[Rebound]

Scoring: IMP

Auction: (1♠)-p-(2♠)-3♦-(3♠)-p-(4♠)- all pass.
2 of ♦ lead to your Ace. Declarer plays the 7. Now what?

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What I did is hidden below. Please choose your play then take a look and tell me what you think.

:

Spoiler

By a suspect process of elimination, I lead the King and another heart. Partner won the Ace and returned one for a ruff. Partner had a natural trump trick for down 1 (as it happens declarer misplayed and went down 3, but anyway...). Was this play a)obvious, lucky, c) something in between.

Incidentally, I think the 3♦ call may not have been too bright, but I'd still like your opinion please

[han]

Your idea is good. You are not making many tricks, unless partner has the heart ace. If he has the heart ace, you may need to take the three tricks immediately. There are aly-outs possible where shifting to the heart gives away the contract but I think that this is less likely then that it is the correct play.

I would also bid 3D. Whent hey have found a fit at the 3-level and you have a good suit it often pays to bid with a little less than you normally need.

[Winstonm]

Partner has to hold something for you to beat this and if it is the club ace it won't help unless he also has 2 trump tricks (unlikely). The heart play gives nothing declarer didn't have coming anyway and may be necessary. I say well done.

Winston

[pclayton]

I like this defense too (more comments hidden).

Spoiler

Its always fun when a shift like the K♥ works. Declarer doesn't seem too rich in HCP, but taking a heart trick with that club suit looming looks like a real long shot. Assuming declarer has the 6 spade as advertised; Pard would need ♣ATx and a ♦card to tap dummy along with a spade card to stop the entries to ruff out the club.

Seems simpler just to attack with the K♥.

[mike777]

Rebound, on Dec 22 2005, 10:07 AM, said:

Scoring: IMP

Auction: (1♠)-p-(2♠)-3♦-(3♠)-p-(4♠)- all pass.
2 of ♦ lead to your Ace. Declarer plays the 7. Now what?

---

What I did is hidden below. Please choose your play then take a look and tell me what you think.

:

Spoiler

By a suspect process of elimination, I lead the King and another heart. Partner won the Ace and returned one for a ruff. Partner had a natural trump trick for down 1 (as it happens declarer misplayed and went down 3, but anyway...). Was this play a)obvious, lucky, c) something in between.

Incidentally, I think the 3♦ call may not have been too bright, but I'd still like your opinion please

Playing Bergen's OBAR 3D is clearcut. If not now then never.

[mikeh]

The ♥K was an intelligent play. I was puzzled when you said that this would lead to down 1: if partner held a natural trump trick, it should be down 2, but that detail is irrelevant.

[mcphee]

I think K of H is right. Good play I never looked to see if it worked. I hope it did.

[Kalvan14]

3♦ is a pretty normal overcall. Leaving oppos to play in a possible 2♠ is never a good idea.

The shif to the ♥K is also nice: it's a kind of black eye to nothing coup. You are not going to give away anything. And while there are a few other ways to set the contract (I like Phil's one, btw) they are much more contrived and tortuous.
KISS is always a sound approach.

[whereagles]

mike777, on Dec 22 2005, 05:18 PM, said:

Playing Bergen's OBAR 3D is clearcut. If not now then never.

3♦ is obvious, OBAR or NOBAR

[Rebound]

Um, not to hunt for gold in a dung heap lol... but none of you actually mentioned if you would have made this play - just curious, mind you ;-)

[FrancesHinden]

I also think the HK is correct, seems the best chance of beating it. And 3♦ is clear.

Quote

but none of you actually mentioned if you would have made this play

Saying "I would have found this play" is a bit silly once you know what the winning line is.

[Winstonm]

Rebound, on Dec 29 2005, 04:53 AM, said:

Um, not to hunt for gold in a dung heap lol... but none of you actually mentioned if you would have made this play - just curious, mind you ;-)

The answer depends on lot on the quality of the opponents - and their methods.
For many, 3S in this auction would be non-forward going and I can't tell you how many times you see 3S on 5332 12 counts here - ugh.

However, assuming an agreement that 3S was a bit stronger than pass then you have what appears to be 15-16 in the south hand, 10 in your hand, and 8 in dummy. Not a lot left for pard.

In these types of situations I believe is it right to look for the least holding in pard's hand that will produce a set. For example, if pard is marked with 3 HCP and one visualization will work if he holds a certain Q and the J of trumps, but another will work if he holds simply a single King, then I tend to go with the theory of fewest total cards needed and play for the 1 king instead of 2 perfect cards.

That said, the single useful card in partner's hand is the heart Ace. This would be consistent with the bidding whether or not he holds Qx of spades and xxx of diamonds or if he held xx of spades and Kxx of diamonds.

So, on a good day I'd say I would find this play - but maybe not today.

Winston

[Rebound]

Thanks for the reply.

[toothbrush]

imo ♥K is good play