[pclayton]

Scoring: MP

---

2♠ on your left, x by pard and 3♠ on your right. You pass, and pard reopens with a double. Your call?

I chose to pass. My ODR sucks and it looks like 17 TT, which adjusts downward if anything. If we are making +130, we are nipping 3♠ for 300. I'll settle for +100 when we are -100 too. 3N looks sick to me.

Dummy hits (hands rotated):

Scoring: MP

---

Pard leads the ♣AK and a 3rd club (after you encourage with the 3). Declarer ruffs and leads a spade to the King.

Have any alarms gone off yet?

[Fluffy]

Put ♦Q?, I can't think of anything else by now.

[pclayton]

Some hands are too tough to review single dummy perhaps.

Here's the entire hand:

Scoring: Rubber

---

What had happened at the table is that declarer (a very good player from LA) ruffed the 3rd club played a spade to the K and the J♠, running it when I ducked. He now started an intrafinesse in hearts by leading the ♥7 and ducking it around to pard. Pard is now endplayed and has to give up the 8th trick for a paltry +100 for us (against +130 or 150 in a minor).

I brought this up with John Mohan (who hosted a post session analysis) and mentioned that I thought that playing the Q♠ on the 2nd round spoils the endplay, since declarer is in the wrong hand to try the intrafinesse. He looked at it for a few minutes and agreed.

However, I showed the hand to Chris Larsen who saw a flaw in this play. Can you spot it?

[cherdano]

I think if declarer guesses hearts to be 3-3, he can always succeed by establishing the 4th heart without letting you on lead (including if you cover ♠J with the Q). This is more an avoidance play rather than an endplay.

It seems to me that when your partner exits with a club after winning ♥T, declarer is forced to make the same 3-3 hearts guess.

I suppose the most believable double dummy defense is a club underlead at trick 2 and a diamond back. Still seems very unlikely at the table.

Arend

[FrancesHinden]

Declarer just draws 3 rounds of trumps ending on table and ducks a heart to your partner (you can't insert the Jack without setting up a finesse position).

Partner has to exit in clubs, so declarer ruffs. As cherdano says declarer can come to 8 tricks by leading the HQ out of hand and ducking, playing for hearts 3-3, but he can also get to 8 tricks in other ways from this position:

---

So far he has lost 2 clubs and a heart. All he does is cash the last trump. If West discards a heart, the AQ of hearts will be good, a diamond and he exits with a low diamond, discards a diamond on the master club and waits for the heart trick, a club and he plays ace and another heart and waits for the diamond trick.

This also involves reading the position, of course.

[cherdano]

I have one more comment: I think declarer should get the heart suit right. After the first round intra-finesse to the ten, and the ♥Q covered by the K and ducked, it a priori seems to be almost 50% whether to finesse or to play for the ♥J drop -- but it's a restricted choice position, making the drop about 2:1 favorite.

Since the inferences from the auction probably agree with that (if LHO is 1=4=3=5, he might have been more likely to double again, but on the other hand Phil would be more likely to take out with 3=2=5=3), a heart to the ace in the 3rd round seems right.

I am not sure whether it's better than Frances' 3-suit squeeze; but it also makes when hearts are 4-2 with Phil having Jx.

Arend

[joshs]

pclayton, on Feb 24 2006, 06:56 AM, said:

Some hands are too tough to review single dummy perhaps.

Here's the entire hand:

Scoring: Rubber

---

What had happened at the table is that declarer (a very good player from LA) ruffed the 3rd club played a spade to the K and the J♠, running it when I ducked. He now started an intrafinesse in hearts by leading the ♥7 and ducking it around to pard. Pard is now endplayed and has to give up the 8th trick for a paltry +100 for us (against +130 or 150 in a minor).

I brought this up with John Mohan (who hosted a post session analysis) and mentioned that I thought that playing the Q♠ on the 2nd round spoils the endplay, since declarer is in the wrong hand to try the intrafinesse. He looked at it for a few minutes and agreed.

However, I showed the hand to Chris Larsen who saw a flaw in this play. Can you spot it?

Well yeah, if you don't pull the 3'rd trump and instead play a heart to the ace, and then heart back running the 7 if you don't put in the J. LHO is then toast. A pretty hand!

[pclayton]

I think in real life the chance of making the contract via the intrafinesse is too great, and declarer would opt for that instead of ducking the K♥ when its covered.

I can also see a competent declarer playing losing THREE hearts tricks on this layout (after 3 clubs, spade, spade (queen) ace, spade to board):

.....
7. ♥7, ducked to 10
8. Club exit
9. Q♥ covered and ducked (playing for KJTx on left)
10. last club
11. ♥ hooking into stiff jack.

-500 - ouch!

The solution to 8 tricks is easier than anyone has stated. If the Q♠ is played at the second round, all declarer has to do is play A♥, ♥. Of course that line fails if hearts are 4-2, and why shouldn't they be?