one that needs the least from partner.

My preferences: club, then heart 10, then spade K then diamond spot... with no liking at all for the 3rd and 4th choices, but the spade K is at least the lead most likely to be written up...altho probably for all the wrong reasons.

[655321]

4th best club

[kfay]

Heart requires too much from partner.

Spade suit looks like it can't be untangled (if partner even has spades) with this darn 8 in there. The J is always a sexy lead from this kind of holding but only if dummy rates to hold 4 spades to the Q9

So I close my eyes and lead a minor.

[Lobowolf]

I think it's close between the club and the heart. I dislike the spade lead, and there's no reason other than dumb luck that the diamond lead would be best, since it's like the club lead but from a worse holding.

I'd lead the club, but I think it's close. Club has better chances for dynamic success; heart is less likely to give anything away. On the auction, dummy might have stuff to burn, which is a slight nudge toward the club, which I wanted to lead anyway.

If the auction had been something like 1NT-2NT (nat & inv); 3NT, then I'd put more of a premium on not giving away the 9th trick, rather than working to establish the 5th, and I'd lead the heart.

[Echognome]

I think no one would be shocked if I lead the ♥T.

For what it's worth, if I were trying for a newspaper lead, it would be the ♠J hoping for a surrounding play on opening lead. Of course it would be very unlikely for partner to have both the ♠A and another entry, but it would be pretty cool.

[MarkDean]

mikeh, on Apr 22 2009, 03:16 PM, said:

I lead a club... yes, I know that LHO didn't stayman, but that doesn't mean clubs is not our best suit, and it is the one that needs the least from partner.

My preferences: club, then heart 10, then spade K then diamond spot... with no liking at all for the 3rd and 4th choices, but the spade K is at least the lead most likely to be written up...altho probably for all the wrong reasons.

OK, QTxx is a stronger holding than Q9xx, and I can see holdings where QTxx will do and Q9xx will not, but is the difference really great enough in your mind to make them your first and fourth choices and to state that you really do not like the fourth choice?

[Lobowolf]

MarkDean, on Apr 22 2009, 06:46 PM, said:

mikeh, on Apr 22 2009, 03:16 PM, said:

I lead a club... yes, I know that LHO didn't stayman, but that doesn't mean clubs is not our best suit, and it is the one that needs the least from partner.

My preferences: club, then heart 10, then spade K then diamond spot... with no liking at all for the 3rd and 4th choices, but the spade K is at least the lead most likely to be written up...altho probably for all the wrong reasons.

OK, QTxx is a stronger holding than Q9xx, and I can see holdings where QTxx will do and Q9xx will not, but is the difference really great enough in your mind to make them your first and fourth choices and to state that you really do not like the fourth choice?

The difference between the hands is the slightest of slight, but there's no reason at all to prefer a diamond. It's like preferring QT offsuit to QT suited in hold'em. Why would you?

[jdonn]

I would lead the club, I think we are too strong to expect a heart to work well and that we are too likely to be forced into leading away from a queen or two later anyway to want to bother avoiding it now.

[Hanoi5]

♠J, but I think any lead is a guess.

[Phil]

A heart for me. This is automatic at MPs, but since its IMPs, I give it a slight nod over a club.

[dburn]

Would lead a club without thought; a diamond might blow a trick even if partner has the jack, while a club will not. A spade is speculative: could work very well or very badly. A heart is close to ridiculous at any form of scoring, but maybe marginally less wrong at matchpoints than at IMPs. No doubt it was the winner.

[hanp]

Agree with the club leaders. It is a much more attractive holding to lead from than any other holding and too bad it is a minor.

[JLOL]

dburn, on Apr 22 2009, 09:29 PM, said:

Would lead a club without thought; a diamond might blow a trick even if partner has the jack, while a club will not. A spade is speculative: could work very well or very badly. A heart is close to ridiculous at any form of scoring, but maybe marginally less wrong at matchpoints than at IMPs. No doubt it was the winner.

LOL

[Walddk]

dburn, on Apr 23 2009, 04:29 AM, said:

A heart is close to ridiculous at any form of scoring, but maybe marginally less wrong at matchpoints than at IMPs. No doubt it was the winner.

Overheard when the team scored up:

"I apologise profusely for leading a heart. It was close to ridiculous, and we don't deserve the 10 IMPs. May I suggest that we hand them back to the opponents?"

Roland

[gnasher]

dburn, on Apr 23 2009, 03:29 AM, said:

Would lead a club without thought; a diamond might blow a trick even if partner has the jack, while a club will not. A spade is speculative: could work very well or very badly. A heart is close to ridiculous at any form of scoring, but maybe marginally less wrong at matchpoints than at IMPs.

Me too.

[JLOL]

I led a club also. LOL at dburn suggesting that I would post this because a heart was the winning lead.

[FrancesHinden]

Maybe there's a bit of a cultural thing here, because I also think a heart is horrible and it would be my fourth choice lead. I really hate short suit leads against 3NT.

Other than that it's obviously random, but I would go with fourth highest of my longest and strongest.

[whereagles]

Club lead is fine, but I feel an urge to lead a heart, so that's what I do.