opening lead

[lakes]

I lead a singleton ace in defending against slam.

other than that, when is it good to lead a singleton ace? and when is
it not good?

[Derek Turner]

Depends on your partnership agreement. What do you lead from AKxx and
from AK? Has partner bid?

[Stu Goodgold]

Your question is just too general to answer. Like most bridge problems, it depends on your whole hand and the auction.

-Stu Goodgold
San Jose, CA

[Will in New Haven]

Well, it isn't good against a slam. If your partner has an entry, you
will beat the slam whatever you lead and getting a ruff will only beat
it a second trick, which you usually won't need for a good score.
Meanwhile, you are giving up control of a suit where all the evidence
you can see points to it being a suit that the _opponents_ are going
to want to develop. It is very unlikely that your Ace will not take a
trick later, _vanishingly_ unlikely. You are much better off leading a
suit where you have some strength in order to develop (a) trick(s) for
your side.

It is good to lead a singleton Ace when it is a suit your partner has
bid or perhaps doubled to suggest a lead.

Otherwise:

If they are in a game-level suit contract and your hand's general
weakness suggests that your partner will get in to let you trump the
suit. If you probably have all of your side's high cards, the lead is
not tempting.

If they are stopped in a lower-level suit contract much the same
applies but your side's total strength is higher.

--
Will in New Haven

[Barry Margolin]

In article <b1rrah...@mid.individual.net>,

What do you think is the better agreement? When leading a singleton, do
you recommend leading high or low?

--
Barry Margolin
Arlington, MA

[Steve Foster]

Barry Margolin wrote:

> What do you think is the better agreement? When leading a singleton,
> do you recommend leading high or low?

I thought the expert opinion was that one should *always* peter with a
singleton... <eg>

--
Steve Foster
For SSL Certificates, Domains, etc, visit.:
https://netshop.virtual-isp.net

[Douglas Newlands]

On 13/06/13 10:37 AM, Steve Foster wrote:
> Barry Margolin wrote:
>
>> What do you think is the better agreement? When leading a singleton,
>> do you recommend leading high or low?
>
> I thought the expert opinion was that one should *always* peter with a
> singleton... <eg>

I thought the standard agreement was to lead singletons with your
left hand

doug

[dake50]

And further, what signals to A-lead do you use?
Shall partner encourage with Q? or only with K?
Is it often a "look at dummy" lead, so suit preference?
Is it intending to get a ruff from Ax, so partner shows his entry?

[bhmwe...@gmail.com]

Den onsdagen den 12:e juni 2013 kl. 18:37:35 UTC+2 skrev lakes:
> I lead a singleton ace in defending against slam.
>
>
>
> other than that, when is it good to lead a singleton ace?

Against 7 NT, or 7X if the ace is in trumps.

[Nick Wedd]

On 13/06/2013 01:37, Steve Foster wrote:
> Barry Margolin wrote:
>
>> What do you think is the better agreement? When leading a singleton,
>> do you recommend leading high or low?
>
> I thought the expert opinion was that one should *always* peter with a
> singleton... <eg>

Except when it's a 9. A lead of a 9 is always confusing.

Nick

[Fred.]

In general, assuming an intelligently bid slam, putting an ace
on the table is more likely to help declarer than your side. The
exceptions I can think of are:

(1) The obvious case of a 7NT contract. I hope you doubled.

(2) When the slam is a sacrifice and you need more than 2 tricks.
Again, I hope someone doubled.

(3) When you have the rest of the defensive cards and are seriously
worried about being end-played.

(4) When you suspect, perhaps because of a questionable cue bid,
that declarer may have 2 losers in the suit. Leading the
ace may keep partner from covering with the king.

Fred.