[Free]

I read about this one, and I was wondering what the expert community thinks about this.

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Lets make the reasonable assumption that a ♥ or ♦ lead is out of the question. What lead is better: ♠ or ♣?

Since Fluffy mentioned a common but non-standard approach: with 4♠ opener would rebid 1♠ instead of 1NT.

[Fluffy]

1NT might deny 4♠ for some people. That makes a difference.

Opponents have less spades on average, but so does partner if you know what I mean, its a bit tough, with so few values its better to try to catch a 5 card suit, and since partner is marked with some values that can only happen in 1 place. So at IMPs club stands out IMO. MPs it will be closer since we could also hit LHO's 5 card suit.

[jogs]

I like clubs. With five spades partner might have tried 1♠.

[benlessard]

Very good question.

The easier it is for partner to bid 1S the more I should lead clubs. If your style is to find any excuse to overcall you should lead clubs.

The more pts i have, the vulnerabilty, my suits quality and partner overcalling style are all relevant into determining the odds that hes got 5S and not being able to overcall.

Even scoring (MP or imps) is relevant, at mp spades is more safe but at imps going for partner lenght is more tempting. It may seem a bit counter intuitive but IMO partner is slightly more likely to have 4S and less than 4 clubs (than 4C and less than 4S) but hes slightly more likely to have 5clubs than 5S.

Here I would lead a S because there is a fair amount of hand where partner got 5S and wont overcall. But give 765 in the blacks or make partner NV and club is probably better.

[dake50]

As I think DQ will be an entry, the question becomes
which is recoverable if the opening lead is wrong?
I expect RHO's 1Nt expects a S-lead thus a S-stop.
But Cxx/xxx wouldn't deter his 1Nt.
I start SJ, mostly hoping that works,
but maybe CJ through CKxx later.

[JLOGIC]

At MP a spade and at imps a club. Usually you lead your major but with a really bad hand on a power auction you should lead a club if you wanna beat them as others have said since partner couldn't bid.

[Free]

The article said that ♣ was better than ♠. The reason being that, like Ben stated, it's easier for partner to overcall 1♠ than 2♣. As example hands the following were given: KQ976-AT3-T7-987 vs 987-AT3-T7-KQ976. But it's not as simple as the article suggests imo.

I wonder if it's really that much easier to overcall 1♠. For starters, a 2♣ overcall can make it more difficult for opps to find a 4-4 ♠ fit, especially when they play support doubles. And the fact that we passed over 1♦ makes it much safer to overcall whatever suit you have for the lead.

As an extra argument I think we'll lead through strength more often when leading ♠, while ♣ can be declarer's suit. I guess that's why Justin suggests leading ♠ in MP (to maximize number of tricks) while leading the minor at imps (to defeat the contract).

[JLOGIC]

Even if you believe in overcalling 2C aggressively red/white in sandwich position (which is definitely against what most people think, but imo it's a fine view to hold), it still has to be much easier to overcall 1S than 2C, it's still a 1 level overcall vs a 2 level overcall. I really doubt anyone overcalls 2C MORE than 1S, even if they are the most aggressive 2C overcaller in the world.

[Free]

Ah yes, I forgot the vulnerability