Lead Problem

[kfay]

[hv=d=e&v=n&s=sjhqj8432dqj83ck6]133|100|Scoring: IMP

1♦-1♥-Dbl-P

1♠-P-2♥-P

4♠-P-6♠-Dbl

All Pass[/hv]

 

Just Checking.

[Free]

♥2

[H_KARLUK]

♣K

[pclayton]

Already on record for a small heart.

[gnasher]

♦3. Partner is showing a void somewhere other than hearts; presumably it's in diamonds.

[JanM]

I asked my "expert" and after thinking about it a bit, he said "I think I'd lead a heart." Main reason for deciding partner was more likely to have a heart void than a diamond void was it was weird for partner, with a diamond void, not to bid over the negative dbl of 1♥.

[mikeh]

I don't understand a diamond lead.

 

Trump are, it seems, 4441 around the table.

 

Give partner 4 spades and a diamond void... that is entirely possible.. but what does it say about the way the diamond suit sits? I can't readily construct a hand on which we don't have a diamond trick coming IF we stay off the suit. Whereas, if we lead a diamond, and partner ruffs, he not only compresses his trump holding (and possession of xxxx may be important), but also ruffs our winner, while transferring tempo to the opps.

 

BTW, if rho has 7 diamonds, so that we don't have a diamond trick.. where is he getting his tricks in slam?

 

I think it is far more likely that partner has a heart void. So I lead a low heart.

[gnasher]

Give partner 4 spades and a diamond void... that is entirely possible.. but what does it say about the way the diamond suit sits? I can't readily construct a hand on which we don't have a diamond trick coming IF we stay off the suit.

We need two tricks to beat the contract. If LHO has ♦H10xx or H9xx, we can give partner a ruff and still have a diamond trick to come, but without the ruff we have only one trick.

Whereas, if we lead a diamond, and partner ruffs, he not only compresses his trump holding (and possession of xxxx may be important), but also ruffs our winner, while transferring tempo to the opps.

Before partner doubles, he will look at his entire hand rather than just his diamond void. He will be aware that the double is both quite revealing and quite likely to cause us to underlead a useful diamond holding. The double suggests not just that he has a diamond ruff but also that he thinks that the best way to use his trumps is to take a ruff at trick one. Whilst he doesn't have complete information, and in particular doesn't know that we have ♠J, I still think we should assume that he knows what he's doing.

I think it is far more likely that partner has a heart void. So I lead a low heart.

It would be nice to have discussed this, but even without any discussion I think it impossible that he has a heart void. The double calls for an unusual lead. Without the double, a heart lead is by far the most likely. The double therefore calls for a non-heart lead, and suggests a void in either clubs or diamonds.

[pclayton]

♦3. Partner is showing a void somewhere other than hearts; presumably it's in diamonds.

Why does he deny a heart void in your mind Andy?

[whereagles]

I'll try a heart. Who knows...?

 

By the way, prefer a 2♥ overcall. As han would say: "absolutely mandatory" :)

[gnasher]

Why does he deny a heart void in your mind Andy?

As I said in a later post, because the double asks for an unusual lead, and a heart is definitely not an unusual lead on this auction.

 

If you play the double as saying "I have a void, and it may be either in your suit or in one of the other suits", it greatly reduces the efficacy of the convention. Any time that the overcaller has 4 or more diamonds, or 5 or more clubs, he will have to guess where the void is. That, I imagine, is the reason that when Lightener invented his double he decided that it should exclude any suit bid by the defenders.

[peachy]

Partner apparently has a void and a side trick/ace. If his void is in hearts, he would not double because the likely lead is heart; he ruffs trick 1 and cashes the ace trick 2 (or waits to collect the side trick later)

 

That is why I think his void is in diamonds. Besides, "my" Lightner "rules" say dummy's first side suit; if none, declarer's first side suit; if none, then find the right lead that partner wants. Never lead trump or our suit.

[whereagles]

I'm not sure heart is the usual lead in this acution. Would you lead a heart from, say, KJxxx?

[gnasher]

The fact that with some hands you would lead something else doesn't mean that it's not the most common lead on this auction.

 

Looking at it another way, we're being asked to avoid the normal lead and to find partner's void instead. If a heart isn't the normal lead, what is?

 

Finally, how about an appeal to authority (of sorts)? This is from the ACBL Encyclopedia: "A conventional double of this sort excludes the lead of trump, a suit bid by the defenders, and probably any unbid suit."

[pclayton]

Then how do you get pard to lead a heart?? I hope you aren't suggesting double 2♥.

 

Passing with a void heart is too deep for me. Pard is entitled to lead anything he wishes if I pass.

 

I would still double with a void heart and expect pard to work it out.