paulg: hi everyone paulg: I recommend spectators just kibitz Wayne sitting East. Not seeing the other hands will help the conversation :) Click on your own name and change the Kibitz option to East (rather ... paulg: than show all hands). paulg: Tonight we are going to look at the opening lead, the most difficult part of defence as you have to make a decision with only the thirteen cards in your own hand visible. 1ESE: hi all paulg: i am not particularly going to cover what to lead from specific card holdings .... paulg: i am more interested in deciding which suit to lead .... paulg: ... and then consider which card paulg: People play all kinds of lead systems - natural, 4th, 3rd&5th, MUD, Roman, Journalist, 2/4 etc paulg: all of them have advantages and disadvantages, so i'll leave it to you to decide which you prefer paulg: we'll be playing "standard" this evening, but as I said it's not particuarly important paulg: All the hands from tonight are from my match last week in the first round of the English Inter-Club Knockout competition. paulg: You are playing against students from Oxford University, so their bidding may be unusual and unsound! :) paulg: I held most of the East hands, but on others I have rotated the hand so East leads (so I might be the unsound bidder!). paulg: I recommend spectators just kibitz Wayne sitting East. Not seeing the other hands will help the conversation :) Click on your own name and change the Kibitz option to East (rather ... paulg: than show all hands). paulg: so let's go ... BILmanager: => Club: !D!D paulg's session on OPENING LEADS has just begun--All Members Welcome. !D!D paulg: the opposition are playing a strange system, but they play 5-card majors and a strongish 1NT paulg: so perhaps wayne will let us know which cards he is considering leading .... sceptic: well I dont expect much on my left and about 16 ish on my right and not balanced paulg: those of you who can only see Wayne's hand are also invited to suggest leads sceptic: I dont really want to lead from an A juve: i would lead !s A2Bob: 9!C sallyally: !S3 sceptic: !C or !S a passive !S may be best and let opps do all the work paulg: i think everyone has the right idea here ... paulg: it is likely that most of the strength is in declarer's hand .... paulg: so leading an ace may concede tricks ... ->sceptic: you can make your choice now :) mary 1: J of !D BILmanager->Kibitzers: !D!DPaul recommends that you kibitz East only to get full advantage from this session!D!D paulg: so i led a spade too ... because dummy often has shortage on this auction paulg: unfortunately, as you see, dummy has a good hand :( paulg: one point I will make is that Wayne has led the right spade .... paulg: with two small trumps you should lead the small one paulg: so I got to precisely this position too .... paulg: what are you hoping for when you lead the !dA paulg: ? sceptic: I was considering leading the J!D hoping you have K juve: pt has the K sceptic: a signal norrito: K paulg: yes, you hope partner has the !dK ... otherwise this contract is making ... paulg: how many diamonds does partner have? paulg: or, perhaps I'll put it another way, how many diamonds must declarer have for this contract to go down? sceptic: 2 norrito: 3 sceptic: 2 for p sceptic: rho needs 3 paulg: right, paulg: so if partner has !dKx ... then we must lead !dJ now paulg: otherwise declarer will duck the second diamond .... paulg: because you do NOT have !dAK ... as you would have led them sceptic: y paulg: in fact, it does not matter what you do on the actual hand .... paulg: but I just wanted to illustrate how you must place cards to give yourself a chance of defeating a contract ... paulg: on to the next .... juve: . paulg: i will say you do not get rich leading from hands like this :) sceptic: I need top lead a major just not sure which one yet paulg: i have a simple rule for deciding between "equal" suits ..... paulg: i lead the best .... so 532 would be better than 432 :) sceptic: my p's strongest may be my weakest paulg: true, but if partner had a good suit he may have bid it sceptic: y uday (Broadcast): Hi all. I work here. A little system maintenance coming up. System may pause for a few