[DavidKok]

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An interesting hand I played yesterday. 2♥ was natural and game forcing, 3♣ was a slam try in clubs after which we started showing controls. At the end of the long and detailed auction East led the ♥9, 2nd/4th best leads. IMP scoring. Plan the play.

[mikeh]

DavidKok, on 2022-November-11, 13:36, said:

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An interesting hand I played yesterday. 2♥ was natural and game forcing, 3♣ was a slam try in clubs after which we started showing controls. At the end of the long and detailed auction East led the ♥9, 2nd/4th best leads. IMP scoring. Plan the play.

Am I correct in saying that, playing 2/4 leads, one has to lead the 9 from J9x? I’d assume that one would normally run screaming from such a lead, but at the table I’d want to know whether J9x was possible.

Assuming that it’s either J9x or stiff:

Insert the 10. If it’s covered (which it definitely ought not to be no matter west’s holding), I ‘know’ the lead was a stiff. Now I’d cross in diamonds to lead a club, intending to hook the Jack

If west is a strong player, and plays the club King, I’ll avoid looking really foolish and settle for twelve tricks. I’m not going down when west has Jxxxx in hearts and K10 tight in clubs!

Imo, on the auction, the King from K10 tight is mandatory. In fact, unless I know for sure that west isn’t very good, I’m settling for twelve tricks if the king is played on the first round.

If I infer that hearts are 3=3, my only concern is catering to one defender holding K10xx in clubs. Realistically I’m not going to pick up K10xx in east…why on earth would I play Ace and run the 9?

And I don’t care about the stiff king. If west has it, it’ll pop on the first round (although I’ll usually give east a trick with his 10xxx) and if east has it…so low to the Jack loses…I’ll pick the ten up on the next round after east shows out on the Queen.

So I don’t think I’ll play any differently whether I think the lead is from J9x or stiff Jack.

Please don’t tell me they lead the 9 from J9xxx😀

[DavidKok]

The lead can be from J9x or J9xx, a stiff or a falsecard(/mistake). Your ♥10 holds. I reasoned that, if you are going to give up on KTxx in clubs in East, there are all kinds of safety plays available in clubs over taking a first round finesse.

[mikeh]

DavidKok, on 2022-November-13, 02:55, said:

The lead can be from J9x or J9xx, a stiff or a falsecard(/mistake). Your ♥10 holds. I reasoned that, if you are going to give up on KTxx in clubs in East, there are all kinds of safety plays available in clubs over taking a first round finesse.

One leads the 9 from J9xx? I find that astounding.

[DavidKok]

Some pairs do, I wouldn't recommend it but it was on the CC.

This post seems to be a bit of a miss, I thought there were interesting options regarding safety plays and communication, but on reflection it might just be a really boring hand.