One of the simpler ways is to paint the “. . .” formatting white, as I have done.
Boy, I completely misguessed what the distribution was like!
Yeah, the West hand shouldn’t be bidding 2H and then 3H, that’s insane. It’s either a straight jump to 4H at matchpoints (not worrying about missing a slam after South opens the bidding), or doubling and rebidding hearts. In this case West is not afraid of partner passing the double for penalty, because HE is the one holding the spade stack, so technically that’s the right bid.
As you say, sometimes you get walked. West talked himself out of a great game, and talked you into thinking partner’s hand rated to be better than it was.
OTOH my regular partner did say he’d have passed the second time - though he did say "I would find no fault with a second double - so had that hand happened to us, I can only say, hey, I always sit North, so, good board 
Interesting. I did in fact not recall the spot being a 5, I don’t recall spots being mentioned in the original hand, just “a low heart”, which I took to mean “you can see it’s the lowest heart”.
I do see later that Busy Scissors gave the lead as being from an original 5 card holding, so I should I have realized that declarer could see it wasn’t the lowest heart out (because it wasn’t).
Yes you’re right, if you need to guard against an original 5 card suit, then you need to duck the first heart. But if you are trying to guard against a deadly spade shift, you need to win the first heart.
It’s interesting to question which is more likely. At the table, even with the lead of the 5 and not the 4, I might not read it as being from a 5 card suit, unless the spots in dummy and my hand made it very suggestive - T96 in dummy, AK7 in my hand, now there are lots of cards “down there”, but T62 in dummy and AK4 in my hand, why should I assume the lead is from K9653 specifically or something where there is only one spot card lower than the 5?
If there is only one spot lower than the 5 not visible, why couldn’t it be RHO who holds Qx5 of hearts?
Hmm, thinking about it some more, if East did start with Qx of hearts and Qx of spades, and West has K9xx of spades or K8xx, then if you duck the first heart to him, he should still switch to a top spade… Which can beat you, which is why my instinct is to win the first heart.
I guess that spade situation is only a danger when West holds specifically the H9xx or H8xx of spades. If spades are 3-3, a spade switch doesn’t hurt you (in fact, it helps set up your spade suit in hand); and if it’s EAST that holds four spades, they can’t have a tenace position over your Ten in hand.
Is that less likely than an original five card heart suit in West, when dummy had T72 and you had AK3 of hearts to start with? Only the 4 is missing, and either defender can hold it.
I’m starting to think you guys are right, the 5-2 heart split is the more likely danger.
But I also think it’s a more interesting defensive problem 
Actually, I’m an idiot for being so afraid of the spades on that hand if you duck the first heart. Even if West has K9xx and East shifts to the Queen from Qx, so what? Duck the spade, and if he continues another one, duck it again.
If they play on spades some more, you set up the spade suit - even you were to lose 3 of them plus the heart you ducked, you’d take the rest of the tricks in three spades, the AK of hearts, the Ace of diamonds and the AKQ of clubs. (You’d have more winners than tricks.)
And if they switch to hearts, you have two stoppers in hearts, and can just play Ace of spades and a spade to set them up (if the opponents played spades twice).
So really there is nothing to worry about in the spade suit, only the heart break.
My instincts were way off on this one. Good learning experience for me!
Have a real six-pointer of a teams match on tonight - the loser will be relegated from the league. Looking forward to it, good to play bridge under pressure.
We’ve been extremely ordinary all season, tbh, so couldn’t complain if we went down. Our team doesn’t have very good chemistry between our two pairs, which are separated in ability. Format of 24 boards IMPs can be quite tight, and if you do two stupid things, say, then you can easily cost the team the match. You need to have confidence that everyone is backing each other’s judgement, which ISTM should be built around discussing the hands and bridge in general away from the table. We don’t have that, and it shows.
