[FrancesHinden]

1♠ P 2NT P
3NT P 4♠ all pass

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Scoring is a mix of IMPs and point-a-board (board-a-match).

1♠ was in a strict 4-card major/strong NT style
2NT FG raise
3NT likely to be a weak NT type hand

You are a great player. Opponents and partner have also all played open international bridge for their country, but partner is not a regular partner.

You lead a systemic low club. Declarer considers matters in a normal trick 1 type of way and plays low. Partner wins the ace of clubs, declarer playing the 2. Partner switches to the 8 of hearts, declarer the king and you win the ace. Your style when switching is pretty standard.

What do you play next?

[suokko]

♣T partner had singleton ace and hand needs ruff and another ace for set. ♥8 can't be from short suit so it is clearly asking for ♣ ruff

[kenberg]

Club seems right here also. If declarer, with a stiff ace of clubs and the ace of diamonds, knew I had the ace of hearts he would cash the ace of diamonds to make sure I give him a ruff. But he could well be playing me for the king of hearts, and then csahing the diamond ace would/could cost heavily. Similarly, if partner has the trump ace (less likely), cashing that early would be a favor to declarer if I hold the heart king. So yes, the club sounds likely. Club ace, heart ace, ruff, hopefully and very possibly one more ace.

But this seems so likely I suspect you will be telling us that it is not so.

[cherdano]

Justin, declarer has the Weak NT hand. Well, definitely not 5 hearts, because he would certainly bid differently with 5-5 (or 4=5??) in the majors.

Also I think the scoring is more IMPs than BAM, at least while you are defending a game.

Arend

[Codo]

Pd needs a 2551 Hand or a 2461 hand to make a club ruff likely.
Another possible hand may be a 2362 with q8x in Heart. IN that case, a heart return will give us our third trick. But maybe, he had lead the Queen of heart with this holding, so I play him for the red suits and return a club as well.
Of course, pd hold xx,Q8x, Axxxxx,xx and declarer can discard his loosing hearts on clubs...

[cherdano]

Codo, on Oct 31 2006, 02:31 PM, said:

Pd needs a 2551 Hand or a 2461 hand to make a club ruff likely.
Another possible hand may be a 2362 with q8x in Heart. IN that case, a heart return will give us our third trick. But maybe, he had lead the Queen of heart with this holding, so I play him for the red suits and return a club as well.
Of course, pd hold xx,Q8x, Axxxxx,xx and declarer can discard his loosing hearts on clubs...

There is just no way I can see leading back ♥8 to be standard here. I don't know whether count or attitude is standard, but in both cases it would be the 2 not the 8.
(And regardless of your agreements, partner shouldn't lead the Q here, why solve a guess for declarer when he has KJ?)

Arend

[FrancesHinden]

This problem was a bit of a damp squib, because partner has really made things impossibly difficult for you.

The full hand is (approximately)

---

At the table your partner, North, thought for a long time before winning the ace of clubs, so it was clear he didn't have a singleton.

South, Tony Forrester, who is both a great player and a very ethical one, won the ace of hearts and immediately returned a club letting the contract make. He commented at the table that he felt under pressure to do so.

[I don't know why partner switched to the 8 of hearts. Perhaps he was concerned that if declarer had KJ and guessed correctly you would return a heart rather than cashing his DA to hold it to contract.]

[flytoox]

FrancesHinden, on Nov 19 2006, 12:33 PM, said:

At the table your partner, North, thought for a long time before winning the ace of clubs, so it was clear he didn't have a singleton.

Frances, I am not sure I understand this. Cannt pd think about what to play after winning club ace? Does pd have to win club ace immediately if it is a singleton and then think about what to do next?

[cherdano]

flytoox, on Nov 19 2006, 03:08 PM, said:

FrancesHinden, on Nov 19 2006, 12:33 PM, said:

At the table your partner, North, thought for a long time before winning the ace of clubs, so it was clear he didn't have a singleton.

Frances, I am not sure I understand this. Cannt pd think about what to play after winning club ace? Does pd have to win club ace immediately if it is a singleton and then think about what to do next?

Yes, he has to.

[Codo]

OF course not. He is not allowed to break the tempo by playing a singelton quicker then a normal card. But obviously North took too long and this isn´t allow in any case.

[pclayton]

North should win a stiff A♣ or ♣Ax in tempo. This is appropriate. When an ethical player plays the Ace here, there is nothing discernable. Personally, with the stiff Ace, I try to mentally wait a little longer and with Ax, I try to win it a little quicker. Its human nature to win a stiff Ace quickly, and I think you need to counteract this impulse.

If Declarer played small at T1 quickly, I think there is less pressure on 3rd hand to play in tempo, however, this is more the case when North has a real problem at T1. Here, North has no problem. if North has ATx, there would be more of an issue.

I doubt if Tony would have given his pard a club ruff if the A♣ hit the table in .5 second (I've been warned about using the term 'nanosecond' ) followed simultaneously by the ♥8.

[pclayton]

And what the heck is a damp squib?