[pclayton]

Had some toughie declarer play problems from two matches this morning. Here's the 1st:

Scoring: IMP

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You play in 4♥.

U opened 1♥, LHO made a Michaels 2♥ call. RHO bid 2N, You tried 3♥. 4♣ by LHO and 4♥ by pard.

LHO tables the K♠.

How do you play?

[adhoc3]

♠A stop ♠K. Then ♠x from Dummy, ruff in hand. If east follows 2nd♠, play ♥AK, 22 break I’m home -- this won't happened because of the post. When ♥Q is not dropped, play ♣AK and 3rd ♣, ruff by dummy.

If east has ♥Q and overruff, he has to play D for me. I'll put King.

If east don’t follow the 2nd ♠, probably he will duck a ♣, I still play the same. East has to play ♦ for me whenever he take HQ.

If west has ♥Q and 5305 shape, I can ruff the 3rd club as an entry for diamond finesse, actually I dont need it – just play a low D, east got trapped.

The plan fails when ♥Q not dropped under AK and west has stiff DA.

Regards,

Jack

PS: Not work if west has 4 spade only, but i dont think it would happen.

[ochinko]

LHO looks like 3=1=4=5. I take ♠A, then finesse the ♥Q. ♣AKx ruffing the last one in dummy, and finesse the ♥10 if LHO started with 3=0=5=5. I got my 10 tricks now, and if LHO started with ♦AQ, I am +1.

Looks too easy. I must be missing something. Perhaps LHO started with 2=0=5=6. If RHO overrufs the third club, a spade will be played, and I'll have to play diamonds myself. My only chance then is to find LHO with the Queen and RHO with the Ace. Small towards the ♦J will give me my 10th trick (after drawing trumps).

Edit: Oops, miscounted the trump honors, not surprisingly.

[FrancesHinden]

LHO has shown 5(+) spades and a 5(+) clubs.
The free 4C bid is, erm, interesting.... if we trust him he is at least 5-6 in the blacks as he has no club honours. 5026, 5206 or 5116.

[pclayton]

I took the same inference as Frances. The lack of a singleton diamond lead is a clue too....

[cherdano]

This is a great hand!

pclayton, on Jan 17 2006, 05:51 PM, said:

I took the same inference as Frances. The lack of a singleton diamond lead is a clue too....

On that auction (RHO showing interest in the minors) that seems indeed strong evidence. I don't think LHO has seven clubs, as RHO might have bid 3♦ instead of 2N with 6-1 in the minors. So LHO is 5=2=0=6 or 5=0=2=6. Assume the latter, as I can hardly go down on the first.

I will play RHO for ♦AQ. I start with a diamond up. If RHO takes the ace, he does best by exiting with a club. I cash the top clubs and ruff the third with the 7. RHO has to overruff, and can only exit with a spade, but is finally endplayed in diamonds when I play 3 rounds of hearts from the top.

If RHO ducks the diamond, I will cash the two clubs and exit in diamonds to RHO. He can exit in spades after cashing the 3rd diamond, but I ruff in hand, and ruff the club in dummy. If RHO overruffs and plays another diamond, he isn't giving me a ruff-and-sluff, but a ruff-and-overruff, giving me an entry to dummy to finesse the ♥Q.

It seems this line also works when LHO has two hearts or is 6=0=2=5.

No, I would NEVER have found this line at the table. What did you do, Phil?

My first instinct was to run the ♥7, but it seems to me if RHO covers from ♥QTxx, there is nothing I can do.

Arend

[pclayton]

cherdano, on Jan 17 2006, 02:23 PM, said:

This is a great hand!

pclayton, on Jan 17 2006, 05:51 PM, said:

I took the same inference as Frances. The lack of a singleton diamond lead is a clue too....

On that auction (RHO showing interest in the minors) that seems indeed strong evidence. I don't think LHO has seven clubs, as RHO might have bid 3♦ instead of 2N with 6-1 in the minors. So LHO is 5=2=0=6 or 5=0=2=6. Assume the latter, as I can hardly go down on the first.

I will play RHO for ♦AQ. I start with a diamond up. If RHO takes the ace, he does best by exiting with a club. I cash the top clubs and ruff the third with the 7. RHO has to overruff, and can only exit with a spade, but is finally endplayed in diamonds when I play 3 rounds of hearts from the top.

If RHO ducks the diamond, I will cash the two clubs and exit in diamonds to RHO. He can exit in spades after cashing the 3rd diamond, but I ruff in hand, and ruff the club in dummy. If RHO overruffs and plays another diamond, he isn't giving me a ruff-and-sluff, but a ruff-and-overruff, giving me an entry to dummy to finesse the ♥Q.

It seems this line also works when LHO has two hearts or is 6=0=2=5.

No, I would NEVER have found this line at the table. What did you do, Phil?

My first instinct was to run the ♥7, but it seems to me if RHO covers from ♥QTxx, there is nothing I can do.

Arend

It seemed to me that trumps might be foul, but it was far from certain. The fact that LHO went out of his way to show the minor at the 4 level wasn't terribly telling - it just meant at least a little extra in the way of strength and/or shape.

The spade lead dislodged an early entry. Diamond apparently weren't 1-6, otherwise LHO would have tabled one. Assuming I can successfully ruff a club, I might need the entry to lead diamonds, so I tried one at T2.

LHO hopped with the Ace, and pushed a club through. I tried a high trump - they WERE 4-0. Now top club, ruff in dummy trump hook, give up trump and I'm home.

LHO turned out to be 5=0=3=5.

Its not fatal on the actual hand to play a trump to your hand, and lead diamonds out of your hand. RHO will eventually get endplayed. He can win the heart and exit the spade but upon winning the Q!d, he will have to lead a diamond back. RHO is 2=4=4=3 of course.

This is one I got right, but I thought it was far easier than the other two. Give them a try!

[whereagles]

pclayton, on Jan 17 2006, 11:14 PM, said:

Diamond apparently weren't 1-6, otherwise LHO would have tabled one.

I don't think this inference is that strong. LHO is looking at a good share of the outstanding hcp. He knows pard can hardly have an ace, so, a singleton lead isn't that attractive, especially when he has a good alternative lead in spades.

Still, who am I to argue with sucess? You played it well

[Fluffy]

Leading singleton with singleton trump is not a great lead.

I think I am running ♥7 first.

I would want to have ♥6 in dummy to run it, but calling for 'low ♥' so RHO might fail to cover