[dcvetkov]

Scoring: IMP

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RHO, for some reason decides to double you in 4♥ after invitational sequence.

1D- 1H
1NT- 2C
2H- 3H
4H

Lead is small diamond, how do you play this?

[Fluffy]

duck the lead before running ♥J

[dcvetkov]

Ok, good play;)

King of D wins, and a diamond comes back. You run the jack of trumps, it wins and take the next round of trumps in hand with 10. What next?

[FrancesHinden]

If everyone has followed to the second trump, I draw the last trump and claim.

If LHO shows out on the second trump I continue with a club finesse. Assuming that loses and a diamond comes back I have to decide what to play for:

i) ruff, cross on a club (hoping it isn't ruffed), draw trumps and hope that the king of spades is with the short diamonds
ii) ruff, cross on a club (hoping it isn't ruffed), and take a spade finesse. If this loses, hope LHO has the short diamonds (I have a spade re-entry to take the trump finesse). If it wins, cash the ace of spades and exit in spades (this gains over playing a third club if RHO is 4432)

I have a third line, which is to ruff, cross on a club, draw trumps, cross on a club and take the spade finesse, but that seems to be playing RHO to be exactly 2=4=4=3 with Kx of spades, or any 1=4=4=4, and these at least at first sight are less likely than the other options.

In order to come to any sort of conclusion, I want to know (i) what leads and signals EW are playing, and (ii) exactly what pips are played on the first three rounds of diamonds and (iii) what LHO discarded on the second trump

p.s. I assume we have some more trump pips than shown, as if East has K976 he would have covered the jack of hearts in case West had singleton 8.

[dcvetkov]

FrancesHinden, on Jan 6 2009, 09:10 AM, said:

If everyone has followed to the second trump, I draw the last trump and claim.

If LHO shows out on the second trump I continue with a club finesse. Assuming that loses and a diamond comes back I have to decide what to play for:

i) ruff, cross on a club (hoping it isn't ruffed), draw trumps and hope that the king of spades is with the short diamonds
ii) ruff, cross on a club (hoping it isn't ruffed), and take a spade finesse. If this loses, hope LHO has the short diamonds (I have a spade re-entry to take the trump finesse). If it wins, cash the ace of spades and exit in spades (this gains over playing a third club if RHO is 4432)

I have a third line, which is to ruff, cross on a club, draw trumps, cross on a club and take the spade finesse, but that seems to be playing RHO to be exactly 2=4=4=3 with Kx of spades, or any 1=4=4=4, and these at least at first sight are less likely than the other options.

In order to come to any sort of conclusion, I want to know (i) what leads and signals EW are playing, and (ii) exactly what pips are played on the first three rounds of diamonds and (iii) what LHO discarded on the second trump

p.s. I assume we have some more trump pips than shown, as if East has K976 he would have covered the jack of hearts in case West had singleton 8.

Sorry

I was dummy here, and barely remember any spots, so not much help there.
LHO shows out on second trump, and let suppose discard some middle spade.

D lead is 4th best from Q10xx, and its played up the line

You correctly reasoned that the danger is you will run out of trumps and they can cash a long diamond.

BTW, it shows again that two balanced hands should be in 3NT.

[FrancesHinden]

Actually I'm going back a bit.

If I am certain from the cards played to tricks 1 and 2 that LHO has 4 diamonds, then after the HJ has held I immediately play a spade to the jack rather than the second trump.

If that holds, club to the queen, ruff the diamond return (assuming it loses), club to dummy, heart finesse, ace of spades and a spade, RHO has to give me an entry to take another heart finesse (or play a trump coup).

If the SJ loses to the SK ruff the return, club finesse, win the return in dummy, heart finesse, cross to dummy in the other black suit, heart finesse.

This is now making even with both black suit finesses wrong as long as RHO has at least two cards in each black suit.

[Fluffy]

FrancesHinden, on Jan 6 2009, 05:56 PM, said:

If that holds, club to the queen, ruff the diamond return (assuming it loses), club to dummy, heart finesse, ace of spades and a spade, RHO has to give me an entry to take another heart finesse (or play a trump coup).

