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What do you lead?


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[hv=d=e&v=b&s=skjthjt85d73caj93]133|100|Scoring: XIMP

1-1

3-4

[/hv]

 

You are South and the opponents bid to 4 without interference from your side (they are playing ACOL). 3 shows at least 5-4 and GF. The opponents are +- intermediate club players, what do you lead and why?

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There's too much risk that a club will give declarer his 10th trick. I'd lead a spade, hoping to create a force.

 

There are arguments for any of the three cards: the jack is what partner expects me to lead from this holding; the king might pin the queen (although declarer is unlikely to run the jack around to his singleton queen) and might save partner a guess if he's looking at the ace over dummy's queen; the ten might scare declarer into declining a finesse, since he doesn't know that he has a trump loser. I'd lead an unimaginative jack.

Edited by gnasher
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[hv=d=e&v=b&s=skjthjt85d73caj93]133|100|Scoring: XIMP

1-1

3-4

[/hv]

 

You are South and the opponents bid to 4 without interference from your side (they are playing ACOL). 3 shows at least 5-4 and GF. The opponents are +- intermediate club players, what do you lead and why?

Well I think we can eliminate a and a so our choices are the J or the J. The J will be best if this is a crossruff hand and the J otherwise. My inclination is to lead the since LHO did not raise immediately but instead chose a fast arrival 4 bid later in the auction.

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At first glance it seems like I want to lead a diamond for a 'safe' lead but the auction says otherwise. I don't want to help declarer guess his second suit as it will give him tempo due to the bad heart break. The spade suit looks much more appealing to me as opposed to a club so I'm hoping to tap declarer.
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[hv=d=e&v=b&s=skjthjt85d73caj93]133|100|Scoring: XIMP

1-1

3-4

 [/hv]

 

You are South and the opponents bid to 4 without interference from your side (they are playing ACOL). 3 shows at least 5-4 and GF. The opponents are +- intermediate club players, what do you lead and why?

IMO A = 10, 5 = 8, J = 7, J = 5, 7 = 4

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[hv=d=e&v=b&n=sq86h6dtxxxcqtxxx&w=saxxxhq94djxxckxx&e=sxxxhak732dakqxcx&s=skjthjt85d73caj93]399|300|Scoring: XIMP[/hv]

 

This was the full hand. I disliked a club because I didn't think it was going anywhere anyway. A diamond lead might give up tempo and give declarer a free hook into partner's diamond holding, so that was out too. So to me it looked like choice between the majors. I eventually decided to go for a trump because I feared the opponents might cross ruff and that the winners in the other suits would give us enough tempo for a switch if necessary. For some random reason (don't ask why :(), I ended up putting the T on the table. This went to the Queen and the 9 was ducked to my Jack. I played my King of spades next for -1, relieved my poor lead wouldn't cost us a game swing.

 

Other than the lead problem, I posted this hand because I was wondering if there is any merit in leading the T from JT8x in trumps when the opponents have an 8/9-card fit and you desperately need a passive lead. If all other suits look like they will hand declarer the contract or you need to lead a trump to cut down ruffs, would you ever consider it? Or is it better to just lead an honest J of trumps in that situation and hope things go ok whilst keeping partner informed of what is going on?

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