[franstas]

Hello, in our club started some discussions about the opening, by two pairs, with HJ for the following hand and bidding. Can someone assist? Many thanks.

[Cyberyeti]

Without the 2 queens, it's a reasonable shot, with them, a small spade looks better. It shouldn't beat the contract however, either covering or ducking in both hands (correct if N has J109xx and one entry) will still make with N holding only 2 clubs and both entries.

[franstas]

Thank you very much... helps a lot....

[mycroft]

To unpack Cyberyeti's comment a little:

So there are two pieces of information about this contract that we have from the auction:

• The opponents are in 3NT with 24, 25 HCP (dummy invited into a 15-17 NT with 8 or bad 9)
  
• It is likely that we can set up length tricks in a major (because dummy didn't look for a major fit).

So, we can "see" in partner's hand 40 - 25 - 9 = 6 or 7 points, and "some" hearts (4+, again "13 - 4 (opener) - 3 (dummy) - 2"). We can either try to set up our suit (likely needing two entries) or partner's (and I have a second heart to lead if I get in - of course, that's why the trick to combat this is to duck the first heart - of course you have to guess which is the danger hand (the one with 5 hearts) afterward).

Leading your short major into a 3NT auction (especially one like this one where we know they're on minimum values) is frequently a good lead, especially if your partner has the entries. This is Cyberyeti's "without the two queens" comment - without those queens, you're never setting up your spades and getting in to lead them, so might as well hope that partner has the hearts and can run them. He's known (in this case) to have 10 or 11 high, it's a reasonable chance. Your ♠A is an entry to lead the other heart.

With the potential entries, I think I would try to set up my suit instead (which is the rest of Cyberyeti's comment). I can't really think of a hand other than ♥ATxxx and a minor K that would work.

But a lot of players, including newer players, see the good players lead a short major and think it must be a good lead all the time, so I wouldn't find anything suspicious about it here, even if it were not to be my choice. Of course, defence is the worst part of my game, too, and I'm not an expert either.

(Side note: publishing hands with names is frowned upon, especially if the query can be read as "did these people do something suspicious?" I don't know if you're asking that or whether it's just "we're surprised at this lead strategy. Is it a real one?", but it could look that way.)

[mikeh]

Bad bridge is nearly universal. Cheating nowhere nearly as much.

The lead is bad. Partner will rarely have good enough hearts for the lead to win, and who would be surprised to find declarer with something like A108x and dummy with Q9x.

And of course we have an easy set if their spades are 2-2. We may even win, leading a spade, when they have 2 stoppers. Finally, even if the spade sets up nothing for us, there are few holdings where a low spade gives declarer a trick that he would otherwise not, eventually, get. The same is hardly true for the heart Jack.

I’d make a mental note of the lead, and be prepared to report it as suspicious, if I saw several other weird actions, all of which corresponded with what their partner held (regardless of whether the weird action led to a gain for them). But my expectation would be that this pair is just either not very good (so will take frequent weird action, randomly hitting or missing partner) or just took a flier on this board. People are allowed to ‘swing’ without suspicion, unless their swinging always hits partner’s hand.

[DavidKok]

Presumably North reasoned that since no Stayman was bid EW held at most 7 hearts, so South must have at least 4. But I don't see the issue either way, the unusual lead neither costs nor produces any tricks. Plus in the long run this lead style is far more likely to harm North than to help them.

[johnu]

DavidKok, on 2020-October-03, 12:27, said:

Presumably North reasoned that since no Stayman was bid EW held at most 7 hearts, so South must have at least 4. But I don't see the issue either way, the unusual lead neither costs nor produces any tricks. Plus in the long run this lead style is far more likely to harm North than to help them.

Maybe ♥J doesn't beat 3NT double dummy, but you can certainly go down if you misguess the line of play.

[franstas]

Thanks you all. How do I understand the different answers from Cyberyeti and mikeh (btw thanks for the tip, removed the names). And also, on 7 tables this opening has been played by 2 pairs...

[Cyberyeti]

franstas, on 2020-October-04, 07:30, said:

Thanks you all. How do I understand the different answers from Cyberyeti and mikeh (btw thanks for the tip, removed the names). And also, on 7 tables this opening has been played by 2 pairs...

We're not actually all that far apart, it's a point of emphasis. We both would have led a spade on that hand. Mycroft explained the logic behind what I said (pretty much perfectly), Mike explained his own logic.

Is it cheating ? I've seen enough bad bridge that it probably isn't, but I'd note the names for future reference.

[franstas]

Thanks for this short but clear analysis....