[Free]

Scoring: IMP

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Bidding went:

3♦ - Pass - 3♠ - 4♥ (this hand)
4♠ - 6♥ - Pass - Pass
6♠ - Pass - Pass - Dbl
All pass

Your lead against 6♠*?

[inquiry]

You got two aces and a void, your partner leaped vulnerable to slam, and this is a lead problem? Isn't it going to be a blood bath unless your partner is a madman or a genius? Maybe we should have a clue as to the sanity of your partner before we choose our lead. We might have to be careful, a lot of imps might be riding on our choice (what is down four vulnerable and doubled? what is 6Sx making vul? ))) :-)

Ben

[Free]

Lol, your 6♥ bidding partner is Ben himself. I won't express how sane or insane he is

[inquiry]

Ben? Ok, you are playing with an insane partner.. why didn't you say so to start with....

[paulhar]

IMO 4H is quite risky - if partner doesn't have a fit, we have about 5 tricks and the 3S bidder knows it! And when you do have a fit, the opponents can bid and make 4S or 5D...

However, this may have worked out well. There's a zillion points in this deck (well, I've advertised more than I have, as usual ) Certainly, a lot of this bidding is due to a big spade fit and shortage in hearts in LHO, plus a spade void and big heart fit in partner, but some of it may be due to a big diamond fit also so that one misstep could result in 5 spade tricks and 7 diamond tricks, or 5S, 6D, 1 heart ruff, or whatever.

I don't see +1100 unless partner has good diamonds, in which case I should be leading trump. However, it seems prudent to try for any plus score here. Wouldn't partner (expecting me for a real 4H bid) bid 6H on:

Scoring: MP

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If partner really has diamond cards, he can discourage on the ace of clubs and I can switch to trump (or take a cashing heart Ace if that looks right.)

[pclayton]

As much as I think I can annhilate 6♠, we may end up with egg on our face if they can run 7 diamonds and 5 spades.

1st priority is to beat the hand, and the A♣ is the best shot. We can then try to get partner in for our hoped for ♦ ruff, and/or cash one or 2 more club tricks, or a heart.

If pard has a super-distributional hand, its even possible the opps will get a ruff/sluff at T1 if I lead a heart.

[inquiry]

paulhar, on Aug 10 2004, 04:13 PM, said:

I don't see +1100 unless partner has good diamonds, in which case I should be leading trump.

Would your partner have "good diamonds" and pass 6♠? Hmmmm I think not, and since I was the 6♥ bidder, and I passed over 6♠, I know not.

Ben

[paulhar]

inquiry, on Aug 10 2004, 03:40 PM, said:

paulhar, on Aug 10 2004, 04:13 PM, said:

I don't see +1100 unless partner has good diamonds, in which case I should be leading trump.

Would your partner have "good diamonds" and pass 6♠? Hmmmm I think not, and since I was the 6♥ bidder, and I passed over 6♠, I know not.

Ben

Scoring: IMP

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I could see this hand bidding 6H hoping for partner to hold the minor suit losers to one.

However, when the opponents bid 6S, your partner doesn't have to have four spades. I can easily see the opponents taking seven spade tricks, a couple of heart ruffs, a couple high diamonds, and a club. Alternatively, if dummy has four spades (sounds like it!), it's possible that declarer might be able to ruff dummy's diamonds good despite your length.

You might wonder about the 3S bidder not bidding 6S over 6H with a lot of spades. If he has a couple of small hearts and diamond shortness, he may fear that partner's diamond cards might be enough to scuttle 6H but not be of any use to him in 6S.

[inquiry]

Hmm... I wonder what the opening lead would be if this was a TEXTBOOK hand for bright advanced players, maybe someone like kelsey?

BTW, this hand is nearly as interesting for the bidding options (would you bid 4♥ with Free's hand, what would you bid over 4♠ with my hand, what does the pass by the 3♠ bidder over 6♥ mean) as it is for what do you lead against 6♠ (doubled or not).

Ben

[paulhar]

inquiry, on Aug 10 2004, 04:17 PM, said:

what would you bid over 4♠ with my hand

Now that we've all speculated on what your hand was, it will be interesting to see it

[flytoox]

LHO is marked with viod in heart. I will lead a small club.

[Free]

Hmmm, seems like NOBODY got it right!!!