Just to add another wrinkle: the original problem stated that the format was matchpoints. If the clubs come in, a better than 50% chance, you make 11 tricks. Ducking a heart and two spades will make that impossible.
I am envious. When I played in England I loved the team matches - local league, inter-club, county. We don’t have any of that here. Good luck tonight.
From the club game yesterday:
Sitting North 4th seat you hold this rather dull hand:
♤: T42
: T862
♢: 9853
♧: A8
The bidding at our table went:
East: 1 club
South: 1 spade
West: 3 no trump
North (you): pass
East: 4 clubs (gerber)
South: pass
West: 4 hearts
You: pass
East: 4 no trump
All pass.
Now it is your opening play. What is the killer lead?
ty Amarone, I suspect we will need it.
For Biotop’s lead problem - E has made a slam try over a 3N to play, so either they’re 18/19 balanced and are looking to take it on power, or they could have a large, club-orientated hand with shape (we’re going to see in a second as it will be on the table). E has retreated from slam but probably has both red aces. W’s 3N bid suggests transportation issues are not critical, so we don’t need to try and take out an entry on the table at trick 1 or anything like that. Failure to make a negative double would normally deny a heart holding, but this is agricultural bidding from EW so not sure how much weight can be given to that.
At the table I’d not be fancying my chances much for a killing lead, it must be said. I’ll take W at their word that they have spades stopped, so won’t finesse partner’s spades on trick 1. If W is familiar with Kelsey - he who shows a stopper in the bidding, does not need one in the play, then I guess I’ll know for next time.
Think I’m leading a red suit and I’ll try a heart, which would be the 8 for me.
I’m still wondering about the bidding where one player bid 2H, 3H, and then 4H with no encouragement from partner. What, if anything, does this bidding show? It sounds like he just wants to play hearts and doesn’t care whether he plays part-score or game. Is he hoping to get doubled? Is he likely to be short in spades?
With his actual hand
S ATxx
H AKQJTxx
D -
C xx
the wealth of tricks and high cards make an immediate 4H bid stand out, I think. How would you change his hand so the actual bidding makes sense?
I initially came to a similar conclusion, albeit with less (good) analysis. My thoughts were based on trying to find my partner with a long suit that he might be able to run. Clubs is presumably E’s long suit (unless that opening bid says nothing about clubs - is that how SAYC works as opposed to Acol?). I forget the details of Gerber, but I believe W’s 4H to show one ace, which given his previous 3NT over partner’s spade bid strongly suggests the ace of spades to me. I seem to remember reading recently that to bid NTs you should hold 2 stoppers in the opponent’s suit, but not sure how widely played that actually is. If we assume W is aware of that, spades don’t seem a fruitful source either. Unless, perhaps, W holds something like AK(x), with E also short of spades, which would give partner QJxxx in spades. So by leading spades we might be able to set them up, with partner needing only one more winner (perhaps) to get in to cash them (if I lead spades again after winning my ace of clubs). Hmm. Since I don’t really know which red suit is best, maybe it’s worth banging out the ten of spades in case that all comes true. It’s also possible that my red suits could take a trick on the fourth round (not that such is likely). Wishful thinking?
ETA: the above was, obviously, in reply to Busy Scissors rather than septimus.
FWIW, I was taught that repeating your suit like that is just not done. It tells partner very little about your hand and smacks of being a complete rookie in most cases. Partner heard you the first time - I agree, with that sort of hand you just bid the number of tricks you think you can make, and in this case you may as well be in game.
A lot of players I know will likely “operate” with hands like that… they won’t bid them straight up. Be wary.
I play 2/1, but I think it is the same in this area.There are two ways to play it. The more common is that an opening 1C guarantees at least 3. With a 4432 you open 1D. The other is that 1C guarantees at least 2 and 1D at least 4, and with 4432 you open 1C.
