[Jinksy]

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I'm not 100% sure about this auction, but I think this was it.

N/S are playing 4 card majors and a weak NT (2N rebid showing 15-19 balanced and GFing), and seem to be pretty strong opponents (they're both better than me, anyway), though they're a pretty new partnership.

What's your lead?

I took a view (oh, how many IMPs that phrase has cost), feeling the inevitable AK♦ crushing and led the ♥4, hoping to persuade the opps that I'd led a singleton looking for a ruff, and therefore was unlikely to have either the ♣A or the ♦Q. From the fact that I'm posting on here you can guess how that worked out (although partner gave the opps a bit of help, so who knows - maybe it would have worked).

Bad luck? Bad view?

[mikeh]

I lead a pedestrian club A.

We aren't leading diamonds (altho when partner has Jx and declarer AK10....a low one can be surprisingly effective...I just don't recommend it), and we aren't leading spades (no cost-free double of 4♠) and we aren't leading hearts (didn't we see that cuebid....aren't we risking picking off partner's Qxxx(x)?). So what else is left?

The low heart is what you lead when you try to look too deeply into a position...you can talk yourself into an elaborate line of reasoning when a simpler approach is likely to be far more effective.

BTW, if you want a relatively unbiased view of the merits of any lead, you are best off, imo, simply posting the hand and the auction and inviting suggestions, along with rationales. Telling people that you unsuccessfully led a heart will usually persuade even those few who might have chosen a heart to not even consider it.

[gszes]

club ace for the following reasons
rho has the clubs stopped and lho
showed a balanced hand except for that
5 card heart suit that may provide
club pitches. Taking the club ace
at trick one might force declarer to
guess where the dia queen is assuming
thats even possible (ie p has Jxx).

Ill have my usual SP card all ready if
my lead manages to give opps their
12th trick via the club K when they had
no other alternative. If lho had a weak
1n (vs 1h) then I would take my chances
and lead a spade (since rho jumped to
slam only after lho cue bid spades).

[mike777]

clb ace seems standard

[phil_20686]

EDIT: got teh auction wrong.

Since LHO has denied a club cue by bidding 4d when he could have bid 4c, I would bet dollars to donuts that the club K is on your right. So I would lead a spade. With a balanced hand in dummy, there is no reason to think that the club losers are going away. So a spade for me.

Also, the club ace lead screams that you have a potential trump trick. That alone is a good reason to lead something else.

[Free]

LHO showed a ♠ control and apparently that was enough for RHO to bid slam. I'd lead a ♠ any day. Leading ♣A without the K basically tells them where to find ♦Q.

[mikeh]

phil_20686, on 2011-August-22, 19:59, said:

EDIT: got teh auction wrong.

Since LHO has denied a club cue by bidding 4d when he could have bid 4c, I would bet dollars to donuts that the club K is on your right. So I would lead a spade. With a balanced hand in dummy, there is no reason to think that the club losers are going away. So a spade for me.

Also, the club ace lead screams that you have a potential trump trick. That alone is a good reason to lead something else.

I agree with the inference that rho has a club control. I do not agree with the inference that it is necessarily the K. I also disagree with the thought that our club trick isn't going anywhere...lho hasn't denied 5 hearts, and rho has a top heart card. Also, partner didn't double the spade cue even tho he is marked with length. Finally, while I learned that idea about the lead of an Ace against slam suggesting a trump trick, I do not find it as persuasive as I did 20 years ago. I think it is a saying that has hung around well beyond its expiration date

[whereagles]

I'm not going to lead the club ace because RHO's auction mildly hits at a club void. Since a heart is a bit risky, I'm going with a spade.

[wyman]

I was leaning ♠ also on this auction, but I never make the right lead against slams.

[Jinksy]

As the cards lie, S lets it through, A and another ♣ sets it, ♥ gives you chances, so does ♦ but unsurprisingly carves your potential trump trick:

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At the table, I lead ♥4. Declarer won in dummy and quickly played ♠Q. My partner (who I should add had otherwise played better than me through most of the tourney) covered in a dozy moment. Had he ducked smoothly, declarer said he intended to ruff the Q.

[nige1]

Jinksy wrote "As the cards lie, S lets it through, A and another ♣ sets it, ♥ gives you chances, so does ♦ but unsurprisingly carves your potential trump trick. At the table, I lead ♥2. Declarer won in dummy and quickly played ♠Q. My partner (who I should add had otherwise played better than me through most of the tourney) covered in a dozy moment. Had he ducked smoothly, declarer said he intended to ruff the Q."

Presumably ♥6 not ♥2?
IMO ♠ = 10, ♥ = 9, ♣A = 6, ♦ = 3.

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[whereagles]

nigel, you're being too kind... ♦ = 0 lol

[Jinksy]

nige1, on 2011-August-24, 18:01, said:

Jinksy wrote "As the cards lie, S lets it through, A and another ♣ sets it, ♥ gives you chances, so does ♦ but unsurprisingly carves your potential trump trick. At the table, I lead ♥2. Declarer won in dummy and quickly played ♠Q. My partner (who I should add had otherwise played better than me through most of the tourney) covered in a dozy moment. Had he ducked smoothly, declarer said he intended to ruff the Q."

Presumably ♥6 not ♥2?
IMO ♠ = 10, ♥ = 9, ♣A = 6, ♦ = 3.

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Sorry, that should have been ♥4. The idea was to paint it as a singleton, so bottom seemed more appropriate. Edited post above to correct