[whereagles]

MPs. Opposite not-too-hot opponents, you hold

♠Jxx ♥xx ♦QT8xxx ♣Ax

You...LHO...pard...RHO
2♦......2♠.....pass....3♥
pass..3NT (all pass)

2♦ was natural, weak. Partner leads ♣J (no higher card) and you see

Dealer: South Vul: E/W Scoring: MP

♠ Kx ♥ AT98xx ♦ 9x ♣ Qxx ♠ Jxx ♥ xx ♦ QT8xxx ♣ Ax

Declarer plays low. Do you take the ♣A? If so, what do you play now?

[robl]

I assume declarer played low club from the table. Pd would have lead ♦ from K-x-x or A-x-x so there is no future in that colour. I take ♣A and play more ♣ hoping partner started with KJTxx(x) and have an entry in a major.

/Robert

[whereagles]

Ah, yes. Declarer played low. Corrected. Thx.

Partner however won't have ♣KJTx because he'd have led the T.

[robl]

whereagles, on May 12 2004, 10:11 AM, said:

Ah, yes. Declarer played low. Corrected. Thx.

Partner however won't have ♣KJTx because he'd have led the T.

Oops, silly me. I still raise with the Ace and continue ♣ maybe I mess up declarers entries.

/R

[Free]

Simple, p has Kxxxx or better in ♣, and your opponent has at most J or Jx, so it's obvious he'll play low In some other suit partner needs a re-entry, so I'll respect my p, don't blow up my Ace, don't block the suit, and just take my Ace and return ♣.

If a ♦ lead would've killed the contract, I'll search another partner since this one doesn't trust me...

[the hog]

How can pd have 5C to the K when the J denies a higher honour?
Anyway I win A and continue a C.

[Free]

ah woops, still same line, he must have a reason to lead ♣...

[inquiry]

Free, on May 12 2004, 07:41 AM, said:

ah woops, still same line, he must have a reason to lead ♣...

The reason might ahve been he had ♦AJx and wanted you to lead ♦ through declearer. (I am not suggesting this is the reason, but parners often lead your suit when they have nothing better to lead).

At imps I win the ♣Ace and return a ♦honor automatically. But this is not imps, but rather MP os you have to worry about overtricks. So let's count declearer's tricks. 2 in ♣'s are sure, and we can expect ♠'s are behaving for him (we have three to JACK) so he should have five, and possibly even six ♠'s. Whatever ♥ honor partner has (if he has only one) it is dead. South could easily have ♥KQ doubleton (giving him six ♥ tricks), or KJ or QJ, doubleton giving him the same six heart tricks. Add to that, he could have three ♥ to the K and that is also six ♥ tricks (this is matchpoints after all, West might try for higher scoring NT with some hands with ♥ support. I am beginning to get very worried. Six ♥, 5 ♠ two clubs.... sounds like they might win a lot of tricks.

I am sorry, so I can't duck the first ♣ trick, nor can I win the ♣A and passively return a ♣. Declearer may have something like ♠AQJxx ♥KQ ♦KJx ♦Kxx. So, I win the ♣ ACE and immediatly return a low ♦, putting declearer to the test. IF he plays me for two aces, and rises with the king, we get three tricks. Even if he refuses to go up, we win two tricks. This will still beat anyone in 4♥ or 4♠ who gets two rounds of ♦ on the first two tricks. And if he has 6♠ and two ♥ honors, beat anyone not cashing their two aces on the first two tricks.

Not exciting, but what else can I do?

[luis]

Let's see,
declarer has the cK, and dAK (or I switch my pd), he also has one or two heart honors, with KQJ my pd would have lead a heart instead of the doubftful club. With something in spades he could have overcalled 2NT, maybe not with 5 spades.

Declarer will play this hand in hearts and he has the cQ and the sK entries.... So I think he is likely to make 10 tricks (2c, 1s, 5h, 2d) maybe 11 with the dJ with an obvious finese.

I will play my pd yo have AQx of spades so I take the cA and switch to spades inmediately trying to liberate two defensive tricks before declarer stablishes hearts, if he can cash cA, one heart and two spades I'm sure 9 tricks will be an excellent result for us.

Luis

[Fluffy]

Can´t see a hand where return another ♣ is good, so lets return a safe ♦10, if ♠ was the right switch... oh well.

[whereagles]

The layout was

Scoring: MP

---

Club ace and club back was best, as pard had two entries. Declarer can still make 9 tricks by taking in hand and leading a spade to dummy. Pard must duck (otherwise decl has 4+2+1+2 tricks), and declarer switches to hearts, taking 1+5+1+2 tricks. Any other play and he's down. Most declarers would probably fail to see the need to play a spade before starting hearts.

Club ace and diamond back leads essentially to the same line, but from the bidding and lead, declarer is a favourite to have ♦AKJ, so the club return seems better. Could partner have ♦Axx or AJx and be waiting for a diamond through? Possible, but you have to know your partners to judge that. Most partners would have lead a diamond from that holding anyway.

Kibitzers reported that South wasn't too happy to see pard's ♦Kx in the end!

[the hog]

I would not play with North again.

[Free]

The_Hog, on May 14 2004, 07:26 AM, said:

I would not play with North again.

LOL, me to... With ♦Kx you lead your partner's suit!

[Trpltrbl]

Pd lead ♣ for a reason, I have no entrees to set up ♦ suit, unless pd had AJx, but I think he would lead ♦. At least my steady pd's do Pdships desks are hard places to be hehehe

Mike

[luis]

First of all North should have bid 3d. Specially NV vrs V, a lot of good things can happen after 3d.
Second a diamond lead is crystal clear. Imagine pd has QJTxxx of diamonds and the club ace, yes they do have a diamond stopper and no, they can't make 3NT unless... oh yes, unless you just lead another suit.

I think it is a horrible lead even if it was the succesful lead.

Btw: Bad problem without a diamond honor in north it would be interesting to check what line of defense should we take knowing that declarer has AKJ of diamonds.