[ralph23]

♣♦♥♠

Scoring: IMP

---

North, scorning the newfangalists who might open 1nt, opens 1♦.
South bids 3nt ending the auction. Upon inquiry you are told that his bid shows 13-15 HCP, stoppers in the unbid suits and no 4 card major.

Your leads in this partnership are 4th best from length, so you lead the ♣4.

Partner wins the first trick with the Jack of ♣, and returns the Queen of ♣. Declarer plays small on both these first two tricks.

1. What do you think about your chances for lots of ♣ tricks?
2. In light of your answer to 1 above, what are your (i) hopes and (ii) plans for setting this contract?

Adv & Exp pls hide your answers. Full hands to follow.....

[Quantumcat]

We can't get lots of club tricks, declarer has wiped out partner's clubs and we have no entry. We have an eight or nine card heart fit, I wish I'd led a heart to start with.

It's all up to partner, but I don't think he has enough resources to do it on his own. 3 of his possible 10 points have already shown themselves. But, if he has the ♥A and the ♦K, and declarer has ♥Kx opposite ♥Qx, partner can play a heart now then the ♥A when he gets in. Now he can cash enough hearts to set the contract.

If the question is what club do I play now, I play the one according to our agreements that says, lead a heart!!!


P.S. Can we please have NO replies from non beginner/intermediates, otherwise we don't learn through figuring it out for ourselves! (At least until everyone that wants to have a go with the problem already has)

[skjaeran]

Quantumcat, on Jul 22 2007, 07:40 AM, said:

We can't get lots of club tricks, declarer has wiped out partner's clubs and we have no entry. We have an eight or nine card heart fit, I wish I'd led a heart to start with.

It's all up to partner, but I don't think he has enough resources to do it on his own. 3 of his possible 10 points have already shown themselves. But, if he has the ♥A and the ♦K, and declarer has ♥Kx opposite ♥Qx, partner can play a heart now then the ♥A when he gets in. Now he can cash enough hearts to set the contract.

If the question is what club do I play now, I play the one according to our agreements that says, lead a heart!!!


P.S. Can we please have NO replies from non beginner/intermediates, otherwise we don't learn through figuring it out for ourselves! (At least until everyone that wants to have a go with the problem already has)

You've analyzed this absolutely correct with regards to the chances for lots of ♣ tricks, and also when it comes to what suit you need to attack to set the contract.

Take another look at your and dummy's ♣ spots and see if there's a chance for you to help partner even more than just give suit preference for ♥'s.
How do you think you can beat this if partner holds ♥KJTx and the ♦K, which leaves declarer with AJx Axx xxx Axxx (13 hcp).

[Quantumcat]

If partner had led a low one he could keep clubs when declarer plays the ace, I keep my king and we play more clubs when partner gets in. If declarer does not, clubs are stuck, but I get the lead and can play on hearts eliminating that nasty Qx.

But other than that I can't figure it out. He has to lead them by himself. If he plays the king, declarer plays the ace and the queen is still there, while if he plays the jack declarer lets the queen take it. He is only getting in once so he won't get any of his hardearned heart tricks.

As for the spots question, I'm not sure what you're hinting at. Can I be super enthusiastic for hearts now, then give the wrong diamond count to incline him to take the king right away? I don't think that's the right answer.

[kgr]

Quantumcat, on Jul 22 2007, 12:23 PM, said:

If partner had led a low one he could keep clubs when declarer plays the ace, I keep my king and we play more clubs when partner gets in. If declarer does not, clubs are stuck, but I get the lead and can play on hearts eliminating that nasty Qx.

But other than that I can't figure it out. He has to lead them by himself.

Think about that again. It is not all true.
Look at all the club cards that are played. There is not a lot of difference anymore between Q and x.

[kenrexford]

Clue:

Spoiler

The club King is as strong as the club 8 and 7 when the Q-J have been played by partner and the 10-9 played in dummy, right? When partner shows up with at least two clubs, and dummy has two, and you have five, the most Declarer has is four, right? So, you do have the option of using the club King as a "signal" if that would be 100% clear, right?

[Quantumcat]

Ok, I do understand the signal part, the king is affordable and should make partner stare for a few seconds, but what's the mistake in what I said about the play of the clubs?

Partner has QJx and declarer Axx, he wins the jack and leads the small one, if declarer wins the ace partner retains Q and me K, later on I can overtake Q with K and play more clubs. If declarer does not win the ace, I win the king (I can't win the eight because there is still the ten left in dummy). Partner retains the Q and declarer the ace, I won't be able to overtake the Q and declarer will play the ace anyway, but we forget about clubs now and play a heart.

Well this thread is really good, is making me have to think really hard!

Spoiler

Can't help but feel I am monopolising it though. Now the other B/I's aren't going to get a chance to try this puzzle!

[goobers]

Edit!

[ralph23]

Quantumcat, on Jul 22 2007, 07:45 AM, said:

Well this thread is really good, is making me have to think really hard!

♣♣That's great ! Keep on it !

Let me reset you for a moment .... remember the bidding and what was explained to you by the opponents when you inquired about it.... Declarer has no 4 card major and has stoppers in all the unbid suits.

