[Lobowolf]

MickyB, on Aug 26 2009, 11:51 AM, said:

I doubled at the table and thought it clearcut, was suprised how many good players who I asked preferred 1♠. You really want to invite partner to bid a suit while the auction is still at a low level, which will leave you well-placed.

The auction proceeded

1♦-X-1♥-2♥
3♣-3♥-5♦-X
all pass

What would you lead?

Diamond is indicated, for sure.

[gnasher]

I think that a heart lead is less likely to cost a trick than a spade, but more likely to cost the contract. Partner probably has ♥K or ♥Q, so ♥A is unlikely to set up more than one trick in dummy, and declarer will still have at least one spade loser.

However, there is some risk that the heart lead will set up two winners for declarer, and with 2065 he'll end up not losing any spades at all. If I cash ♠A. the contract should go down - partner's diamonds and my club holding ought to be enough to make sure of that.

[ONEferBRID]

1♦-X-1♥-2♥
3♣-3♥-5♦-X
all pass

ArtK78 poses a good question:

[QUOTE]What does my partner's 2♥ bid mean?[QUOTE]

Opener could very well be void in Hts on this auction.

[ Art... let's see how many "LOL's" I get ] .

[MickyB]

[quote name='ONEferBRID' date='Aug 27 2009, 10:35 AM'] 1♦-X-1♥-2♥
3♣-3♥-5♦-X
all pass

ArtK78 poses a good question:

[QUOTE]What does my partner's 2♥ bid mean?[QUOTE]

Opener could very well be void in Hts on this auction.

[ Art... let's see how many "LOL's" I get ] . [/quote]
2[he] showed 5[he]s, I think this is pretty standard (X shows 4 or maybe a bad 5). So RHO is marked with a void unless you think LHO has psyched on precisely three hearts - I say precisely three, because it seems very unlikely that RHO has a doubleton heart on this bidding. Anyway, at the table, it *really* didn't feel like LHO had psyched.

[MickyB]

gnasher, on Aug 27 2009, 09:20 AM, said:

I think that a heart lead is less likely to cost a trick than a spade, but more likely to cost the contract. Partner probably has ♥K or ♥Q, so ♥A is unlikely to set up more than one trick in dummy, and declarer will still have at least one spade loser.

However, there is some risk that the heart lead will set up two winners for declarer, and with 2065 he'll end up not losing any spades at all. If I cash ♠A. the contract should go down - partner's diamonds and my club holding ought to be enough to make sure of that.

I'd have thought the choice was between the spade ace and a low heart.

[gnasher]

MickyB, on Aug 27 2009, 12:03 PM, said:

I'd have thought the choice was between the spade ace and a low heart.

That's true. A low heart seems better than either ace.