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Here is opening lead problem from the Northern Bridge League on 19th August.
EW Vul IMPs Dealer West
(1)
Your partner's opening bid could be a three card suit, playing a strong
notrump, five card major system.
After North's high pre-empt you double with two aces and a few other values. What do you lead? There is no definite answer to a lot of opening lead problems, especially where the auction has been brief and uninformative. Leading a major suit ace to see dummy might be right if you need to cash in the right order, on the other hand you may set up a king in dummy if declarer is void or make declarer's king a winner in that suit. Leading the trump queen is safe and may stop a ruff in dummy. Leading a club at least is partner's suit. I asked a few Manchester players. Alan Mould led the trump queen, "would never lead a club", "leading an ace just seems random, maybe it is right". John Holland would lead a club, "would not lead an ace". I tried a simulation, all that showed was that on most deals it didn't matter, it was usually going off in top tricks, was occasionally cold and only very rarely did the lead matter apart from extra undertricks. I also polled it on the Bridge Winners web site. About half led a club about a quarter a diamond and the rest a major suit ace. All this goes to show is that some bridge problems are just too difficult and there is no clear answer. The full deal was as below. If you chose a club or a diamond you will soon be scoring -550. If you chose a major suit ace you need to cash your tricks carefully.
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