[manudude03]

---

How do you play it on a) ♠Q lead? b) ♣A followed by ♣3 (East plays Q then 7)?

edit: oops, forgot to mention its MPs

[gszes]

oddly enough in both cases I would plunk down the heart ace and lead another toward the Q.

1. Both leads are "odd" since each is a unsupported honor.
2. In each case it appears that there is a reasonable chance a ruff is impending.
3. In case 1 if rho has Kx they can always give their p a spade ruff so the finesse for the J is useless much better to play the Q hoping lho began with Kxx.
4. In case 2 once lho plays small to the 2nd heart it appears to be a complete guess since a ruff seems to no longer be a factor. The lead of the club A (trying to give p a ruff) is much more likely when lho is looking at a quick entry and the only plausible quick entry this hand has is the heart K. Once we play the ace and another heart all thought of a ruff disappear and lho plays small hoping to give us a chance to go wrong and finesse for the J they hope p has.

[steve2005]

Both look like shortness leads. had it backwards so I would try leading A♥ and assuming edit west slightly better odds to have longer ♥.

With no info or if you don't think lead shows anything it's a coin toss.

[alok c]

Agreed with gszes.