seconds. Nothing at all after this mornings troubles (!) paulg: and he needs more in his good suit if it is my weaker one sceptic: so low form 3 to an honour uday (Broadcast): Maintenance complete paulg: i led the !s3 too lorran: why not low d? ->lorran: declarer has shown 5+ !d lorran: doesnt matter must get ace juve: why? Why not 7!d? paulg: so a few people are asking why not lead a diamond .... paulg: i didn't really consider it too hard when declarer has shown 5!d .... sceptic: I did not consider a !D as I can protect that suit sceptic: and also they can make more if I lead it paulg: and leading into his strong suit did not look a good start ... although it would have been more effective here kyno40: Wayne did you know the !NT bid has 5d ? paulg: North will always make 3NT as the cards lie .... paulg: yes, the 1NT bid has been alerted and marked as such sceptic: yes paul alerted it to me ::) sceptic: but nornmal with out the alert may be I would not paulg: without the alert I think a !d lead is clear lorran: also gives u 3 tricks not 2 ->lorran: !d lead holds the contract to 9 tricks paulg: what would a double by West mean here ? norrito: penx sceptic: opportunity for pen pass paulg: ok, i'll back up first .... tootsie769: 2 unbid suits paulg: what would a double of 2!h by wayne have been ... penalty or takeout? norrito: t o Lpoppy: take out sceptic: penalty or I bid 2!S or 3!D paulg: i hope those who were here last week :) paulg: yes, it is penalty ... East has passed out 2!d so is not interested in competing .... sceptic: so ur x if you make it is t/o paulg: so double by East is penalty oriented ... clearly Wayne does not have a great hand paulg: but he has a great hand considering his 1N bid and pass of 2!d paulg: if double by East is penalty, then there is no need for West to have a takeout double .... paulg: his double should be penalty too paulg: so I'd have doubled 2!h with wayne's hand ... and let partner decide where to play paulg: so in our match the contract was actually 2!h-X paulg: but we can defend 2!h here sceptic: I had decided to lead K!S paulg: yep, looks clear :) paulg: so you should lead it ... sceptic: also if you are happy to defend hearts may be u are short of clubs? sceptic: 5,3,3,2 paulg: possibly ... however West may have passed because he believes the opps have better hands paulg: did you consider any other lead? sceptic: heart briefly that was all kyno40: why not takeover with ace ? paulg: at this point I'd have probably led a heart to cut down the diamond ruffs ->kyno40: could potentially set up !s10 sceptic: u have 3 !C kyno40: ok ty ack_hh->Club: any two willing to play despite paul's excellent teaching? :) paulg: well defended ... sceptic->Club: well 5332 was a bit out :) paulg: declarer could have played it better, leading clubs earlier, but that was how my partner did it ... paulg: our defenders were not as good, so they let 2!h-X make ... paulg: however I think a !h switch at T2 is probably best in general sceptic: hm you would bid 2!C if you never had 4 !D :( paulg: so although you are always entitled to think ..... paulg: ... long pauses tend to give away lots of information ;) sceptic: !D paulg: yes, everything else looks horrible! sceptic: which one I am tempted to lead 10 sceptic: but 2 is right I think paulg: in isolation, looking at !dA 10 2, then the 2 is the right lead .. paulg: however ... how many points do you expect partner to have? sceptic: 3 max paulg: so he is unlikely to be getting the lead .... sceptic: qjxxxxx !D I hope paulg: yep, it doesn't matter what you lead then BILmanager->Kibitzers: !D!DPaul recommends that you kibitz East only to get full advantage from this session!D!D paulg: luckily my opponent did not play it like that and went down ..... paulg: he forgot to cash the hearts before tackling the other suits paulg: i think there is a good case for each of the diamonds on lead .... paulg: I actually led the !dA and continued the suit .. hoping for partner to hold !dQxxxx paulg: i was worried about blocking the diamond suit by leading the !d2 ... paulg: i think the D10 you suggested is probably better .... sceptic: that is why I considered the 10 paulg: but, again, if declarer is