Give yourself an extra chance by Barnet Shenkin prev/next

Love all D/W. Your partner opens 4 in first chair and East overcalls 4. Should you bid 5? Yes, because you may make it or you may push them to the 5 level. West takes the push to 5, and it comes back to you. Should you X? I think X is quite reasonable with two likely tricks and the K and partner may have something.

West	North	East	South
			YOU
	4	4	5
All Pass

Now you only need to find the best lead ?

Diagram 1

When Partner has preempted he often has a singleton. You lead the A. Even though declarer drops the K you know partner must have only one as he would play the 7 from 76. So you give partner a ruff and set the contract. Had a heart lead been right there still could have been time to switch to hearts. The Chinese woman player found this lead on the way to winning the world championship.

Idea

When partner preempts and you have a along suit containing the A consider leading the A of the long suit to give partner a ruff.