[mfa1010]

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1♦ was precision style:
a) 11-13NT, b) any 4441 11-15, c) unbal 4+♦ 11-15.

3♣ was invitational with 6+ clubs.

My actual lead was not a success, and retrospectively I disagree with my choice. I think.

[dake50]

I like SJ.

[mike777]

2h


the nonexpert level lead.

[han]

Spade ace, I'm hoping to find partner with one of the major suit kings.

[nige1]

1♦ was precision style:
a) 11-13NT, b) any 4441 11-15, c) unbal 4+♦ 11-15.
3♣ was invitational with 6+ clubs.

IMO ♥A = 10, ♥2 = 9, ♠ A = 8, ♠6 = 7, ♠J = 6, ♦8 = 5, ♣5 = 1.

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[JLOGIC]

HA seems normal. Han why do you lead the spade ace, that seems weird?

[Fluffy]

I wanna lead an ace, but can't elaborate much on wich. Anyway last year I wouldn't had led an ace so I am improving

[benlessard]

A♠ followed by J if partner encourage and by AH if discouraging for most expected dummy. Like Han im hoping for partner having a Maj K or for a stiff K in declarer. the big drawback is that partner will encourage with Qs and the KH since we are playing strong kings.

[whereagles]

Auction definitely calls for an attacking lead. An ace comes to mind, but I'd just try a small heart.

[han]

JLOGIC, on 2011-May-30, 21:58, said:

HA seems normal. Han why do you lead the spade ace, that seems weird?

I trust you that it's bad but I posted my reasons! If partner has the heart king we're probably beating this anyway. If partner has the spade king then the spade ace gives us a better chance.

[Free]

♥A seems normal to me.

[gnasher]

When I first saw this, I just thought "♥A, obvious". Han's suggestion of ♠A seems a good one, though.

Assuming that we manage to overcome the signalling problems:

- Both leads work when we have four tricks to cash in one suit.

- ♠A works when partner has ♠K and ♥J10 (or just the jack with declarer having Kx).

- And if they don't have nine tricks after the lead:
* ♥A gains if we can set up three heart tricks (eg partner has J10)
* ♠A gains if we can set up three spade tricks (eg partner has ♠Q and the king is short)
* ♠A gains if we can set up two spades and three hearts (eg partner has ♠Q10 and ♥J10)

Have I missed anything?

[mfa1010]

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Good comments.

I tried the ♥A, but that was it for the defense when declarer simply just played a spade up for his 9th trick. A spade lead would have set the contract, provided that we don't screw up later.
Afterwards I was thinking along the lines of gnasher and han. If we should cash an ace, then perhaps it ought to be ♠A. It seems that it might be combining our chances in the majors a little better.

[whereagles]

I must confess the ace of spades lead is too deep for me

[JLOGIC]

han, on 2011-May-30, 23:48, said:

I trust you that it's bad but I posted my reasons! If partner has the heart king we're probably beating this anyway. If partner has the spade king then the spade ace gives us a better chance.

Hah I didn't say it was bad just weird (as in, usually with this theme, you lead the HA imo). Maybe it was obvious that the SA gives you a better chance to beat it when partner has the SK but you didn't state that explicitly and I didn't get it, sorry. If partner has the SK sometimes the SA is the losing option, but I guess I agree when he has the SK the SA will usually be best. I was genuinely asking you why you led the SA when the HA seemed normal since I was sure you had a good reason but didn't get it!

I still don't know about the SA lead, Having 3 heart tricks and a spade and a minor suit trick seems like the most likely way to beat it. Also, it is harder to get defenses right on the SA lead. Partner will not know we have AJx and might encourage with the SQ and HK when we had 5 tricks or something else like that. At least when we have AQ the likelihood of that is minimal. Perhaps on an auction like this where you bang down an unsupported ace a lot, you should just lead K from AK and forget about unblock/count cards in order to make the ace lead deny the king.

That said, nice hand and comments, it's definitely something to think about, I confess I would have just autopilot led the HA and not considered the merits of the SA.

[Cyberyeti]

Thought provoking hand, of course you feel pig sick if the spade suit is laid out with Hx on the deck and Hxx in hand with minor suit honours as they are and declarer having ♥Kx with partner having J(10)xx(x), where your lead of the A♠ rather than the J giving away the second spade trick allows him to make 9, but then any heart also allows 9.

I think it's very close as to which suit you should lead, and A/x♥ or A/J♠.

[P_Marlowe]

Hearts.

We need to set up our tricks fast.

Because of this, one may argue, that leading an Ace is best, to have
a look at dummy, but which Ace? No idea, so I am going with leading low
from my best suit.

With kind regards
Marlowe