[mike777]

Scoring: MP

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MP. Contract is 3C. Play this hand.

Trick one:.... 3S....5S....AS....4S
Trick two:...... 7S.....JS....KS.....TS
Trick three:....2H....3H.....9H......AH

Your plan at matchpoints?

[skjaeran]

It seems west won the 2nd trick with the king, not the duce....
I'd like to have the bidding before comitting to a plan.

[mike777]

skaeran, on Jun 16 2007, 10:37 AM, said:

It seems west won the 2nd trick with the king, not the duce....
I'd like to have the bidding before comitting to a plan.

corrected

bidding was:

1d=1h
2c=3c
p

opp are silent.

[mike777]

I am hoping for some feedback here. These are the kinds of simple looking hands which I seem to make a disaster of in the play. It seems if I can just improve my declarer play a bit I could improve my overall score a couple of places.

Just about everyone made 3 or 4 when I was down 2.
My plan was that clubs would be 3-2 and D 4-2 or 3-3.
I would cash the two top clubs, pitch a heart, then two top d and crossruff D and h.
Hopefully make 4.

[mike777]

Jlall, on Jun 16 2007, 05:46 PM, said:

I would cross to the DK, cash a spade pitching a heart, and play a diamond to my ace and a diamond.

If LHO follows I'll ruff with the 7. If diamonds are then 3-3 I will play ace of clubs, club to the jack. I will make either 3 or 4 or 5 this way depending on what happens. If RHO overruffed me on the second diamond and tapped me I would ruff a diamond with the ace and finesse clubs on the way back. If RHO started with short clubs and short diamonds I will be in trouble but that seems unlikely given the 2 of hearts back which probably means hearts are 4-3.

If LHO showed out of diamonds by pitching I would ruff in dummy and play a club to the jack. If that lost and I got tapped on the way back I would lead another diamond and take the rest usually. If a club to the jack won I would ruff a diamond with the ace and play a club to the ten.

If lho showed out by ruffing with the 8 or the 9 I would overruff and lead a club to my jack.

So you are trying to set up your side suit before touching trumps.

[FrancesHinden]

What jlall said.
But it's not necessarily so much a matter of setting up diamonds as such, more that you need to make some trumps separately to get to 9 tricks.

You want to take a heart discard on the spade fairly sharpish (why didn't RHO switch to a heart at trick 2?), so you are going to use a minor suit entry to dummy to do so. It feels better not to touch trumps, as you have prime sources of losers. If trumps are 3-2 with the Q onside you will come to 5 trumps, 2 diamonds, 1 heart and 1 spade, and then you will need diamonds 3-3 as well to make more than 9 tricks. If you try and ruff diamonds in dummy and hearts in hand you have hopes either of scrambling more tricks than that, or of coming to 9 when trumps are not as favourable as all that.

If the clubs were the other way round - KJ10x in dummy, A7xx in hand, I might play diamond to the King, spade, heart ruff, diamond, diamond...

[mike777]

FrancesHinden, on Jun 16 2007, 07:39 PM, said:

What jlall said.
But it's not necessarily so much a matter of setting up diamonds as such, more that you need to make some trumps separately to get to 9 tricks.

You want to take a heart discard on the spade fairly sharpish (why didn't RHO switch to a heart at trick 2?), so you are going to use a minor suit entry to dummy to do so. It feels better not to touch trumps, as you have prime sources of losers. If trumps are 3-2 with the Q onside you will come to 5 trumps, 2 diamonds, 1 heart and 1 spade, and then you will need diamonds 3-3 as well to make more than 9 tricks. If you try and ruff diamonds in dummy and hearts in hand you have hopes either of scrambling more tricks than that, or of coming to 9 when trumps are not as favourable as all that.

If the clubs were the other way round - KJ10x in dummy, A7xx in hand, I might play diamond to the King, spade, heart ruff, diamond, diamond...

I am unclear what you mean by the queen onside, if clubs are 3-2 the club Q is always onside....just not sure which side. I can finese either way.

[FrancesHinden]

mike777, on Jun 17 2007, 02:10 AM, said:

I am unclear what you mean by the queen onside, if clubs are 3-2 the club Q is always onside....just not sure which side. I can finese either way.

"onside" = getting the suit right
If you play trumps at once (or after taking your heart pitch on the spade) and you get them wrong, you quite likely won't have 9 tricks - particularly if you lose to Qxx and they play a third trump back

[FrancesHinden]

p.s. against vaguely sane defenders the CQ is more likely to be on my left as a trump lead is normal on this auction. But as they didn't switch to a heart at trick 2, I'm not sure the defence is sane...