[kgr]

Anybody know HESO leads? What are advantages of HESO leads and when do they apply?
HESO=lead Highest from Even length and Second from Odd length.
(I saw this somewhere in a system description, but don't see the advantage of this. E.g you have to lead J from QJxxx?)

[gnasher]

Are you sure it's not "Highest you can afford from Even; Small from Odd"? In other words, like 3rd/low except that from xxxx you lead one of the top two, and from Hxxx you lead the second if you can afford it.

[kgr]

Here is the description from the system:
Purpose:
Heso leads intend to clarify the lead of the King. We also give count when leading an honour.

Rules:
a. Basic rules
With a honour sequence lead: (H)ighest from (E)ven length
(S)econd highest from (O)dd length. HESO
These rules are also valid for internal sequences
i.e.: K10952 lead the 9, AJ1092 lead the 10
Remark: We still lead high-low of a doubleton. This could be an honour.

b. Extra rules
- HESO is only valid at the lead. Afterwards we play the highest of a sequence
or an internal sequence.
- This doesn’t apply if we lead to partner’s suit. Then we lead the highest of
a sequence or 3rd-5th.
- HESO does apply if we lead from our own suit, even if partner supported
that suit.
- HESO does apply if we both showed length (4+)
- With 3 of the 4 top honors (AKQ or KQJ) we can lead the lowest to receive a signal on the lowest missing honor. If we lead the middle one partner will always discourage. After the lowest we play the highest to clarify the situation. Leading the middle one has the advantage that we get some information concerning the Obvious Switch.
- From two tight honors we lead the highest
i.e.: Q from QJ tight and K from KQ tight
- in second hand we play the highest for at least 3 honors.

....I'll try to have a talk with the system designer. I wonder if he got this from an existing lead convention.

[benlessard]

look like complete crap to me. I like odd even leads but top of a sequence and strong kings is way more important than anything else.

knowing what the sequence look like is way more important then even or odd and its not close.

[kgr]

kgr, on 2009-February-20, 05:51, said:

Here is the description from the system:
Purpose:
Heso leads intend to clarify the lead of the King. We also give count when leading an honour.

Rules:
a. Basic rules
With a honour sequence lead: (H)ighest from (E)ven length
(S)econd highest from (O)dd length. HESO
These rules are also valid for internal sequences
i.e.: K10952 lead the 9, AJ1092 lead the 10
Remark: We still lead high-low of a doubleton. This could be an honour.

b. Extra rules
- HESO is only valid at the lead. Afterwards we play the highest of a sequence
or an internal sequence.
- This doesn’t apply if we lead to partner’s suit. Then we lead the highest of
a sequence or 3rd-5th.
- HESO does apply if we lead from our own suit, even if partner supported
that suit.
- HESO does apply if we both showed length (4+)
- With 3 of the 4 top honors (AKQ or KQJ) we can lead the lowest to receive a signal on the lowest missing honor. If we lead the middle one partner will always discourage. After the lowest we play the highest to clarify the situation. Leading the middle one has the advantage that we get some information concerning the Obvious Switch.
- From two tight honors we lead the highest
i.e.: Q from QJ tight and K from KQ tight
- in second hand we play the highest for at least 3 honors.

....I'll try to have a talk with the system designer. I wonder if he got this from an existing lead convention.

I now play this for some time and I'm happy with it.
We also don't give a lot of count in the rest of the play (we play Lavinthal the first tricks). So the count of the lead helps.
...reposting to see if there are any comments.

[akhare]

If I had to guess, I would say that it was inspired by Vinje honour parity leads and Slawinski leads.

However, in the latter, the emphasis is more on help pard distinguish between broken / solid honour holdings more than the count. So, the Q would be led from AKQ (same as yours), A from AKx, K from KQX or KQT etc, regardless of length.

Do you find that the honour parity helps pard make better OS decisions?

[CSGibson]

I play them, but I call them HERO leads (High from even, Rusinow from odd) It sounds way better.

I have mixed feelings. They compliment our overall carding well, as we rarely give count in suits declarer plays, but the ambiguity in the lead can cause problems as well. My partner really likes them - he feels that it helps him count the hand at trick 1, and that the ambiguity can also be used to hide high cards & count from declarer if that feels right.

It does help with some ambiguous situations, though - like the lead of an honor sequence in partner's suit in which you weren't able to show support in the bidding.

[akhare]

Chris / kgr,

Does this look similar to what you folks play?

http://www.bridgeguy...je_signals.html

BTW, the "count" in question here is the honour parity count, right? If so, doesn't Slawinski give a slightly different variation on the same theme?

[CSGibson]

akhare, on 2012-March-16, 15:56, said:

Chris / kgr,

Does this look similar to what you folks play?

http://www.bridgeguy...je_signals.html

BTW, the "count" in question here is the honour parity count, right? If so, doesn't Slawinski give a slightly different variation on the same theme?

Count in my case is number of cards in the suit led, not honor parity. I don't have the same system as OP, what I play is much simpler.