Hard to argue with Frances's analysis as always, but if RHO is 4432 he might think of this hand after going to bed this night for not returning his last club instead of third diamond after winning ♣K. I will be 'gentle', and tell him inmediatelly if there are more boards to play against him. (Actually I wouldn't find the spade switch at trick 4)

[dcvetkov]

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These are approximate EW hands.
yes the trick is to build spade trick before drawing all trump, since that knocks out entry to long diamond. How clear is this at the table, not sure. I guess just by vacant spaces, LHO rates to be the one with 4 diamonds.

I suggested after jack of trumps holds, second round of trumps to the 10, then when that holds and LHO shows out, to play jack of spades from hand. This would minimze chances of a ruff. Is it better line or not then Frances, not sure

[nige1]

Scoring: IMPs


Thank you, dcvetkov. Interesting problem:
4♥X by South (RHO doubled). LHO leads 4th best ♦.

• As the play went, Frances Hinden's line seems sensible: Duck the ♦ lead; win the continuation; run ♥J; if that wins, finesse ♠J.
  
• But RHO can make your task harder by covering ♥J. Then you win with ♥A and cash ♥Q, to confirm the 4-1 break. But now you are forced to choose between
  • ♣ finesse (resulting in defeat as the cards lie) or
    
  • dcvetkov's cunning suggestion: Advance ♠J (winning as the cards lie).

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[lordorange]

Yes, thanks Dcvetkov an interesting problem indeed. I disagree with Nigel latest comment that a spade to J will win, as west simply takes the K and plays another diamond for you to ruff and East has one more trump than you.

You can actually work things out by the bidding and play to the first two tricks. You have already a lot of information. (reading Kelsey at the moment so I'm in the mood, btw I posted some problems from his book in the book-review section here)

Here we go: East didn't double at first or over-called (no 5-card hearts, hopefully) so has less than an opening. There are 15 hcp outstanding, so hopefully East has only three kings. East should also hold 4 hearts, leaving west with one. You know west has a 4-card diamonds, that leaves 8-cards in the black suits. Therefore East is fairly balanced as well with 4 hearts and 3 diamonds, having 6 cards in the black suits. You gave East already K♥ and in the first trick K♦
East/west can only force you once in diamonds otherwise you lose control. You need to keep the 4th diamond in North as a thread or exit card and you need a club for the last entry to dummy to play that card. So I suggest:

Trick 1: duck the lead
Trick 2: take the return in dummy with ace.
Trick 3: play ♥J, if not covered
Trick 4: play another ♥ and cover whatever East plays with 10 or ace.
Trick 5: play club for finesse.
Trick 6: ruff diamond return
Trick 7: play club to dummy
Trick 8: play heart and cover
Trick 9: play last heart, throw a spade from dummy.
Trick 10: play club to dummy
Trick 11: play diamond from dummy
Trick 12 & 13 cash the spade return.

You have to pay a little attention what west is throwing (keeping a single ♠K and ♦Q and ♣10 is rather cheeky.

If East covers at trick 3, you play a club from hand and proceed along the lines as above. Even if East returns a ♠ at trick 6 to break up your intentions, it doesn't help, the rest of the tricks are yours.

Henry

[655321]

lordorange, on Jan 13 2009, 06:51 PM, said:

Yes, thanks Dcvetkov an interesting problem indeed. I disagree with Nigel latest comment that a spade to J will win, as west simply takes the K and plays another diamond for you to ruff and East has one more trump than you.

No, you are wrong.

As mentioned in an earlier post, the reason that playing spades before clubs works on the actual hand is that West's only entry is knocked out before the 3rd round of diamonds is played. When East eventually wins his ♣K, he has no more diamonds.

[nige1]

655321, on Jan 13 2009, 07:18 PM, said:

As mentioned in an earlier post, the reason that playing spades before clubs works on the actual hand is that West's only entry is knocked out before the 3rd round of diamonds is played.  When East eventually wins his ♣K, he has no more diamonds.

Lordorange's solution is clever -- and effective as the cards lie. But I slightly prefer Dcvetkov's line. It seems to work against more layouts. For example when RHO has short ♦ and everything else.