[FrancesHinden]

Scoring: IMP

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Auction at table 1, RHO dealing:
3D P P x
P 5C all pass

Auction at table 2:
3D P 4D x
P 5C all pass

low diamond lead (3rd and 5th)
Plan the play.

[whereagles]

Take me back to 3♦ X...

Anyway, ♦A, pull trumps and decide from the play of the cards whether to play LHO for ♠Kxx or ♥KQx.

[mikeh]

A tough hand.

I win the ♦A and play a ♦.

RHO wins. Now the exact line depends on his return. If he returns a trump, I win and pull trump, and then play on ♥, hoping for 3-3 or the 8x in RHO (and the ♠K and ♥KQ in LHO for all lines)

If he returns a ♠ and LHO wins the K, as I duck, and LHO fires back a ♥ honour, I win, cross in a black suit, ruff a ♦, cross in the other black suit and run trump to squeeze LHO in the majors... this requires a 3-3 ♣ split and a 4-2 or 3-3 ♠ split.

If LHO returns a ♠ after winning the K, I win in hand, ruff the ♦, cross in trump and pray for 3-3 trump and a major suit squeeze as before.

If RHO returns a ♥, I play low from hand, and abandon the hope of getting a ♦ ruff: I pull trump and exit the ♥10....overtaking with the J if LHO ducks... I need ♥ to be 3-3 or 8x.

[Gpm_bg]

A♦ ♦ could lead to trump promotion, 6-3-2-2

i would try A♦ then X♣ to J♣ and 10♥ to dummy

after RHO probably win backing !d will prevent from promotion Q guard
backing ♠ would be difficult, but may tru ♣ 3-3 and finess ♥ and to hope that 3♦ hold 2-3-6-3

[hatchett]

On the first auction. I will play ♦s to be 1-7 and LHO to have ♠K, and ♥KQ. So rise ♦A. draw trumps, and play ♥T. This simple line requires can withstand more bad breaks than more complex lines ie 4-2 ♣, ♥6-0 and ♠5-1.


On the second auction, I need to know more about my opponents, could RHO have 5♦s?, could LHO have a stiff ♦? etc, or does your small diamond mean diamonds could be 6-2?

[mikeh]

hatchett, on Aug 30 2006, 05:28 PM, said:

On the first auction. I will play ♦s to be 1-7 and LHO to have ♠K, and ♥KQ. So rise ♦A. draw trumps, and play ♥T. This simple line requires can withstand more bad breaks than more complex lines ie 4-2 ♣, ♥6-0 and ♠5-1.


On the second auction, I need to know more about my opponents, could RHO have 5♦s?, could LHO have a stiff ♦? etc.

Your simple line is not as simple as it sounds... assume 4 rounds of trump are needed (else my above-noted line is better, I think... for one thing, it requires one fewer major suit winner)... what do you pitch on the 4th trump?

Also, how do you play the ♥ suit after LHO covers the 10? How do you cater to KQ8x on your left? Is there anything to be said for leading the 7 rather than the 10? (there is, but not against a good defender)

This is a fascinating hand (or maybe I have a twisted mind, or both) but there are a lot of factors to consider

[hatchett]

Quote

Your simple line is not as simple as it sounds... assume 4 rounds of trump are needed (else my above-noted line is better, I think... for one thing, it requires one fewer major suit winner)... what do you pitch on the 4th trump?

I pitch a heart since I am assuming I have two spade tricks, but I agree it's more complex than I said.

If clubs are 3-3 this line is cold (if LHO has spade K and Heart KQ) I play heart ten and duck the honor (LHO must split obviously). If LHO continues a heart I finesse, and ruff a heart. If hearts are 3-3/4-2 they are ruffed out. If hearts are 5-1. I cash the last trump to finish off west, he is 4513 and can't hold the position If he plays a spade, win A, heart finesse and ruff, and the same position is reached.

If hearts are 6-0 I think the above might go off if RHO can hold the third round of spades.

[Gpm_bg]

mikeh, on Aug 31 2006, 02:17 AM, said:

This simple line requires can withstand more bad breaks than more complex lines ie 4-2 ♣, ♥6-0 and ♠5-1.

Also, how do you play the ♥ suit after LHO covers the 10? How do you cater to KQ8x on your left? Is there anything to be said for leading the 7 rather than the 10? (there is, but not against a good defender.

For first supposition with that kind of constributions i don't think that game could be called makeable.

For second if you dispose ♥KQx in LHO you may let K or Q to win on ♥T

[FrancesHinden]

Of course, I've come at this from the wrong starting point because when this hand came up I was West, and the question then became "is there any way to make the contract given we know all four hands". At the table, both declarers won the opening lead and played a low heart off from dummy at trick 2. This was not a success, as the full layout it:

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(I think I had the vulnerability wrong. I can't believe my partner opened 3D at love all on that East hand, we must have been vulnerable against not.)

Hatchett's line is the one that works, but I don't understand the point of ducking when the H10 is covered.

[Now I really look at it I think Ihave swapped the 6 and 7 of hearts between the NS hands. It worries me that this now may make the contract unmakeable. But I'm sure you'll work it out.]

[hatchett]

Quote

Hatchett's line is the one that works, but I don't understand the point of ducking when the H10 is covered.

Maybe I have a blind spot but I thought, if you win the heart with the ace. Then what? If you continue the heart J, LHO ducks and you can't set up hearts if he started with 4+H. If you play a spade to the ace and then two rounds of trumps and LHO pitches a heart and a spade you don't know whether he started with 45 or 54 in the majors and have to guess the position.

[FrancesHinden]

The original idea was that you win the ace of hearts, cross on the ace of spades and play a heart up. If you had the H6 in hand and the H7 in dummy this all works perfectly, even if he unblocks the SK under the ace. But with the hearts the way round I gave them, perhaps ducking the heart is right on this layout.

If you duck the heart, he continues with a low spade round to your ace. Now on the actual layout you can't afford to take a heart finesse you have to play a second spade at once. But once you have seen hearts are 6-0 you know he is 3613 so will do this anyway.

The cute part is that if LHO has to open up spades, you can ensure you lose your spade trick to him; if you have to start the suit he can always unblock.