[shyams]

Scoring: IMP

Bidding (uncontested):
East - West
1♦ - 1♠
1 NT - 2♣ .....new minor forcing
2♥ - 4 NT
5♦ - 6 NT .....If it matters: East does not know which key suit was agreed; both their profiles say RKC 3041

---

What suit do you choose for your opening lead? Is it possible to rate the 4 suits in order (best to worst etc)?

Partner was supportive & understanding after my actual choice of opening leads backfired. But upon reflection, I felt I made a very poor choice.

[kenberg]

The one suit I am not leading is spades. Declarer I suppose has four hearts and two spades. Probably part of his play will be to go after the spade suit and I will let him figure that out. Maybe a case can be made for a club but I am not leading one. so we are down to the reds. Declarer has four hearts, it's likely that the natural way to take any needed heart finesse is to play partner for the honor so even if I, say, pickle partner's queen it probably was already pickled. So a heart seems safe and I will lead it. If declarer holds AKTx and dummy xx I imagine I just made declarer happy.

The story line suggests that I need to do something active, since you speak of the big swing on the opening lead. If so, I lose because the only remotely active lead I see is a club and I am not doing it.

So a heart is my first choice, a spade my last, a club close to last.

[wclass___]

IMO ♣>>♦=♠>♥

Partner could have doubled for ♠ lead, so i opt for ♣. Auction seems aggressive enough, most probably based on some ♠ tricks. So i hope that i can catch ♣K, before they establish ♠ for 12 tricks.

[pooltuna]

shyams, on Feb 15 2010, 11:07 AM, said:

Scoring: IMP

Bidding (uncontested):
East - West
1♦ - 1♠
1 NT - 2♣ .....new minor forcing
2♥ - 4 NT
5♦ - 6 NT .....If it matters: East does not know which key suit was agreed; both their profiles say RKC 3041

---

What suit do you choose for your opening lead? Is it possible to rate the 4 suits in order (best to worst etc)?

Partner was supportive & understanding after my actual choice of opening leads backfired. But upon reflection, I felt I made a very poor choice.

♦>♥>♣>♠

[billw55]

Sometimes we need to establish a winner at trick one to beat 6NT. Other times we just need to not give anything away. And no matter which applies to this hand, there is no possible way to tell which suit will work. With nothing to go on I stay passive, lead from weakness through one of dummy's suits. So for me ♦=♥>♣>♠.

But really it's just guessing. I don't know how you could be so convinced that there is a correct answer.

edit: oops, misread auction, dummy bid the black suits.

[Little Kid]

Declarer most likely has 2443 (possibly 3442/3451/3433 depending on their agreements). Declarer also showed 0/3 keycards. If he had 3, he would have to have something like AKAK/AAA if he doesn't know for what suit was keycarded. It seems more likely he has 0 based on the fact that responder has a) shown much more points and b ) keycarded. I suppose it is definitely possible responder only has 0-1 ace, it just seems less likely.

Responder looks like he has 5♠s, maybe something like 5323/5332/5233.

If partner has anything in ♠, they'll have to work on that suit for their 12 most likely anyway, so it can wait. If partner did have two spade tricks off the top, partner had a double of 6N anyway. Partner probably has +- 7points so we should try to find a lead that can set up his king if he has one in ♣/♦/♥ (he is likely to have an ace too based on bidding). It looks like declarer is not the one holding the aces on this had so I just need to find which suit to attack. The only suit I am definitely not leading is a ♠.

My vote goes for a ♣ because that is the suit which is most crucial to attack if partner has the king there and an outside ace. If it backfires it is not likely to give much away in terms of tricks (responder didn't jump to 3♣) and partner's honours may still take two tricks later on. It is also the suit where the opponents do not have many cards in, making it a more likely they won't be attacking this suit for their 12 anyway.

So: ♣>♥=♦>>♠

Not very confident about this decision though, a ♦ or ♥ may easily be the right lead too.

[Bbradley62]

Everyone agrees ♠ is wrong. ♣ is the most likely suit to kick a trick, so I don't pick that either. ♦>♥>>>♣>♠

[bid_em_up]

Little Kid, on Feb 15 2010, 12:31 PM, said:

Declarer also showed 0/3 keycards.

I read it as he showed 1 or 4 (30-14) and it has to be one since otherwise he would have a 1N opening (or better).

[Little Kid]

Oops yeah!

