[cherdano]

Scoring: IMP

1♠-(P)-2♠-(3♥)
P-(4♥)-AP

---

[inquiry]

Same question as to luis, was 2♠ constructive? No i am not leading the club queen.

[han]

I voted for a diamond (the lowest one).

I would often consider the spade ace, but having the heart ace I can't see how it is going to cost not to lead the spade ace now.

A club is out of the question for me, and so is a heart, even though either could very well be right at the table.

[flytoox]

I will lead SA. The chance they can discard on Sk is low and I doubt spade is 2-2 either. So SA should be safe.

[cherdano]

inquiry, on Mar 4 2005, 11:34 PM, said:

Same question as to luis, was 2♠ constructive?

Of course I don't know, but maybe lets assume this a standard raise, 6-10 pts.

[the hog]

7 of D. Might need to build a D trick before they go away on the Cs.
Second choice SA - basically to look at dummy.

[luke warm]

♣4 ... i do that occasionally, if the opps are very good

[mike777]

Spade Ace

To look at dummy, but willing to listen/learn from other choices and logic.

[luke warm]

just kibbed this one on vugraph... not exactly the same, but thought you might find it interesting

Scoring: IMP

---

West North East South

 -     -     1♠    Pass
 1NT   Pass  3♠    Pass
 4♠    Pass  Pass  Pass
 
south led the ♥K, result=4♠ making 5... oh, declarer ducked the king

as mike pointed out, 5 doesn't make on a club switch, however south continued hearts after the king was ducked... in another post someone asked whether or not an honor lead could be stiff... i remember on this hand the commentators were taken by surprise by the lead, and east's thought processes had to revolve around whether or not the king was stiff or doubleton

This post has been edited by luke warm: 2005-March-05, 16:59

[jdulmage]

A♠, we are most likely seeing a 3-1 split in spades, and all I need is for clubs to run with the spade pitch, so I'm leading the A♠, partner and I play that if I lead an "ace from space" or there is reason to believe the declarer is out of the suit, the card he plays is lead direct. So I would go from there, hopefully he says "I have a club"

[ochinko]

I lead boldly the CQ

My plan is to find the CK in partner, and if the Q gets ducked I continue with the small club. It is very dangerous to cash the SA because the only entry in partner's hand, so that I can ruff a club, could be the SK. I expect to see one or three small spades in dummy. I know that partner has exactly 3 spades (thank you, Marty Bergen), and 3:1 break in opps' spades is more probable than 2:2.

If partner has CA instead, she ducks encouragingly - again I get that vital club ruff. If partner has CJ10xx I still haven't conceded a club trick.

What's the point of leading a diamond anyway? Is it likely that we have a trick there that should be taken fast?

It's a very simplistic rule, and shouldn't be applied blindly, but to set a suit contract when you have the Ace of trumps, you usually look for a ruff either in yours or in partner's hand. I can't see where the partner could ruff, so I hope to ruff a club.