An Opening Lead Problem

Last Saturday, I held:

A984
KQ76
T732
4

RHO opened 1 Spade. LHO bid 2 Clubs (game force). RHO raised to 3 Clubs. LHO bid 3 Hearts, and RHO closed out the bidding with 3 No Trump. What do you lead?

LHO's 3 Heart bid sounded like a Heart stopper, although it might be a 4-card suit. RHO's 3NT bid indicated a Diamond stopper. So should I have led a heart or a diamond, and if so, what card?

I reasoned that the club suit was probably running, so we need to make an aggressive lead. Since RHO bid spades, supported clubs and bid no-trump, he probably would be short in hearts. So I led the king of hearts, hoping he had no more than two hearts, and that either partner had the heart jack, or that if the opponents held it, declarer would have it singleton or doubleton, and partner would have the ten and possibly a long suit. This worked out perfecly, since the opponents' hands were:

T2
A42
64
AQJ765

KQJ63
J
AJ8
KT93

The king smothered the jack, and the defense had 4 heart tricks set up. Since the declarer only had 8 quick tricks, he just gave up the ace of spades and went down.

Winning Imps *

It seems I always return to my favorite topic: winning imps! The second annual Frank Bessing memorial team game was a success. I gave a lesson on responding to overcalls which I shall post in due course. There were numerous opportunities to pick up imps--see how you would bid these hands.

1. Vul., first board, first match against the team that is most likely to be competitive with you.

9xxxx
x
AKxxx
Ax


I opened 1S, LHO doubled and Bob, my partner, bid 2C--a constructive spade raise. RHO, a conservative player passed. What is your call?


I decided to jump to game. Partner's values should be working and maybe I have just taken an advance save over 4H. A heart is led and dummy is:


AQ10
xxxx
xx
Qxxx

9xxxx
x
AKxxx
Ax

The spade honors are onside, the diamonds break 3-3 and I score up my (19 point) vulnerable game, winning 10 imps.

2. I was admiring this hand when I heard the bidding go pass, pass, 3S. Now what?

Kxxx
AJx
AKQJx
x


I couldn't think of anything other than 3NT, although I admit I was a little worried when LHO tabled a club.

xx
K109xx
xxx
QJx

Kxxx
AJx
AKQJx
x

No problem. Pard had a club stopper. LHO had the HQ and I ended up plus 660 winning 13 imps. Apparently the person with my hand doubled at the other table and they ended up in 4H going down.

3. Vul. vs. not, LHO opens 1D and it goes pass, pass to you.

xx
KQJx
AQJx
Axx

Too strong to balance with 1NT, I started with a double and heard LHO bid 1S. Pard doubled this, showing spades. What do you bid now?


I now jumped to 2NT-maybe a little pushy, but always pushing for these vulnerable games. Partner cooperated by bidding 3NT and a low spade was led.

AJ9xx
10xx
xx
Q10x

xx
KQJx
AQJx
Axx

Prospects didn't look too bad. I got off to a bad start by ducking a spade to the 10, but with soft defense we ended up plus 630 for another 12 imps.

All in all, a good day.

See you at the table!