The full hand (turned so my hand is in South):

Scoring: IMP

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Small ♥ defeats the contract tnx to a ♦ ruff return, ♥A keeps it just made, any other lead lets them make +1.

I doubled because I was confused and thought it as lightner - but I had to lead myself zzzzzzzz. I lead my ♥A, but afterwards I realised Ben had to have ♥K, so I could safely underlead my ♥A. It depends on agreements, but ♥7 or so should ask a ♦ return...

Other table ended up in 5♠*+1 (1250 vs 1660), and we lost 9 imps on that board.

I know many wouldn't even consider bidding 4♥ on my hand, but I had to impress a Belgian gold star

[inquiry]

I guess the real question is what do you bid over 4♠ with this hand...

Scoring: MP

3♦ Ps 3♠ 4♥
4♠ ?

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Ok, my thought. A vulnerable 3♦ preempt should be pretty good, and any diamond honors our opponents are missing will be poorly placed for us in my parnter's hand. Second, my parnter bid hearts in the teeth of their two different suit bids, without the heart K or Q (or T). He is not bidding this on secondary values in spades (or diamonds), surely he has good club honors and hearts. So this is a double fit hand, and it is unclear who can make what. Maybe we can make 6♥, maybe not. Following the teaching of numerous people including Robson/Segal, I bid 6♥. If I don't know if we can make it, the opponents will not know if I can make it either. What do you think? 6♥ reckless? Brilliant? Obvious? Insane? I like it.

Note, 6♥X down one would have won 1180 pts for us, and if Free had found the low ♥ lead to my king, and got his ♦ ruff, we would have gained 1480 points. So the difference between a low ♥ and anything else swings a total of 25 imps. Win 16 for small heart, lose 9 for anything else. The heart I would lead is my very smallest, not as suit preference, but as I can ruff something.. figure it out...

Ben

[the hog]

Fwiw, does anyone else think the 4H bid is off with the pixies?

[inquiry]

The_Hog, on Aug 10 2004, 06:58 PM, said:

Fwiw, does anyone else think the 4H bid is off with the pixies?

Vulnerable at imps, 4♥ was creative. I don't worry about 4♥, because that was not my bid.. .the question is with my hand after you hear your partner bid 4♥ and next hand bids 4♠, what is appropriate?

ben

[the hog]

"the question is with my hand after you hear your partner bid 4♥ and next hand bids 4♠, what is appropriate?"

I quite like 5C, but I don't quibble with 6H.

[paulhar]

The_Hog, on Aug 10 2004, 05:58 PM, said:

Fwiw, does anyone else think the 4H bid is off with the pixies?

From my earlier post:

Quote

IMO 4H is quite risky - if partner doesn't have a fit, we have about 5 tricks and the 3S bidder knows it! And when you do have a fit, the opponents can bid and make 4S or 5D...

[luke warm]

i was confused, it looks like opening leader's partner doulbed... normally that would say 'lead a diamond' (i think)... low heart is a fine lead, and if free didn't have belgian stars in his eyes i'm sure he'd have found it

[Free]

paulhar, on Aug 11 2004, 12:23 AM, said:

The_Hog, on Aug 10 2004, 05:58 PM, said:

Fwiw, does anyone else think the 4H bid is off with the pixies?

From my earlier post:

Quote

IMO 4H is quite risky - if partner doesn't have a fit, we have about 5 tricks and the 3S bidder knows it! And when you do have a fit, the opponents can bid and make 4S or 5D...

Yes Paulhar, we can all read

[Trpltrbl]

Bidding 4♥ with that hand is looking for bad scores and new pds a lot.
But since this is a lead problem, I need to get pd in for a ♦ ruff.
Either a low ♣ or low ♥ will do, but which one ?
LHO has 7♦ and 3+♠.
What is pd bidding 6♥ on? ♠ void and a source of tricks, which can only be ♣. Law of symetry comes in handy again, pd must have 6+ ♣.
So East has ♦ fit and 5+ good ♠, but he didn't jump to game or X 6♥ or bid 6♠ so he must be the one with somewhat balanced hand.
I take pd to be void KQx(x) xxx KQxxxx(x).
I am missing more ♥ then I am missing ♣, so I am leading a middle ♥.

Mike