doubles of 3nt contracts

[luke warm]

the bidding is:

 

(1NT)..........P..........(3NT)..........DOUBLE

all pass

 

your lead, holding:

 

♠T987

♥K85

♦9762

♣93

 

 

no hands shown, your lead based on the bidding only:

 

1.)

(1♠)..........P..........(1NT)..........P

(2NT)..........P..........(3NT)..........P

(P)..........DOUBLE ... all pass

 

2.)

(1♦)..........P..........(1♥)..........P

(1♠)..........P..........(1NT)..........P

(2NT)..........P..........(3NT)..........P

(P)..........DOUBLE ... all pass

 

3.)

(1♣)..........P..........(1♠)..........P

(2♣)..........P..........(2♥)..........P

(3♣)..........P..........(3NT)..........P

(P)..........DOUBLE ... all pass

[Double !]

Oh, Lord, am I about to look bad:

 

re: hand with cards shown--lead a spade?

 

1) Spade?

 

2) Diamond?

 

3) Diamond?

 

I don't have a clue and I'm proud of it! lolol

[bearmum]

Hand with cards I lead a ♠

 

first hand without cards Lead ♠ (dummy's first bid suit)

 

2nd hand Lead ♦ for same reason

 

3rd hand Lead ♦ - ONLY unbid suit

 

 

:blink: :)

[Echognome]

On the first (unnumbered) hand, the hand on lead made the double.... quite adventurous!

 

I think a lot of these are by agreement. First suit bid by dummy seems fairly textbook. Some play a double of (1NT) - (3NT) means "find my major" rather than "lead spades". Others save it only for "lead spades."

 

I will go with the others above for the numbered hands.

[Gerben42]

(1NT) p (3NT) X

(p) p (p)

 

The highest unbid suit (Spades)

 

(1♠)..........P..........(1NT)..........P

(2NT)..........P..........(3NT)..........P

(P)..........DOUBLE ... all pass

 

Spade, dummy's suit

 

(1♦)..........P..........(1♥)..........P

(1♠)..........P..........(1NT)..........P

(2NT)..........P..........(3NT)..........P

(P)..........DOUBLE ... all pass

 

Dummy's first suit (Diamonds) *corrected to what was actually Dummy's first suit*

 

(1♣)..........P..........(1♠)..........P

(2♣)..........P..........(2♥)..........P

(3♣)..........P..........(3NT)..........P

(P)..........DOUBLE ... all pass

 

Clubs unless I have too many.

[joker_gib]

(1♦)..........P..........(1♥)..........P

(1♠)..........P..........(1NT)..........P

(2NT)..........P..........(3NT)..........P

(P)..........DOUBLE ... all pass

 

Dummy's first suit (Spades)

Humm ! I suppose you want to say ♦ :)

[ochinko]

3.)

(1♣)..........P..........(1♠)..........P

(2♣)..........P..........(2♥)..........P

(3♣)..........P..........(3NT)..........P

(P)..........DOUBLE ... all pass

Even playing Leitner doubles I think that a lead in a suit that is bid three times is the most dangerous. If we have tricks there they are not very likely to disppear. Without the double the obvious lead is a diamond, so with the double I think the choice is between hearts and spades. I'll go for a heart if I can find one without having the luxury of looking at my cards first :lol:

 

Petko

[luke warm]

my apologies all, i went to bed without checking... on the first hand, it was *not* the player on lead who doubled... i have edited it

 

again, apologies

[Echognome]

my apologies all, i went to bed without checking... on the first hand, it was *not* the player on lead who doubled... i have edited it

 

again, apologies

I think it was pretty obvious that the person with the flat 3 count wasn't doubling. Was just having a bit of sarcastic fun. No apologies necessary.

[HeartA]

Even playing Leitner doubles I think that a lead in a suit that is bid three times is the most dangerous. If we have tricks there they are not very likely to disppear. Without the double the obvious lead is a diamond, so with the double I think the choice is between hearts and spades. I'll go for a heart if I can find one without having the luxury of looking at my cards first :rolleyes:

 

Petko

agree.

 

♦ should be the suit to lead. pd has a good ♦ suit and stopper at other suit(s).

[Guest Jlall]

hand with cards: spade. Partner has a major and wants us to lead it.

 

hand 1: spades...dummys first bid suit

 

hand 2: diamond...ditto

 

hand 3: Not a club. A club cannot be right given that lho has bid them 3 times. The double doesnt ask for a club lead, it just implies that he has strong clubs and is Xing because he thinks 3N will go down. I would just lead a diamond.

[Trumpace]

I think a lot of these are by agreement. First suit bid by dummy seems fairly textbook. Some play a double of (1NT) - (3NT) means "find my major" rather than "lead spades". Others save it only for "lead spades."

Wouldn't it be better for the double to be lead directing for a fixed major, say hearts. Then we have the negative inference (something at least) to lead the other major (when we choose to lead one) when partner does not double.

[cherdano]

I think a lot of these are by agreement.  First suit bid by dummy seems fairly textbook.  Some play a double of (1NT) - (3NT) means "find my major" rather than "lead spades". Others save it only for "lead spades."