[bid_em_up]

Since I think is reasonable for partner to have a spade trick, we need to establish our second trick as quickly as possible. I'm not going to lead a red suit into declarer, if he has a red suit loser, it is unlikely to disappear. However, if declarer had club losers, he may be able to pitch them on the spades unless we get our trick established while partner still has his spade winner.

Even though I dislike leading from Jxxx, this is one time I think it is necessary to do so. So a small club it is for me.

The only alternative is a spade, and I don't see how that could possibly be right given that partner could have doubled for a spade lead if he really wanted one.

[Free]

Imo ♣>♦>♥>♠

[Fluffy]

Both opps are balanced, we are not looking for a quick trick but maybe for 2 slow ones.

club lead with declarer having 3 and dummy having values sounds extremelly dangerous.

pasive leads: spade and diamond, I'd go with diamond.

[P_Marlowe]

Hi,

Playing NMF - 4NT is quantitative, raising 2H to 3H would have set hearts.

I would rule out diamonds, I would rule out hearts, that leaves spades and
clubs.
Spades has the advantage, that you lead through the spades, and declarer
will only have 2 spades.
Clubs is dangerous, it would be better, if you had the 9 of clubs.

So I would go with spades, followed by clubs, followed by ..., followed by
hearts, than diamonds.

With kind regards
Marlowe

[shyams]

The actual hand is not very instructive but here goes:

Scoring: IMP

---

Both tables had a bidding misunderstanding (all players except me were classified 'expert' and their card play thru the match was decent enough)

1. At our table, West meant 4NT to be quantitative. East thought it was RKCB but did not know which suit. So he showed the one Ace he had by bidding 5♦
2. I thought for some time before the lead (and asked East privately about the 5♦) but I had pretty much ruled out leading clubs which was the only lead to defeat 6NT
3. After deciding that it was between ♦ and ♠, I finally chose a spade for an entirely flawed reasoning
4. The other table played in 6♠ by West! North had no difficulty in cashing the first two tricks

[WellSpyder]

If I had tried ranking cards rather than just suits, I'm pretty sure ♣J would have been my 13th choice. Just shows how much I still have to learn about this game....

[Free]

WellSpyder, on Feb 17 2010, 11:26 AM, said:

If I had tried ranking cards rather than just suits, I'm pretty sure ♣J would have been my 13th choice. Just shows how much I still have to learn about this game....

I wouldn't lead the ♣J, but a small one. Still good enough for -1...

[jukmoi]

bid_em_up, on Feb 15 2010, 05:08 PM, said:

Since I think is reasonable for partner to have a spade trick, we need to establish our second trick as quickly as possible. I'm not going to lead a red suit into declarer, if he has a red suit loser, it is unlikely to disappear. However, if declarer had club losers, he may be able to pitch them on the spades unless we get our trick established while partner still has his spade winner.

This is sound reasoning.

[kenberg]

Bridge require not only good judgment but also a sense of humor.

holding four hearts and three spades, I also respond 2H rather than 2S to nmf unless we have agreed otherwise, but I realize others feel differently.

I suppose 4NT as quantitative makes some sense, but I would have assumed it was rkc for hearts. You get dealt 5=4=2=2 and after nmf uncovers the heart fit. You have values for a slam if the keys are adequate. You would like to be able to ask. As far as I know, bidding 3H over 2H is inviting 4H not setting trump and looking for slam, so if 4NT is not rkc for hearts we have a problem. If the response to nmf is not a major then yes, I recognize 4NT as quant.

As with WellSpyder, I have much to learn.

Anyway, I understand the reasoning for a club lead. I'm still not sure I would do it.

[Jlall]

A spade lead is horrible, I cannot believe that fluffy called it passive. It is very likely RHO has Hx and you just pick off something like Jxxx or QTxx or QJxx etc with partner.

After that it is pretty random, but it's clear to me that a diamond is better than a heart, because there is less chance of us blowing a trick by leading from our 4 card suit rather than our 3 card suit.

So that makes it a diamond or a club. I know the hand now, but pretty sure I would have led a diamond and hoped the 4-2 spade split offside means we can just go passive and beat them. J87x is just too likely to blow a trick imo.

[GREYMOON]

My lead is an automatic small diamond. I have an entry with the J of clubs and I will return the diamond to my partners king. We know that opener has one Ace and with the information I have, I am going to establish a diamond in my partners hand.
My motto is "GGWYG" = GREYMOON, GO WITH YOUR GUT