[Fluffy]

---

Partner leads ♣3 (third or fifth), partner is just leading the unbid suit, doesn't have the level to lead a trump on this bidding. Declarer plays ♣7 under your king (or ace)

This is Match points, 200 is very important, 100 is also much better than -90

[mikeh]

Someone has to say it: who stole my bidding box in the auction? Interestingly, on another thread you endorsed opening 1♣ on K xxx QJxx AJ10xx, so you can't claim that LHO promised a 13 count or even a decent 11 count. Presumably he could hold K AJ10xx Kxxx xxx and we have 9 tricks in 3N.

Oh well.

We don't know if this is mps or imps, so we don't know our objective, but I assume we want to beat the contract if we can.

Trump at this point could be a disaster, giving him an entry to hook the heart and ruff the heart: imagine Kxx AQJxx K10xx x.

So I lead a low spade, catering to a variety of holdings, including a stiff honour in partner's hand or, if declarer is 5-5 reds, Hx in spades and a misguess if the H is the Q.

I guess I am not looking too smart if he has the example hand I gave at the beginning

[RSClyde]

I'll lead Ace and a spade. When he ruffs and ruffs a heart he'll try to reenter hand with a club which I take and play another spade. Now he has the potential to lose control. If he plays another trump I'll win it and play the 4th spade this will hopefully develop a trump for partner and I will still get mine. That will beat it when declarer is K AQJxx Kxxx Qxx. It would seem that repetitively pounding spades is our best hope.

[FM75]

I am with RSClyde here. I don't expect a stiff spade from partner because if opener is 3=5=4=1, 2♠ seems more likely than 2♦. If opener is 2=5=4=2, then a spade continuation seems ok - partner won't be able to signal. If opener has a weak 1=5=4=3 it still seems the best way to go.

[Fluffy]

sorry it is Match Points, our goal should be 200.

[Fluffy]

mikeh, on 2013-November-08, 18:44, said:

Someone has to say it: who stole my bidding box in the auction?

I am open to suggestions on how to enter the bidding, 1NT is unavailable as natural on my land

[HighLow21]

Fluffy, on 2013-November-09, 05:58, said:

I am open to suggestions on how to enter the bidding, 1NT is unavailable as natural on my land

X

[Fluffy]

After double the bidding would come back to you with 2♦

[HighLow21]

Fluffy, on 2013-November-09, 17:16, said:

After double the bidding would come back to you with 2♦

Did partner bid anything the first time around? If so raise his suit. If he bids NT raise to game. If he passed, double again. This hand has only one bad high card (J♦). We can make 2 in either black suit (maybe 3) if partner has 5 of them. If he doesn't, we have defense against their contract.

If you failed to double the first time -- double in the passout seat.

Anyway about the defensive problem -- it's as well we didn't double, as it turns out East is stacked in the suits we like so we can't make much our way, unless West is 2-5-5-1 and even then we have real problems on a heart lead.

West is probably 5-4 (we can do less against 5-5) in the reds with 3 very likely top losers in the blacks--maybe 4 if he is 5-4 (he could have Qx♠ or be put to a guess with Kx♠). If he is 5-5, this could be a real problem, because I don't see how to get more than 3 red suit tricks without partner holding either excellent heart spots or K♦. In either case, a diamonds return is best.

I would guess, on average, partner has 4 points and they are slightly more likely to be red points, not black ones. I'm going to guess Q963♥ and xxx♦, with a black queen.

I'm betting West is 2-2 in the blacks, and we'd only lose by underleading A♠ if he holds the singleton K♠. But on the auction, partner is likely to have some points so West might have singleton Q♠ if he has a singleton at all.

North's lead provides further evidence West's blacks are 2-2 not 1-3. (Again, they could still be 1-2.)

To me defending this hand feels like a guessing game (where are your queens, partner?) and the A♠ underlead may be a good way to put West to the test. If he guesses wrong and partner has Qx♠, 2 more rounds of spades will probably lead to all kinds of good things for our side. Even if West has KT9x♦, which would expose South's J♦, declarer will soon lose control.

One final note is that I disagree with the notion that a trump opening lead is not a good one on this hand because it's only at the 2-level. I think the auction SCREAMS for a trump opening lead, and as North I'm less afraid to do so at lower levels (at IMPs anyway). It's not as though I'm going to be handing them a large plus by sacrificing a tempo if my partner is strong -- and on the auction my partner (South) rates to be very strong with no good bid to make.

[Fluffy]

LHO cannot hold 2 clubs after ♣3 lead, either singleton or 3.

[HighLow21]

Crap, right. I was envisioning 4th best leads I think.

Then A♠ and another seems best. The forcing game. Now all players have 3 trumps and we can control what order they are drawn in.

Or maybe the best plan is to take the 4 side-suit winners first? This then places both black queens with partner, but we have to take them in the right order (AK clubs, Q clubs, spade return, another spade). Now West is reduced to 3 trumps and cannot draw trumps without playing in NT. He will lose 2 spades, 3 clubs, a diamond and a heart, OR, if he fails to draw trumps, there's a good chance he will lose 3 overruffs.

Now I'm just getting curious to see the answer. my guess is that, as usual, I have a lot of the right ideas but am missing the exact, killing answer.

[Fluffy]

Most roads lead to +200, partner has a surprising good hand, this is declarer's

♠K
♥QJ109x
♦K9xx
♣Qxx


Suposedly 3NT is hopeless, but at the club some players managed 2 diamond tricks I guess, still 200 was a decent 70%

[HighLow21]

Fluffy, on 2013-November-10, 16:44, said:

Most roads lead to +200, partner has a surprising good hand, this is declarer's

♠K
♥QJ109x
♦K9xx
♣Qxx


Suposedly 3NT is hopeless, but at the club some players managed 2 diamond tricks I guess, still 200 was a decent 70%

So we get 2♣ 1♠, 1♦ and 1♥ for sure, plus another heart (if he is not ruffing them) or a diamond (if he is). Seems pretty easy to get another diamond with the trump promotion line. Good hand