[silvr bull]

Playing in BBO with a good partner, but no previous discussion about the implications of this double. What suit do you lead?

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[smerriman]

I would need to know a little bit more about what the opponents' bidding means.

[pescetom]

What do you know about opponents' 2♦ jump bid?

[mikeh]

I have not seen bidding like this. The opponents are almost surely weak players or have some kind of wire on the hand. In theory the double says lead diamonds, dummy’s first bid suit. It should probably show either the diamond Ace and a sure trump trick or a void and reason to believe that he has another trick somewhere.

Why he thinks the diamond Ace is cashing, or that declarer has a pitch for it (so we need to lead it immediately) is a mystery.

Of course, maybe he holds QJ109 in trump and the opponents are as bad as I think them to be.

I would want to know the meaning of 2D but I assume it’s some sort of strong jump. I don’t think I’ve played against anyone who uses this jumpshift, as strong, in more than 30 years.

[Cyberyeti]

mikeh, on 2019-February-02, 16:39, said:

I have not seen bidding like this. The opponents are almost surely weak players or have some kind of wire on the hand. In theory the double says lead diamonds, dummy’s first bid suit. It should probably show either the diamond Ace and a sure trump trick or a void and reason to believe that he has another trick somewhere.

Why he thinks the diamond Ace is cashing, or that declarer has a pitch for it (so we need to lead it immediately) is a mystery.

Of course, maybe he holds QJ109 in trump and the opponents are as bad as I think them to be.

I would want to know the meaning of 2D but I assume it’s some sort of strong jump. I don’t think I’ve played against anyone who uses this jumpshift, as strong, in more than 30 years.

You haven't played over here then recently, jump shift is often strong here, but often strong and fit showing.

This looks like a lightner double, would not surprise me at all if partner has a club void (and also not surprise me if the ruff merely prevents the overtrick) but our best hope would seem to be that partner still has a trump trick after the ruff.

Maybe opps are 1462/2416 or similar and partner has 6 small spades, QJxx of hearts and a club void.

[silvr bull]

Sorry guys, but there was no more information available about the opp bids. None of the opp bids were self alerted, but West's 2D bid is presumed to be strong after the jump to 4H.

[msjennifer]

if on BBO then it is futile to ask the meaning of 2D.So a small CLUB is my choice.

[rmnka447]

I'm leading ♣ 7.

I'm asking myself "What kind of hand can opener have that bids slam after responder shows a ♦ suit and raises ♥". If opener had a short ♣ hand, I don't think there's a hand that would fit that bidding scenario. So, I'm giving opener ♣ length.

Secondly, I'm expecting a "good partner" to know what a Lightner double is. So I'm leading a ♣ expecting partner to ruff.

I'm not leading a low ♣ which partner might interpret as a suit preference for ♦. A ♦ return might give away the whole ♦ suit. I'm also keeping ♣ Q10 which might yield a second trick if partner is void.

[pes_6]

I can't belive the most choose ♣ lead. That's suit of player behind leader. I choose ♠ lead, that was unbid suit, if my partner didn't bid x on final contract than my lead is ♥.

[smerriman]

pes_6, on 2019-February-03, 01:46, said:

I can't belive the most choose ♣ lead. That's suit of player behind leader.

Double specifically asks you to make an unusual lead. If I wanted a spade lead I definitely wouldn't double.

It normally asks me to lead dummy's suit, but I'm going with a club also. But agree with Mike the opponents probably don't know what they're doing.

[croquetfan]

Maybe I'm thick, but I trust partner. Either it's lightner for a diamond or partner has the contract down whatever the lead.

[miamijd]

silvr bull, on 2019-February-02, 10:07, said:

Playing in BBO with a good partner, but no previous discussion about the implications of this double. What suit do you lead?

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I actually suspect your partner's double here is based on something like QJT8 of trump. But if not, then he either has the AKd or a void somewhere. I'd say the latter is far more likely given your hand, so I will try a club.

Cheers,
Mike

[Tramticket]

I agree with Mike, the opps are presumably very weak. Yes, the jump is presumably strong (very strong since it's a minor), but it is usually either a very good quality single suiter, or showing a good suit and support for partner's suit. An agreement to make a strong jump with a 2-suited hand is curious, to say the least. The 4H bid is inconsistent wigh either of these options.

Subsequent bidding is also inconsistent with the bid being strong. A strong jump 2D is forcing to game, so why has West jumped to 4H, rather than conserving space and bidding 3H? And why has east jumped to slam with no check on controls, but not looked for a geand slam?

The only slightly sensible construction that I could think of is that 1C is precision, 2D is natural and positive, 2H is East's suit (possibly with diamond support) and east has all of the controls and enough to bid slam opposite a positive with heart support and a diamond suit. In this scenario, I lead a diamond.

[silvr bull]

I guessed that partner's double could be the DA and a slow trump trick (like the QJT). If so, then it is essential to lead a D at trick one before declarer's Ds can be pitched on the high Ss in dummy. The hand I guessed would be something like this:
Note: Example hands edited. Thanks smerriman!

West....East
AKx.....void
Kxxx....Axxxx
Kxxxxx..Jx
void....AKJxxx

Another possibility could be partner having a D void and a trump trick. Those hands would look similar to this:

AKJ.....void
Qxxx....KJTx
AKJxxx..xxxx
void....AKJxx

If partner does not have a C void, leading a C could be costly for us. So I led a D. I posted this to see what other people would lead.

Unfortunately, the actual hands were as shown below. The majority who led a C got this one right.

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[Cyberyeti]

Can I throw a bucket of something unpleasant at W for the 2♦ bid please

[smerriman]

In your first guessed hand, the contract goes down half a trick - you tie the third spade and claim stalemate. (If, say, you swap West's Q with the J, and replace a small diamond in East with a small spade, it's down on any lead - throwing all of the diamonds still leaves you with all of the club losers).

Of course, E/W's bidding is nonsense in all three scenarios..

[rmnka447]

Cyberyeti -- You sure can. You could very adequately bid the West hand by bidding 1 ♦ and reversing into 2 ♥ if available on the 2nd round.

BTW, one consideration in choosing a ♣ versus a ♦ lead is that a ♦ lead may give away the whole suit. If partner has the ♦ A, it's unlikely to go away.

[nudnikbp]

It's a Lightner double, which asks for an unusual lead, such as dummy's first bid suit, but the bidding and your hand make it more likely partner has a club void, so lead a club.

[P_Marlowe]

Hi

the X should be a Lightner ... asking for a minor, I pick my longest.

With kind regards
Marlowe

[Cyberyeti]

P_Marlowe, on 2019-February-04, 03:21, said:

Hi

the X should be a Lightner ... asking for a minor, I pick my longest.

With kind regards
Marlowe

Yup, this is to me a much more difficult problem if W just bid 6♥ rather than 4 and E bidding 6. Now he could be something stupid like 0490 and the diamond lead could be right.