[MrAce]

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Imps, 4♥ was strong 2 suiter

[whereagles]

seems like one of those guesses. DA for me

[the_clown]

Ace of ♥. Declarer is either 7-6 or 6-6 and a singleton ♥. I cant imagine bidding 7 with no 1st Round control ind ♦, since diamonds will be lead like 90% of the time. If he is a poker player one may do it hoping p has the ace, but I do not think it is likely.

[gnasher]

It's hard to believe the auction. How can partner possibly have a double?

A spade void seems inconceivable. I suppose a diamond void is possible if RHO has been very optimistic, but if diamonds are his second suit I can't see how he'll throw them all away.

I think I'd lead ♦A anyway, in case RHO has done something weird with a one-suiter or a 4-7 shape, when it's just conceivable that his diamonds will go on spades.

[VM1973]

Partner's double must be calling for a lead. He must be void in diamonds. I'll try the ♦A.

[Free]

I'll lead a ♠

[mikeh]

I agree with Andy that this is an auction that makes little, if any, sense.

If N held the blacks, why not 6♠? Maybe he is 5=7/5=8 or even 6=7 with holes in spades.

If N held the minors, think about how many spades S has to hold...how could he double 6♥? And how could N commit to a grand with at best KJxxx in his side suit and no reason to expect to get 5 pitches!

Absent partner's double, I'd lead the heart A, playing partner to be 6=5/6=4 reds and north to be 5=1=0=7. This caters to S having the diamond K, and doesn't cost unless S has at least 6 spades.

But partner doubled. So he has a void. If it is in diamonds, do we need to cash? Probably not. If S's spade suit were solid, wouldn't he bid 6♠?

I just don't see N as holding diamonds. His suit can't warrant 7♣. And if he is, how is he taking 5 discards? It is possible, I suppose, but partner will have surprising spade length and how many entries does S hold?

No, I think that N holds spades, as does S. I'm leading a spade.

[MrAce]

This was an interesting hand, i was South playing with Aaron Haspel, and the poor guy on lead was our very own Phil Clayton It is a hand that only a ♠ lead lets declarer make, or is it the only lead ? I think if we lead ♥ A or trump it may be harder for declarer to figure out pd's shape. Here is the 4 hands. At the table for some reason Phil's pd discarded a ♠ and ruined the fun on Phil's ♦ A lead.

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[mikeh]

how can he go down on the diamond lead? He overuffs, and pulls trump.....now he has a good count...is he really going to play W for 3=8=0=2 shape?

[MrAce]

mikeh, on 2011-September-03, 14:11, said:

how can he go down on the diamond lead? He overuffs, and pulls trump.....now he has a good count...is he really going to play W for 3=8=0=2 shape?

Thats what i intended to say, ♦ leads seem not to make him gain a ♠ trick but giving away immediately pd's shape.

MrAce, on 2011-September-03, 14:05, said:

....It is a hand that only a ♠ lead lets declarer make, or is it the only lead ?....

[gnasher]

OK, that's a believebale layout, and ♦A definitely makes things easier for declarer.

Of course, declarer should get this right all by himself. The double suggests a void somewhere, and he can use his trump entry to ruff a diamond and confirm that.

[Phil]

I thought my bidding decisions on this one were more interesting than my opening lead

Regardless of what I lead, I think once Haspel ruffs a diamond, he'll get an ironclad count on the hand.

I agree with what Timo is saying. If I do lead a heart, we can all see that ruffing a diamond reveals the 5-0, but would any of us really think to do this?

Partner's spade discard was beyond bad, but after the diamond lead I think he gets it right anyway.

Edit - I think it would have been interesting to present this as play problem.

"You reach 7♣. RHO doubles and looks irritated when LHO tables the ♥A. Plan the play".

[MrAce]

gnasher, on 2011-September-03, 14:34, said:

OK, that's a believebale layout, and ♦A definitely makes things easier for declarer.

Of course, declarer should get this right all by himself. The double suggests a void somewhere, and he can use his trump entry to ruff a diamond and confirm that.

Very true. He may indeed do that. He may also think 3♥ opener doubled with 2 aces. After all it is hard to imagine EAST not doubling with 2 Aces or an Ace outside ♥ suit.(Phil did well on this) As MikeH said perhaps he may go for 3802 ? We will never know since oportunity was not given. ♠ lead though leaves no problem to deal. ♦ A kinda crates alarms for declarer and trump or ♥A requires a careful declarer.

Although i never like to post freak hands and never reply to those topics, I thought that was an interesting hand, i hope u guys liked it.

[mikeh]

I can't imagine a good player ever going down on this hand after the double, as Andy says. A lazy player may go down without the double and on a heart or club lead, but no good player playing on his or her game ought to...the only issue is the spade suit, so why wouldn't one ruff the diamond?

Maybe West flies the Ace and now there is a squeeze on the 4th spade and the diamond Q. Highly improbable of course, as is the actual shape, but when one has a zero cost minuscule chance to increase one's odds, it is simply poor play not to take it.

[MrAce]

Phil, on 2011-September-03, 14:39, said:

Edit - I think it would have been interesting to present this as play problem.

"You reach 7♣. RHO doubles and looks irritated when LHO tables the ♥A. Plan the play".

You are absolutely right, though i kinda liked the lead because as oppose to most grandslam leads, this hands seems like to make it cold on only 1 lead (single dummy) while everyone tries to find the only lead that defeats, which doesnt exist against a careful declarer.

[whereagles]

The lesson here is: when in doubt, BID 7 HEARTS.

[gnasher]

mikeh, on 2011-September-03, 14:47, said:

I can't imagine a good player ever going down on this hand after the double, as Andy says.

I can imagine me going down in it. I can see now that it costs nothing to play a club to dummy, ruff a diamond, and then decide what to do, but I'm not sure that I would think of it at the table.

[Phil]

whereagles, on 2011-September-03, 15:22, said:

The lesson here is: when in doubt, BID 7 HEARTS.

Because obviously when our RHO bids like this they have a gang void.

[whereagles]

Phil: RHO certainly has a red void. Half the time you're not going to guess which, so taking insurance might be statistically advantageous. And if he happens to have 2 voids...

[Phil]

whereagles, on 2011-September-04, 10:54, said:

Phil: RHO certainly has a red void. Half the time you're not going to guess which, so taking insurance might be statistically advantageous. And if he happens to have 2 voids...

lol