Vul vs Non-vul. IMPs Dealer East
The annual Michelle
Brunner memorial mixed pivot teams is a popular event which this year
raised over £1800 for Christie Hospital and St Ann's Hospice in
memory of Michelle who died seven years ago.
On this deal your right hand opponent opens a weak two spades and left hand opponent raises to the four level. When partner makes a take out double your best shot is to pass and hope that the contract goes off. But what do you lead? There is no right
answer here, opening lead problems are very difficult, especially when
the auction has been uninformative.
You could lead a spade, hoping to give nothing away, or lead a heart on the grounds that partner is most likely to have something in hearts. Ladies world champion Sally Brock, who has written a book about opening leads and is considered something of an expert, thinks that a club is correct because that is the suit in which you have the highest honour. There may be something in that, for the full deal is as below.
On a minor suit lead, the defence can cash four tricks, on a major suit lead declarer will win, draw trumps and discard two clubs on the heart winners to make an overtrick. |
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