[bridgeboy]

You hold:

QT8x
Kx
Axxx
Kxx

All Vul
LHO deals and passes, partner passes, RHO opens 2C (5C 4M or 6+ C)

You see no reason to bid and 2C becomes your final contract.

What is your lead? Please give your comments on the various possibiliteies.

Thanks a lot!

[pclayton]

Im leading a spade, but in spite of my carding convention, I'm leading the low spot, and not the 8. From QT8x, its too likely to give up a trick, especially if I catch spades on my right.

The K♥ could work great, but its a little desperate against one of the banes of a strong club system. Possible they are even on a 5-1 fit, since pard didn't balance.

[Chamaco]

Small spade too.

A case might be done for a trump lead too.

[mike777]

Low club

K of H a close second.

spade would be my last choice, not first .

[mikeh]

A ♠. Not a great combo for 3/5 or 3/lowest, but I go with the 8, so as not to confuse partner. Experience shows that confusing partner is not a good move

Why a ♠? Combination of safety and aggression and elimination of alternatives.

A ♥ is for thrill-seekers, not bridge players. Far too high a downside.

A ♦? The Ace can blow too much too often. A small ♦? God save me from partners who lead small on this auction from this holding. Declarer could win a stiff K; partner, with K10xx over Qxxx or Qxx will (correctly) play the 10, and so on.

There is a time and place for underleads: very very few and far between, and this is not one of them.

Trump? Why? What purpose is served? It will certainly cost a tempo and possibly a trick: imagine partner with Qxx and declarer in a 6-1 fit.

So back to the ♠, which was my instinctive starting place.

[whereagles]

Heart king is attractive. But the hand is too strong and the chance of it blowing a trick is high. Spade it is then.

[kenberg]

I was happy to be in the leading group (spade lead) until I saw the voter turnout was a bit low (N=6 so far). I guess I lead the 8 even though I agree that the x may be better. Partners are more understanding of a bad result from following an agreement than they are of a bad result from violating an agreement. I do violate agreements sometimes and I speak from experience.

I make agressive leads such as the king of hearts when the situation is desperate. There is no reason to think this is such a case. Very possibly careful play, pounding away at your best suit, will defeat the contract. If this is mps ( I didn't see that the scoring format was stated) this may also work well even if the hand is not defeated. But I lead the 8 of spades at any form of scoring.

Ken

[Fluffy]

Chamaco, on Sep 17 2005, 04:18 PM, said:

Small spade too.

A case might be done for a trump lead too.

Agree with Mauro.

[SoTired]

At IMPS or MP?
At MP:
any lead could cost a trick. A spade works best if declarer has 3 or 4 spades and partner has 1 or 2 honors. But then dummy might be short and a trump would work better.
So ♣x lead seems best. Least likely to cost a trick and most likely to be helpful.

At IMP:
♥K is most likely to set the contract.

[Al_U_Card]

low spade. I want a S returned anytime during the hand.

Pard has at least 4H and when declarer has 4 he will try the hook and you will win the K and then set up pards remaining H. I would not lead a H on my own. A D lead is not worth talking about (esp. on this hand) and the trump lead has some potential from the point of view of this being a sort of preference auction.....some ruffs in dummy may occur, but giving up a C trick when he will test them first is not to be recommended.

[han]

Yep, spade.

MIke777, this is the robot lead.

[adhoc3]

15 hcp was RHO's max, LHO didnt try to better, and PD had no stands to make a balance. I would imagine PD had 8~9 hcp and LOH had 5~6. Possible PD had long Clubs, or at least weak majors. So ♦ could be our suit, but ♦A or under leading from Axxx involve too muck risks of losing a trick. Also becuase if dummy had any major suit he could have bid 2♥♠(a stop), but he can not bid 2♦(game forcing, usually) when his only suit is ♦.

♥K is agitative, however, I guess Opps had more ♥ than us.

Trump leading is often good when dealer has 2nd suit to establish.

Spade x is my choice, regardless our signal 3/5.

[P_Marlowe]

Trump, the only real alternative is spade,
usually I try to stay as passiv as possible,
and a trump will be more passive than a
spade.

With kind regards
Marlowe

PS: I doubt that the opponents are in 6-1 fit,
dummy would not have passed with a singleton,
so my partner will not hold Qxx in trumps.

[Chamaco]

Bridgeboy, could you post the full hand ?

I know one hand proves nothing, but it might be interesting to view it.

Thanks !