Defensive Problem, Part I

[kenrexford]

[hv=d=e&v=b&s=s32haq10982d7caj52]133|100|Scoring: IMP[/hv]

 

East opens 1♦. You overcall 1♥, and LHO bids 1♠. Pass from partner, 2♦, 2♠, X-P-2NT-P-3NT-all pass.

 

Your defensive lead agreements are fourth best, Rusinow in own bid suit, King in own suit for Attitude, Ace in own suit for Honor or Count.

[willow23]

If I understand the bidding correctly RHO promised a stopper...so I would lead 4th best club and wait for partner to get in and lead a heart ...

 

I would have to keep my fingers crossed on this one :unsure:

[Free]

I see 2 possibilities: ♣ and ♥.

 

- Leading a small ♥ can cost, leading ♥Q is better.

- From ♣, it's clear to lead low.

 

So what is best? ♣ looks more attractive for 5 tricks than ♥ imo.

[akhare]

Based on the reluctant 2N by RHO, I am guessing he has Kx(x) of ♥ w/ a non solid ♦ suit (shapes w/ 4♥ are improbable).

 

Leading !Cs could be right, but ♥ is the suit of choice for me. Leading Q♥ could cost a trick if there's JXX in dummy.

 

A♥ seems to the best lead since it provides the flexibility of switching to a ♣ if it proves to be wrong and caters to the KX holding as well. Of course, if dummy does have JXX, I will have to guess whether declarer has KXX or KX, but at least it's no worse than leading Q♥.

 

Atul

[joshs]

There is no discussion of what 2N meant? I would have interpreted this auction as:

2D=Minimum with 6 D

P of 2H=Penalty pass (its not universal whether x is penalty here or just cards/takeout)

2N=7-4 in the minors

3N=I wanted to defend 2H, but I guess I will have to try 3N instead

 

Do you have reason to beleive that 2N was

"I was in between a 2D and 3D bid and I have a stopper"?

[kenrexford]

This last point is a fair objection. Actually, the auction was slightly different, as 2♥ was not the second overcall. The actual bid was 2♠, a delayed Michaels call, doubled, then 2NT...3NT. I have no idea why I typed this auction wrong.

 

In any event, it seems a fair bet to lead the heart Ace, as this caters to several possibilities:

 

(1) You might on rare occasion catch Declarer being funny with a stiff King.

(2) Partner might have the Jack and jettison it by agreement, allowing the suit to knowingly be established.

(3) On a great day, partner will jettison the Jack and Declarer will have stiff King also.

(4) Partner might on a rare hand jettison the King, which is probably OK.

(5) Dummy might have Jx.

(6) If dummy has Jxx, partner's count will let you know if Declarer has Kx.

(7) Declarer is allowed to have KJ tight.

(8) You may have time to switch to the club profitably.

 

If you lead any heart but the Ace, you may give away two problems -- an extra trick and stopper in hearts and/or tempo in establishing clubs on a switch of tactics.

 

The club lead is frightening, as Declarer might have stiff Queen, or Qx, where a heart lead works better.

 

In any event, assume that you lead the heart Ace. You see this dummy:

 

[hv=d=e&v=n&w=saqj64h3dj63ck1073&s=s32haq10982d7caj52]266|200|Scoring: IMP[/hv]

 

Partner gives you no heart honor, but count indicating two, four, or a stiff heart (could Declarer be 5♥/6♦???), and Declarer is able to play a pip.

 

Part II -- what next to maximize your chances to (a) set the contract? If possible, select a line that can possibly (b.) set the contract two tricks? In your answer, feel free to provide any necessary brilliance from partner is catering to specific distributional problems. As an aside, also feel free to add any neat play to wake a sleeping partner up (extra credit bonus question LOL).

[akhare]

This last point is a fair objection. Actually, the auction was slightly different, as 2♥ was not the second overcall. The actual bid was 2♠, a delayed Michaels call, doubled, then 2NT...3NT. I have no idea why I typed this auction wrong.

