[Echognome]

Scoring: IMP

P - (1♦) - 1♥ - (P)
2♦ - (3♣) - 4♥ - All Pass

---

You arrive in the good contract of 4♥.

West leads the ♦8.

Plan the play.

[jikl]

I assume all ♣x's are 234 etc?

Sean

[Gerben42]

I go up the Ace and cash ♦K directly to find out if West had 6 or not. If not I am home by means of crossing to the ♣A, ♠A and another ♠. I can now ruff the 3rd ♠ on the table and lead a ♦ and score my small ♥ en passant.

So let's assume the ♦K gets ruffed and overruffed. Next up are ♣A and exit in ♣. The 4th round of the suit I discard a ♠ in dummy, allowing me to ruff two ♠ in dummy.

[whereagles]

♦A and a spade off dummy, with eyes on RHO. I'll take it on from there.

[pclayton]

edited.

[mikeh]

pclayton, on Dec 28 2006, 02:02 PM, said:

MY PDA doesnt display the bidding in the diagram well. LHO is the overcaller and led a middle spot? And RHO didnt drop Q/J at T1? Diamonds are certainly 5-2 then , although why did LHO lead a middle spot? Perhaps LHO underled from QJxxxx.

I'll start with AS, spade. If RHO ducks, I'll play the 10 hoping to drive out the K. If it loses to the Jack, I'll win the return (duck one club lead btw) (and not draw any trump yet) and try to ruff a spade. LHO cannot profitably ruff since I get to pitch my club. If the spade ruff wins, and the KD lives Im not home yet. If the KD lives I'll play a 3rd diamond, and overruff, 2 high trump and Ac, C.

If the 10S drives out the K Im in great shape since I can pitch a club off dummy and ruff 1 club only losing if they score both the T-9 of hearts on overruffs'.

Better get a bigger-screened pda... too bad Santa didn't get you one

I think that you may have got the auction wrong: at least, the way I interprete it, RHO was the opener (yes, I would have opened the North hand as well) and RHO has opened 1♦ then freely bid 3♣... which makes your line tenuous (altho ok on your understanding of the auction)

[mikeh]

The bidding plus the lead worry me. I'd sure like to be at the table on this one... FTF, not online, and preferably against known opps.

Would LHO have bid over the 1♥ overcall on Kxxxxx 109xxx in the majors, with 1-1 or 2-0 in the minors?

Would RHO really bid this way (at most a soft 9 count in the minors) with 6=6 or 5=6 in the minors? Why did LHO lead a ♦ rather than a ♣? Obviously, for this last one, if he was 1=0 or 2=0 in the minors, he had no choice. However, with 6421 wouldn't he lead the stiff? While with 5=5=2=1, maybe he'd go for the forcing game, rather than play for two ruffs.... one ruff would be meaningless since it would be with a natural trump trick.

These thoughts and others are why, at the table and at my computer, it takes a long time to decide on a line, and why I doubt that it is possible to actually calculate the 'best' line.

If trump are 4-1, the simplest way to 10 tricks is to draw trump and play on ♠s. While LHO undoubtedly holds far more ♠s than RHO, RHO needs the ♠K to come close to having his bids, assuming he lacks truly radical shape. Kx x QJ9xx KQJ10x is already dubious, altho I suspect that most would want to get the ♣ suit in if only to get a better lead.

If trump are 5-0, I am not sure that we have much hope.

So I win the ♦A, cross to my hand in trump. If trump split, I finish drawing them and then play a ♠ to the A, cash a top ♦ and lead a ♠, failing only when I am VERY unlucky in that suit...could LHO really hold KJxxx(x)(x) and not have bid?

I have tried to come up with a line that prevails against a 5-0 trump break, but I don't think I can, unless RHO has a stiff ♠ honour and I guess which one it is: I'd guess the K. I think accurate defence prevails on any other 5-0 break due to transportation issues.

[temp3600]

I'm playing East for the ♠K and trumps at most 4-1 :
♦A, pull trumps, spade to the A, ♦K throwing a club, spade to the Q.

[Echognome]

LHO is Jxxxx T9xxx xx J
RHO is Kxx --- QJxxx KQxxx

I crossed to my hand in trumps finding out the bad news. I then played a spade to the A and a spade up. RHO won the K and played the ♣K. I won the A with LHO playing the J. I then discarded a club on the ♠Q and played a club. RHO won and played a diamond and I was sunk.

I think one can make if they lead a small spade off dummy at trick 2. Someone can tell me if this prevails on best defense. I asked lefty why he didn't lead his stiff club and he said it was because he wanted to play a forcing defense.

At the other table declarer went down 2, so I didn't feel too bad for being off one. Well done to those that made it.