[gwnn]

You sit in 3rd seat and bidding goes

p-p-p-1♠;
p-3♣*-p-4♠-a.p.

*=fit jump

pd leads 6 of hearts (135) and dummy tables:

Scoring: BAM

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You put in your jack, which goes down against declarer's Ace. he leads the ♣Q from his hand and tries to run it, but you take it with your King.

What now?

[FrancesHinden]

What club did partner play, and what count does it imply?

[gwnn]

pd played ♣6, and it implies an even number (from T63 no MUD).

[han]

So declarer has 3 or 4 hearts to the ace-king, and Qx of clubs. We'll likely need partner to have the diamond ace to beat this. I'm leading ♦K followed by ♦Q (partner won't overtake as I would lead Q-K with KQ tight). Hopefully I get the diamond count, and I might be able to make a correct decision later.

Even if partner has Jxx(x) of diamonds and some good spades the diamond shift might be right.

[inquiry]

Hannie, on Feb 13 2007, 12:14 PM, said:

So declarer has 3 or 4 hearts to the ace-king, and Qx of clubs. We'll likely need partner to have the diamond ace to beat this. I'm leading ♦K followed by ♦Q (partner won't overtake as I would lead Q-K with KQ tight). Hopefully I get the diamond count, and I might be able to make a correct decision later.

Even if partner has Jxx(x) of diamonds and some good spades the diamond shift might be right.

declerar has QT of clubs...

A trump back seems right to me.. of course if south has KQ sixth of spades I will regret this.

[pclayton]

What do we know?

The heart situation is probably ♥AKT or ♥AK7 in declarer's hand. The lead from ♥QT6 or ♥Q76 isn't all that attractive, especially if pard is looking at club shortness. So I place pard with an original holding of 4 hearts.

Pard probably has 2 clubs, and I can't tell about the 10 spot. Its also possible pard has a stiff club and some trump, but this is unlikely, since declarer would be drawing trump instead of working on clubs with ♣ QTx at this point. Its inconceivable that declarer has the stiff ♣Q as well.

So Declarer has something like a 5=3=3=2 or a 6=3=2=2.

There isn't a reason to play a club; either the suit is blocked, or I have a slow stopper.

My gut says a ♦ is right, but if it was, this hand probably wouldn't be posted It seems right to me to cash our diamond tricks and let declarer guess the ♠Q.

[gwnn]

Scoring: BAM

---

I thought this hand was interesting because while the hand was inherently down, East's decision at trick 3 still affected the outcome of the hand.

At one table, East switched to trump, declarer noticed the bad trump break but nonetheless managed to discard a diamond and then the ♥T got good after West's queen drops.

At the other table (albeit after 1♠(limited)-4♠, and declarer ran the T and not the Q at trick 2, but basically the same situation), East switched to a diamond, cashing another one. Now declarer needs 3-2 trumps to make no matter what so K, Q of trumps, notice the bad break, but no way to avoid -2.

I wondered what made the distinction between a trump switch and a diamond switch.

[whereagles]

There's no need to switch to a trump because declarer didn't go after heart ruffs. Instead, he setup his clubs, a clear sign that he's got some discarding to do. Hence the ♦K must be the right card to play now.

Awful 3♣ fit-bid, btw.. ugh

[mcphee]

K of D seems like a no brainer. We hope to grab some tricks fast prior to declarer dumping a loser on C while partner is forced to ruff with a natural trump trick.

I do not understand the reason for any other play really. Partner could easily hold the D ace and quite possible J empty 4thof S.

[Winstonm]

A trump back has little merit. Declarer is marked with AKxx of hearts and the entries to ruff 2 hearts so trying to prevent heart ruffs is useless once the tempo is lost.