I know he’ll never hear the last of it if he decides to try something different, but should West lead a spade here? North has 2 Aces or an Ace and the trump King so seems unlikely to be bidding 3S with the SK and 2 outside high cards as he’d have a 10 count. It looks like the SA and probably the DA as cue-bidding a singleton D in partner’s second suit rarely appeals.
Looking at South’s bidding has he really got Sxx or similar knowing that he’s getting a spade lead? A singleton seems far more likely. It would need a VERY brave West to over-rule partner but there might be a case for it and finding the small club – neither a trump nor (especially) a D seem sensible. Garozzos’ Bols tip was that small slams (except in NT) often need to be attacked. Declarer might wonder if West had UI or similar if he found the lead though.
Regards,
Iain
bobbywolffNovember 8th, 2022 at 2:57 pm
Hi Iain,
Back in the day we learned to see the real insidious side of cheating and how, especially in bridge, rather than chess (where only the best move at that time would be communicated) that the spade lead would clearly be illegally shown, allowing East, in this case, and by perhaps not doubling spades, also might imply that he had another key honor (especially opposite the possible king) so that your on target reference could MUCH more readily come to life.
Obviously I cannot guarantee that it would, only my rather long association with those
infamous great bridge playing, but oh so questionable and known whatevers, took away all comfort with playing against them.
There is so much concrete evidence against those bloaks, and believe it or not, the characters always mentioned IMO were so good they DID NOT really want to do it, but their Captain, Carl Albert Perroux absolutely DEMANDED it with not being allowed on the team, the penalty, if refused. And so the current history is what obviously came to pass.
The sad thing about it is that if the three big guns refused, their team
would certainly have been reduced so that they could sit side by side as the remaining partners and still not likely beat even slightly above average competition.
Getting back to today’s hand I think it fun to think about a club lead, but on this
very normal bidding, to say it is even possible, is to discount reality.
Iain ClimieNovember 8th, 2022 at 3:22 pm
Hi Bobby,
Thanks for that and I must say I’d have led a spade too…
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Hi Bobby,
I know he’ll never hear the last of it if he decides to try something different, but should West lead a spade here? North has 2 Aces or an Ace and the trump King so seems unlikely to be bidding 3S with the SK and 2 outside high cards as he’d have a 10 count. It looks like the SA and probably the DA as cue-bidding a singleton D in partner’s second suit rarely appeals.
Looking at South’s bidding has he really got Sxx or similar knowing that he’s getting a spade lead? A singleton seems far more likely. It would need a VERY brave West to over-rule partner but there might be a case for it and finding the small club – neither a trump nor (especially) a D seem sensible. Garozzos’ Bols tip was that small slams (except in NT) often need to be attacked. Declarer might wonder if West had UI or similar if he found the lead though.
Regards,
Iain
Hi Iain,
Back in the day we learned to see the real insidious side of cheating and how, especially in bridge, rather than chess (where only the best move at that time would be communicated) that the spade lead would clearly be illegally shown, allowing East, in this case, and by perhaps not doubling spades, also might imply that he had another key honor (especially opposite the possible king) so that your on target reference could MUCH more readily come to life.
Obviously I cannot guarantee that it would, only my rather long association with those
infamous great bridge playing, but oh so questionable and known whatevers, took away all comfort with playing against them.
There is so much concrete evidence against those bloaks, and believe it or not, the characters always mentioned IMO were so good they DID NOT really want to do it, but their Captain, Carl Albert Perroux absolutely DEMANDED it with not being allowed on the team, the penalty, if refused. And so the current history is what obviously came to pass.
The sad thing about it is that if the three big guns refused, their team
would certainly have been reduced so that they could sit side by side as the remaining partners and still not likely beat even slightly above average competition.
Getting back to today’s hand I think it fun to think about a club lead, but on this
very normal bidding, to say it is even possible, is to discount reality.
Hi Bobby,
Thanks for that and I must say I’d have led a spade too…
Iain