[whereagles]

You get to play this hand. Opps are adv.

Scoring: MP

South North
1NT 2♣
2♦ 3NT

West leads ♣5 (4th best)

---

You try the ♣10 from dummy, hoping to induce a cover, but it holds, RHO playing the ♣6. What now?

[kenberg]

It looks to me as if I will have to play the hearts myself. If they are 3-3 the location of the Q is a toss-up but if they are 4-2 then, given West's club length it seems E is more likely to hold the Qxxx. To play for that I have to give up on maybe dropping a singleton Q in the West hand, but I'll do that. So, at T2, I run the Jack of hearts. If it holds, I'll play small to the 9 and congratulate W if he now produces the Q and switches to, say, the Jack of spades. This could happen, and I won't like it, althought I am not quite dead yet if it does.

It's an interesting hand, and I see no way to make it with certainty. Playing E for the Q of hearts seems like a reasonable choice. You said the opposition is advanced. If W ducks the first heart, takes the second, and switches to a spade, I would say he earns his rating.

Ken

[HeartA]

I agree with Ken's line.

[pclayton]

At IMPs it might be tougher, but this looks like the field contract.

We've picked up a tempo on the opening lead. There may be some systemic (weak NT) 1♣ openings at other tables that will stop a club lead.

I'll play as Ken does. If the J♥ loses, and a spade comes back, I'm guessing I will win and try a ♦ to the Q. Hard to plan any further than that.

[whereagles]

Allright, everybody seems to agree to finesse the heart queen through East.

I was South and also choose to finesse that way, although not because Qxxx being more likely in East but because I wanted to keep West on lead. If West takes ♥Q, he cannot shift to clubs or diamonds without blowing a trick.

The good news is the finesse works, so you do it again, leading a heart to the 9. After cashing the ♥A, both opps following, you're left with

Scoring: MP

South plays 3NT

South to lead

---

Now what?

[kenberg]

OK, so now it's for the overtrick(s). Seems right to lead to the diamond ace, cash the heart, and then lead towards the Q of diamonds. The question is what to toss on the heart. I guess a club. I doubt I am making eleven tricks unless the opponents slip up, but this should be a completely safe try for ten (if by any remote chance E shows out on the second heart I can just play low). After the somewhat favorable lead and the somewhat lucky heart guess, this should score decently whatever happens in diamonds.

[pclayton]

whereagles, on Sep 27 2006, 08:46 AM, said:

Allright, everybody seems to agree to finesse the heart queen through East.

I was South and also choose to finesse that way, although not because Qxxx being more likely in East but because I wanted to keep West on lead. If West takes ♥Q, he cannot shift to clubs or diamonds without blowing a trick.

The good news is the finesse works, so you do it again, leading a heart to the 9. After cashing the ♥A, both opps following, you're left with

Dealer: South Vul: None Scoring: MP

♠ KTxx ♥ K ♦ Ax ♣ 9x ♠ Ax ♥   ♦ Qxxx ♣ AJ8

South plays 3NT South to lead

Now what?

So far so good; we have 9 in the barn. I'll play a spade to the K, cash the K♥ and play a diamond toward my Q. I don't want to completely open up the diamond suit, and they can't wreek havoc on my entries without giving me back a trick.

I'll pitch a diamond on the K♥, but it probably doesn't matter much, unless West has a very specific shape and I can endplay him in clubs.

[FrancesHinden]

LHO has 3 hearts and seems to have 5 clubs.
There are all sorts of (double dummy) ways to get to a 10th trick, it's a matter of which of them puts our contract in danger.

The last heart isn't going to squeeze West because he can always throw his last club. So instead I'm going to put West on lead and see what happens. I was going to try and throw him in to do something helpful in clubs, but instead there's an alternative: how about a club towards dummy at once.

West has to go in and switch to a pointy suit. He's had no help from partner in any discards; he may have had something on the hearts - but may not.

