[Trump Echo]

The ops bid uncontested to 6 Spades. All four suits had been bid.

I hold:

S 8
H K10632
D K432
C K72

I am sitting as South.

Edit:

West opened from first seat and the bidding went:

1D - 2S
3H - 4C
4S - 4NT
5H - 5NT
6D - 6S

I could have asked about the 2S but I didn't. Turns out East had only 12 hcps but long Spades to the AJ10xxx.

What's my opening Lead?

Thank-you

[masse24]

♠8

[whereagles]

spade eight

[rmnka447]

Is there anything you can glean from the auction? Which hand is the big hand or are they both equal? Is there a likely running side suit where losers can be pitched? Are they possibly planning on a crossruff? Who has what controls?

If the auction indicates RHO has the big hand, the hand will be played on a crossruff, or the auction yields no info at all, 8 ♠. With the big hand to your right, let declarer do the work to make the contract by making a passive lead. A trump lead versus a crossruff often leaves declarer a ruff short.

If LHO has a big hand or shows a strong side suit (likely via 1 ♠- 2 ♣ or apparent 2 suited fits), then maybe you should consider an attacking lead of a low ♦ or a low ♥. With LHO holding the big hand, it's more likely that any required finesses will work.

[TWO4BRIDGE]

The Spade

[wanoff]

Anything could be right.
♥6

[helene_t]

At first I thought a club lead would be the worst lead but it may not be so silly - even if I am leading towards declarer's AQx or similar, which seems quite likely, it probably doesn't cost as declarer can pitch clubs on dummy's red suits anyway. OTOH a red suit lead could be costly if declarer has the queen and partner the jack. Finally, a trump lead could be costly if partner has Qxx or Jxxx.

So anything could be wrong. With so many points it is probably not worthwhile trying to find partner's queen since he probably doesn't have any. Better to try to find the safest lead. But it is not clear what that is.

[Cyberyeti]

helene_t, on 2014-July-22, 02:16, said:

At first I thought a club lead would be the worst lead but it may not be so silly - even if I am leading towards declarer's AQx or similar, which seems quite likely, it probably doesn't cost as declarer can pitch clubs on dummy's red suits anyway. OTOH a red suit lead could be costly if declarer has the queen and partner the jack. Finally, a trump lead could be costly if partner has Qxx or Jxxx.

So anything could be wrong. With so many points it is probably not worthwhile trying to find partner's queen since he probably doesn't have any. Better to try to find the safest lead. But it is not clear what that is.

If I'm leading a club, I'm leading the K, stiff Q might appear on the deck opposite declarer's Ax.., or declarer might have AJ10, but I only expect dummy to have one club.

Spade could easily pick up partner's Jxxx although could be right anyway.

Question to ask, does 3♥ over 2♠ show extras ?

2♦ comes into the mix also, it's possible this may look like a singleton to declarer, so when dummy decks with AQJxx(x) he may go elsewhere for tricks. I'd reject it because it's very likely anywhere else he goes will work (heart finesse, ruffing club finesse), although you might make K♦ and a trump.

[billw55]

The passive ♠8 is tempting, but this feels like a hand where I need a cashing trick when I get in. LHO seems short in clubs, so no tricks there. I will try a ♥ through dummy, declarer may hop up the ace, not wanting to risk a finesse at trick 1.

[Winstonm]

I lead my singleton heart 2.

[mikeh]

Winstonm, on 2014-July-22, 07:31, said:

I lead my singleton heart 2.

while faking a shortness lead away from a king is a common and often successful gambit, one shouldn't generally lead the 2 if one can help it, since it is consistent with a length lead, so one usually leads a high spot...either the 6 or the 10. However, this ploy rarely works when declarer rates to be short and opener hasn't shown real length. If I were faking a singleton lead, it would be in diamonds, since opener's diamonds will be as long as or longer than his hearts.

At the table, I'd know if the auction promised they held the spade Q. The OP info about declarer's suit makes it clear that they don't play keycard, but at the same time, opener shouldn't hold Kxx in trump, which is the only holding on which our spade lead picks off partner's trumps. I mean, who doesn't raise spades immediately with that?

