[Simplicity]

Scoring: IMP

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After East deals and opens 4♥, N/S arrive in 6♠, West leads the ♣K

Can you bring this one home?

[FrancesHinden]

I can make it if East has approximately

x
KQJ109876
Qxx
x

(the heart pips and club singleton being the key points)

[rogerclee]

FrancesHinden, on Oct 14 2008, 05:51 AM, said:

I can make it if East has approximately

x
KQJ109876
Qxx
x

(the heart pips and club singleton being the key points)

I like my odds with just singleton ♦ honor with west better. But yes, I don't really see anything more clever than this.

Edit: Ok I was REALLY CONFUSED and then realized that east opened 4♥, lol.

I agree with Frances, we assume he has one club, look at how many spades he has, and then just read the position/opponents.

[655321]

rogerclee, on Oct 14 2008, 07:56 AM, said:

FrancesHinden, on Oct 14 2008, 05:51 AM, said:

I can make it if East has approximately

x
KQJ109876
Qxx
x

(the heart pips and club singleton being the key points)

I like my odds with just singleton ♦ honor with west better. But yes, I don't really see anything more clever than this.

How clever is it to win the ♣A, draw trumps, then play 3 rounds of diamonds?

I don't claim this is the best line of play, but it does work whenever East is 1831.

[FrancesHinden]

655321, on Oct 14 2008, 02:04 PM, said:

rogerclee, on Oct 14 2008, 07:56 AM, said:

FrancesHinden, on Oct 14 2008, 05:51 AM, said:

I can make it if East has approximately

x
KQJ109876
Qxx
x

(the heart pips and club singleton being the key points)

I like my odds with just singleton ♦ honor with west better. But yes, I don't really see anything more clever than this.

How clever is it to win the ♣A, draw trumps, then play 3 rounds of diamonds?

I don't claim this is the best line of play, but it does work whenever East is 1831.

That's a back-up line to my line. You can decide which one to play for depending on the size of the heart East plays on the second round. If you're lucky, West will start a heart peter when you lead one towards the ace.

Now I think about it, there's the avoidance play in diamonds as an alternative. Win the ace of clubs, draw trumps and lead a diamond towards the dummy, if East plays low you duck to West. If West plays a higher diamond, win and play a second round. You are playing for East to have a singleton club and one of

- any three card diamond holding
- Q9, J9 or QJ
- Qx and forgetting to unblock

We do seem to need clubs 7-1 whatever we do.

Maybe we should win, draw trumps in two rounds (if it's three rounds we'll need a rethink because of entry problems) and play ace of hearts, heart. Tell us the first three hearts played by EW and we'll decide what to do next...

[Simplicity]

I agree you need clubs 7-1 to have a chance.

When you play the hearts LHO will contribute the ten on the first round.

RHO plays the king and the 7.


There is also another line to encorporate a layout that you haven't mentioned yet.

[FrancesHinden]

Simplicity, on Oct 14 2008, 03:06 PM, said:

I agree you need clubs 7-1 to have a chance.

When you play the hearts LHO will contribute the ten on the first round.

RHO plays the king and the 7.


There is also another line to encorporate a layout that you haven't mentioned yet.

The 7 is a very odd card. It clearly isn't his lowest, so he can't be trying very hard to put partner in.

At the table I would think that RHO has KQJ987x(x) and hasn't worked out the problem. Or LHO started with 102 doubleton / singleton 10 and we had a genuine position.

But if we believe oppo know what they are doing, I suppose we have to believe that LHO has H10 doubleton and RHO has decided to trust that is LHO's holding. Unless LHO started with 102 doubleton... I forgot to mention that if he played the 2 on the first round I was going to duck in dummy.

Anyway, back to the diamond suit.
We can pick up all Qx holdings in RHO's hand by starting from dummy. Diamond towards the K10x, low, king, 10 of diamonds from hand. This is slightly better than the first line as it picks up all 3-card diamond suits on our right, all Qx holdings plus QJ/J9 doubleton.

Starting with the 10 from hand picks up a different set of holdings. It still collects
- any Qx on our right
- QJ, J9 doubleton on our right
- Q9x or J9x on our right

It now gains against singleton honour, or singleton 9 on our left, but loses to Q9, J9 and QJ on our left.

[nige1]

Simplicity, on Oct 14 2008, 07:45 AM, said:

Scoring: IMP

After East deals and opens 4♥, N/S arrive in 6♠, West leads the ♣K. Can you bring this one home?

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• I like Frances' line: ♣A, ♠A, ♥A, ♥ ruff, ♠T, ♦ from dummy, which may work when RHO has
  ♦Q singleton, ♦Q doubleton, ♦J9, any 3 ♦, ♦QJxx, ♦Q9xx, or ♦J9xx.
  
• A less attractive alternative line is ♣A, ♠9J, ♥A, ♦KA, ♥x discarding a ♦, succeeding when RHO has 1-9-2-1, 2-9-1-1, 2-10-0-1, or 1-10-1-1 shape

[Simplicity]

Unless there is ♦QJ tight about, you need the clubs 7-1.

If RHO is 1831 then clearly we can draw drumps and play 3 rounds of diamonds.

We can also win whenever RHO is 2821 by drawing one round of trumps, eliminating our hearts, cashing 2 top diamonds and then ducking a trump. the ruff and discard then allows you to ditch a diamond from hand and set up two long winners in dummy.

What i felt was the best line, but im willing to be corrected!

draw 1 round of trumps, heart to the ace, heart (intending to ditch a diamond if RHO goes in with a high card, or duck if you see the 2 on your left). If that fails then 2 top diamonds and try to decide if RHO has a spade or a diamond left.

The postion at the table was:

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