[blml] Do we play bridge or not?

[Hans van Staveren]

There is not a lot of thought expressed about the total lack of entries of
the hand.

With any potential entry the heart lead is more or less obvious, but in this
specific hand if a heart lead beats the contract it can almost only be
because partner has five. If we need three heart tricks and two others
partner can still lead the suit after the first entry. However, if spades is
the lethal suit it has to be led now, for example if we can get three spade
tricks and two others.

This is the only reason why on this hand I would lead spades.

Now if partner has only hesitated after 3NT as a director my guess is I
would let the lead pass(first consulting players of course to check my
hunch). Of course if partner has asked a question about spades specifically
that changes things, but just hesitating might also point to a solid other
suit(diamonds perhaps). Of course given my shortness the hesitation is most
likely about spades, but then again my reasoning was that spades is the
preferred lead anyhow.

There are players that specifically agree that a double after 1 NT-3 NT asks
for spades. If this partnership plays that, the hesitation might well
suggest a partner thinking specifically about double but chickening out. In
that case I would not allow the spade lead.

After all this we probably get to hear a story where the whole hand has
nothing to do with hesitations, spade leads, and screams for a
director......

Hans