[FrancesHinden]

Playing against a pair of international experts with a reputation for being very random, you end up in the wrong contract.

Scoring: IMP

P P 1♦ x
3♦ P P x
P 4♠ all pass

---

LHO leads ace, king and another diamond.
How do you play this, and why?

[I'm embarrassed to admit that I went off in this at the table. But I still think it's a beginner/intermediate hand]

[whereagles]

Spoiler

Opener is to my left, right? If so, I seem to count 10 tricks.. disc club, cash 3 spades, go back to hand in ♥A, then pull last trump and finesse clubs.

If trumps break 33, you get the bonus of trying out 3 rounds of hearts ending in hand. Then you don't need club finesse (just in case LHO opened with 9 points).

Seems simple, so how did I mange to go down in the middle of all this?

[david_c]

I don't think I've even reached beginner level when it comes to solving Frances's problems, but I'll hide my thoughts anyway:

Spoiler

Unless spades break 5-1 or worse we have nine tricks on top. The club finesse looks good for a tenth, but a third seat opener won't necessarily have the ♣K so we'd like to give ourselves an additional chance. If hearts break 3-3 then there could be another trick there. Unfortunately there's a problem with the entries: if spades break 4-2 then we can't draw trumps without using the ♥A, so we'll be forced to take the club finesse before we know how hearts are breaking. So it seems that if we start by drawing trumps, the chance of hearts breaking 3-3 only helps if spades are breaking 3-3 as well.

But if both majors are breaking 3-3, then it won't hurt if we take a losing club finesse at trick four. So that's what I'll do: pitch a club from dummy on the third round of diamonds and take a club finesse immediately. And now see what happens - even if the club finesse loses and trumps break 4-2 we might still make.

This post has been edited by david_c: 2006-August-30, 05:24

[jtfanclub]

david_c, on Aug 30 2006, 05:45 AM, said:

Spoiler

But if both majors are breaking 3-3, then it won't hurt if we take a losing club finesse at trick four. So that's what I'll do: pitch a club from dummy on the third round of diamonds and take a club finesse immediately. And now see what happens - even if the club finesse loses and trumps break 4-2 we might still make.

That's the way you go down.

Spoiler

You take the club finesse on trick 4, losing to the king. Opener only had 3 diamonds and 2 spades, and ruffs the diamond return. Now you can't pick up the spade suit.

Now wait a minute, you say...that means that opener had 2=4=3=4 distribution, and yet opened 1♦ instead of 1♣! And my answer is...yep.

He has
Tx
JTxx
AKx
Jxxx

He's opening light, doesn't expect to take the contract, and wants a diamond lead, so he bid diamonds. A nice call by a somewhat random expert.

Actually, now that I think about it, he doesn't even need a hand that special. Even
Tx
JTx
AKxx
Jxxx

will go down, after a losing club finesse and a diamond back- you already have 3 losers, and whichever way you ruff you've guaranteed a spade loser for down 1.

Take the diamond, draw 3 rounds of trumps KQJ. Now take 3 rounds of hearts ending with the ace and take the A of spades. If the hearts broke 3-3 (or a sluff killed their heart trick) take the ace of clubs and cash the last heart. If they didn't, then you're in your hand to take the club finesse for trick 10.

the only way it loses is if the spades are 4-2, hearts are 4-2, AND the hand with the long spades also has the short hearts. There are other distributions that will kill it, but there's no way you're making those.

[david_c]

jtfanclub, on Aug 30 2006, 05:24 PM, said:

Spoiler

Actually, now that I think about it, he doesn't even need a hand that special. Even
Tx
JTx
AKxx
Jxxx

will go down, after a losing club finesse and a diamond back- you already have 3 losers, and whichever way you ruff you've guaranteed a spade loser for down 1.

Spoiler

No, you can afford to ruff in hand! Then draw two rounds of trumps and cash your top winners. You will find you can cross-ruff the last two tricks.

[jtfanclub]

OK, you're right...only the first hand ends up being a problem.

[AdiBichea]

Hi,

Spoiler

So after AK♦ and another ♦ i play the 3♣ and win with 10♦.
[Reedited]
Play all round of trumps, and then play all round of ♥. if ♥ are 3-3 is ok, if is not play finnesse to AQ.
after all trumps (opp trumps) are out, correct play is x♥ win with K♥, play Q♥ .. and another ♥ to A. if ♥ are 3-3, play to A♣ and make final ♥.
if ♥ are not 3-3, make finnesse to AQ.

Done! (i hope )

Regards, Adi Bichea [BIL member]

[FrancesHinden]

I've been thinking a bit more about this hand, and it's not in the least straightforward. Oops. I'm going to post it in another forum and see what develops, but just in case you've been puzzled about it...

- there are only 12 points outstanding. You know at least one of the opponents is a little light for their action, so there's no real guarentee that the CK is onside.

- You know you can make on all sorts of layouts: CK onside, hearts 3-3, CK offside with the 4th heart (strip squeeze), singleton CK in either hand, Kx of clubs offside...


- If trumps are not 3-3, the only way you can check for both 3-3 hearts and the club finesse is to take the club finesse at trick 4 as suggested by various posters, otherwise you risk losing either a heart ruff or the long diamond. But if this loses you might go off when you could have made on some other layouts

- So in summary, if trumps are 3-3 you would like to draw 3 rounds of trumps now. But if they aren't you would like to take a club finesse now.

[jtfanclub]

FrancesHinden, on Sep 6 2006, 05:57 AM, said:

- So in summary, if trumps are 3-3 you would like to draw 3 rounds of trumps now. But if they aren't you would like to take a club finesse now.

Actually, it's if trumps are 3-3 OR hearts are 3-3 you'd like to draw 3 trumps now.

If spades are 4-2, Hearts are 3-3, and the club finesse is offside, there's no reason to ever take the club finesse!