[Echognome]

Played last night with Phil against Justin and Aaron. I felt this hand was nicely played by Justin. See if you can match his good technique.

Scoring: IMP

(1♥) - 1NT - (P) - 4♥
(P) - 4♠ - All Pass

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Opening lead: ♥2 (3rd/low against suits)

T1: ♥2 - 4 - A - 5
T2: ♦3 - ?

Over to you.

Hidden continuation:

Spoiler

If you play the SQ or a spade to the Q, opponents will duck.

[maggieb]

I would win in dummy, play a spade to the Q, and if it holds, I would cash the hearts pitching a club and play the ♣K.

[rogerclee]

lol 1N

[mikeh]

I think you have two equivalent lines; win in dummy, spade to the Q. if it holds, we can play KQ hearts, ruffing the Q for style points and then the spade K, or we can win the spade in hand and exit the K of clubs, after cashing the hearts for a club pitch for more style points... I prefer the ruffing the good trick, personally, but to each his or her own.

Actually, I suspect that you can even win in dummy and lead a club to the King... all lines need to hold the spade losers to 1 and, assuming the diamond is a stiff, as it seems likely to be, we need the club Ace onside...but I rate this as the 3rd choice.

It feels as if I missed something, because I don't see anything special about this hand.... no doubt I will soon see what I am missing, when someone posts the chosen line.

[Echognome]

Maybe it wasn't that special, but it seemed nicely played to me at the time. The diamond is indeed singleton. If you ruff the ♥Q though, you will get style points, but go down.

Here's the full deal:

Scoring: IMP

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If you ruff the ♥Q and play a top spade, East can win the A and exit a low club. You hop K, but now have no way to get back to dummy to draw trumps without getting a ruff.

You can also take the alternative line suggested of playing a club to the K and then discarding on the ♥s to go for an overtrick.

[mikeh]

yes, I was being a stylish moron and was rushing back to post an edit but you got there too fast.... ugh, (wiping egg off face)