Chapter 25

Lead-Suggesting Doubles

Lead-directing doubles are

• Lightner Doubles.
• Doubles of final contract (3NT) to ask for specific lead. 

The doubler's intent can be:. 

• Suggest a lead and nothing else. 
• Suggest competing. 
• Suggest a save. 

If our first bid in an auction is a double of an artificial bid or is a double of their third or fourth (real) suit, it is a lead-suggesting double, unless there is a specific agreement to the contrary. 

Lead-suggesting examples

1NT — Pass - Stayman — Double.	Few play garbage Stayman, so double is mostly lead.
1NT — Pass - Transfer — Double.	Lead and compete.  Often, responder's intent is to pass the transfer.
After a 2NT opener.	Lead.  We seldom have the strength to compete.
Double of their third or fourth real suit.
Double of new minor forcing, or Both minors forcing when the bid is in a new suit.
Double of strong 2 and artificial replies.
Double of a cue-bid, or Blackwood response.
1-major — Pass - Bergen raise — Double.	Lead, I think.  They may already be overboard.
Double of splinter or mini-splinter.	Lead less important.  Save at right vulnerability?

No strength or length is specified for the double, even in the case of a weak notrump.  Failure to double suggests neutrality or favoring a lead in some other suit.  It is as though you have bid the suit doubled, except you may not have the strength required for an overcall.  Partner must use judgment in selecting the lead, and care in competing.  In the case of weak notrump, they may be scrambling to the two-level.  If they stop, it is a suggestion that the doubler has count.  If they bid on, assume doubler may be limited to high cards in the suit only.

			x x
			x x x
			x x x x
			K J T x
2NT	Pass	3	Double

Doubling, and getting a club lead, might be doing declarer's work.  However, this hand has nothing to contribute in any other suit.  With a four-card suit, one might worry about a redouble.  Even if they can make 3 , the double tends to buy clubs for our side.

More often than not, you know who is going to declare.  A lead-suggesting double makes most sense for the leader's partner.  When a minor is trumps, they may end in a major or notrump, and lead-suggesting double must be considered by the expected leader.  If you will be the leader, a double suggests that you will want partner to switch to the suit when he gets on lead.

This paragraph discusses weak notrump.  I want the agreements given above, and not what is in this paragraph. "Expert" practice is to define a double of 2 as cards, and implies a balanced hand.  The experts agenda is to punish weak notrumpers.  This requires agreements about later doubles, and their implicit agreement is later doubles are penalty.  For a penalty double to be right, the penalty must exceed the value of your partscore on a partscore deal, and game on a game deal.  An experiment suggests that the "balanced hand - we can get them" scenario occurs about once in a thousand hands against a 10-12 notrump pair.  Lead-suggesting - compete deals are more common.  Leave penalty doubles of weak notrumpers to accidents.

The double of a splinter could be for some other suit.  Splinters are rare, and a different suit agreement tests memory.  Lawrence suggests the suit below, or is it the lowest unbid suit.  (If they splinter in clubs with spades trump, does he want a heart lead or a diamond lead?  And what if they have shown two or three suits?  Or the splinter is into a suit already bid?)  Deals, where the lead is critical, are hard to find.  An experiment showed leads of the splinter suit are okay.

1	Pass	1	Pass
1	Pass	3 *	Double

* 3 is a splinter or mini-splinter.

In standard bidding, diamonds is the fourth suit, and usually is a splinter.  In most big club systems, 1 is natural, and diamonds is the third suit.  In our big club system, 3 again is a splinter.  In all scenarios, the double of diamonds is lead suggesting.

The Exceptions to Lead-Suggesting Doubles

1	Double			Big Club auctions.  Double is for majors.
1	Pass	1 , 1 , 1	Double
2	Double			2 is Flannery, Roman, or Multi.  Double shows count.
2	Pass	2 , 2	Double	2 is Multi.  2 , 2 is pass or correct.  Double is takeout

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