[MickyB]

Your lead?

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[ahydra]

IMPs? MPs? What does the auction mean?

Assuming IMPs and a natural auction with 2D negative, I'll lead a trump.

ahydra

[MickyB]

Yes, sorry, IMPs, and everything after 2C:2D was natural. It made little difference on the actual hand, but I surprised myself with my choice of lead!

[gnasher]

I led a club on the same auction.

I did wonder about leading a heart, on the grounds that opener might have a wide-open suit somewhere for his failure to bid 3NT. The trouble with that plan is that it's unclear where the third trick is coming from.

[Fluffy]

I would lead a trump quickly

[WellSpyder]

I heard about one table where this hand had a lead problem against 6♣ rather than 5♣, but the auction was different (obviously!) and I don't think I can give their auction without affecting the problem you have given.

Edit: realised this is what spoilers are designed for! If you want to see the auction to 6♣, click below:

Spoiler

1♣ - 1♠
2♥ - 2N (2♥ = reverse, F for 1 round, 2N = weak, to play at 3 level somewhere)
3♦ - 3N (3♦=seriously good hand, 3N = shut up!)
4♣ - 5♣ (4♣=slam try, 5♣=no thanks!)
6♣ - Pass

[phil_20686]

I would try a spade I think.

I have no clear plan as such, but it seems like the key on these hands is often to make declarer guess which side suits he should be playing on before he is really sure what Is going on. For that reason I would like to lead one of them. In this case a spade.

[PhilKing]

WellSpyder, on 2012-September-25, 10:14, said:

I heard about one table where this hand had a lead problem against 6♣ rather than 5♣, but the auction was different (obviously!) and I don't think I can give their auction without affecting the problem you have given.

Edit: realised this is what spoilers are designed for! If you want to see the auction to 6♣, click below:

Spoiler

1♣ - 1♠
2♥ - 2N (2♥ = reverse, F for 1 round, 2N = weak, to play at 3 level somewhere)
3♦ - 3N (3♦=seriously good hand, 3N = shut up!)
4♣ - 5♣ (4♣=slam try, 5♣=no thanks!)
6♣ - Pass

I get ill just thinking about this hand. The lead problem was easy compared with Jason's trick two problem.

[mikeh]

I haven't looked at the spoiler so have no idea if that would help me lead against 5♣.

A club has to be safe, but the auction seems weird. It is surely impossible that RHO has no spade cards, so if he has the heart K, why not 3N?

I think either he lacks the heart K or it is stiff. I see Andy was thinking along similar lines but opted against the lead for the plausible reason that he can't see where the 3rd defensive trick may be coming from....and I assume he thinks that his diamond holding means that declarer isn't getting a pitch on dummy's diamonds.

But I'd be afraid of something like

---

So I lead the heart A.

I realize that this has to be incorrect, because I can see no way that they could misbid to 6♣ nor anyway that 6♣ makes absent a spade lead...and there was a comment about having a trick 2 problem, which doesn't mesh with my construction either. Oh well. This is what I would do at the table given the OP.

One side issue, I am adding via an edit. I would play that responder's 3♦ is a noise, not a suit...it allows opener to pattern out with a 4 card major or bid 3N. The odds that we belong in diamonds after this start seem relatively low. I don't know how popular this treatment is, but in my limited experience every good player I discuss this with says to the effect of 'of course'. I assume, however, that we are supposed to see 3♦as natural...if not, then it may affect my thinking.

[gnasher]

mikeh, on 2012-September-25, 14:15, said:

I realize that this has to be incorrect, because I can see no way that they could misbid to 6♣ nor anyway that 6♣ makes absent a spade lead...and there was a comment about having a trick 2 problem, which doesn't mesh with my construction either.

On the actual hand, nothing matters, either against 5♣ or against 6♣. Some problems are posted just because they're interesting.

[PhilKing]

gnasher, on 2012-September-25, 14:45, said:

On the actual hand, nothing matters, either against 5♣ or against 6♣. Some problems are posted just because they're interesting.

Does anything really matter? However, it was your teammates who made 6♣.

The 1♣ opening is vile but the subsequent auction I kind of like.

[MickyB]

I don't understand why a trump "has to be safe". Can't pard have Qxx [or maybe Kx or Jxxx] and dummy have no entry? Or even a void trump?

Instinctively I wasn't sure whether to lead a spade or a diamond, so I started constructing hands. By the time I'd finished, I was convinced the ♥A was the card to lead.