careful there is no winning lead paulg: the real point of this hand was to show that "standard" leads are not sufficient .... paulg: you need to consider the auction & your hand paulg: and i don't think any diamond is wrong from this holding ... paulg: I recommend spectators just kibitz Wayne sitting East. Not seeing the other hands will help the conversation :) Click on your own name and change the Kibitz option to East (rather ... paulg: than show all hands). ->sceptic: problem? looks a simple pass? sceptic: sorry all I just had some egyptian guy making a pass at me (again) sceptic: !H looks best lead paulg: i thought so too paulg: lead and I'll show the hand .... paulg: so I would lead a small one :) paulg: this is a simple hand ... declarer will make lots of tricks if he guesses right paulg: our teammates made 3NT whereas we held it to eight tricks paulg: although a heart lead works poorly here, I wanted to stress that at IMPs you need to make aggressive leads paulg: you are trying to defeat contracts ... and you should have good reasons if you do not lead your best suit paulg: here I would lead the !h3 ... 4th best from my longest & strongest ... paulg: if I was playing 3rd & 5th leads I would still lead the !h3 ... since the !h9 is too important to lead paulg: it would be far better for West to lead out of turn .... paulg: but unfortunately BBO does not permit this! gaya: i'm not fan in leading a suit where i have a tenace... am i wrong ? sceptic: !H is now very dubious ->gaya: i would not worry about leading from a tenance .. if partner has either of 2 honours it will work well sceptic: !s poor choice also paulg: true sceptic: I think low club paulg: !s especially bad as North probably short gaya: but sometimes it may be a gift for declarer also sceptic: not sure about leading trumps may be Q if I did as I suspect p has some values there ->gaya: yes, everything is a risk and there are no guarantees :) paulg: IF you lead trumps, then you must lead a small one ... partner may have singleton ace or king sceptic: ok gaya: u mean ... life is risky :) i know, my insurance company makes me pay a lot for it ::::))))) paulg: so i think a club lead is probably best .... paulg: however if you decide to lead a heart, then the KING is the best one to lead .... paulg: if the heart lead is worth a trick, partner can leave you on lead in case a switch through a black suit is needed mortinii: what did 6!h show? sceptic: i c paulg: you both know that there is only one heart trick ->mortinii: it looks a random card to me! sceptic: so had I led low !H you would know to switch to a black suit? paulg: this type of lead often comes up when you are the weaker hand paulg: yes ... almost certain declarer only has one .... sceptic: k :) paulg: on this hand it is easy for West :) paulg: he would win !hA and cash !cK ... expecting you to show LENGTH paulg: so that he knows what to try and cash for the third trick sceptic: so 3 then 4 paulg: yes, if playing reverse paulg: if playing standard signals, then !c9 first sceptic: opps lol 4 then 3 :) paulg: not 4 then 3 !! sceptic: I am was a litttle backward at school :) paulg: you only have one signal to make, so make it as clear as possible here. .... sceptic: ok paulg: so play the !c9 .... nasty declarers have a habit of hiding cards :) sceptic: ok I think RHO is short in !S and has a !H stop, my p does not have much in way of minors paulg: playing the !cQ never wins :) paulg: good lead ... never trust students to have a stop for their 1NT sceptic: :) paulg: in defence you need to keep one more club and one less diamond .... and hope declarer goes wrong! sceptic: k paulg: leading from this hand is not easy .... paulg: very tempting to lead a diamond .... paulg: but leading a heart is always good for partnership morale .... paulg: especially in pickup partnerships but also in most partnerships paulg: so I did not consider this hand good enough for a vulnerable against non-vulnerable weak 2!s :) sceptic: I am not sure about leading !H as O think opps have more than we do paulg: :) hallway: Hi :-) ->hallway: good morning sceptic: my only suit is !S and that is not a good one paulg: i think the choice should be between the