[DWM]

I read about leading aces against slams in a book. So it must be correct.

Saying that I cant remember if they said it was a good thing or not.

[dellache]

♦A at MP, x♣ at IMPs.
1. They can easily make 13 tricks on this sequence.
2. Sometimes we make the first two tricks in ♦.

At Imps, I would consider reason 2 alone to be too borderline in itself, compared to the risk of giving the 12th.

Always difficult in the postmortem with pards when you choose wrong .

[olliebol]

If the diamond ace is wrong and you play with a good partner the post mortem should be short namely : shrug, next please.

[MFA]

This is somewhat about trust. The opponents are having a very strong auction. If they are good players I agree that ♦A is likely to be the percentage lead.

But a not-so-good player will often not have a 'blackwood hand' as responder. Maybe because he just overbid or maybe because he didn't really have the tools for doing anything else and had to stab (with blackwood being a mandatory ritual). Against such players I think it is sensible to go passive (♥) and hope for a reasonably balanced dummy. Were it not for the ♦T I would have no qualms about the ♦A lead at all.

[gwnn]

they had 29 hcp in between them. their diamonds are KJx in dummy and xx in hand, no discards. Nobody else bid this slam.

So basically it's like:

♦A ----> 0%
♦------>100%
something else---->50%

[DWM]

Not sure if it is just me but with

....... KJx
ATxx Q9xx
...... xx

If they have 11 tricks off the top outside diamonds it does not matter who opens the suit up as they only need 1 trick. A low diamond would put them to the guess but its still as makeable.

[Jlall]

DWM, on Oct 23 2009, 02:15 AM, said:

Not sure if it is just me but with

....... KJx
ATxx Q9xx
...... xx

If they have 11 tricks off the top outside diamonds it does not matter who opens the suit up as they only need 1 trick. A low diamond would put them to the guess but its still as makeable.

His point was that they will misguess 100 % of the time if you underlead your ace.

[dellache]

olliebol, on Oct 22 2009, 09:59 PM, said:

If the diamond ace is wrong and you play with a good partner the post mortem should be short namely : shrug, next please.

Of course we NEVER have any postmortem at the table. Actually, we never say a word and focus to stay pokerface all the time, especially when we double them into 2♠ making +1. But we DO have bloody postmortems at the end of the event .

[gwnn]

As a possibly interesting experiment I counted who was for dA and who was against and got in time order:

(diamond Ace-not diamond Ace)

• 1-5
  
• jlall's post (not counted)
  
• 7-2

without barryallen and MFA relatively uncertain posts it's 1-4 and 7-1.

[ArtK78]

gwnn, on Oct 22 2009, 06:02 PM, said:

they had 29 hcp in between them. their diamonds are KJx in dummy and xx in hand, no discards. Nobody else bid this slam.

So basically it's like:

♦A ----> 0%
♦------>100%
something else---->50%

Unlucky.

[Free]

gwnn, on Oct 23 2009, 12:02 AM, said:

they had 29 hcp in between them. their diamonds are KJx in dummy and xx in hand, no discards. Nobody else bid this slam.

So basically it's like:

♦A ----> 0%
♦------>100%
something else---->50%

Who underleads a Qxxx against this auction? I think small ♦ is still 0%, ok maybe 20%. Not leading a ♦ is definitely more likely to succeed.

[gwnn]

Free: no it's not, i actually asked RHO and he said he'd definitely have played the jack. Anyway last week I underlead a K against a slam and we took A and K and the players (all 3, plus two kibs) were like "wow! underleading a K against a slam! that's impossible!" so in this club they'd have played me for the Q 90+%

[jmcw]

I likely would lead club. The last card I lead is the DA...yes I would lead a small one before the ACE

[pooltuna]

gwnn, on Oct 23 2009, 07:31 AM, said:

Free: no it's not, i actually asked RHO and he said he'd definitely have played the jack. Anyway last week I underlead a K against a slam and we took A and K and the players (all 3, plus two kibs) were like "wow! underleading a K against a slam! that's impossible!" so in this club they'd have played me for the Q 90+%

Sorry, but in IMPS, a small card away from a K or Q is routine vs a small slam for all good players especially if there is no indication that it might be setting up a side suit for declarer. Not as sure about MP but I certainly would where we need to set up a setting side trick.

[gwnn]

which part of my reply are you contesting

[Codo]

gwnn, on Oct 26 2009, 02:35 AM, said:

which part of my reply are you contesting

he supported your view.

BTW I had lead a low club before Justin wrote, an ace after his comment and now:

A low diamond is the obvious expert choice, nothing else will be as often right as this lead.


..no, I had lead the ace and shrugged my shoulders after the board.