[inquiry]

2♥-P-P-2♠
P - 3♠-P-4♠
All Pass

2♦ = muilderberg

T1. ♦A-2-7-J
T2. ♦K-4-3-♠7
T3. ♠T-[C]2-♠K-5

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A gold star invites you to be on his team. You get this hand... the 2♦ bid showed exactly 5♥'s and a four card or longer minor with "less" than 11 hcp.

You have to make this (if it is makable) if you hope to be invited to play again.

[cnszsun]

From bidding and first three tricks, EW hands are very clear.
East must be 5-1-2-5 and hold ♣ King, West should be 0-5-6-2.
With ♣ King onside, I can win 4 ♣ tricks(A,Q,J and one ruff), one ♥ honor, so the rest 5 tricks must come from trumps.
My plan is like this:
♣finess to J; back to ♥K; ♣ finesse again to Q;
♣4 ruffed by dummy ♠;
play ♦small,
1) if east not ruff or ruff small, i overruff;
♣A ruffed by dummy's last trump; play dummy's last ♦, no matter what east do, you will always get last two trumps A and T.
2)if east ruff high with his Q or J, i will duck, discard a ♥, if he return ♣, continue plan 1 ruff by dummy and play last ♦; if he return ♠, finesse one round and cash you ♣ winner, exit by ♥, you will get last two trumps anyway.

[Free]

I dont know where you get the idea to give west a 0-5-6-2 with 9 HCP (all in ♦), and which opens 2♥.

Also, you should play ♥A before trying the trumps imo, because then you'll know if you can finesse the ♣ or not. Since west showed already 7HCP and if the Q doesnt drop, he has 9, so he cant possibly have ♣K.

Since you are getting short in trumps, you'll need trumps on both sides to get to 10 tricks. A cross-ruff seems to be the sollution. You'll have to hope east has 4+♣s. Because you're blind about the ♣s, I'd say finesse it, and try to make 1♥ trick, 2♣s and 7 trumps (2 ♣ ruffs in dummy, 3 ♦ ruffs in hand, ♠A and ♠K).
I actually would say the hands are 0-5-5-3 and 5-1-3-4 to be able to make your contract. Important is to ruff the ♣s first (2 times, dont finesse 2 times), so if RHO ruffs with ♠Q you can play low ♥ and you'll still have A10 after Jxx. Dont forget to make your ♥ trick before you start ruffing

So:
- play ♥K to know if your finesse ♣ will work. If it works play on like I describe, otherwise ask again...
- finesse ♣s, play ♣A, ruff a ♣, ruff a ♦, ruff a ♣ and play your last ♦. At this moment, trumps are A10 in your hand, and QJxx in easts hand. If he ruffs high, DONT take it, if he ruffs low, take the 10 and you have 10 tricks.

[Free]

This is the end position:

Dealer: Vul: Scoring:

♠ QJ64 ♥ ♦ ♣ ♠ AT ♥ AT ♦ ♣

♦ played

2 tricks are always sure!

[inquiry]

Mike and Free got it right, although I think Free mistyped when he said "Also, you should play ♥A before trying the trumps imo, because then you'll know if you can finesse the ♣ or not. Since west showed already 7HCP and if the Q doesnt drop, he has 9, so he cant possibly have ♣K" simply because he shows the ♥A still in hand in the correct four card ending.

This hand requires careful timing and "elopement" for all of your little trumps via ruffing diamonds. As you need to reach the position shown by FREE above with the lead in dummy for the last Diamond. If you can score a sucessful ♣ hook and one ♥, you can make 10 tricks by reaching the ending FREE showed above via 1♥+5♠+2♣+2♣ ruffs, or 3♣ and one ♣ ruff. Correct play is when ♠King wins, hook ♣ win that wins, you are home with the lines suggested above, playing to reach the four card ending Free shows.

[Trpltrbl]

Wouldn't it be alot easier when saying finesse needs to work and x-ruff

Mike

[inquiry]

Trpltrbl, on Feb 2 2004, 03:03 PM, said:

Wouldn't it be alot easier when saying finesse needs to work and x-ruff

Mike

No because that play can easily fail. The sequence of plays has to be timed to reach this ending. If you ruff a second ♦ too early, you will go down. You have to take your ♥ trick (the king-for entry) before ruffing 3rd diamond or else EAST will pitch his singleton ♥ and you end up one trick short.

Ben

[Trpltrbl]

inquiry, on Feb 2 2004, 03:23 PM, said:

Trpltrbl, on Feb 2 2004, 03:03 PM, said:

Wouldn't it be alot easier when saying finesse needs to work and x-ruff 

Mike 

No because that play can easily fail. The sequence of plays has to be timed to reach this ending. If you ruff a second ♦ too early, you will go down. You have to take your ♥ trick (the king-for entry) before ruffing 3rd diamond or else EAST will pitch his singleton ♥ and you end up one trick short.

Ben

Good thing I have only 2 entrees to dummy, so after finesse I run out of choices. And I would also think that this was standard

Mike

[inquiry]

Trpltrbl, on Feb 2 2004, 07:14 PM, said:

Good thing I have only 2 entrees to dummy, so after finesse I run out of choices. And I would also think that this was standard

Recount those entries, after the ♣ hook, you have 2 ♣ ruffs (if you want), the ♥K, and of course the ♠K. That is one, two, three, four entries to dummy. It is not necessary easy not to "cash" the heart ACE as freee originally mentioned "to see if EAST has the ♥Q or not (he actually did have singleton ♥Q, but that doesn't change the play.

Ben