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Today's bidding question was submitted by Ed Schwartz of Phoenix, Arizona.

East's double should be for penalty, asking for the lead of the first suit bid in dummy - spades.

If you pass 1NT doubled and lead a spade, declarer is down two and you score 500. If you lead the king of hearts, you'll also be OK, as long as you switch to spades when South ducks the first trick.

Why didn't East double the 1 bid? Perhaps because many play the double of a forcing bid (1 was forcing on South) as value showing, and not penalty. So with a penalty double, East must first pass and then later double.

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