I can understand the 2H bid. I’d probably bid 4H straight over 1S, but the risk of that is that you know so little about the hand - partner could have enough to make 6H, or he could have wasted values in Diamonds and 4H is 2 off when opponents have no decent contract of their own. Some people would double to show strength, but the trouble there is that (a) after 1S-Dbl someone is going to bid a minor & (b) partner will never believe you have the shape you do. 2H isn’t technically wrong - it shows 11+ points and 5+ Hearts and you certainly have that. And it’s unlikely to be passed out, so you’ll get a chance to decide the level later.
But 3H - no. That’s a barrage bid, showing long Hearts but no added strength, and it’s selling this hand short. The risk of being passed out in 3H with 4H making is just too high. If partner can’t bid over 2H he’s not likely to bid over 3H, unless he’s got 3 hearts and a weak hand, and that’s not what you want him to raise on. Possibly a strong redouble (if the system allows it) or even a cue-bid of 2S. Or just go to 4H. If partner can’t bid over 2H you’re not missing slam, and if partner has nothing, opponents likely have something.
Ironically he did get support for his 4H - just not from his partner. Once he hears that N/S have a Spade fit, he knows his partner must be short and he’ll be ruffing Spades in dummy.
I’m not sure there’s a legitimate bidding sequence where you bid 2H, then 3H, then go to 4H rather than pass opponents out in 3S. I’ve seen 2S-3S-4S, on a hand like S KQJxxxx H x D KQx C xx, but in that case the 4S bid is a sacrifice against 4H.
For Biotop’s lead problem, I’m confused. Partner overcalled, so he must have at least 8 points. West went to 3NT, showing 13-14. That plus your Ace adds up to 25, so East can’t have the 18-19 needed to push for a quantitative slam. So he must have distribution, and that means he must have clubs, as he wouldn’t bid 1C with length in another suit. So when he learned he was short on Aces, why did he stop in 4NT rather than go to 5C? His Club suit isn’t running - he’s missing the Ace!
The choice is between leading a Spade, hoping opponents have only one stop, or leading a red suit, hoping to hit partner with KQJ or better. Probably a low heart (West made no attempt to look for a Heart fit) since my T8 might yet be worth something on the 3rd/4th round.
We were playing matchpoints so No Trump is the better scoring game if the defense doesn’t lead… a diamond.
…North:
…S: T42
…H: T862
…D: 9853
…C: A8
West…East
S: AK76…S: 9
H: Q74…H: AK93
D: K72…D: Q
C: 652…C: KQJT973
…South
…S: QJ853
…H: J5
…D: AJT64
…C: 4
If North leads a diamond and unblocks, then West can be held to 2NT. Any other lead and defense can only take two tricks whether the game is in no trump or clubs. I think that the diamond lead is not impossible to find because if East was especially wary about hearts he might have just passed 3NT. After all, West did not negative double or bid hearts. But East made a try anyway despite South’s overcall and North not bidding hearts.
Though several tables ended up in a no trump contract, none defeated it.
But if your system allows opening one club with only 2 (i.e., 4432), partner is supposed to announce “could be short”. If s/he does not it’s a failure to alert and there could be a penalty.
Got well beaten last night, relegation ensues 
No disasters (aside from 1) but just slowly bled IMPS all night. Down at the half we cut a bit of a dejected bunch - bit like a West Brom half-time team talk.
The 1 bad one was on me - I held something like
S: AKxx
H: KQJxx
D: Kx
C: xx
Vuln, open 1H and partner gives a simple raise to 2, showing 3 hearts 7-9 [I’m not sure if I have the hand exactly right with the minors - I remember thinking game looked a slight stretch but we needed to be in it at teams] so I went 4H direct.
Opps have 3 aces and, unfortunately, a stiff spade with RHO - the defence located this feature to give them a ruff. That’s life, except had I bid more intelligently, showing 2S for example over pard’s 2H, we would have uncovered our 9-card spade fit which is cold for ten. This was found at the other table - minus 12 imps.