God or Pard

[mr1303]

S9

HQJxx

D AKxxx

C 10XX

 

You open a precision diamond as per your style.

 

1D (1S) P (2C)

P 4NT P 5H

P 6C X P

P XX Float

 

Do you lead a top diamond or a spade? Or something else too for that matter?

[TylerE]

I lead a spade. The X talks me out of the "natural" diamond lead, and I really expect a diamond void somewhere on the hand. If partner holds it, this will teach him not to double when he wants the natural lead.

[Fluffy]

dummy´s spades are rock solid, what else can he have for his bidding?

 

if partner has a void that´s only 1 trick, where is the other?

If partner has a side void and a lot of diamonds did he have a preemptive raise?

 

I lean towards ♦A, I have been wrong before.

[ArtK78]

Partner's double says one of two things:

 

(1) We are beating 6♣ if you lead a spade; or

(2) We are beating 6♣ regardless of what you lead.

 

So, I lead a spade.

 

If we were beating 6♣ on a high diamond lead (and partner cannot know that you have the top diamonds) and not on a spade lead then partner would not have doubled.

 

This is very basic.

 

[by the way, can I turn the cube to 8? - :)]

 

The auction is, indeed, very peculiar. LHO made a 1♠ overcall, which is not forcing. His partner bid 2♣, which may or may not be forcing, but certainly does not show game forcing strength. Over that, LHO asks for keycards and bids slam. Not something you see everyday. Clearly, LHO is highly distributional and strong. Besides partner's double, this argues against a high diamond lead. It is remotely possible that a high diamond lead might be the only lead that gives away the slam. I am not going to attempt to put together a layout that leads to that result, but if RHO is two-suited in the minors, he may have to establish his diamonds to bring in 12 tricks. Leading a top diamond (LHO is void, of course) may be the only way that RHO can succeed.

 

But none of this deep thinking is required. Unless your partnership has some well defined non-standard definition of a double of a voluntarily bid slam, the double demands a spade lead, so I lead a spade.

[billw55]

Dummy's bidding is weird. First he makes only a simple overcall, but then later he drives strongly to slam. Use of blackwood seems to indicate no void; but a redouble often suggests a void. What do I know about this player? Is he weak or strong, steady or prone to gambles (like redoubles just for fun)? Basically, how reliable should I expect inferences from his bids to be?

[mr1303]

LHO is a known operator. Sorry, should've mentioned this at the beginning.

[TylerE]

That only makes the spade lead more attractive imo

[Zelandakh]

You should always side with your partner over anyone, even God!

[jogs]

You should always side with your partner over anyone, even God!

 

But what is partner's side on this board?

What is he asking for?

[billw55]

But what is partner's side on this board?

What is he asking for?

I think Art explained it well.

 

Particularly if this guy is known for funny business, I will pay his bids no attention. In fact knowing this, I suspect that the redouble is just a bluff, trying to get me to not lead a spade. So I will just do as partner asked.

[jogs]

I can't construct a board where the spade opening lead is critical AND partner knows it. If partner has AQ of spades behind dummy, how will declarer avoid those losers?

[TylerE]

Opening lead diamond ruff and an AK in a suit vs declarers singleton?

[aguahombre]

You should always side with your partner over anyone, even God!

I don't have that conflict; they are one and the same.

[RSClyde]

I think he has slow spades behind the dummy. I'll just lead a trump. The lightner interpretation requires partner to have oodles of cards in 2 suits. I'll agree partner has a void... in clubs!

I don't understand statements like "partner wants a spade lead" or "partner is asking for a spade lead". What is partner's hand where a spade lead is right?

On the other hand perhaps the ace of diamonds (never the king) is better than a trump. In case dummy has 11 cards in 2 suits and declarer AK of hearts. I expect I'll be overruffing declarer soon anyway. The ace of diamonds only loses when declarer can set up his own hand instead of the dummy. There's no reason to believe that's the case.

 

I think partner's double is encouraging me: we'll probably beat this don't try something crazy: like some bizarre under lead looking for a spade ruff. You may think this sounds backwards but how would you defend 6C holding

-

Jxxx

AKQxxx

xxx

if partner didn't double? ...and what if you knew that the spade suit was dead?

[RSClyde]

dummy´s spades are rock solid

Then why doesn't he just bid 6♠?

[rhm]

Partner's double says one of two things:

 

(1) We are beating 6♣ if you lead a spade; or

(2) We are beating 6♣ regardless of what you lead.

 

So, I lead a spade.

 

If we were beating 6♣ on a high diamond lead (and partner cannot know that you have the top diamonds) and not on a spade lead then partner would not have doubled.

 

This is very basic.

 

[by the way, can I turn the cube to 8? - :)]

 

The auction is, indeed, very peculiar. LHO made a 1♠ overcall, which is not forcing. His partner bid 2♣, which may or may not be forcing, but certainly does not show game forcing strength. Over that, LHO asks for keycards and bids slam. Not something you see everyday. Clearly, LHO is highly distributional and strong. Besides partner's double, this argues against a high diamond lead. It is remotely possible that a high diamond lead might be the only lead that gives away the slam. I am not going to attempt to put together a layout that leads to that result, but if RHO is two-suited in the minors, he may have to establish his diamonds to bring in 12 tricks. Leading a top diamond (LHO is void, of course) may be the only way that RHO can succeed.

 

But none of this deep thinking is required. Unless your partnership has some well defined non-standard definition of a double of a voluntarily bid slam, the double demands a spade lead, so I lead a spade.

You can never exclude that your partner has made a mistake.

Deep thinking should never be rejected, because it will improve your Bridge results. Leading spades can only help declarer.

 

It seems to me more likely that partner's double was poor and of the variety they are going down.

He believes 6♣ is going down with all his spades and could have miscalculated.

But sitting there and assuming my lead does not matter is not a winning proposition

There are some keys:

Partner did not negative double,so is unlikely to hold hearts.

So where are all the hearts?

My guess is declarer has them:

[hv=pc=n&s=s4ha765d76ckj8765&w=s9hqj32dak432ct32&n=saqt832hk4d5caq94&e=skj765ht98dqjt98c&d=w&v=0&b=8&a=1d1sp2cp4np5hp6cdpprppp]399|300[/hv]

Lead a top diamond, when partner plays the queen, continue diamonds and force the dummy.

 

Rainer Herrmann

[billw55]

Rainer, with that hand, I think east is taking a call at his first turn.

[mr1303]

Partner had made a double on KQ109x of spades, not wanting opening leader to lead into a tenace position. Unfortunately I didn't have the full hand, but on this hand a top diamond is necessary and partner gets a spade trick in the fullness of time. If you don't, your diamond trick goes away...

[RSClyde]

This reminds me of what a pro I know always says (in reference to carding but it applies here): Partner doesn't tell you what to do, he tells you what he has, you have to figure out how to use that information.