[hatchett]

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1♠ X 4♠ 5♣
all P.

Simple hand but instructive for beginner's. K♠ led. You win the ace, and
RHO has Jxx ♣ when you pull trumps. Plan the play.

[FrancesHinden]

With trumps 3-1 I don't believe I can ensure the contract, but with them 2-2 I think I could have done (as long as the EW hands are consistent with the bidding). As it is I can't see how to avoid a possible eventual guess.

[david_c]

Since this is billed as a hand for beginners, I think the question must be, which red suit do you play first? And why does it matter?

[hatchett]

Yes I didn't say it was cold, the problem was to plan the play.

[jahol]

I do not know. Probably, it will take yet some time for me to become a beginner....

[ArcLight]

I'm surprised that RHO with very little bid 4♠. I would have expected some shape, but I'm surprised he has 3 clubs. 5 Spades, 3 Clubs, and maybe 4-1 in the reds, say Kxxx in hearts? With 5-3-2-3 and 5 trumps, is 4 ♠ really a good bid?
What does LHP have for his 1♠ opener?
Does he open light shapely hands? Some use LTC and open distributional hands (without a known fit).

Another thing, the contract is cold UNLESS East has the heart King, so make that assumption. 5=4=1=3 probably. I think 5=3=2=3 with a Club J and Heart K is less likely, though its possible.
That means West has the diamond Ace.

I lead the J♦, then a ♦ to the Q, then finally the K. (If west takes the 2nd Diamond I'm happy.) In any case I should soon find out if East has the ♦ Ace.
If not, there is still a chance Diamonds are 3-3.
In any case, I want to eliminate ♦ before playing hearts.


Since East has 5 spades and 3 clubs, he can have just 5 reds. So Diamonds will be eliminated unless West takes the Jack, and leads a heart, which I'll duck.
If East is 3-2 in Hearts and Diamonds I think we probably go down



If the defenders cooperate and I can eliminate Diamonds then start on hearts.

After Diamond, turning to hearts I try multiple finesses, lead low to the 7, then play the 9 when back in hand (ruff a diamond).

[plaur]

Plan A: ♦K, J, Q then ♥A and a small ♥ to Q, if ♦'s not 3-3. Ill win if ♦ are 3-3, if ♥K is onside or single behind.
Maybe im missing something with ♥'s? Hmm. Can I also win if ♥K is offside but ♥J10 is onside, by taking finesses with ♥987? But might lose with ♥K onside and J10 offside - not sure what to do. At the table I go with plan A :-)

Edit: Arclight has a point with ♦J and small ♦ to Q. LHO might hold back the A from Ax or go high second time from Axx

[sfbp]

West must have the diamond A for his opening bid, and the spades must be 5-5 - East has desperately few points and wouldnt bid 4♠ on only 4 of them. When the ♦A wins, we will assume that West returns a heart.

So here's the plan.

Lead one diamond towards hand right away. If W takes it, no problem. However he should duck.

Now play three rounds of trumps ending in dummy and play another diamond towards the K. If W ducks, we have him. continuing diamonds guarantees the Q will be our third diamond trick. So he takes the A and leads a heart. We can afford a heart finesse at this point, assume it loses. East probably returns a spade at this point, which we ruff. If he returns a heart we are forced to play for 3-3 ♦, probably down, see below.

After a spade return we can make the contract if diams were 3-3 or if diams were 4-2 and West had 4 of them including only the 10 or the 9 (ie East had 10x or 9x).
We will have seen that 9 or 10 on the second diamond, obviously. If we didn't we have to play for the split.

Stephen

[Wackojack]

After drawing trumps play top diamonds from hand. Almost certainly West will have the ace. If east has it, the heart finesse is marked. When west takes the ace and say returns a heart go up with the ace. If it drops the singleton king... great. If not continue diamonds. If they split 3-3 the long diamond is your 11th trick. Say west has 2 diamonds, then east has 4 and therefore likely 5143 so a singleton king of hearts would have dropped. Had west continued spades you would ruff a spade in your hand, and again after finding out that east had 4 diamonds play a small heart to the ace to test for a singleton king. If east rose to 4 with only 4 trumps then you have to guess that east must have some points to raise to 4 and play east for a doubleton king. (is there evidence in the vulnerability on whether or not east would have the king?)

If west started with 4 diamonds, then east has 2 so likely 5323. So you have no alternative but to play west for the king of hearts.

The lesson here seems to be:
1. Test the diamonds first
2. When west leads a heart before you know the diamond distribution play the Ace. It cannot be a losing play. You can guess where the king is later.

[FrancesHinden]

It's certainly right to play on diamonds first as they may be 3-3.
It's also right that if East has the ace of diamonds, it's very likely that West has the king of hearts.

One minor point: It's worth thinking about how to play the diamonds. You could start the suit by playing low towards the queen rather than with an honour from hand. That would solve all your problems if West has singleton ace, though two minor suit singletons in the West hand is very unlikely. This gives up on the possibility of a third round diamond finesse: if East has J9, J10 or 109 you can play towards the Q8. Those holdings are more likely, so it's a good idea to start the diamonds from dummy after all!

The second point is what to do when West takes the diamond and plays a low heart: rather than put the ace up, just duck it in dummy: this will also pick up singleton king on your right, and also if LHO has tried a sneaky low one from J10.

[G_R__E_G]

FrancesHinden, on May 31 2006, 08:56 AM, said:

This gives up on the possibility of a third round diamond finesse: if East has J9, J10 or 109 you can play towards the Q8.  Those holdings are more likely, so it's a good idea to start the diamonds from dummy after all!

I doubt E has the ♦J unless someone has snuck a second one into the deck.

[FrancesHinden]

Sorry, 10x or 9x. But then of course you will go off if you finesse into 109x.

[hatchett]

Solution. You have three main chances diamonds play for three tricks, JT of hearts onside or K hearts onside. You must play on diamonds first otherwise they may be able to force you to guess whether diamonds play for 3 tricks or the heart K is onside, by playing a heart if LHO wins the diamond A (if you have started by running the ♥9). Note you also test for heart JT onside first before finessing the Q..

So the order of play is play a diamond. You can either play the Jack in case LHO errs but not playing the ace on the first round or play for LHO to have a singleton ace. Say LHO wins the diamond J and plays a heart then you duck in dummy, making the contract if LHO started with JT♥. If RHO wins with the J or T and plays a spade then ruff in hand and test diamonds. If the T9 are doubleton is 3-3 you have made the contract. If diamonds are 4-2 then ruff the fourth round and take your last chance of a finesse of the ♥K.

[sfbp]

hatchett, on Jun 5 2006, 10:06 AM, said:

So the order of play is play a diamond.  You can either play the Jack in case LHO errs but not playing the ace on the first round

I assume by "but" you actually mean "by"

Why is it an error for West to duck the first diamond?

I agree that if he takes it, you can afford to lose one more trick and still keep all your options open in hearts (JT dub or K onside). But it seems to me that because you need to keep the small ♦ in hand that his first duck makes it more difficult for you.

Probably I'm missing something, after all this is a beginner's hand

[hatchett]

Quote

Why is it an error for West to duck the first diamond?

To clarify it is only an error if he ducks from Ax. Since then you can play a low diamond from hand and you have three diamond tricks ensuring the contract.