[ahydra]

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IMPs. BBO team match. Nobody vul.

System notes:
- You play weak NT 5cM.
- You play long suit trial bids over 2S.
- Opps' card is marked with Michaels weak or strong.

What do you lead?

Thanks,

ahydra

[Cyberyeti]

I have 2 heart tricks if they don't get ruffed, leading a trump, leading a black card could give delarer another quick entry to hand to ruff hearts.

[AL78]

I'd also lead a trump. How else is declarer going to deal with those heart losers if not by ruffing them?

[Cyberyeti]

AL78, on 2020-May-03, 11:31, said:

I'd also lead a trump. How else is declarer going to deal with those heart losers if not by ruffing them?

The danger is that he may only need to ruff one of them whether he loses one first or not and you've given up a tempo not attacking his Ax in one of the blacks.

[eagles123]

yes would definitely lead a trump if it turns out to be wrong, so be it

[TylerE]

♠ For me.

I'm not trying to win the hand at trick one, just not to lose it. There is no guarantee declarer can ever get to dummy to finesse whatever trump honor partner has.

A club is close second.

Never leading a red card.

[Cyberyeti]

TylerE, on 2020-May-04, 14:12, said:

♠ For me.

I'm not trying to win the hand at trick one, just not to lose it. There is no guarantee declarer can ever get to dummy to finesse whatever trump honor partner has.

A club is close second.

Never leading a red card.

Opps play weak/strong michaels, the likelihood is there's a dummy entry and declarer has the intermediate hand.

[Tramticket]

TylerE, on 2020-May-04, 14:12, said:

There is no guarantee declarer can ever get to dummy to finesse whatever trump honor partner has.

"Whatever trump honour" is very likely singleton and will likely promote your knave.

[P_Marlowe]

Hi,

trump, but spades may also be ok.
We expect declarer to be 65??, and hearts are breaking, 1 ruff will be enough to establish hearts.

With kind regards
Marlowe

[ahydra]

Thanks all. The popular choice of a trump was led at both tables, and it was a push at -550. Dummy had a doubleton heart and five diamonds to the Q. Declarer was 2650 with all the other top red honours, and partner is ♠AKT9x ♥xx ♦- ♣KJ109xx. A spade lead is needed to prevent one being discarded on dummy's CA.

(I am not sure why declarer, an advanced-level player, did not treat his hand as a strong Michaels. It was easily good enough!)

I was looking at it later and thinking: North has implied length in diamonds by not correcting, and hearts are splitting. The odds of you being able to stop dummy ruffing a heart or two is quite slim, and it might be better to hope partner has both black aces or similar to go with your HK. Perhaps I'm just resulting or overanalysing though.

ahydra

(edit: partner's hand is 5=6 not 6=5, sorry)

[Cyberyeti]

ahydra, on 2020-May-05, 16:25, said:

Thanks all. The popular choice of a trump was led at both tables, and it was a push at -550. Dummy had a doubleton heart and five diamonds to the Q. Declarer was 2650 with all the other top red honours, and partner is ♠AKxxxx ♥xx ♦- ♣KJ109x. A spade lead is needed to prevent one being discarded on dummy's CA.

(I am not sure why declarer, an advanced-level player, did not treat his hand as a strong Michaels. It was easily good enough!)

I was looking at it later and thinking: North has implied length in diamonds by not correcting, and hearts are splitting. The odds of you being able to stop dummy ruffing a heart or two is quite slim, and it might be better to hope partner has both black aces or similar to go with your HK. Perhaps I'm just resulting or overanalysing though.

ahydra

I discounted partner having a hand where he should have bid the cold (as it happens) 5♠ at IMPs, might be -1 or -2 but if it is 5♦ may well make.

[ahydra]

Cyberyeti, on 2020-May-05, 17:08, said:

I discounted partner having a hand where he should have bid the cold (as it happens) 5♠ at IMPs, might be -1 or -2 but if it is 5♦ may well make.

Oops, partner's hand is 5=6 not 6=5, sorry. 5S doesn't make, there is a natural trump loser (split Jx opposite Qxx) + CA + HA.

ahydra

[Cyberyeti]

ahydra, on 2020-May-05, 22:40, said:

Oops, partner's hand is 5=6 not 6=5, sorry. 5S doesn't make, there is a natural trump loser (split Jx opposite Qxx) + CA + HA.

ahydra

It's still cheaper than 5♦ and at IMPs you probably want to bid it as insurance although it's more difficult to do so. I'd have opened 1♣ on that hand.