Can you please repost the correct auction so that we can understand exactly who bid what?

[Echognome]

I see 2 possibilities: ♣ and ♥.

 

- Leading a small ♥ can cost, leading ♥Q is better.

- From ♣, it's clear to lead low.

 

So what is best? ♣ looks more attractive for 5 tricks than ♥ imo.

On what layout is leading the ♥Q better than leading the ♥A?

[jdeegan]

On what layout is leading the ♥Q better than leading the ♥A?

:( You hope partner has two hearts and a quick entry. Imo, the ♥ queen lead feels good while the ♥ ace feels awful.

[kenrexford]

Sorry about the need to amend the auction (see modified post). After 2♦, the call was an aggressive 2♠ delayed Michaels bid, showing 6-4 in hearts and clubs. It is highly likely that no one understood this call except the person making the call, but that is another issue.

[akhare]

Part II -- what next to maximize your chances to (a) set the contract? If possible, select a line that can possibly (b.) set the contract two tricks? In your answer, feel free to provide any necessary brilliance from partner is catering to specific distributional problems. As an aside, also feel free to add any neat play to wake a sleeping partner up (extra credit bonus question LOL).

For reference, the corrected auction was:

 

(1♦) - 1♥ - (1♠) - P - (2♦) - 2♠ - (X) - P - (2N) - P - (3N) - P

 

It's interesting that opener didn't choose to pass 2♠-X, which leads me to believe that he must be very short in ♠ and must have excellent ♥ stoppers.

 

Based on that information and partner's count, I am playing him for 0-4-6-3 / 1-4-6-2 or something along those lines. Since leading a ♥ into declarer's presumed KJXX (based on partner's count card) can't help and ♣s seem like a dead end, I would lead a small ♠ and hope that partner gets the message.

 

Declarer will likely finesse the ♠ into partner's (presumed) K♠ and now a ♥ through will (hopefully) doom the contract.

[kenrexford]

[hv=d=e&v=e&n=sxxxxhxxdaxxcq8xx&w=saqjxxhxdjxxck107x&e=skxhkjxxdkqxxxxc9&s=sxxhaq1098xdxcajxx]399|300|Scoring: IMP[/hv]

 

This was the complete hand, amazingly. Passing 2♠ doubled seems obvious, but 2NT was elected.

 

My lead of the heart Ace was not ideal, but a switch to the club Jack, smothering Declarer's nine, leads to the golden fifth trick. A small club at trick two works as well, as long as Declarer does not have the rare and unusual K-KJxxx-KQJxxx-x, where partner's heart was stiff.

 

If Declarer has a second club, partner is given the difficult but workable problem of realizing the need to cover the club Jack if Declarer strangely ducks and returning a heart.

 

If Declarer happens to duck the first club, strangely, and then the second club as well, partner can now switch to the heart for a two-trick set.

 

Clearly, the killing lead was the club Jack, with a three-trick set coming (three clubs, three hearts, and a diamond). Whether the club Jack is the "right" lead, or just fortuitous, is an entirely different question. Those who selected a fourth-best club do well, but the Jack is better when Declarer's stiff is the nine.

 

I do not understand the 2NT call, over a pass, but the opponents are the opponents.

[Finch]

I was so confused by the auction I didn't answer the first time.

When I worked out what the auction was, I'd already seen dummy, and I didn't bother replying...my intial reaction was to lead a spade at trick 1.

 

I don't feel guilty admitting this now we've seen the full hand, because you haven't given the location of the S10 (and the S9 if we have the S10). Give partner 109xx in spades, and a spade lead seems to give 3NT real trouble. Declarer can win in hand (playing for the DA to be short) but seems to have only 8 tricks (5 spades, 2 diamonds, 1 club); or can win in dummy but then has only 5 diamonds, 2 spades and a club.