Wouldn't it be better for the double to be lead directing for a fixed major, say hearts. Then we have the negative inference (something at least) to lead the other major (when we choose to lead one) when partner does not double.

IMHO this negative inference is so weak that it's almost worthless. There will be many hands where partner would strongly prefer one major, but is not strong enough to X (out of fear of XX).

 

Arend

[awm]

I would lead a club on the first hand. On the auction 1NT-P-3NT, holding what's basically a bust, my NORMAL lead will be a major. I'll try to hit partner's suit and since opponents normally bid stayman if they have a major it's a better shot. So partner's double should suggest a running minor suit.

 

On the later hands I agree with Justin.

[DrTodd13]

Here are my rules for doubles of 3N.

1. Has the doubler bid a suit? If so, lead it!

2. Has dummy bid a suit? If so, lead it!

3. 1N-3N, lead a heart.

4. Some other auction means make an unusual lead.

[Guest Jlall]

Adam, that seems strange I've never heard that interpretation. If it goes 1N-3N presumably they have the minors (they may be missing one) but if you do have a solid suit its much more likely its in a major. I don't really agree that your normal lead is a major thus hes asking for a minor. For starters I assume your normal lead is 4th best and not a major, granted youre more likely to have a 4 card major than minor. However, there are 2 majors. You are not likely to lead his long solid suit no matter what it is, major or minor. So passing hoping you'll hit his solid suit is not realistic, unless he passes slowly of course :P (just kidding).

[luke warm]

the bidding is:

 

(1NT)..........P..........(3NT)..........DOUBLE

all pass

 

your lead, holding:

 

♠T987

♥K85

♦9762

♣93

 

 

no hands shown, your lead based on the bidding only:

 

1.)

(1♠)..........P..........(1NT)..........P

(2NT)..........P..........(3NT)..........P

(P)..........DOUBLE ... all pass

 

2.)

(1♦)..........P..........(1♥)..........P

(1♠)..........P..........(1NT)..........P

(2NT)..........P..........(3NT)..........P

(P)..........DOUBLE ... all pass

 

3.)

(1♣)..........P..........(1♠)..........P

(2♣)..........P..........(2♥)..........P

(3♣)..........P..........(3NT)..........P

(P)..........DOUBLE ... all pass

ok all, very interesting comments... now remember, what follows can't be considered 'answers' in a this-is-it sense... these are ewen's interpretations based on the understandings of the time... imo it is good if we at least think about his reasons for his choices, weigh them against our own (or others) experience, and do what we think best

 

on the first hand, i believe adam is the only one who interpreted the lead as ewen does... he gives as his reason for the club lead (paraphrased), "it rarely pays to double a 1nt-3nt, or 1nt-2nt, or often even a 1nt contract, based on strength (hcp)... you are better served to reserve such doubles for a running suit, and trust partner to do his best to determine that suit... as a general rule, lead your shortest suit... partner often has, at most, one entry, so you need to try to hit him before it is gone"... as for not doubling when holding a lot of points, he says that often such a double will alert declarer to the proper play of the hand

 

on the others:

 

1) the double strongly suggests a spade lead, because if partner had a decent suit of his own he might have bid it

 

2) a diamond lead is likely to work best, unless you have a more attractive (ie, a sequence or such) lead

 

3) a club lead is pointless... partner likely has a club stopper, however it's usually best on auctions like this to let declarer play on the long suit... the auction suggests a diamond lead

 

there ya go, hope you enjoyed... there are so many lead directing doubles to choose from, i'll try to cull a few for later...

[the hog]

Quote DrTodd

Here are my rules for doubles of 3N.

1. Has the doubler bid a suit? If so, lead it!

2. Has dummy bid a suit? If so, lead it!

3. 1N-3N, lead a heart.

4. Some other auction means make an unusual lead.

 

Todd I pretty much agree with the above apart from your first rule. You would normally lead partner's suit anyway, so we play that the double says "Lead something different".

[kgr]

Quote DrTodd

Here are my rules for doubles of 3N.

1. Has the doubler bid a suit? If so, lead it!

2. Has dummy bid a suit? If so, lead it!

3. 1N-3N, lead a heart.

4. Some other auction means make an unusual lead.

 

Todd I pretty much agree with the above apart from your first rule. You would normally lead partner's suit anyway, so we play that the double says "Lead something different".

What about an additional rule?:

Did you bid a suit and partner doubles then you partner has a top honour in your suit (eg Kx, Ax, Kxx, ...) and asks you to lead a small card of the suit.

 

Example: I did bid - in 3th hand - 2♣ (weak ♦ or a strong hand) holding in ♦: AQJ8x. Opps did go to 3NT with me on lead. This was MP's and I decided to lead another suit, expecting RHO to have ♦ Kx(xx..).

But partner did have ♦ Kx and RHO ♦ T9xx. Even if I would decide to lead a ♦ it could have been the Q, blocking the suit or giving RHO a trick.

If partner doubles then I can safely lead a small ♦.