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Routine lead problem


Guest Jlall

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I'm sure i would lead a low spade at the table w/o much thought.

Same as me. Does any thought change your mind?

I could buy a low heart. Maybe this needs less to be right and also less likely to blow a trick.

 

Give partner 5 of em and each opp 2....maybe this is more likely than finding pard with the 10 and the opps needing to lose to both of your kings.

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It seems like the odds of you having two tricks in the minors is at least .6 * .75 = 45%. RHO has 3 HCP for every 2 HCP that LHO has (15-10 or so). so he's a 60% favorite to hold the cA. Once we give him this, their remaining HCP are about even, so it seems like RHO is a 75% (probably slightly better) shot to hold either the A or Q of diamonds. Probably 80% is more realistic, but we'll go with 75%.

 

I suppose the question then boils down to which is more likely:

partner having the sT (.33) and -enough- spades (or the 9) (.6 total?) * .45ish = ~10%

or

partner having 5+ hearts and them being 2-2, and them not having 9 running tricks.

(would probably need a computer to estimate this).

 

Partner having 4 hearts and hearts 3-2 probably won't be enough, since I'll be setting up 2 heart tricks for declarer in while leading them. They could easily get home with 2 spades, 2 hearts, 4 diamonds and 1 club (or 2-2-1-4), not to mention the strong chance that I get strip-squeezed (or regular squeezed).

 

It seems like a 2-2 break is slightly more likely, given the 1NT opening, since opener can't really be singleton (although could be a stiff K), but it's still probably only 60%, particularly if they don't have lots of methods over 1NT. Even so, the contract could still make with if they have 5 clubs, 2 spades, 1 heart, 1 diamond. If responder has a 5-card suit to one of the minor aces.

 

All in all, seems like the spades is the better shot to me, but probably not by as much as on first glance.

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Can partner possibly have more than a jack? (or a queen assuming that one of the opps pushed in making his/her bid). Partner can't have a high spade honor to help "establish" the suit for the defense.

J: Is this "the thought" to which you refer?

 

DHL

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I would never lead a low spade. The normal arguments for leading a low spade are (1) to avoid crashing partner's honor, and (2) to avoid blocking the suit. Here the chance of (1) is nil, and the I don't care about (2) either (in fact I'd be ecstatic if the suit is blocked because that means partner has an entry).

 

Against that, partner will usually have 0-1 HCP so on a low spade lead the only card he can have that will avoid blowing up a trick is the ten (slight overstatement but whatever). That's not very good odds, especially when the reward if partner has the right spade holding is only one long spade trick.

 

For me it's between the SQ and a small heart. I'd lead a small heart, which is both safer and requires less from partner (as little as xxx) to set up a trick.

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ok.. looked deeper.. start a top spade to begin unblock in the suit... I want to build an entry to partner. Seems like I am going to be endplayed to death otherwise... hope partners spade honor eventually can take me off the lead... If that is right, finding it after an hour of so and much discussion and knowing it is a problem count for anything? Probably not.
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I hold all the outstanding strenght here.

The best chance to beat the contract is to find a five card major suit with partner breaking 2-2.

There's two reasons for leading a heart insted of a spade.

1. You need just one entry, since the suit is established at once.

2. The chance that you present declarer with a trick is nearly non-existing on a heart lead but a very real possibilitywith a spade lead.

 

All in all, a heart lead seems clear.

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Well I led an immediate low spade "4th from your longest and strongest..."

 

Perhaps I was resulting myself since hearts were 2-5-2 around the table and a heart lead sets it but I really think it is the best lead now. Best being defined as "most likely to set the contract." Good job to those of you who at least considered this possibility, to be honest I did not.

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Well I led an immediate low spade "4th from your longest and strongest..."

 

Perhaps I was resulting myself since hearts were 2-5-2 around the table and a heart lead sets it but I really think it is the best lead now. Best being defined as "most likely to set the contract." Good job to those of you who at least considered this possibility, to be honest I did not.

you have 4H and 4S... what are the odds that partner will have five hearts compared to the odds that partner will have five spades?

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Well I led an immediate low spade "4th from your longest and strongest..."

 

Perhaps I was resulting myself since hearts were 2-5-2 around the table and a heart lead sets it but I really think it is the best lead now. Best being defined as "most likely to set the contract." Good job to those of you who at least considered this possibility, to be honest I did not.

you have 4H and 4S... what are the odds that partner will have five hearts compared to the odds that partner will have five spades?

If spades are 5422 around the table, you may still need two rounds to set them up.

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I think a low spade is still best.

 

If I catch AK on my right, I might blow a trick by force if I lead high anyway. If the spade honors are split - which seems likely, leading high and low seem to offset themselves, depending on which hand holds the 10. If pard holds the 10, I like the idea of building an entry, but declarer can just duck T1 and negate this plan.

 

Leading a heart doesn't feel like 'playing bridge' to me. Pard can have 0 to 2 on this bidding, and I don't to squash is Q / J.

 

So you didn't get a chance to shift to the heart? Declarer didn't have to knock out both minor suit Kings?

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To me a small spade looks best. Partner is known to be broke pointwise, but he could still hold 10, and with A and one of the diamond honors in my RHO I'd be able to set the contract single handedly.

 

If the remaining spades are 2-5-2 I am still able to unblock them.

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I find that no matter what card I lead from QJxx, the opposing side seems to always have the cards to gain an extra trick in the suit (at least more often than they have a right to, anyway lol).

 

Once you decide that partner cannot have the spade A or K, this makes the spade lead very unattractive, to me. Partner would specifically have to hold the 10, but the odds are 2-1 against his doing so (two opponents hands for it to be in, one partner hand).

 

Put this against leading a heart. Now all we need is for partner to hold 5 or 6 hearts. If I were to decide to lead a heart based on this....I would at least consider leading the Ace to cater against a stiff honor in dummy. If hearts are 2-2, leading the ace costs nothing. If they are 3-1, declarer will likely have two stops anyway, but if partner happened to have J10xxx and we caught a stiff honor in dummy, declarer now only has one stop (he had two if we led a small heart).

 

Granted, I would only consider this at Imps....

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I initially thought small . The idea of a high doesn't thrill me. Maybe the J. I actually think on reflection that low might be better because it doesn't need partner to have length or an honour to work... it might just work if s break 4333 around the table.
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