Shugart23

You wouldn't necessarily confuse partner by leading x from both Hx and Hxx. The lead of x from Hxx would only be if you showed 3+ support and suggests an honor is held whilst leading high would show no honor held but 3+ card support......If you didnt show support, you would be leading Middle. But you do make a point that partner has to try and deduce if your card led was low or a middle one if he didn't show support.... ' I'll also add that I'm not saying (yet) what I have been 'proposing is better... I was just pondering it last night and this morning, so I thought to present it. I definitely appreciated everyone's comments PS..I just went back amd reread what you were saying, and yeah...I don't disagree with your approach - probably better than mine actually

So after mulling it over, where you are on lead against a NT contract, partner has thrown in a suit bid and you have decided to lead his suit on the open : Consensus seems to be: 1) x,xx,xxx,xxxx lead the top x ( essentially an upside down attitude lead) 2) with touching honors of any length, lead the top honor 3) with a single Honor ..Hxx, Hxxx (Hx?) lead the low x ( also essentially an upside down attitude lead) If I have this right, the advantages are a) it's easy to memorize and b) most people are comfortable with it so that you can play with a stranger for the first time. The disadvantage seems to be that leading, say a 9, is ambiguous...9.9x.9xx.9xxx. Partner has little idea of your count other than you probably don't have a higher card than a 9. 'Count' is simply not given with the opening lead. ***************************************** I'm still mulling over whether there may be an advantage to giving partner count of your suit when you did not support him on the auction. 1) if you have a singleton, you lead it 2) if you have a doubleton, you lead the low one (to show an even count) - Partner likely can deduce that you have a singleton or doubleton and thus can get a pretty good handle on the distribution of the suit in all 4 hands. 3_ if you have touching honors of any length (2 3 4+). lead the top honor This leaves 3 card suits with no honors (xxx), or a 3 card suit with a singleton honor (Hxx). Assume you have shown support for your partner's suit. You will make an attitude lead ( just as before) 4) from xxx, lead the top x 5) from Hxx, lead the small x (If you happen to have 4 cards and not 3, partner will be pleasantly surprised when he learns that) SO up to this point, the only thing I have changed is leading low from a doubleton, otherwise everything else is the same as consensus so the last case is if you have xxx or Hxx and did NOT support partner and whether there is anything to be gained (or lost) by giving count (playing the middle card) instead of attitude. If you lead the middle x, partner may often times know right away that you have a triplet from looking at his hand, the dummy and considering the bidding. The lead of a 9, as in my example above, is not really ambiguous - it's no longer top of nothing with any length. Disadvantage is, a little more taxing on the brain and not going with the consensus. The other disadvantage might be if you have Hxx and did not support partner, he may not realize that you have the H. SO these are my thoughts this morning. Time to go ave coffee and see if any of this makes sense.

Thanks all that replied....I think I am coming down to the following : 1) xx....lead High 2) xxx lead high ( upside down attitude) if you supported the suit. 3) Hxx lead low ( upside down attitude) if you supported the suit. In cases 2 and 3, partner will assume you have 3+ card support 4) xxx lead high to show count (upside down count) if you have NOT supported the suit. 5) Hxx lead top to show count ( upside down count) if you have NOT supported suit. 6) xxxx ...give attitude or count signal depending upon if you supported or dd not support the suit respectively I should have also asked about, what you do with Q,J x (x)......either with or without having given support. I appreciate any comments on the notes I am working on

Defending a 3NT game where partner threw in a Spade bid and you have decided to lead a spade....Can I see if there is a consensus on your lead if you have: 1) xx .....do you play high or do you give count or attitude 2) xxx.....assuming you didn't support, do you give count or attitude ? 3) Qxx.....assuming you didn't support, do you lead the Q or do you give count or do you give attitude ? 4)...same as 2 but you DID support 5)....same as 3) but you DID support Thank you...I am doing a write-up for my son on defending NT, and I am too rusty to be certain anymore

thanks

1) Using Journalist leads, what are the possible 3 card holdings your partner might have when you see him lead the Queen? 2) Using Journalist Leads, what are the possible 4 card holdings when you see him lead the Queen ?

Yes, I haven't played bridge in 3 years and am 'relearning' what used to be stuff I took for granted. and yeah, looks like I asked similar question earlier. Not the worst thing I have done in my life ( but I will try not to be redundant in future)

thanks

Thanks, to both responders

Can you tell me your heart lead in each of the following heart holdings ? : a) Q 8 b) Q 8 4 c) Q 8 4 3 assume (1S)-P-(P)-2H (P) -P -(2S) -all pass

The description of Rusinow leads seems to have it that you and your partner have sat silently while the opponents have bid to the final contract say, 1S -4S. But what if partner has thrown in a bid as in: 1S-2H by partner -4S. Assuming you are now on lead and choose to lead a Heart. Are you still leading second from touching Honors? Are you still leading 3rd down from an even count and low from an odd count? Are you still leading top of any doubleton, including touching honors? I would appreciate comments/advice.

I didn't disagree with Eagles, nor with some of the other comments here. There is, the small inference you refer, but with a 4333 or 4342 hand, I'm not so sure I am going to bid Stayman ( but I might on the latter) My thinking on this hand is I am leading the 3 If the consensus is 'it depends'. then can you (or anyone) construct a hand where leading one of the Honors is the correct lead the majority of the times ?

Can you make up two different hands, where in one case it is right to lead the Honor and in the other case it is right to lead the 3 ?....(not counting a hand where you can take 5 tricks off the top)

[ You can make up any hand you want as long as you decide to lead from this four card holding A K 8 3

You can answer it 4 ways if you want: a) It's spades and you have other entries b) It's spades and you don't have other entries c) It's diamonds and have other entries d) It's diamonds and you don't have other entries And For extra credit, do you have a different answer if the holding is A K J 4 ?

Bidding has gone 1NT-3NT and you have decided to lead from A-K 8-3......are you leading the 3 or an Honor? ( I do Journalist leads, but for this question, I don't think that matters)

I wonder if these results can be used to suggest that when 5332 with a five card Major, one is always better off opening up 1M vs 1NT (given the 13-15 HCP) range/

It does seem that 'the herd' is right to do the transfer when holding 22-25 HCP; I appreciate seeing the numbers. SO seemingly as the numbers decrease, the tilt should even be more so...eg. 13-15 opposite 4-6......can you stay in the pretend life just a little longer and run it ?

Playing precision, open 1C and if partner thinks his hand is worthy of a positive response, he will bid 1H suggesting a game contract in Spades. Opener accepts by bidding 1S which is also an ask about responder's length and how many of top 3 Spades he holds. Responder says 2C showing a 5 card suit headed by the Queen. Opener asks himself where are the other 6+ HCP that Responder claims to have and thinks partner has at least 2 Queens and 4 Jacks OR 3 Queens and 2 Jacks, or all 4 Queens and can count up 13 tricks in any case and bids 7NT and thinks he will make, as long as the Spades break

can you elaborate what you mean by NT scores no worse on 377 deals? If you mean NT takes the same number of tricks as 2M, then the balance is going to tip further in favor of NT than the small 346 to 330 advantage it seems to enjoy......also I am not sure why 346+377+330 doesnt toal to 1000

could be an interesting Venn diagram, but mostly interested in the 13-15 result...I agree with your point about the perfection of double dummy play

no, if you go down 1 whether you are in NT or 2M , you score the same .

But it does give a bound, whereas before we were just pontificating based on how we feel

cool and this is 13- 15 ?..if not, is it easy enough to run, since that is my current range