jocdelevat Posted October 20, 2007 Report Share Posted October 20, 2007 Last night my pard (pick up) led his singleton even during the auction I bid a suit. The suit contract could be set if he led my suit. In general I saw most b/i players prefer to lead the singleton when defend a suit contract. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helene_t Posted October 20, 2007 Report Share Posted October 20, 2007 Usually it's better to lead p's suit. Maybe the b/i players you refer to are used to a liberal overcall style that does not suggest a good suit, but even then I would more often lead p's suit. Sometimes you can infer that p must have HCPs outside his suit and is therefore more likely to have the ace of you singleton suits, but those cases are rare. Honoring the information that p conveys is not only technically a good thing, it also makes the game more enjoyable for both partners. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillHiggin Posted October 20, 2007 Report Share Posted October 20, 2007 Leading a singleton against a suit contract is often a good choice. Leading partner's suit is often a good choice (and has the added benefit that you can never be blamed if it is wrong).If you spend time watching the jec matches (a worthwhile activity), you will have plenty of opportunities to hear Larry Lande list "Benito's four rules". Those are:1) You need a good excuse not to lead trumps2) If you don't lead a singleton, you have not got one3) Every card on defense should mean something4) These rules have exceptions, you must learn them Number 4 may be the most important - for instance, leading a singleton trump (#1 and #2) is not such a great thing to do, and leading partner's suit may be better than trump or singleton leads. At the B/I level, players have not enough experience yet to always get it right (world class players do not always get it right). Your partner made a reasonable choice, and it did not work today. That adds to their experience and if they think about the whole hand, maybe they will see some clue that might have led them to the winning choice. If so, then they have more experience than they did before this hand. At least they did not forsake your suit to lead some other doubleton or (horror) from three small of some other suit. Once your partner's start making the best lead choices on a consistent basis, they will be moving out of the BIL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jlall Posted October 20, 2007 Report Share Posted October 20, 2007 I would almost always lead a stiff rather than partner's suit if I did not have natural trump tricks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helene_t Posted October 20, 2007 Report Share Posted October 20, 2007 Sounds as if I was wrong. I will pay more attention to this issue when reading lead problem discussions. Thanks, Justin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jillybean Posted October 20, 2007 Report Share Posted October 20, 2007 I always remember hearing this somewhere on forum 'If you dont lead a stiff you aint got one' :) oh I see this has been said already Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jlall Posted October 20, 2007 Report Share Posted October 20, 2007 Sounds as if I was wrong. I will pay more attention to this issue when reading lead problem discussions. Thanks, Justin. I just love leading singletons, it has so much to gain and generally if it loses it's only a tempo loss. There is no easier way to set something like 4M than stiff lead to pards ace, ruff, over to partners other ace, ruff. Or maybe partner has a trump entry. Or... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ralph23 Posted October 21, 2007 Report Share Posted October 21, 2007 One time it's wrong to lead a singleton is when, from the auction, partner is known to be so broke that there is no way he will get the lead. However, your partner overcalled. Hence, he's not broke. No reason he can't have the Ace of that suit. This time it didn't work out. Oh well. That does not prove it was wrong or a mistake. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jocdelevat Posted October 21, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 21, 2007 Oh I thought the lead was wrong and I told my pard the joke:(told b4 by world class player but not sure if was the right context) "if i bid clubs do you lead hearts" and pard got upset. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fluffy Posted October 21, 2007 Report Share Posted October 21, 2007 I refuse leading singletons when something else avaible, but I have had bad results due to it before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeh Posted October 21, 2007 Report Share Posted October 21, 2007 I am with Justin on this; altho (as I am sure he agrees) you do have to pay attention to the auction. Sometimes the auction tells you to do something different. I would rarely, for instance, lead a stiff into declarer's second (or first, if playing in his second) suit. But rarely is not never (if I knew I could gain the lead early in trump, for example, and then try to get to partner.. but it all depends on the hand, and the auction). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quantumcat Posted October 22, 2007 Report Share Posted October 22, 2007 I was taught: - Partner has to have the balance of the strength between you (to get in to give ruffs) - You have to not have natural trump tricks (like if you had KTxx you'd lead your long suit to force decl and get extra trick in trumps) - the auction mustn't have called for something else (fairly obvious) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vuroth Posted October 22, 2007 Report Share Posted October 22, 2007 To me, this sounds like a better-than-average time to lead a singleton. When it works, the problem is usually finding a way BACK to partner's hand on trick 3. Since partner has overcalled, that part should be easier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtfanclub Posted October 22, 2007 Report Share Posted October 22, 2007 Last night my pard (pick up) led his singleton even during the auction I bid a suit. The suit contract could be set if he led my suit. In general I saw most b/i players prefer to lead the singleton when defend a suit contract. I may be weird, but.... If my partner bid 1♠ over dealer's 1♥, I would lead a singleton. I would expect partner has some strength elsewhere, and it could easily be in trumps or the singleton suit. But if my partner bid 2♠ over dealer's 1♥, then I would lead his suit. The implication with a Weak Jump Overcall is that partner does not have quick tricks outside of his suit, and I need quick tricks to use a singleton. But maybe that's just me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manudude03 Posted October 28, 2007 Report Share Posted October 28, 2007 I generally don't like leading singletons outside your partner's suit. The fact they're bidding something else suggests they don't have great length in that suit, making the opponments have a double fit. Do you really want to help establish that second suit? That's just the way I think of things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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