[dcvetkov]

Scoring: IMP

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You arrive in pretty good looking contract of 6♦, not likely to be reached at other tables, after opening light 1♦ in second seat.

West lead a spade. Plan your play. Assume expert opposition

[Trumpace]

I will keep it simple (and go down most likely!)

Ruff spade lead. top heart. heart ruff to hand. spade ruff. 2 Top hearts to discard spades. trump to hand. Draw trumps (assuming 3-2) club hook for overtrick.

[mikeh]

Trumpace, on Dec 12 2005, 05:29 PM, said:

I will keep it simple (and go down most likely!)

Ruff spade lead. top heart. heart ruff to hand. spade ruff. 2 Top hearts to discard spades. trump to hand. Draw trumps (assuming 3-2) club hook for overtrick.

This may work if the opposing 7 card ♥ holding breaks 4=4. Otherwise, the ♣ hook will be for the make, not the overtrick

[Trumpace]

mikeh, on Dec 12 2005, 05:55 PM, said:

Trumpace, on Dec 12 2005, 05:29 PM, said:

I will keep it simple (and go down most likely!)

Ruff spade lead. top heart. heart ruff to hand. spade ruff. 2 Top hearts to discard spades. trump to hand. Draw trumps (assuming 3-2) club hook for overtrick.

This may work if the opposing 7 card ♥ holding breaks 4=4. Otherwise, the ♣ hook will be for the make, not the overtrick

Eeks! hehe, I should stick to not posting.

[Kalvan14]

spade ruff, diamond to the hand, J♣ for the finesse. If it holds, draw trumps and repeat finesse.

[Stephen Tu]

Against a strong opponent, club finesse is going to almost always win the first time, but then nearly half the time you will find that it loses the second time.

I would:
s ruff, HA, h ruff, s ruff. Then 3 rounds of trumps. If trumps break 3-2, CA, hearts pitching spades, give up club. If LHO has 4 trumps, run club J if not covered, club to Q, hearts. If RHO has 4 trumps, club to Q, hearts (in case shape is 5341 or 4441, avoids a club ruff).

[dcvetkov]

Kalvan14, on Dec 12 2005, 06:48 PM, said:

spade ruff, diamond to the hand, J♣ for the finesse. If it holds, draw trumps and repeat finesse.

This line certainly has merit and lets suppose that is the play in the first 3 tricks. But as Stephen pointed, expert RHO will almost certainly duck with Kxx or Kx, and cash cpl of spades later.

On the other hand, if you run second second club finesse before drawing trumps and it losses to RHO K, he will give partner a ruff when holding Kxx.

Is any line mathematically or otherwise superior over the other?

[Stephen Tu]

Quote

Is any line mathematically or otherwise superior over the other?

Sure, my line is clearly much better than anything else posted so far. I can't see anything better. All I need is 3-2 trumps with no opp singleton in the majors, or west with 4 trumps + CK + 3-5 hearts, or east with 4 trumps + 3-4 hearts + 1-4 small clubs, or east with 4 trumps, 5 hearts, 2-4 small clubs. I believe altogether my line makes ~70% of the time. This is much better than any line that requires a finesse plus picking up trumps.

[000002]

ruff♠,back ♦.when ♦jack DROP,i will believe it's true.

[Fluffy]

I'll go complicated

ruff, ♥A, ♥ruff, ♠ruff and ♦s.

If they don't break I'll need ♣finese and guess ♥/♣ position, but that's something.

[dcvetkov]

Fluffy, on Dec 14 2005, 07:39 AM, said:

I'll go complicated

ruff, ♥A, ♥ruff, ♠ruff and ♦s.

If they don't break I'll need ♣finese and guess ♥/♣ position, but that's something.

This is the full hand. Plan of play mentioned here is sound and should succeed most of the time, but not on this hand, as you run into 0-7 heart break and there is no play after heart ace is ruffed., you may consider your self unlucky, but ..

Running J of clubs, drawing trumps and repeating clubs finesse will lead to 13 tricks here. Thats the game of bridge. Making a slam here will get you 15 IMp or more in a tournament IMP basis.

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[Stephen Tu]

Quote

there is no play after heart ace is ruffed., you may consider your self unlucky

??? If you think there is no play, you aren't unlucky, you are a player who gives up too easily. It's still making 6 on this layout, just rely on the club hook after drawing trumps.

Relying solely on the club finesse & diamonds breaking is clearly markedly inferior to playing on hearts and looking for another spade ruff. You get the overtrick on this board but on many more hands you will go down when the club K is offside.

[jchiu]

And the "expert" opponents chose not to bid with these hands? Clearly the auction clues are relevant and change the percentages.