[inquiry]

Scoring: IMP

1♣-1♥
2♠-3♠* GF
3NT-4♦
4♥-4NT
5♥-6♠
All pass

Opening lead ♦5 = 3/5th best

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11 of 15 tables in a prestigious BBO tournment bid this slam. Three of these made their slam (it was cold as the cards lay), but these three all made following a defensive error. In fact, no one played a line that could win 12 tricks without a defensive error.

6SN= 980
6SN= 980
6SN= 980
4SN+1 450
4SN+1 450
4SN+1 450
3NN= 400
6SN-1 -50
6SN-1 -50
6SN-1 -50
6SN-1 -50
6SN-2 -100
6SN-2 -100
6SN-2 -100
6CN-2 -100

You have an two important clues the actual declarer's on this hand lacked. 1) It can make, and 2) the winning line(s) is not necessarily obvious. How might you tackle this hand?

Ben

[Trpltrbl]

I play the jack of♦ and if it wins, I go to dummy with trump and play ♦ King followed by a low ♥ to dummies Queen.

Mike

[inquiry]

Glad to see some one was brave enough to give this hand a go. Ok, if you are to play the ♦J at trick one it does not win, EAST will cover with the ♦Q, likewise if you play low at trick one, EAST will play a spot ♦ high enough to force an honor. I think on some lines of play will work best if you keep the ♦JACK in dummy, but there is also some advantage of trying the "FREE" finessee (see note below).

There seems to be plenty of tricks if you can ruff 2♣ in dummy and if ♠ split evenly (2♣ ruffs, 3♣, 2♦, 1♥ and 4♠s)... so clearly your plan should include the best contigency when something goes wrong with this plan. '

An example of why an immediate winning the ♦JACK might not be so helpful is that pitching 1♣ on the ♦J doesn't really seem to help much, but perhaps a morton fork coup in ♥ where the threat is a pitch of a ♥ after stealing a heart trick might come into play. There is also some trump coup options against EAST if the ♦Jack is retained for some endings where things go south on the ruff two ♣ line. I will not give the answer yet (well, what I think the answer is), but these are clearly issues to ponder.

Ben

[Free]

I think i'd go for the ♣s. Therefor I need to play ♦A in trick one, small ♣, ruff a club, small H to the K, ruff a ♣ with ♠A (if ♥K doesnt hold, my ♦K is my next entry and the ♥ are fine by now). Now play the ♠s with a safety: ♠ to the K, back to the J, and finesse if nescessary.

As Ben pointed out, you dont need an extra ♦ trick, but you need your K as an entry to ruff ♣s...

[inquiry]

Free, on Feb 11 2004, 10:09 AM, said:

I think i'd go for the ♣s. Therefor I need to play ♦A in trick one, small ♣, ruff a club, small H to the K, ruff a ♣ with ♠A (if ♥K doesnt hold, my ♦K is my next entry and the ♥ are fine by now). Now play the ♠s with a safety: ♠ to the K, back to the J, and finesse if nescessary.

Think you have too many ♠s...

1) Ruff a ♣
2) ruff a ♣ with ace (that is two from dummy)
3) small ♠ to king (that is three)
4) (spede) back to the Jack (that is four)
5) and finesse if necessary... er.. that is five spades from dummy....

back to the drawing board

But very nice use of the ♦ACE to save late entry.

Ben

[Free]

You're right about the many spades, so I go for the 3-2 split, unless some discards somehow give me the feeling that the trumps are 4-1...

[inquiry]

Free, on Feb 11 2004, 12:32 PM, said:

You're right about the many spades, so I go for the 3-2 split, unless some discards somehow give me the feeling that the trumps are 4-1...

There are no distributional clues.. all follow to the two ♣ ruffs (EAST drop ♣J so queen sitll out (♣ 4-3 or 3-4). The ♦ lead might be a clue, if you can trust them, and on your line, when you lead a low ♥ East played the ♥T for whatever reason. But nothing here too strong....

Ben

[bridgeboy]

Hi.. my first post .. Sorry if it doesn't turn out well:

My line:
♦ Ace
♣ Ace
♣ ruff
♥ to K
♣ruff
unblock trumps
♦ to K draw trumps claim.


This assumes ♥ Ace onside: no diff if he takes ace and return trump.

If ♥Ace takes the K, I'll bank on trump 3-2 break to establish clubs.

Pretty sure this isnt best line.. just what I would do

[inquiry]

Welcome Bridgeboy, attacking a play hand not only as your first post, but also on your first day as a member of the BridgeBase Forum community. You will clearly be a great addition.

Come back for the solution. The poster usually will provide them after four or five days if no one solves it by then...then we can all have fun poking holes in the proposed solution(s)...

Ben

[inquiry]

Ok time to solve this one. Please look at bridgeboy's line above... this works IF trumps are 3-2. Obviously if everyone was going down trumps are not 3-2 (and in fact, a 4-1 trump split has a fair probability, roughly 28%).

There seems to be four possible lines.

1) Ruff two clubs in dummy, one high, and play for 3-2 trumps.

2) Play as described by bridgeboy, ruffing two ♣ low in dummy ignoring the chances of a 5-2 ♣ (this line does not need 3-2 trumps). Most declarer's chose to ruff one ♣ low and the next one high (as in line 1). Actually the a priori odds of a 5-2 ♣ split is 2% more likely to occur than a 4-1 ♠ split, but then again, if ♣ are 5-2, you will need to choose line 3 below anyway to have a shot. So this simple line of ruffing two ♣ low in dummy works...

3) Try to cash your side suit winners (1♥+2♦+2♣) and win 7 trumps on the side (ruff three clubs in dummy... two high, and ruff a ♥ and ♦ in your hand and run the risk of a ♥ or ♦ overruff. Here you go ahead a surely try the ♦J at trick one, and when that doesn't work, you simply lead a ♥ towards the dummy's QUeen. Win this loses, go for the 12 tricks listed above by ruffing two red cards in your hand, and two ♣ in dummy high (or you can ruff one low and one high, in which one ruff in your hand is enough. The ruff one low after cashing ♣AK is really not different from line 1 above, as needs 4-3 ♣ or 5-2 with EAST having two, but you can play to ruff two ♣ high.

4) Go for a line similiar to the popular line one, but keep open the possibility for a trump coup/endplay if you run into a 4-1 trump split. Unlike the other lines, this one requires that you preserve the ♦Jack in dummy to play a role in the potential trump coupe

Here is the complete hand....

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I think I like the win 5 side suit tricks and try to score 7 trumps on cross ruff line. If they return a trump when they win the ♥A, you might revert to the set up a long ♣ line as you win a ♠ cheaply. It is easy to see how lines 2 & 3 will work well on the given hand. Look at line 4, which requires EAST have two ♥ to the ace to work. This line.. duck ♦ in dummy win king. ♣A, ♣ ruff, ♥K, ♣ ruff with A, ♠J, ♠K. When WEST shows out. Only chance now is to duck a ♥. East wins by force, and must return a ♦ (if ♠ claim). Now it doesn't matter which player has the ♦Queen... win in dummy and run red suit winners until EAST ruffs. IF he never ruffs, you end up at trick 12 in dummy with a ♠Q9 tenace over this ♠Tx.

Anyway a neat hand, worthy of thinking how to deal with either 4-1 ♠ or 5-2 ♣ as early as trick one.

Ben