[luke warm]

these are about the same difficulty level as the first set (same chapter), with hints given from the bidding... your lead, have fun

1}

---

S..........W..........N..........E
1D........1S........2C.........P
2NT.......P.........3NT

2}

---

S..........W..........N..........E
1NT.......P..........2C.........P
2S.........P..........3NT.......P

3}

---

N...........E..........S..........W
1C.........1D........1NT.......P
2NT........P..........3NT.......P

4}

---

S..........W..........N..........E
3NT* (gambling).... all pass

5}

---

S..........W..........N..........E
2NT.......P..........3NT........P

6}

---

N..........E..........S..........W
1D........P..........2C.........P
2S........P..........2NT........P
3C........P..........3S..........P
3NT

7}

---

S..........W..........N..........E
1NT...all pass

8}

---

S..........W..........N..........E
1D.........P..........1S.........P
1NT........P..........2NT.......P
3NT

9}

---

S..........W...........N..........E
1NT all pass

10}

---

S..........W..........N..........E
2NT.... all pass

[MickyB]

1. Heart
2. Diamond
3. Top spade - they are going to need red suit tricks to make this
4. Diamond ace
5. Small heart
6. Small heart - the weak hand has the heart length
7. Spade ten - top heart could let them set up hearts before you set up spades
8. Diamond jack
9. Spade
10. Spade jack

The motto? Never lead clubs.

[han]

No hidden solutions this time?

OK here are mine:

Spoiler

1) 4th best heart. Partner didn't support spades, and they showed stoppers.
2) Low diamond. Dummy has hearts and we have a sure side entry.
3) spade jack. I prefer to lead partner's suit, but here I have a good suit, two sure side entries, and only a singleton in diamonds.
4)Diamond ace, as usual against gambling 3NT I lead an ace.
5) Very difficult! Low heart?
6) heart lead seems obvious.
7) spade ten.
8) partner is almost broke. The heart queen is not enough to set it, since declarer can hold up twice. The diamond queen would give much better chances. I lead a LOW diamond.
9) 7 of hearts, safest. Usually defend passively against 1NT, aggressively against 3NT.
10) delighted to lead the spade jack!

Maybe I'm missing something, but I thought that nr.5 was very difficult.

[han]

I see that I have two different answers than Micky.. perhaps they weren't so simple after all!

[MickyB]

I tend to avoid leads from xxx, mainly because I'm normally made to play MUD...I think the other one is quite close, but I guess that if they do have the top three diamond honours then they only need 5 tricks outside of their red suit tops, so a low diamond is probably the better lead. I agree that number five is nasty as well.

[jillybean]

1. 5♥ partner didnt support my ♠, if she has any honor hopefully its ♥

2. 4♦ opps have both majors, hoping to help partner.

3. J♠ dont want to lead thru my partners ♦

4. Q♠ top of sequence

5. K♥ I'll be happy with 2 tricks here?

6. 7♠, partners length?

7. 10♠ top of sequence

8. J♦ top of sequence

9. 4♠ - 4th best

10. J♠ - top seq


Thanks Jimmy,, these are good to do!

[han]

Jillybean,

Though I think that nr. 5 is very tough, I'm pretty sure that the heart K is NOT the right answer. Leading an honor from KQxx or QJxx against a suit contract is fine, but against notrump you should lead low. Lead an honor from KQJx or QJ10x, or from a broken sequence like KQ10x.

[jillybean]

Hannie, on Apr 17 2005, 08:32 PM, said:

Jillybean,

Though I think that nr. 5 is very tough, I'm pretty sure that the heart K is NOT the right answer. Leading an honor from KQxx or QJxx against a suit contract is fine, but against notrump you should lead low. Lead an honor from KQJx or QJ10x, or from a broken sequence like KQ10x.

Hannie,
yes, I'm sure you are quite correct

[ochinko]

I feel so lonely. Does noone else lead ♦8 on #5?

Petko

[luke warm]

ok guys, here are the 'answers' as given by robert ewen... thanks for looking, i hope this helps... i'll post some more later (they should get increasingly difficult)

1}

---

S..........W..........N..........E
1D........1S........2C.........P
2NT.......P.........3NT

most of you got this one correct... declarer is ready for a spade lead, so a low heart is correct... you might even consider the 5 since your partner probably doesn't have many hcp and the chance to mislead declarer slightly about the number of hearts you hold might give you an edge

2}

---

S..........W..........N..........E
1NT.......P..........2C.........P
2S.........P..........3NT.......P

ewen gives the diamond 4 since, absent a pretty poor psych, responder has 4 hearts and declarer 4 spades

3}

---

N...........E..........S..........W
1C.........1D........1NT.......P
2NT........P..........3NT.......P

♠J ... normally it's right to lead partner's suit, but most of you understand why that isn't advisable this time... a stiff, a decent suit to lead, and outside entries

4}

---

S..........W..........N..........E
3NT* (gambling).... all pass

no surprises here, the ♦A lets you peek at dummy

5}

---

S..........W..........N..........E
2NT.......P..........3NT........P

this is the one most of you found the toughest (wtg petco!)... in general, when declarer shows strength like this it's not bad strategy to go passive... lead the ♦8, let declarer do his own work

6}

---

N..........E..........S..........W
1D........P..........2C.........P
2S........P..........2NT........P
3C........P..........3S..........P
3NT

yep, the ♥2... unbid suit, a seeming reluctance to commit to the nt game

7}

---

S..........W..........N..........E
1NT...all pass

♠10... normal lead

8}

---

S..........W..........N..........E
1D.........P..........1S.........P
1NT........P..........2NT.......P
3NT

♦6 (or 5)... partner probably has very little, maybe he can help here... the jack would be ok except the suit was bid on your right

9}

---

S..........W...........N..........E
1NT all pass

try the passive ♥7 against 1nt... a lead from your honors might (probably will) help declarer

10}

---

S..........W..........N..........E
2NT.... all pass

the ♠J is safe and potentially constructive... it's unlikely to help declarer and can possibly be good for your side

[han]

Thanks Justin, that makes me feel a little bit better about getting the tough one wrong :-(


More lead problems coming Jimmy?? These are fun!

[luke warm]

that's the good thing about this type problem, different people can feel differently about them... as far as #5 goes, i have always been taught to go passive when a strong 2nt is opened (unless there's a sequence or something from which to lead)... but that doesn't mean there aren't other philosophies... maybe thinking has changed in the years since this book was first published

i'll post more han, just as soon as i can