[Winstonm]

Scoring: IMP

Bidding:

2S*-X-4S-P
P -X
All pass.

*Weak 2-bid with 2 of top 3 honors.

You lead club Ace (Ace from AK), 3 from dummy, Queen from partner, 4 from declarer.

Plan the defense to go +800, a 4-trick defeat. (Hint: make the play that "builds a fence" around partner, leaving no room for partner to make the wrong play.)

---

[Quantumcat]

Maybe if you cash your two clubs, play two spades, maybe declarer plays a low diamond to his jack and you win, you give partner a club ruff, declarer gets 2 diamond tricks (partner keeps the ten hopefully) then leads king of hearts, you duck, leads a heart/diamond, you get two hearts/1H 1D, cash a club, declarer ruffs a club, has trumps left. You got 4 clubs, a spade, 1-2 hearts, 2-1 diamonds. Hmm, 1 too many but I probably gave him really bad declarer play!

[pclayton]

The best I can see is this:

Spoiler

Apparently declarer is KQxxxx, ?, ?, T9xx. Play a middle club for pard to ruff. I need pard to play a trump so I can clear the suit afterward. This should be logical, since he can't overruff dummy, but I can't see a better plan, and I can't see how pard can be forced to make this play. I also can't see how we can cope with 0-3 or 3-0 in the red suits.

[Winstonm]

Quantumcat, on Oct 9 2007, 12:28 AM, said:

Maybe if you cash your two clubs, play two spades, maybe declarer plays a low diamond to his jack and you win, you give partner a club ruff, declarer gets 2 diamond tricks (partner keeps the ten hopefully) then leads king of hearts, you duck, leads a heart/diamond, you get two hearts/1H 1D, cash a club, declarer ruffs a club, has trumps left. You got 4 clubs, a spade, 1-2 hearts, 2-1 diamonds. Hmm, 1 too many but I probably gave him really bad declarer play!

If you play Ace then King of clubs, then play Ace and a low spade, declarer will overtake dummy's Jack of spades with the King and draw trumps. He has the 109 of clubs left versus your J8, so he can win a club trick.

You have 9 cashing tricks in a NT game for +600, so it would be good to go +800 instead of +500.

Keep your wits and count. Try again.

[Winstonm]

pclayton, on Oct 9 2007, 07:55 AM, said:

The best I can see is this:

Spoiler

Apparently declarer is KQxxxx, ?, ?, T9xx. Play a middle club for pard to ruff. I need pard to play a trump so I can clear the suit afterward. This should be logical, since he can't overruff dummy, but I can't see a better plan, and I can't see how pard can be forced to make this play. I also can't see how we can cope with 0-3 or 3-0 in the red suits.

Phil:

Spoiler

You are on the right track but how can you avoid partner's possible error by forcing a ruff at trick 2?

[han]

Spoiler

Play a small spade. Win whatever, cash the spade ace, two top clubs and give partner a ruff. Maybe cash both red aces first.

[pclayton]

Spoiler

Ooh - blind spot. Ducking the spade works since pard has 3 spades, not two. Win the spade, give pard a ruff and he'll play a red card. Cash the clubs (I should get a count signal in a red suit too, not that it matters and try to cash the other ace).

[bid_em_up]

Winstonm, on Oct 9 2007, 08:02 AM, said:

pclayton, on Oct 9 2007, 07:55 AM, said:

The best I can see is this:

Spoiler

Apparently declarer is KQxxxx, ?, ?, T9xx. Play a middle club for pard to ruff. I need pard to play a trump so I can clear the suit afterward. This should be logical, since he can't overruff dummy, but I can't see a better plan, and I can't see how pard can be forced to make this play. I also can't see how we can cope with 0-3 or 3-0 in the red suits.

Phil:

Spoiler

You are on the right track but how can you avoid partner's possible error by forcing a ruff at trick 2?

Spoiler

You can always lead the club 5, forcing partner to ruff.

But Han's line is better.

[Winstonm]

Yes, Hannie. (but only based on my remark to "build a fence").

Spoiler

The optimal theoretical defense is a midde club at trick two, allowing partner to work out the spade return - this caters to a 7-card spade in declarer's hand, but this is highly unlikely given the 4 clubs he also holds.

In practice, the best play is a low spade at trick two - partner cannot err and declarer has no recourse.