[kgr]

Scoring: IMP

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South opened 2♥ Muiderberg (5cH, 4+minor and weak), West DBLed for takeout and East passed: 2H-(DBL)-All Pass.
(Opps are not very strong).
I felt like I completly misplayed this hand. There is no clue. I hope that I'll get some answers here and that I learn something from it! Thanks in advance..
2♥x:
West leads ♣A and continues a ♣ (East playing 2 small ♣'s - discouraging).
What do you play now? (Does it feel best to make some ruffs in your hand to play play trump and try yo develop ♦/♠?)

[Fluffy]

I like to start with a heart to ♥10. If it holds it is time to think about ruffing in hand. Spade to the queen leaves us poorly placed if another spade comes back (RHO discarding his third club on third spade)

[mikeh]

I haven't given this a lot of thought, but it seems to me that we want to be able to score some trump tricks...but trying to score ruffs can wait...

Win the club in dummy, lead a trump, playing rho for the AQxx(x)(x)

I assume rho ducks, and I assume (and hope) that my jack wins the trick.

Where we go from here depends on my trump spots and the card that LHO played. As little as KJ107x could be far more powerful than KJ106x, especially if LHO drops the 8 or 9 under my Jack.

I could lead the spade Q, forcing LHO to win.. he can't really afford to duck.. I lead another one and he has to win then, with his Ace beating air and estblishing the K in dummy.. which would be very powerful if my trump spots are of any significance and of some use anyway.

Where we go from here depends... do I now or later hook the spade 10? I would definitely do so if I learned or suspected that rho had a diamond honour.. say LHO switched to a small diamond... I'd have to hook and see what rho did. If LHO switched to a diamond honour, I'd win and play one back.. again, seeing what rho does.

Most opps will give count very religiously here. I'd like eventually to be able to cash an extra pointed winner and then play more of the same through rho.. but, if that doesn't work, at least scramble what I can and hope to build or score one of my trump x's.

I play trump at trick 2 because I want to minimize the possibility that I have to repeatedly lead trump from hand.

Sorry not to be specific, but these hands contain many branching points, and choosing precise lines requires knowing exactly who does what. And, against most opps, how they did it. Most opps can't help but give info away.

[kgr]

Thanks for the answers!
I played a ♠ to my ♠Q, taking by LHO with ♠A.
LHO returned a ♠ and I did put up ♠K, ruffed by RHO
RHO returned a ♣ and I did put my ♣Q, ruffed by LHO
(Is ♠ or ♣ finesse clearly better?)
Trumps were divided:
Axx - Qxxx
RHO passed the DBL because he felt to not have a good bid (I told opps are not very strong).
It's still not clear for me why leading trumps first is best.

[Fluffy]

To score as many trump tricks as you can, you need to use every entry to dummy avaible, since you are in dummy, use that entry now to score a trump trick.

[nige1]

kgr, on Jan 16 2009, 12:50 PM, said:

It's still not clear for me why leading trumps first is best.

Granny says: To avoid your plain-suit winners being ruffed, try to draw opponents' trumps, especially if you can draw two for one