Hint to the OP: don't tell us anything about the opposing hands if you want an unbiased answer. I already 'know' with some certainty that I can lead a trump safely. Absent that knowledge, I'd be afraid of picking off Jxxx in partner's hand on a layout such as xx opposite AKQ10xx, a holding consistent with the auction.

As best as I can rationalize, pretending I don't know declarer's hand, I proceed more or less by elimination. I rule out a club. It could work, as could just about anything, but the auction suggests no club values in dummy and so too much risk of AQ in declarer. Meanwhile, my reds are long and strong enough that declarer may not be able to get enough pitches and may need the losing club hook. Of course, partner may hold the Q:)

I won't lead a trump. Leading stiff trumps when partner could have a useful holding is generally very poor in my experience

So it comes down to a red card.

I am leading a heart: the 6. Not to fake shortness but to fake passivity. Either red suit may blow a trick but a diamond is more likely to blow a trick and a tempo.

But this is a crapshoot, absent the hint, which makes a trump far more attractive than it would be in real life. (I am not suggesting the spade leaders were influenced by the hint, btw....they may not have drawn the same inferences as I did)

[Fluffy]

I lead a low club, my hopes are that declarer misses ♣Q or ♣J and has a key red ace where my king scores. Impossible since you said declarer had 12 HCP and ♠AJ, but that's what I would lead.

[Trump Echo]

I tried to reason with my partner. I explained that no lead was a good lead, and the best I could do was make a lead that was the least bad as possible. But she was adamant that my lead was a blatant error and threatened to break off the partnership (for the 99th time) if I didn't agree.

I still didn't agree. But I agreed to make a different lead in similar circumstances the next time, to appease her. This wasn't good enough. She insisted I agree with her. She insisted my lead cost us a trick.

I'll post my lead and all the gory details tomorrow.

[kenberg]

Trump Echo, on 2014-July-22, 16:06, said:

I tried to reason with my partner. I explained that no lead was a good lead, and the best I could do was make a lead that was the least bad as possible. But she was adamant that my lead was a blatant error and threatened to break off the partnership (for the 99th time) if I didn't agree.

I still didn't agree. But I agreed to make a different lead in similar circumstances the next time, to appease her. This wasn't good enough. She insisted I agree with her. She insisted my lead cost us a trick.

I'll post my lead and all the gory details tomorrow.

I would definitely encourage, in fact I would insist on it, her to follow through on breaking up the partnership. Even if I thought that the correct lead was obvious (I don't) I would accept that you don't.

[eagles123]

lol found the hand on bbo hand records

Quote

She insisted my lead cost us a trick.

Spoiler

lol i think its time to find a new partner

[whereagles]

Trump Echo, on 2014-July-22, 16:06, said:

she was adamant that my lead was a blatant error

Anyone that claims that it is "obvious" to lead (or not to lead) a particular card with this hand is a results merchant.

Ok, leading one of the kings seems bad, but other than that you get the point.

Incidently, if you're leading from a king, better lead from the shortest one. You might still take a trick with that king later. The longer the suit, the less likely it is you can make it later.

[Trump Echo]

I could not discern the location of any aces or queens or tenaces, so I figured each of my Kings had about an even chance of winning a trick. So as it stands holding 3 Kings, I have about an even chance of winning two tricks - unless I lead away from a King. I don't know what my partner holds in trumps, but I do know what I hold. So I led a trump.

---

Thanks for your help!

This post has been edited by diana_eva: 2014-July-24, 07:28
Reason for edit: Included Antrax's diagram here, deleted Antrax's post

[Zelandakh]

It looks to me like a partnership discussion on when not to play third hand high might be more beneficial than one about opening leads.

[Antrax]

You'll note the mistake is your partner's. He should've played low to trick 1, thus eventually scoring the trump Q.

[helene_t]

snp, Zel and Antrax were before me.

Btw I had a very similar discussion with a beginner once at a club in Amsterdam. She was very upset that her partner finissed her trump queen on the opening lead as she thought p should have known that dummy was void so declarer wouldn't be able to take the finesse by herself. I tried to explain to her that holding Qxxx of trump and dummy being void and declarer having shown great length in the suit, she should have played low. She insisted that "3rd hand plays high". It took me a long an frustrating discussion before I finally realized that she had interpretted the "3rd hand high" lesson from her teacher as a bridge law, i.e. that playing low in third seat would have been a revoke.