majors ... sceptic: minors dont look good option so I pick my suit paulg: trying to hit partner's minor, when he may not have one, is a random lead sceptic: 4th paulg: yes, 4th is fine spectre72: top of inner sequence better? paulg: so i reasoned the same way ... paulg: and the spade lead saves an overtrick or two paulg: in terms of which card to lead ..... often you'll lead top of internal sequence ... paulg: for example, when you hold KJT52 you will lead the J paulg: however with inner sequence of low cards it is more useful to lead the length card ... paulg: in this case 4th best, as length is more important for partner to know than the internal sequence headed by a 9 BILmanager: paul I got to leave to see to my mother Maureen will come back on as BILm today was a terrific session really enjoyed sceptic: !D or !H paulg: yep sceptic: should be longest but I like the !H so I will prob choose incorrectly :) sceptic: major is best attack in nt sceptic: espec if you have a !H homour paulg: i'm not sure about major being the best attack, but they certainly have not looked for a major fit paulg: so this is another student overbid so partner has more points than he is entitled to on the auction ... paulg: however hearts are the best lead ... you have a very good suit and partner just needs one honour to break the contract spectre72: instead of last little heart lead from you , why not a spade? paulg: for a diamond lead to work, he probably needs at least 2 honours in the suit paulg: like Wayne I also signalled for a spade switch ... but my partnership was new and he was not prepared to risk it :) spectre72: if declarer has A!s makes instead of sets, partner gets !A when he has it anyway ->spectre72: true sceptic: perhaps this is a good time to tell you I missed ur signal :) vincenzo (Broadcast): *** solo 5 minuti all'inizio del torneo BBOITALIA di questa sera *** Only 5 minutes to BBOITALIA tourney *** bilmanager->Kibitzers: !D I hope you have all taken Paul's advice and have clicked on your own login name and changed your profile for this lesson to KIBITZ EAST so that you only see the east hand ... bilmanager->Kibitzers: while you think what Wayne should Lead !D paulg: you mean your signal was unintentional :) sceptic: yes something like that :) paulg: you always played your highest heart ... this suggests spade entry kyno40: aha sceptic: oh, I just thought it was correct way to play paulg: well, it is clear you must have the !hJ ... so you could play the !h10 on the second round sceptic: yes I see what you mean paulg: and you could play the !h9 next sceptic: spades paulg: double would be takeout ... as partner is unlimited and you have no fit sceptic: 4 of them paulg: so this is the last hand ... and by the fact you are playing it perhaps the bidding was different! sceptic: perhpas I should pass :) Ruthann->Club: Need player at RuthAnn's table. sceptic: dam that was not nice spectre72: ouch! sceptic->Club: sigh paulg: so we discussed this hand at the club quite a lot, since I maintained my partner should have doubled 2!h as South rather than bid 3!d paulg: however we were winning comfortably at the time and he did not want to risk 2!h-X making paulg: although there is little chance of that :) paulg: so the problem was meant to be ... want to lead against 3!d :) paulg: what to lead against 3!d paulg: and on this auction I would suggest a diamond ... paulg: i'm not a big fan of trump leads, but here the auction suggests shortages paulg: so from !dJT3 I would lead the !d3 ... paulg: this is because I expect partner to be short so he will be playing high cards ... paulg: so that's it for this evening ..... sceptic: thx Paul most interesting bilmanager: !D Thank you Paul and Wayne too !D Petunia: thankyou :) kyno40: Thank you Paul paulg: i'd like to thank Wayne for his patience in defending most of the time, and Mary and Maureen for helping Sinan->Club: thnx spectre72: Very interesting, thanks for the insight into leading kyno40: Thank you Wayne fleuretted: tks to everyone :-) great lesson ->sceptic: what do you want next week? Clemmy: tx a lot bye! cdt->Club: thanks all great lesson paulg: we'll announce next week's topic in the newsletter ->Clemmy: ty