[MrAce]

4-

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Non expert opponents again, i know this bidding does not make sense, but what would you lead now, Imps. (3♣ was wjs )

[gnasher]

A heart, because nobody bid them,

[whereagles]

Club. Opener is probably 5062 or 5161. Heck, it might be right to even lead the ace and another.

[phil_20686]

I would have axed this and led ace of trumps.

[sasioc]

I'm with Phil on this one. I think p probably has Hx spade and something sitting past the diamonds - declarer must have longer spades than diamonds for this bidding to make any sense at all. I think declarer looks to be 2317 (or maybe 2416, although he might have bid 3NT over 3S with something useful in H). If this is the case his best chance for tricks is to ruff as much as possible so ace and another club sounds good to me. I would certainly have doubled this.

[mikeh]

This is impossible. Nobody has hearts, including our non vulnerable partner who has a hand on which he thinks he can beat 4♠!

RHO probably has a spade void and I would guess 0=4=2=7 shape, tho with no great confidence.

I'm leading a diamond, since declarer's diamonds may go on top spades but his hearts won't, assuming I have read the hand correctly. Which is far from clear.

[phil_20686]

mikeh, on 2011-September-06, 09:56, said:

This is impossible. Nobody has hearts, including our non vulnerable partner who has a hand on which he thinks he can beat 4♠!

RHO probably has a spade void and I would guess 0=4=2=7 shape, tho with no great confidence.

I'm leading a diamond, since declarer's diamonds may go on top spades but his hearts won't, assuming I have read the hand correctly. Which is far from clear.

If that where RHO's shape, he would surely have given preference to 5d rather than pass 4S. I mean, LHO is 5x6x right?

[mikeh]

phil_20686, on 2011-September-06, 11:51, said:

If that where RHO's shape, he would surely have given preference to 5d rather than pass 4S. I mean, LHO is 5x6x right?

which is most likely?

Our partner doubled 4♠! We hold Jxxx and we are suspecting LHO to be 5=6. How on earth can partner double 4♠ with 2 spades, no matter how good his diamonds are?

Otoh, I have seen weak opps fail to give preference because doing so raises the level of the auction, even tho giving preference saves several tricks.

I have to make some assumptions. I am told that the opps are 'non experts'. I assume that my partner is a good player. Q109x Axxx AQxx x is a good hand on which to double 4♠.

Maybe rho is 1=4=1=7 but I have trouble constructing a hand consistent with that layout.....partner has to have 5 hearts so why didn't he bid over 1♦? Maybe his hearts are very weak.

Now one could argue that one needs a spade lead lest the spade go away on AK♦, but I think it more likely that partner has AQ/AK diamonds than AQx AKx spades...with good spades and long hearts, I think it more likely that he'd have bid 1♥...but this isn't clear.

[phil_20686]

mikeh, on 2011-September-06, 12:40, said:

which is most likely?

Our partner doubled 4♠! We hold Jxxx and we are suspecting LHO to be 5=6. How on earth can partner double 4♠ with 2 spades, no matter how good his diamonds are?

Otoh, I have seen weak opps fail to give preference because doing so raises the level of the auction, even tho giving preference saves several tricks.

I have to make some assumptions. I am told that the opps are 'non experts'. I assume that my partner is a good player. Q109x Axxx AQxx x is a good hand on which to double 4♠.

Maybe rho is 1=4=1=7 but I have trouble constructing a hand consistent with that layout.....partner has to have 5 hearts so why didn't he bid over 1♦? Maybe his hearts are very weak.

Now one could argue that one needs a spade lead lest the spade go away on AK♦, but I think it more likely that partner has AQ/AK diamonds than AQx AKx spades...with good spades and long hearts, I think it more likely that he'd have bid 1♥...but this isn't clear.

Its all very strange. If the OP thought that partner would have a hand that good for a dble, surely he should be giving 5C the axe? If I lead the ace of trumps there is a decent chance I will know what suit to switch to. Ill try to build some shapes: suppose lho is 5062, which seems plausible, can RHO really be1-4-1-7? If he was might he not have tried 4N in preference to pass? Its pretty unthinkable to me that he would pass with longer diamonds than spades, and equally unthinkable that partner has 5 hearts. Can RHO plausibly be 7-5? That would make partner 4-4-4-1.

I guess ultimately all these constructions have one thing in common - I do not beleive that partner would dble 4S without cards in both of lho's suit. In which case, why am I not trying to draw trumps?

[MrAce]

This one i asked not because opponent's bid was awful, but i think pd's DBL was a little weird too. When combined with my lead they made it. I wanted to know if it was obvious for others to find the lead in this extreme nonsense of bidding. I see from replies that it wasnt obvious for everyone, but overall i think i shd have started with ♣A and then decide.

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[JLOGIC]

Gnasher is a hero again. I think british humor is the nuts.