[Mbodell]

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Your leads?

[the hog]

Spade 9. I have no entry and no suit worth attacking.

[Siegmund]

S9 and no second choice, for me. Partner's X commands me to try to hit his suit which I'd do here by leading spades anyway; but he didnt know I was so weak that I was going to do that anyway.

There might be such a thing as a player who is experienced enough that he's supposed to understand logical alternatives, yet new enough that a fourth best heart is a logical alternative, but it strains my imagination.

[nigel_k]

Heart is definitely a logical alternative. Partner might have overcalled with good enough spades to beat it, plus an entry. He is still more likely to have spades than hearts, but his hearts don't need to be as good for the lead to work. I'm a little surprised at the four out of six people so far voting for spade on question 3.

[rhm]

the hog, on 2011-March-05, 22:29, said:

Spade 9. I have no entry and no suit worth attacking.

True, but partner will have to have soemthing if we are going to beat this one and he did not bid 2♠ over 2♦.
I think a ♣ is indicated at IMPs.

Rainer Herrmann

[Free]

Initially I thought ♠9 is obvious, but I'm starting to have my doubts. Partner won't have a decent hand with 5+♠ because he didn't overcall, so perhaps a ♥ is better.

[whereagles]

Pard's hesitation is because he has like 14 or a bad 15 and didn't want to overcall 2NT. This has no influence on our lead because we know pard has those hcp - we have squat and opponents haven't made a slam try.

A spade lead is obviously WRONG because pard is marked with points and didn't overcall. That leaves a heart or a club. Since pard rates to have like 2-3 diamonds as well and no 5 card major, the club lead may be into declarer's suit and we should, by exclusion, lead a heart.

Expect pard to have 4333, 4432 or 4441. Club is better if he, by some chance, happens to have 3325.

[mtvesuvius]

I lead fourth best from my longest and strongest unless partner doubles... Then I lead a club.

[Mbodell]

I'm glad to see more people answer the lead question and also that now the 1st question and third question no longer have identical responses.

Results:

While I was thinking about my lead during my 10 second pause over the 3nt I was debating between heart and spade and leaning towards the spade. Then when partner started to think I quickly thought about what I'd lead if he doubled and decided I'd lead a spade if he doubled. When he didn't double and passed, I then felt ethically I had to choose the heart. Partner's BIT wasn't a huge one, and I'm not even sure if the opponents noticed it, but it was pretty clear to me that partner had been thinking of something.

Turns out partner was indeed thinking of how could he get me to lead a club, and how he now wished he had overcalled 3♣ immediately, but he decided double wouldn't call for that lead, so he passed.

---

Needless to say a black lead causes us to win the match (the finals of a 22 team KO GNT B qualifying event for district 21), and a red lead causes us to lose (although obviously there were other boards that could have also swung the match), so I was thinking about this lead a lot.

At the other table W didn't open 2♦ and N opened 1♣ and teammates ended up declaring 3nt but the club lead was clear on the auction.

[whereagles]

Tell pard to stop watching horror movies and overcall

[quiddity]

Mbodell, on 2011-March-08, 23:47, said:

At the other table W didn't open 2♦ and N opened 1♣ and teammates ended up declaring 3nt

lol @teammates
I like Rainer's argument for the club lead.

[xxhong]

Interesting to see so many went wrong in this normal layout. After partner's original pass, one really shouldn't expect any respectable major suits from partner.

[cherdano]

xxhong, on 2011-March-09, 18:26, said:

Interesting to see so many went wrong in this normal layout. After partner's original pass, one really shouldn't expect any respectable major suits from partner.

Normal layout? Is it normal for your partner's to be asleep in the first round of the bidding?

[rhm]

whereagles, on 2011-March-09, 07:44, said:

Tell pard to stop watching horror movies and overcall

cherdano, on 2011-March-10, 04:40, said:

Normal layout? Is it normal for your partner's to be asleep in the first round of the bidding?

Give me a break. What is partner's clearcut action over 2♦?

Overcalling in a minor on a 5 card suit at the 3 level, when you are actually more interested in a ♠fit?
Overcalling on a weak 4 card major at the two level?
Doubling on minimum values with a small doubleton in an unbid major?

Each of these alternatives could be a winner, but will on balance have more to loose than to gain
If you would give this hand to a panel of real experts like the MSC of the Bridge World I would not predict an unanimous vote for PASS, but I would expect a vast majority for PASS with only a few dissenters.
There is a fine line between courage and foolhardiness at the Bridge table.

Rainer Herrmann

[gwnn]

No Real Scotsman (would ever overcall).

[whereagles]

rhm, on 2011-March-10, 07:27, said:

Give me a break. What is partner's clearcut action over 2♦?

As you know, there often is no clearcut action after a preempt. That's why people preempt. Deciding whether or not to bid solely on that basis is insufficient: you also have to ask yourself the question "do I need to bid now?", to which the answer is probably "yes" because you have diamond shortness, which makes it less likely pard will be able to balance if we have game on.

Having decided to bid, we have find a bid and 3♣ seems ok. Not ideal, but liveable. You might consider trying dbl + pull to spades over a heart response, if you play that it shows the two other suits and not extras.

[rhm]

whereagles, on 2011-March-11, 23:58, said:

Having decided to bid, we have find a bid and 3♣ seems ok.

3♣ with ♠AJ64,♥86,♦84,♣AKJT5 opposite a partner, who has already passed?

Rainer Herrmann

[whereagles]

It's more pressing to bid if pard weren't a passed hand, but there's still the need for it, as you'll let play 2♦ if pard is 8-10 or so when you're good for a partscore. And if he happens to have a max passed hand, you might still miss game.

[Phil]

I didn't remember this hand when I answered the other thread LOL.

I was thinking about all the great ways for 3♣ to work out, like reaching a skinny 4♠ when partner can make a responsive double. Or a thin 3N for our side.

If we did overcall 3♣, I'd imagine we'd give up 300 in 3♣, or maybe they'd now find 5♦ which can't be touched, so its not like overcalling 3♣ gains a lot on this layout.

[Hanoi5]

What's the purpose of the 3rd question? Your answer should be the same as in the first.