[kfay]

Saw this decent problem today on Vugraph:

---

T1: ♠jack, 4, KING, seven

Your lead

[SteveMoe]

♥J, expecting to lead the ♥2 next.

[inquiry]

It is reasonable to ask why partner didn'[t lead his singleton in declarer's minor. The reason would seem to be he has a void so responder has five hearts (or six) and a five card minor, and at least two spades (since he seems surely to hold the ♠Q).

So one must decide which hand South would try 2♥ on...

♠ Q x (x)
♥ K Q x x x (x)
♦ void or (x) or (J)
♣ A J T 8 x

OR

♠ Q x (x)
♥K Q x x x (x)
♦J 9 8 6 4
♣ void or (x) or (A) or (J)


When you make your best guess at which suit partner is void in, return that suit. Partner will ruff and return a spade since he knows you don't have the ♠Q. Which would you guess?

[cnszsun]

inquiry, on 2013-April-27, 22:21, said:

It is reasonable to ask why partner didn'[t lead his singleton in declarer's minor. The reason would seem to be he has a void so responder has five hearts (or six) and a five card minor, and at least two spades (since he seems surely to hold the ♠Q).

So one must decide which hand South would try 2♥ on...

♠ Q x (x)
♥ K Q x x x (x)
♦ void or (x) or (J)
♣ A J T 8 x

OR

♠ Q x (x)
♥K Q x x x (x)
♦J 9 8 6 4
♣ void or (x) or (A) or (J)


When you make your best guess at which suit partner is void in, return that suit. Partner will ruff and return a spade since he knows you don't have the ♠Q. Which would you guess?

I would play for the first type. Becuase even if we guess wrong and declarer happens to hold diamond suit, he still can't make with 3-5-5-0(he would be forced).

[Codo]

I would cash the second spade.
1. I will get a signal from partner.
2. If I lead a minor and I am wrong, I am not sure wheter declarer cannot discard his second spade from dummy if he holds 6 hearts...

[Alik1974]

Partner should have a 6-card ♠ to bid, otherwise he might pass with only 5 ♠ and 2 or 3 low ♥.
He should have a void in declarer's minor or he would have led a singleton in that minor.
His most probable distribution is therefore 6-3-4-0 or 6-3-0-4.
As Codo said, cashing a second ♠ will allow partner to signal his void.

Two ♠, ♦A and a ruff should be OK for one down.

[rhm]

Alik1974, on 2013-April-28, 19:01, said:

Partner should have a 6-card ♠ to bid, otherwise he might pass with only 5 ♠ and 2 or 3 low ♥.
He should have a void in declarer's minor or he would have led a singleton in that minor.
His most probable distribution is therefore 6-3-4-0 or 6-3-0-4.
As Codo said, cashing a second ♠ will allow partner to signal his void.

Two ♠, ♦A and a ruff should be OK for one down.

♣9

A singleton lead would certainly have looked more attractive to West after this bidding, so West has a void in a minor.
In the critical case where South is void in diamonds and West void in clubs you have no diamond ace coming and cashing a second spade lets the contract make.
In this case you need to switch to clubs immediately.
Declarer can not be void in clubs because partner would not have bid 2♠ with a diamond void and a good club suit, neither would he pass 4♥.
Declarer is marked with the ace of clubs.
A club switch looses only if partner has specifically

♠JT8532 ♥xxx ♦- ♣JT83

I bet against this and I am not sure he would bid that way with a six card spade suit and void at all white.
Why partner can not have a five card spade suit escapes me. But in this case he must be void in clubs and declarer void in diamonds.
Lead ♣9 at trick 2
Partner should have made your defense easier by leading an alarm clock signal. The ♠J is not a good card, no matter what this spade holding is.
A high spade spot card lead might hint at a diamond switch, while the lowest spade might indicate a club preference.

Rainer Herrmann

[kfay]

Partner did have a club void and a club switch at trick two was necessary to defeat the contract:

Link to hand:
http://bit.ly/186xM7O

[Codo]

I really hate it that BBF creates the diagrams for two hands like this. It must have happened the thousands time that I did not realize that dummy is on my left at the diagramm but at the right in the play.

[gszes]

rhm, on 2013-April-29, 02:11, said:

♣9

Partner should have made your defense easier by leading an alarm clock signal. The ♠J is not a good card, no matter what this spade holding is.
A high spade spot card lead might hint at a diamond switch, while the lowest spade might indicate a club preference.

Rainer Herrmann

sorry for the partial quote lots of good material. The alarm clock signal works well when playing 4th
best when the bidding promises 5 or more in a suit. The lowest card can be a great lead director.
Unfortunately if playing 3/5 the lowest card is far too often nothing more than 5th best from 5. I totally
agree with the high spade spot (not the J) to ask for a dia return.

[gszes]

off topic IMO next time just make the safer 4s bid and you will
probably have far fewer ulcers in the long run. P bid 2s they need
have a competitive hand and their spade length makes your spade
AK far less likely to be winners and your club K certainly looks l much
more likely to be pickupable. The worst case scenario for 4s should be
around down 2. It is a decent form of insurance with little downside
and lots of upside if the opps stretch too far going to 5h.

[kfay]

gszes, on 2013-May-01, 16:13, said:

off topic IMO next time just make the safer 4s bid and you will
probably have far fewer ulcers in the long run. P bid 2s they need
have a competitive hand and their spade length makes your spade
AK far less likely to be winners and your club K certainly looks l much
more likely to be pickupable. The worst case scenario for 4s should be
around down 2. It is a decent form of insurance with little downside
and lots of upside if the opps stretch too far going to 5h.

What about when it's -3 into a 4♥ contract that can be set (as here)?

[JLOGIC]

Yeah but defending is way harder than being dummy so we should always save on every hand

[MrAce]

JLOGIC, on 2013-May-02, 14:23, said:

Yeah but defending is way harder than being dummy so we should always save on every hand