If West switches to a spade it's going to depend which one, and exactly what my spade pips are. If it's to a low spade I probably win in hand (hoping for an honour to go in on my right), cross on the other spade, cash the last heart pitching a diamond and exit in spades hoping that whoever wins has the DK. My S10 probably stops them doing anything clever to control who wins the third spade. Also, RHO has had to find two discards (one on the club, one on the heart) which may help me work out what's going on.

[winkle]

whereagles, on Sep 27 2006, 11:46 AM, said:

Dealer: South Vul: None Scoring: MP

♠ KTxx ♥ K ♦ Ax ♣ 9x ♠ Ax ♥   ♦ Qxxx ♣ AJ8

South plays 3NT South to lead

Now what?

It looks like lefty has KQxxx of clubs along with three hearts. I'll begin by ducking a club to west.

If west returns a diamond I'll duck and am assured ten tricks. I can try for a simple squeeze against east for 11 tricks without risk. Or if west has the ♦K and he forgets to unblock, I can endplay him with it.

If west returns a spade, I win the king and play the ♥K pitching a club. Now I'm at a crossroad.

   If I can read east for the ♦K, four or more diamonds, and either five spades or QJ of spades, I can make 11 tricks on a squeeze without the count. It's a six card ending, and east has already made two pitches on the club and the heart. He must have kept four diamonds or else I just play ♦A and a diamond. Therefore, he must be down to two spades. I now lead a club to the ace, and east has to unguard either spades or the fourth round of diamonds.

   If I can't read east for all that, I simply try ♦A and a diamond.

The squeeze without the count risks a total bottom if west has the ♦K. But given the heart and club distribution it's 9:5 that east has it. And I suspect that most of the time the information from the play, discards, and tempo will reduce the estimated risks even further.

[whereagles]

Thx all. At this postition

Scoring: MP

South plays 3NT

South to lead

---

the good play turns out to be a club towards dummy. West wins the queen while East discards an encouraging ♦8. West shifts obligingly to the ♦T and you duck for the 10th trick, as East takes the king and returns a spade. You let it ride to dummy and take West's jack with the king.

You now cash the ♥K and notice East having trouble with his discards. It's clear now: he's got the spades and diamonds. You arrive at the position

Scoring: MP

North leads ♣9

---

Now you lead the ♣9 and East is caught in an extended criss-cross squeeze for 11 tricks. Second criss-cross of my life

pclayton's line doesn't work because West will come down to ♠J ♣KQ, thus maintaining a link to pard's spades.

[FrancesHinden]

Couldn't East have exited with a diamond rather than a spade?

[kenberg]

I sort of came around to agreeing that ducking a club might help. Not surprisingly it helps mostly be giving the opponents a chance to err, but that's part of bridge.

[whereagles]

FrancesHinden, on Sep 28 2006, 02:57 PM, said:

Couldn't East have exited with a diamond rather than a spade?

Oh, yes. Both opps had lots of chances to break up the squeeze

[kenberg]

From the defensive side of the table this hand illustrates a frequent lament of mine. You can have long discussions about the best carding techniques: udca,o/e,std,etc. I usually find the problem is in what message to send rather than how to send it. Here, on the club duck, E does best if he discourages a diamond shift. Should he know this? The answer may depend on the spade spots he can see, but I suspect the answer is yes.

[whereagles]

Even world-class opps will have trouble to realize a criss-cross squeeze is brewing. It's just too hard.

[kenberg]

Of course, but is it too hard for him to know he doesn't want a diamond? He can pretty much count hcps and see that declarer holds the ace of spades and at least one Q in diamonds/spades. If declarer holds the Q of spades the return probably doesn't matter (this might be where the spade spots come in) but if declarer holds the Q of diamonds a diamond return does declarer's work for him. E holds the 9 of spades and can stand a spade and then let declarer decide how to handle the diamonds. There are choices and he may not choose best.

Maybe E does not have enough information here, but anyway my lament that the problem usually is what to ask for rather than how to ask for it seems to hold here. He wants a spade, not a diamond, he just doesn't know it.