[Fluffy]

I was dummy on this hand yesterday, I´ve found hard to see what is the best line.

Scoring: IMP

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The bidding:

N S
1♣ -1♦
1NT*-3♦
3♠-4♦
5♣-6♦

*: walsh style

The lead is ♥4 to the ♥Q (that should punish my partner for hiding me his ♥ control )

[inquiry]

I would not take the ♠ finessee, but I would try to drop the ♠Q by ruffing before I resort to the hook.

To do this, however, you will have to duck the ♥Q. If you win, WEST will win the ♥ King (you will need to ruff one ♥, and lead a ♣ before you get a chance to test ♠s. So the correct line. Is to duck the ♥Q and leave east on play. He can't lead a black suit, so this will not mess up your timing. Then you can deal with ♥ ruff, and ♠ ruff, as well as pulling trumps, before you have to decide what to do in ♣'s.

Ben

[Free]

play ♦A and continue ♥J at trick 3 to east's K (would west lead from Kxx?) if the trumps aren't 4-0. Now we can ALWAYS ruff a ♥ in dummy, take ♣A, and get back to the hand to play some ♦s to get to this end position:

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... ending in south. If any player has ♣K and ♠Q he's squeezed. After the ♦'s I should be able to know if my squeeze worked or not, and if I should finesse ♠ or cash the Ace...

If East plays into a finesse at trick 4, we have our 12 tricks as well.

[inquiry]

Free, on Apr 28 2004, 09:44 AM, said:

play ♦A and continue ♥J at trick 3 to east's K (would west lead from Kxx?)

Free... did you see the bidding? A ♥ lead, even from the KING, is almost automatic. I certainly would think that the odds are better than 50/50 that WEST, not east has the ♥ king, if for no other reason than the lead of the ♥4. Besides, ducking the first ♥ retains your ending if that is what you want.

Ben

[Free]

Yes perhaps, but actually it doesn't matter who gets the ♥ trick...

[mishovnbg]

Hi Fluffy!
I will give you some kind of way by steps how to play more complicate boards with relation to your example(Ben's way, but how you must find it at table):

• 1. Any plan is better than no plan. Find simplest way to make the contract. In your example simplest way is to ruff 1♥ at dummy and finesse ♣.
  
• 2. Try to improve your initial plan.. In your example improvement is to try ♠ suit for trick.
  
• 3. Improve your chances by combining in several suits, instead of max chance in particular suit. This is not true all time, but is enough often true, if you don't like to make complicate % calculations at table. In your example you must try to to ruff 3th ♠ for Q♠ fall, combining this chance with ♣, instead of finesse ♠ - lose chances for ♣ if ♠ finesse is not successful.
  
• 4. Gather as much info as possibe, before to make final decision. In your example you must careful look for opps marks in ♠ suit, normally they mark count there, so you can know where is remaining 4th ♠ if Q♠ didn't fall. And also need to take all your trumps, before to finesse ♣, looking for all opps discards.
  
• 5. Verify your plan for necessary communications - both yours and opps. In your example mean to duck 1st ♥, to be possible to try ♠ and show up squeese before to make ♣ finesse.

Misho

[Fluffy]

Ok, my fault, since my partner quickly played first trick, and then started to think, I also combined the chances after winning the ♥A, wich is a mistake.

Free, I beleive who gets ♥K its crucial, if you let west in he will play a ♣ and you have to ank on finese before knowing if ♠Q drops.

Ok, so to be the real problem I faced, lets say the lead is.... ♥Q (so you don´t know where ♥K is , and ducking means inmediate ♣ switch )

[Free]

Yes perhaps, but I have to duck ♥ in trick 1... That's the mistake, because I don't have enough communication if West gets trick 2 and plays ♣...

[Trpltrbl]

Duck first♥ trick. That's keyplay.
Ruff ♥ in dummy pull trump and see if ♠ Q is dropping 2nd or 3rd.
If not, I play rest of my trumps for possible squeezes. Ben knows em all by name, I don't
And even if that doesn't work we finesse the ♣. Maybe I'll be lucky

Mike