[pclayton]

A bar at a tournament is a great place to hear about hands.

Here's one given to me by an Israeli ex-junior:

Scoring: IMP

1S (2C) 2S 2N
4S all pass

---

LHO leads the ♣K (6 from RHO, standard). See hidden for continuation.

Spoiler

Assume you duck. LHO shifts to the 2H, 3, 9, Q.

Now what?

[Fluffy]

to get 2 entries to dummy, cash ♣A and play another discarding a heart from dummy. This line requieres RHO to have 4 hearts, but I don't see anything better.

[foo]

1S (2C) 2S (2N)
4S all pass

♠T63 ♥A63 ♦K8732 ♣72
+
♠KJ97542 ♥QJ4 ♦ ♣AJ3
♣K led

Standard Duck.
LHO shifts to the ♥2, ♥3, ♥9, ♥Q.

♣A, ruff ♣, run ♠T.

If ♠ AQx or AQ is onside, you pick up ♠'s for 1 loser and lose
1S + 1H (you use the HA to get back to dummy for the 2nd hook) + 1C

if ♠Ax is onside and the ♠Q is with LHO, they are endplayed when they win the ♠Q and you lose 2S + 1C

[han]

What if the club gets overruffed?

[CSGibson]

Fluffy, on Mar 18 2008, 09:54 AM, said:

to get 2 entries to dummy, cash ♣A and play another discarding a heart from dummy. This line requieres RHO to have 4 hearts, but I don't see anything better.

I like that line, especially since Phil would have mentioned if 2NT was conventional (like good/bad). Both LHO and RHO are a little light on HCP, so I'm putting LHO with 6 clubs and RHO with the AQ of spades plus a little help in diamonds to give them an excuse for their aggression.

[nige1]

pclayton, on Mar 18 2008, 11:56 AM, said:

Dealer: South Vul: N/S Scoring: IMP

♠ T63 ♥ A63 ♦ K8732 ♣ 72 ♠ KJ97542 ♥ QJ4 ♦   ♣ AJ3

A bar at a tournament is a great place to hear about hands. Here's one given to me by an Israeli ex-junior: 1♠ (2♣) 2♠ (2N) 4♠ AP LHO leads the ♣K (6 from RHO, standard). See hidden for continuation. Spoiler Assume you duck. LHO shifts to the 2H, 3, 9, Q.  Now what?

My guess is to play LHO for say 0346 or 0247 shape
Win LHO's ♣K with ♣A to guard against 7-1 break.
Exit in ♣
Discard ♥ on a 3rd ♣
Hoping that LHO has ♥K
Also hope that ♥A and ♥ ruff will provide entries to take 2 ♠ finesses.
(If LHO leads a 4th ♣ you can ruff with ♠T in dummy.)

[cnszsun]

It's cute to pitch a ♥ under 3rd ♣s.

[foo]

nige1, on Mar 20 2008, 12:11 AM, said:

My guess is to play LHO for say 0346 or 0247 shape
Win LHO's ♣K with ♣A to guard against 7-1 break.
Exit in ♣
Discard ♥ on a 3rd ♣
Hoping that LHO has ♥K
Also hope that ♥A and ♥ ruff will provide entries to take 2 ♠ finesses.
(If LHO leads a 4th ♣ you can ruff with ♠T in dummy.)

I think I like this line better than the one I first posted. Nice loser on loser play.

[pclayton]

To those that found the loser / loser play - well done. 1st hurdle crossed.

Oddly, RHO follows to the 3rd club. LHO puts you on the table with the heart. Now play the trumps for one loser.

[Fluffy]

low trump to the 9 fo me. Althou I can't see why it would be any better than running the ♠10

something odd is going on, LHO failed to double 1♠, I hate when my opponent's style is completelly the opposite of mine, I never understand what is going on.

[pclayton]

Fluffy, on Mar 21 2008, 08:38 AM, said:

low trump to the 9 fo me. Althou I can't see why it would be any better than running the ♠10

something odd is going on, LHO failed to double 1♠, I hate when my opponent's style is completelly the opposite of mine, I never understand what is going on.

I'm not saying this is the wrong play, but really try hard to reconstruct the shapes of the opposing hands. The answer is surprisingly easy.

[CSGibson]

I'll say that LHO has a 1-3-4-5 hand. He bid 2♣ instead of a higher ranking suit, so clubs is longest at 5. If he had 4 hearts, it would be likely for him to have a take-out double, so he has at most 3 (still a take-out double to my mind, but whatever), and since RHO bid NT, I'll give him the doubleton ace. I'm leading from the board, but if RHO plays low, I'm going up with the king. I think if LHO was 0-4-4-5 he would make a takeout double, and if he was 0-3-5-5, he would either start 2♦ or make his minors bid.

[pclayton]

CSGibson, on Mar 22 2008, 12:17 AM, said:

I'll say that LHO has a 1-3-4-5 hand. He bid 2♣ instead of a higher ranking suit, so clubs is longest at 5. If he had 4 hearts, it would be likely for him to have a take-out double, so he has at most 3 (still a take-out double to my mind, but whatever), and since RHO bid NT, I'll give him the doubleton ace. I'm leading from the board, but if RHO plays low, I'm going up with the king. I think if LHO was 0-4-4-5 he would make a takeout double, and if he was 0-3-5-5, he would either start 2♦ or make his minors bid.

What we know for sure is that LHO isn't 0=4=4=5. LHO has to have a spade card as a result, and we really don't care if he's 1=3=4=5 or 1=4=3=5.

A spade to the K drops the stiff Q offside.

[jdonn]

I agree with playing for 1345 (1435 is hardly possible for not doubling). But I think as a tactical move there are players who also bid 2♣ on something like - Kxx JTxxx KQT9x, and this also gives rho a more plausible 2NT bid, so I don't think it's 100%.

[CSGibson]

jdonn, on Mar 22 2008, 11:14 AM, said:

I agree with playing for 1345 (1435 is hardly possible for not doubling). But I think as a tactical move there are players who also bid 2♣ on something like - Kxx JTxxx KQT9x, and this also gives rho a more plausible 2NT bid, so I don't think it's 100%.

That's a possibility as well, but I think it would be more attractive for LHO to switch to a diamond instead of a heart at trick 2 if that was the defender's hand.