[fred]

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Contract: 6H
Lead: Diamond Queen

How do you play?

Fred Gitelman
Bridge Base Inc.
www.bridgebase.com

[cnszsun]

Coping with ♥4-1?
♦A, ♣A, ♥Q, ♥A, found out ♥4-1 break,
then ♦K and ruff a ♦, 4 rounds of ♠s,
when rho got 4♥s, will make when he got 3+♠s;
when lho got 4♥s, will make when he got 4+♠s and forgot to unblock ♣Kx

[Codo]

I cannot cope with a 4-1 break with lho.
At the table, I had tried Ace of ♦, Q and A of ♥. If both follow, I ruff a diamond, this is easy.
If lho has just one trump, I duck a club. If they return a club, I win in dummy, finesse in trump and hope that I have a squeeze with
♠ AKxx

Opposite
♠ Qx´
♦ X
♣ X

Same ending would be reached if they return a diamond.
If a spade is returned, I win in hand, enter the hand in clubs and finesse in trumps to reach a similar ending with just one spade less.

This line does not help against 4-1 splits with lho. Bt I think that this is the much better bet if rho has four trumps, because to play him for length in both majors looks worse then playing lho for length in the black suits (With an outside chance in diamonds)

[irdoz]

I think if lho has 4 trumps to the j it can't make unless they also have some spade holding like j10x and you have the 9 of spades in dummy (but given no spot cards are shown this is probably irrelevant)

If rho has 4 trumps to the j then provided they also have 3 spades and diamonds making is not difficult (take ad, cash ah, qh, take kd, ruff last d cash 3 spades discarding a club, ruff last spade, take ace clubs and lead a club - doesnt matter who wins club youll get the last 2 trump tricks).

However if rho has 4 hearts and only 2 spades then if you touch trumps at all youll go off - but you can still win by playing on spades or diamonds first to hopefully get more information about the distribution before deciding how to play trumps. (Havent looked at rho having 5 trumps or other distributions - too hard for my small brain)

[lowerline]

♦K, ruff a diamond, ♥QA
Assuming LHO shows out on the second heart: ♦A, cash spade winners throwing a club, ruff a spade in hand, ♣A and another club... If you got that far, it doesn't matter who wins it. You still have ♥KT in hand.

Steven

[Cascade]

You might have a small chance of catching LHO with Jxxx if he has say

♠ xxxx
♥ Jxxx
♦ QJx
♣ Kx

or similar.

Cash your ♣A early before LHO is awake to unblocking.

Now you win when LHO has the above layout or if RHO has ♥ Jxxx and at least three spades and at least three diamonds or most of the time when trumps are 3=2 (you lose when your third diamond gets over-ruffed).

Something like:

1. Win ♦ A
2. ♣ A
3. ♥ Q
4. ♥ A
5. ♦ K
6. ♦ ruff
7. ♠ Q
8. ♠ A
9. ♠ K
10. ♠ ruff (wins if RHO has the trumps or LHO follows to 4th spade)
11. Exit club and hope if LHO has the trumps.

[fred]

Hint: Giving yourself a chance to make the contract when LHO has 4 trumps is indeed at the crux of this problem. If you can do so without hurting your chances when RHO is the one who has 4 trumps, that would be even better

So far none of you have come especially close to what I think is the best line of play. I will post a solution within the next day or 2.

Fred Gitelman
Bridge Base Inc.
www.bridgebase.com

[irdoz]

Besides deceptive play or where the club suit naturally blocks or where the spade spots behave in odd ways the only distribution I can see where you can still win with lho having 4 trumps to the j, is where the opening leader is 3-4-5-1... in which case rho can be squeezed in the black suits (and the opening lead shouldnt have been a diamond...) - but I cant see how you both play for this and 4 to the j in rho - so Ill have to wait for the answer.

[uday]

Seems like you can make it under specific circumstances against any heart break:

If LHO has 5 hearts: he is 4531. You get to cash all your side suit winners, ruff a spade and a d, HQ, HA, and thats 10 tricks, leaving you with KT of hearts and a losing club while LHO has 3 hearts. He'll ruff the club exit and you'll make the KT of hearts.

Similarly if RHO has 5 hearts.

If RHO has 4 hearts, you can ruff 1 D on the board, 1 spade in your hand and eventually exit with a losing club. This needs, i think RHO to hold 3+ spades and 3+ diamonds along with his 4 hearts.

If LHO has 4 hearts, you can make it if he has 4432 with blocking clubs (unlikely, since that's KQ of clubs and he'd have led them). Or you can make it if he is 3451 ( or 2461, i suppose) by squeezing RHO if you're careful.

It seems like taking an immediate diamond ruff and then playing HQ (then CA) will cater to everything in the list above, so I'm sure I'm missing something.

Bring back that deal of the week!

[CSGibson]

I think I play Ace of hearts, Queen of hearts.

If LHO has 4 hearts to the J, I have to hope that his distribution is precisely 4432. I'm playing Ace of clubs (hoping doing that early will make it harder to unblock the K), a spade to the Q, King of diamonds, diamond ruff, then AKx of spades, ruffing, and playing my last club from hand.

If RHO has 4 hearts after A-Q of hearts, I am ducking a club. I'll win a spade or diamond return in hand, play to the ace of clubs, finnese trump, and run my winners coming to

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giving me a legit shot at a spade-club squeeze.

