[djehuti]

Scoring: IMP

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2NT - 3♣ - 3♦ - 3NT

The lead was the ♦ King, which is our strong lead, ( unblock /count). Count and attitude are upside down.

What actually happened was north covering with the ace and continuing the suit. Any sugestions on this?

tks

[edit] auction

[jdonn]

South made the wrong lead and north did the right thing. If north doesn't play the ace south will assume east has the ace and jack and switch suits 100% of the time (unless he has like KQJTx but then it doesn't matter). North played his partner for KQT9xx. South should have just led low, or if he wants to lead an honor and king is power lead then queen should be right from this holding.

[bid_em_up]

#1) Lead the Q from this sequence, asking for unblock of Jack if partner has it.

#2) North should give attitude @ trick one, if @ all possible. Overtaking to return the suit should be reserved for when holding Ax.

#3) If North is stuck with having to show count, South will be hard pressed to continue diamonds anyway as declarer would duck with AJx(x).

Any shift by South will allow declarer to sail home.

[jdonn]

bid_em_up, on Sep 16 2010, 02:34 PM, said:

#1) Lead the Q from this sequence, asking for unblock of Jack if partner has it.

That apparently isn't their agreement, king would do that.

[djehuti]

jdonn, on Sep 16 2010, 07:29 PM, said:

South made the wrong lead and north did the right thing. If north doesn't play the ace south will assume east has the ace and jack and switch suits 100% of the time (unless he has like KQJTx but then it doesn't matter). North played his partner for KQT9xx. South should have just led low, or if he wants to lead an honor and king is power lead then queen should be right from this holding.

simple enough for me, tks. (sry if this was too obvious)

[JLOGIC]

Wouldn't south lead the K from KQT9x?

[jdonn]

Yes but I think you have to pay off. North will give count and south will think east has AJxx. I don't see any way around it? Bad luck if dummy has a singleton.

[djehuti]

My partner and i were discussing this, and maybe the suit wasn't strong enough to lead the king. With KQT9x would be the same problem though. One thing came to mind, that maybe if declarer is balanced and dummy hits a singleton , and partner is likely to have some lenght in the suit led we should att on the strong lead? pfff...

[Fluffy]

hesitate a minute then play low, wtp?

I never solved this problems, tried tonce to put rules when dummy has singleton, when dummy has void etc, it is just a headache.

[bucky]

bid_em_up, on Sep 16 2010, 02:34 PM, said:

#1) Lead the Q from this sequence, asking for unblock of Jack if partner has it.

#2) North should give attitude @ trick one, if @ all possible.  Overtaking to return the suit should be reserved for when holding Ax.

#3) If North is stuck with having to show count, South will be hard pressed to continue diamonds anyway as declarer would duck with AJx(x).

Any shift by South will allow declarer to sail home.

They are using K as "strong lead" (also called "power lead"?), which means that K asks for unblocking. So from AKJTx or KQT9x, lead the K. From KQx or KQTxx, lead the Q. So per their agreement, Q definitely does NOT asking for unblock, and for this hand to ask for unblock would be wrong anyway (since opening leader doesn't have ♦9).

[JLOGIC]

jdonn, on Sep 16 2010, 02:48 PM, said:

Yes but I think you have to pay off. North will give count and south will think east has AJxx. I don't see any way around it? Bad luck if dummy has a singleton.

KQT9x is by far the most common holding on the king lead I think, and if partner has KQJTx he will continue anyways. I think 5 is way more frequent than 6 on most hands (sometimes you have a chance to bid with 6).

It seems like with a stiff in dummy you should revert to attitude on the ace, or unblock of the jack. Count will be almost totally irrelevant anyways with a stiff in dummy I think.

Never really thought about this, but I know with Axx I do not unblock in this scenario.

[benlessard]

I agree with Justin i would never unblock here, and i play attitude when unblockingn is dangerous (stiff or good holding on dummy) wich is clearly the case here.

even unblocking Jxx vs KQt8x give declarer A9xx 2 stopper. If you lead Q from KQT8x then we clearly dont play the same game.

[Siegmund]

Where was this example when we were asked last week to comment on the merits of reversing the meanings of A and K leads against notrump?

North obeyed ill-considered orders, and it cost a trick when diamonds broke 4-1. I divide the blame equally between South for choosing the wrong lead, and the choice of system -- it seems that even on a Q lead, things are a little bit muddier than they would be playing standard leads, though it's possible to survive.

[jukmoi]

Agree with just giving an attitude signal on ♦K. Seeing the dummy defence will probably not have much future anyway unless partner holds ♦A.