[DavidKok]

Partner had a great opportunity to warn you about the bad diamond break by making a more descriptive bid than 4♠. With a shapely hand that is low on points and a limited partner I don't see the downside to protecting in advance against 5X with either 4♣ or 4♦ (depending on your agreements, showing length or shortness).

[mikeh]

There are a few good players who open 1S with 5=6 blacks (Steve Robinson is the only one I know with reasonable certainty, but I suspect there may be a (very) few others (I am not counting big club players, who cannot systemically open 1C), but the normal and, IMO, correct opening bid for your partner was 1C, intending to bid spades later.

Once partner shows or implies 5=6 blacks, the double of 5D loses virtually all its attraction. If LHO is passing 5D then there will usually be at least 4 trump there, since his hearts will be shorter than his diamonds, and partner is marked with at most 2 red cards.


Rho has Jx AQxxxx AKxxx void.

After 1C, he might bid 2N but might prefer 1H due to the extra length. Over 1H you are a bit weak for 1N, which for most would be 8-10, but I think it’s acceptable due to the (hoped for) double stopper. LHO passes, partner bids 2S and rho 3D.

We pass, LHO has Qxx xx Qxxxx Axx is this enough for 4D? I think it’s close, but in any event, if he passes, partner bids 3S and RHO surely bids 4D and they reach game and you know enough not to double. Whether you know enough to bid 5S or 6C is another story. On the auction, spades are often 4-1 so they may well tap declarer so 6C is the safer, tho more expensive, save.

If rho uses the unusual 2N, you’re forced to pass and LHO will bid 4D (my guess) and rho will take the push. Now, if partner bid 4S over 4D (I think it to be clear), you might lead a spade.

[ahydra]

I was actually the 1S opener (when I wrote "partner" above I meant partner of the guy with the opening lead problem, sorry). I feel with 5S it's important to get those in first, particularly when weak distributional, rather than hope you get two bids to show spades later. I suppose clubs/spades is different to, say, diamonds/hearts in that you don't have to worry about if you are strong enough to reverse.

I think David's proposal of bidding more slowly - 3C, then 4C if possible - is a much better action than just blasting 4S as it leaves partner in the dark. Not sure it makes a lot of difference on this hand though, it goes (3D)-something-(5D) and partner still isn't playing you for a 5=6. 4D splinter doesn't show that either, and I think is a gross misdescription.

In the auction mikeh proposes (1C-(2NT)-p-(4D)) I would definitely bid 4S.

ahydra

[mikeh]

ahydra, on 2020-May-13, 03:51, said:

I was actually the 1S opener (when I wrote "partner" above I meant partner of the guy with the opening lead problem, sorry). I feel with 5S it's important to get those in first, particularly when weak distributional, rather than hope you get two bids to show spades later. I suppose clubs/spades is different to, say, diamonds/hearts in that you don't have to worry about if you are strong enough to reverse.

I think David's proposal of bidding more slowly - 3C, then 4C if possible - is a much better action than just blasting 4S as it leaves partner in the dark. Not sure it makes a lot of difference on this hand though, it goes (3D)-something-(5D) and partner still isn't playing you for a 5=6. 4D splinter doesn't show that either, and I think is a gross misdescription.

In the auction mikeh proposes (1C-(2NT)-p-(4D)) I would definitely bid 4S.

ahydra

I think you have it entirely backwards


Opening 1C gives you a ver high likelihood of being able to show shape economically, no matter what the other players bid (obviously very high preemption is a problem, but that cuts both ways...their preemption doesn’t make spades, your 5 card suit, inherently better than clubs, your longest suit)

Opening 1S virtually forecloses partner from ever knowing your shape


Call me old-fashioned, but to me bidding is a collaborative exercise. Maybe I’m just lucky, but I usually play with partners who have excellent bidding judgement, and we find that describing our hands works quite well: the more accurately we describe shape, the better our results (ignoring for these purposes the tactical advantages that sometimes arise after a primary fit is found, and concealment is appropriate). This is especially so n competitive auctions, where choosing the correct trump suit may be critical