So, when he plays a small ♣ from his hand at trick 2, your partner having led the Queen -- look at the facts, partner led the Q not a small one at trick 2--, you know he has the Ace of ♣ remaining, right ? What else could he possibly have for a stopper? (Declarer is NOT playing his Ace at trick 2 and leaving everyone with ♣ ... he is holding up).

Yes of course he has it. You know that. And he is holding up until the 3rd ♣ trick.

So think about what he started with (and therefore what partner started with) in ♣:

Theory A: Partner started with ♣QJ and declarer started with ♣Axxx.
Theory B: Partner started with ♣QJx and declarer started with ♣Axx.

If A is true, then partner has just played his last ♣. Do you really want him to lead a ♥?

If B is true, then partner is going to lead yet another ♣, declarer is going to take his Ace, and then declarer will take the ♦ finesse. And if it loses, you're right back where you were with A. Partner is on lead again. Do you want him to lead a ♥?

So you're right on top of it, and what do you play when partner leads his Queen at trick 2?

[ralph23]

♣♦♥♠

And PS .... do you really wish you had led a ♥ at trick one?

[Quantumcat]

Thanks everyone for being patient with me! I really want to figure out what I'm meant to figure out on my own but I don't think it's going to happen. Please tell me the answer!!!

1. Clubs are no good.

2. A heart now from partner is great if he has Axxxx, when he gets in declarer's hearts drop and he can take 4 tricks, 4+2=6 contract down.

3. A heart from partner is not much good (as far as I can see, but the person who suggested it seems to think you can do something with it??) if he has KJT9, declarer has two stops no matter what partner plays.

4. A heart from me initially I'm sure is fine, even if partner has KJT9, the jack draws the ace then when he gets in he gets rid of queen and gets 3 tricks. If he has Axxxx, ace and another draws decl's hearts and pard gets in and cashes a further 3 tricks. Then he can lead the queen of clubs ... but then declarer takes the ace, and scores nine tricks cause now the diamond king's out of the way.

Aha! Now I get it. But, if we have to take the club tricks first, how on earth can we get any hearts when partner has KJT9?????? I just don't get it

[kenrexford]

Quantumcat, on Jul 22 2007, 11:11 PM, said:

Thanks everyone for being patient with me! I really want to figure out what I'm meant to figure out on my own but I don't think it's going to happen. Please tell me the answer!!!

1. Clubs are no good.

2. A heart now from partner is great if he has Axxxx, when he gets in declarer's hearts drop and he can take 4 tricks, 4+2=6 contract down.

3. A heart from partner is not much good (as far as I can see, but the person who suggested it seems to think you can do something with it??) if he has KJT9, declarer has two stops no matter what partner plays.

4. A heart from me initially I'm sure is fine, even if partner has KJT9, the jack draws the ace then when he gets in he gets rid of queen and gets 3 tricks. If he has Axxxx, ace and another draws decl's hearts and pard gets in and cashes a further 3 tricks. Then he can lead the queen of clubs ... but then declarer takes the ace, and scores nine tricks cause now the diamond king's out of the way.

Aha! Now I get it. But, if we have to take the club tricks first, how on earth can we get any hearts when partner has KJT9?????? I just don't get it

Lead a club. Partner sticks on the Jack. If Declarer wins that, we will take four clubs when one of us gets in, plus the trick used to get in.

If Declarer ducks with Axx(x), partner will play the club Queen, like he did. If Declarer ducks this also (right from Axx but wrong from Axxx, but Declarer is allowed to err), then we have two clubs in the bag and need to switch to hearts. Partner cannot switch to hearts profitably from some holdings, like KJ109.

So, overtake partner's club Queen. This costs nothing in the club suit, because you still have the 8-7 to cover any remaining clubs (the K-Q-J-10-9 will all have fallen one the first and second rounds). However, you will win the second club that way, which allows you to lead the heart through Dummy's Qx at trick three.

Tada!

[vuroth]

Apologies for going slighly off-topic, but isn't a major suit lead a better idea than 4th best here? We only have 1 entry, and partner seems destined to have more entries and a decent number of major suit cards.

I think at the table I would have led 8♠, hoping to hit partner's best suit.

As for the puzzle, once dummy hits the table, pushing a heart through dummy looks like our best chance.

V

[Quantumcat]

Yaaaaay!!!! That makes SO much sense.

We get to play two clubs, AND I get to lead a heart! Every problem solved (lol overtaking the queen hadn't entered my head, now I understand what you meant about the club spots! haha)

Thank you :-) it was a cool problem. Keep them coming!!!!!

[ralph23]

Very good. Partner does have KJT9 of ♥, and will win the diamond finesse. Once he does, the ♥ will be established after knocking out declarer's Ace of ♥.

Should you have led a ♥ originally ? If you did, declarer may just win his Ace, take the ♦ finesse, lose it to your partner, and your side can then cash its 3 winning hearts. Three hearts and a diamond is all you'll get though; declarer has the Ace of ♣ and the Ace of ♠. You won't get enough tricks to set the contract that way.