[whereagles]

Imps, expert opps, both vuln. You hold:

♠ K9xx
♥ QJx
♦ xxx
♣ xxx

RHO LHO
2♦ 2♥
2NT 3♣
3♠ 6♠

RHO has a 22-23 balanced hand with 5 spades. After 3♠, LHO bid 6 in a flash. Your lead?

[Free]

♦

[luke warm]

i think lho is 3514 ... i'm leading a spade

[flytoox]

luke warm, on Jan 24 2005, 01:11 PM, said:

i think lho is 3514 ... i'm leading a spade

Jimmy, he cant have 3514 I think. Otherwise, he would not bid 2H. IF 2D is multi, then with 3514 and some strenght(apparently he has from the continuing auction), he would bid 3H or 4H, ask pd to pass or correct. I think more logical is the dummy has short heart.

Having said this, I agree with your lead. (Perhaps you meant dummy has 3154, then I agree with you completely:))

[inquiry]

A question before I lead....

Was 3♣ puppet stayman or regular stayman? That is, does 3♠ promise five or four spades at a minimum. West is marked with some spades, maybe only three if it was puppet stayman. And some value (to jump to slam, suggest 10 or so points). While the lack of blackwood suggests a possible void, this could be a power slam based upon combined fit and hcp. We can hope for a ♠ trick, and partner can be expected to hold around 2 to 5 points (depending upon how distributional lho is).

Partner's lack of a double of 3♣ all but rules out a club lead. A heart lead is too risky as LHO may have KTx or ATx of hearts on this bidding. That leaves a diamond or a trump.

Ok, so if RHO promises five spades, I lead a low spade. If RHO promised only four spades, I lead a diamond. A trump lead, btw, might encourage declearer to play you for any missing minor suit honor... which will be quite ok with you.

[cherdano]

If leading a heart, I would pick the J (playing standard leads). Then it is unlikely to cost a heart trick.

[inquiry]

cherdano, on Jan 24 2005, 11:16 AM, said:

If leading a heart, I would pick the J (playing standard leads). Then it is unlikely to cost a heart trick.

The only time I would lead a heart is if I am forced to win the fourth round of spades and all my minors have been removed my hand. In this endplay position, either jack or queen must be lead, and if ten is in dummy, you might even try low playing EAST for the eight and partner for the nine.

[Fluffy]

Dummy can have ♠+♥ or 4♠+long minor, wich of them is more likelly?

Depends on the opponents, scientific opponents would nevr bid 6 that quick with a long minor sincec they could miss cold 7, but on the other hand unscientific would do reversed .

I think your opponents are unscientific and I expect long minor on dummy, I'll lead ♥Q hoping partner to have ♥K wich could be the setting trick. (if they are slow bidders its obvious dummy has both majors balanced with 32-35 combined so a passive ♠ or ♦ would be best)

[pclayton]

Probably a diamond. Never a heart or a spade.

[whereagles]

3C was puppet stayman, so 3S promised 5 cards.

[whereagles]

Ok. E/W held

Q7x.........AT86x
KT9.........Axx
Jxx..........AKQ
KJxx........Ax

Hearts is the one lead you mussn't make. There would be a case for a heart lead if LHO had a long suit. Then you'd have to establish a heart trick before the long suit could run.

But LHO is bidding 6S on points, not on a long suit. Why? Because if he held a long suit, he'd be missing out some hcps, so he'd surely check for aces, just in case the missing hcps were two aces. Another reason not to ask for aces is a side void, but in that case responder would probably start a control sequence, as 7 might just be lurking around the corner. Therefore we are led to conclude that, quite likely, LHO bid 6 on a combined 32+ hcp. That means pard can hardly have a king and the heart lead is dangerous.

Someone mentioned the heart jack lead. That might be a good way to combine an attacking lead with a passive one. That's the best of both worlds... as long as declarer can't count the hand and find you hold 3 hearts

[flytoox]

Dont understand why West didnt bid 3H at the first round.

[mike777]

cute lead problem when none of LHO's bids have been alerted or explained. It appears even people who play multi 2d very often are confused by LHO bidding and hand. Neat convention and treatment style.

[whereagles]

LHO bid "only" 2H because of this. LHO and RHO play rock solid preempts, so, LHO knows opps probably won't make anything above 3-of-a-minor. Since he can always compete to 3M over 3m, he can try and see if he can buy this for a simple, undisturbed, 2M. And if pard has 22-23 balanced, a direct 3M will definitely self-preempt his side.

Just tactical bidding, nothing more. You may not agree, but that was how it went

[flytoox]

whereagles, on Jan 26 2005, 11:14 AM, said:

LHO bid "only" 2H because of this. LHO and RHO play rock solid preempts, so, LHO knows opps probably won't make anything above 3-of-a-minor. Since he can always compete to 3M over 3m, he can try and see if he can buy this for a simple, undisturbed, 2M. And if pard has 22-23 balanced, a direct 3M will definitely self-preempt his side.

Just tactical bidding, nothing more. You may not agree, but that was how it went

I would never think this is good tactical bidding. Playing rock sound preempt is another story.