karlson Posted May 31, 2008 Report Share Posted May 31, 2008 mp, all red. AKJTxxxxKJxxx You deal.1♣-2♦-p-3Nall pass If you lead a spade, you can lead the A for attitude (showing AK), or K for count/unblock. Hidden dummy: x xxx AKQTxx xxx Hidden partner's card if you led ♠A Partner plays an encouraging S2. Hidden partner's card if you led ♠K Partner plays the S2, showing an even number Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Finch Posted May 31, 2008 Report Share Posted May 31, 2008 Dummy has 14 cards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karlson Posted May 31, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 31, 2008 Dummy has 14 cards. Sorry, edited. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdonn Posted May 31, 2008 Report Share Posted May 31, 2008 It sure is easy when you look at what partner plays on both the ace and king lead. Of course now that I cheated I have no clue which I would have led or what I would have done next. Take it back, I would have led the count/unblock one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jlall Posted May 31, 2008 Report Share Posted May 31, 2008 I'm sure I would have led the count/unblock one at the table but I see now that it loses when partner has Q fifth. So we have to weigh that against the times where knowing the count allows us to drop their Qx. Interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xcurt Posted June 1, 2008 Report Share Posted June 1, 2008 It sure is easy when you look at what partner plays on both the ace and king lead. Of course now that I cheated I have no clue which I would have led or what I would have done next. Take it back, I would have led the count/unblock one. Why is it easy knowing both partner's attitude and count? The point of the hand might be to break up a S/C endposition against me, or it might be a race to set up our tricks before declarer does his. Anyway, I would have led the attitude one. Before looking at dummy, I probably have a better chance to do the right thing if I know whether or not to switch. Partner should have a good idea of our hand if we indicate 7+ HCP in spades and he imputes something in clubs, so he should be able to signal with some reliability. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenrexford Posted June 1, 2008 Report Share Posted June 1, 2008 This lead problem is interesting, but I think that thuis is a blended question. The obvious concern is in finding out primarily if partner has the spade Queen and, secondarily, whether he might have Q-fifth. There is actually a tertiary potential problem, namely how to indicate when partner should overtake if he has Q-fifth and dummy has two cards. IMO, with AKJ or AK10 tight, the standout lead is attitude, whereas with AKJ10, the obvious lead is honor-count. The last concern (when to overtake from Q-fifth with a doubleton in dummy) is mitigated by this principle. If he sees K-A-J, he knows that you have the 10 and ducks. The first concern. when partner has Qx or Qxx, is mitigated when partner drops the Queen under the King. The first concern, when partner has Qxxx, is also mitigated when partner, realizing that you would lead Ace from AKJ/AK10/AKx, drops the Queen under the King. The fear is Qxxxx. However, that fear, IMO, is misplaced, if your partnership adjusts well. When Opener is almost assuredly in possession of a four-card suit for his lead (here), and dummy hits wit a stiff or void (here), the "honor or count" initial message should, IMO, convert to "short honor or attitude." Both partner and the person making the opening lead should be on the same wavelength to this development. With four or five small in dummy, it clearly remains honor/count. With three in dummy, I think it remains honor/count, although this is tougher. Count of 2/4 will not help resolve partner's problem. Perhaps (note to self -- discuss with partner) the rule with a fragment on dummy is to show even if holding exactly four cards but odd otherwise. In other words, an "I have 4" peter. With two in dummy, the likely drop situation is when Responde has five. Here, whether it is Q-fifth or five small, either one produces four tricks if Opener continues from the top; a fifth if partner has the Queen. The defense is the same. So, I think count is King here, but again limited. Either an "I have 5" peter or, to remain "count consistent," an "I have five" low-high reverse peter, all other lengths grouped together as "I don't have five." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karlson Posted June 2, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 2, 2008 I led the K and switched to a heart. With regards to the Qxxxx or Qxxxxx (no one mentioned that one!), we figured out that it's pretty easy to get partner to overtake when you have AKJ and not when you have AKJT. You lead the top one, then the J, then the other top one, then the T. So you can do this regardless of what you lead, and he doesn't even need to be sure you lead A from AKJ. It would have been nice to have the agreement that we switch to attitude if dummy hits with a stiff. We didn't, and it's not really our style to make such things up on the fly. I think one key on this hand, which no one mentioned, is that declarer bid 3N with nothing in diamonds, surely not expecting a running suit, and at most the Q of spades. I think he is a lock to have AK or AQ of hearts, so switching to that suit is probably hopeless. Maybe a diamond is better at least, trying to squeeze his hand or getting him to misread the ending. Anyway, this time partner had Qxxxxx of spades. I'm still not sure what to lead at trick 1, attitude would have surely worked better this time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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