[luis]

Hannie, on Feb 21 2006, 08:16 PM, said:

No Luis, you have 3 spades, 3 diamonds and 2 clubs, so if the hearts come in then you don't need the spade finesse.

Still thinking about my answer Fred..

How do you take 3 diamonds with AK and Qx ?? :-)

[mikeh]

Sorrie, Hannie: normally you get 3♦ when you hold the AKQ, but not when you are 2-2

However, one of the keys is to realize that you DO NOT NEEd the ♠ finesse.

You must pick up the ♥ for 4 winners, and, if you do, you can arrange to be in your hand with ♠8 and ♣x opposite Jx♣, with RHO holding the ♣ guard. If he held the ♠J, he is squeezed out of it.

I win the ♠ and cash the last top ♠.

If all follow small (I pitch a ♣ from dummy), I play ♥K and low to the Jack, unless either the 10 or the Q appeared on trick one, on my left, in which case, I run the 9.

If LHO shows out on the 3rd ♠, larking RHO with only 3 unknown red cards, I will close my eyes and run the ♥9: if I am playing LHO to hold 4 ♥, this is superior to playing the K first, because I cannot stand a cover on the 2nd round from Q10xx: I win dummy, cross to my hand in ♦ and pick up the ♥ but I am in the wrong hand for the squeeze to operate. Running the 9 loses to stiff 10 or Queen but gains if any of the xxx's are stiff: so 3-2 odds.

How the odds play out for assuming 4-1♥ when rho holds 9 black cards is something I could not work out at the table. Running the 9 doesn't lose everytime when the suit is 3-2, but I would not dream of doing it if ♠ broke 4-3.


BTW, I haven't had time to really think about it, but was it a minor error on RHO to win the 2nd ♣?

[joshs]

fred, on Feb 21 2006, 02:53 PM, said:

At the table the first round of clubs held and I chose to return to my hand in spades. RHO won the second round of clubs as LHO discarded a diamond.

RHO returned a spade.

What now?

Fred Gitelman
Bridge Base Inc.
www.bridgebase.com

If RHO has the spade J I can squeeze him in the end game in the blacks, assuming I can take 4 heart tricks, so there is no need to take the spade hook now. I am still trying to work out why my opponent won the second club and returned a spade....

I win the Spade and play the heart K and if the heart T comes down I am playing for it to be stiff and leading my high spot from hand. If the heart Q comes down from RHO, I will cash the SQ first pitching a club in case the J is coming down, in which case I can cross to a high honor in hearts, and then return to my hand in diamonds to hook against the ten.

I still can't work out why I got a spade return. Hmm.

[Walddk]

joshs, on Feb 21 2006, 09:56 PM, said:

I still can't work out why I got a spade return. Hmm.

I still can't work out why righty won ♣A, thereby rectifying the count for a squeeze. After the spade switch it should be relatively easy to rise with the ace and play the way MikeH did.

If RHO is 4-2-3-4 which I think he is, he will be squeezed. If he ducks the club on the second round, it will be more difficult. Now I have to read his shape. If he is 4-2-3-4 with the spade jack, I can cash two top spades to see if the jack drops. I assume not, so now I take 4 rounds of hearts (finessing the jack).

When I finally play a diamond off dummy, RHO is squeezed. He must bare ♣A and I can now endplay him in clubs to lead away from ♠Jx into my Q8 tenace. This line is quite spectacular actually. You started with ♦AK opposite Qx, and you end up squeezing an opponent when you cash the second round of the suit.

Not sure at what point in the tournament this happened, but to me it seems like an error to win the ♣A.

Roland

[luis]

Walddk, on Feb 21 2006, 09:17 PM, said:

joshs, on Feb 21 2006, 09:56 PM, said:

I still can't work out why I got a spade return. Hmm.

I still can't work out why righty won ♣A, thereby rectifying the count for a squeeze. After the spade switch it should be relatively easy to rise with the ace and play the way MikeH did.

If LHO is 4-2-3-4 which I think he is, he will be squeezed. If he ducks the club on the second round, it will be more difficult. Now I have to read his shape. If he is 4-2-3-4 with the spade jack, I can cash two top spades to see if the jack drops. I assume not, so now I take 4 rounds of hearts (finessing the jack).

When I finally play a diamond off dummy, RHO is squeezed. He must bare ♣A and I can now endplay him in clubs to lead away from ♠Jx into my Q8 tenace. This line is quite spectacular actually. You started with ♦AK opposite Qx, and you end up squeezing an opponent when you cash the second round of the suit.

Not sure at what point in the tournament this happened, but to me it seems like an error to win the ♣A.

Roland

Well the last time I refused to take the club ace vs 6NT to prevent declarer from rectifying the count it happened that when pd took his ace he was out of clubs :-) and started to yell "what did you do Luis, what did you just do?!!!" I mumbled something about not rectifying the count but he couldn't get it so I ran as quickly as I could.

[han]

oops, sorry about that Luis, I copied the hands incorrectly!