If trump are 3-2, I'll come back to hand with the Q of spades, ruff a diamond, play a top spade and ruff a spade. Hopefully the odds of LHO being 2-3 in the majors with the J of hearts is less than the extra shots I've given myself with the 4-1 heart breaks, but if not, such is life.

[CSGibson]

Another possible line (better line, I think) is to play A♦, K♦ ruff a diamond, Q♥-A♥. Now if hearts are 4-1, I play A♣, Q♠-A♠-K♠, ruff a spade, exit a club. If RHO has 4 hearts and follows to 3 diamonds, 3 spades, and a club, this line works. If LHO has 4 hearts, he needs to be 4-4-3-2, and fail to unblock the K of clubs or have KQ tight.

[effervesce]

Hope for a squeeze on east? If east holds 4 clubs and 4 spades declarer is home.

Win Q diamond, ruff diamond, cash top heart, cash ace club, cash AK hearts, pitching club, exit heart pitching another club, (east has to pitch a club here to keep 4 spades), say west leads a diamond, pitch club and ruff in hand and on the lead of the diamond east is squeezed. Alternatively if west leads a spade win in hand cash the trump squeezing east.

[nige1]

fred, on Mar 18 2008, 01:08 AM, said:

Contract: 6H
Lead: Diamond Queen
How do you play?

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My guess: ♦A, ♦x ruff, ♥Q, ♥A

• If both follow, claim.
  
• If RHO has long ♥ then ♣A, ♠Q, ♦K, ♠A, ♠K, ♠x. (over)ruff. Exit in ♣. Claim.
  
• If LHO has long ♥ then you hope that LHO is 4531 or 4432 with ♣KQ. Play similarly but now LHO must follow suit when you ruff the 4th ♠.

[irdoz]

Quote

It seems like taking an immediate diamond ruff and then playing HQ (then CA) will cater to everything in the list above, so I'm sure I'm missing something.

I think thats right - but I dont think the play order when lho has 4 trumps is easy...

I think after 4 tricks the position is...

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and you're in the north hand.

You have to play qh then ah next.

If rho has long hearts the play order is then cash spades, ruff 4th spade and exit a club, but if lho has long hearts and is 3451 for the squeeze to work I think the play order has to be cash top hearts and throw lho in on a heart discarding clubs in dummy - if lho exits a spade win in hand and east gets squeezed on last trump, if lho exits a diamond then east is simarly squeezed. (which is what effervesence said above i just noticed....i only read the immediate post above when i posted this sorry)

[foo]

CSGibson, on Mar 19 2008, 06:47 PM, said:

Another possible line (better line, I think) is to play A♦, K♦, ruff a diamond, Q♥-A♥.  Now if hearts are 4-1, I play A♣, Q♠-A♠-K♠, ruff a spade, exit a club. If RHO has 4 hearts and follows to 3 diamonds, 3 spades, and a club, this line works.  If LHO has 4 hearts, he needs to be 4-4-3-2, and fail to unblock the K of clubs or have KQ tight.

To increase the chances that LHO will fail to unblock the ♣K when they have it, can we change the timing on this line to play the ♣A earlier?

If we wait until T6 to play ♣A, the caliber of opponents Fred is likely to have will have a complete count on the hand and are quite capable of tossing the ♣K under the ♣A.

Something like
DA, CA, SQ, DK, ruff D, HQ, HA, SK, SA pitching ♣, ruff ♠,
exit Cx scoring ♥ KT "en passant"

might be better if following this line.

[fred]

Some people have now stated the key point of why I like this hand (and I see now that Michael hinted at this in the very first response to my post):

That it is attractive to cash the Ace of clubs early as a Vienna Coup (as opposed to an attempt to make it hard for LHO to unblock from Kx) in case LHO is the one with 4 hearts to the Jack.

The line of play I like is:

1. Ruff a diamond
2. Queen of hearts (if hearts are 5-0 you will know what to play for and if the Jack of hearts falls you can draw trump and claim)
3. Ace of clubs
4. Heart (if both follow you can draw trump and claim)

If RHO has 4 hearts you should cash your remaining diamond winner and play spades. If RHO follows the 3 rounds of both diamonds and spades you are home. Just lead a 4th round of spades, ruffing, and exit in clubs.

If LHO has 4 hearts you should give him his trump trick, hope he has no clubs left and hope that RHO has 4 or more spades (ie you hope LHO was dealt something like 3451). You will then be able to squeeze RHO in the black suits, but note that it was necessary to get the Ace of clubs out of the way early in order to reach this position. Had you failed to cash the Ace of clubs, a spade return from LHO upon winning his trump trick would destroy your entries for the possible squeeze.

Please note that I am far from certain that this is the "best play". To determine that you would need to do some pretty serious math. You would also have to try to guess the odds of LHO unblocking clubs from Kx in various play sequences.

The reason I like this hand is because I found the play of cashing the Ace of clubs, though not exactly difficult from a technical point of view, to be highly counter-intuitive. Try giving this hand your local world class player and give him or her 1 minute to think about it. I bet that it will not even occur to that person to cash the Ace of clubs for the "right" reason.

This play, though not especially "hard", is not the sort of play you ever see happen in real life (though GIB is good at stuff like this!).

Fred Gitelman
Bridge Base Inc.
www.bridgebase.com