[xcurt]

The auction at our table was insane, but I'm going to force it on you. The problem will come in the defense.

Scoring: XIMP

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P - P - 1♦ - x
xx? - P -P - 2♦?
P - 2♥ - P - P
3♦? - P - 3NT - AP

T1: ♠K-4-3-2
T2: ?

You play UDCA and the K was not your power lead (as far as I can tell, since I was the declarer here).

What now?

[inquiry]

Let me try this again... first reply I held too many cards at the end.

Partner is unlikley to have so much as a king here in addition to the SPADE JACK I think he showed with the low spade (he might also encourage in spades when holding nothing in hearts, as he doesn't want a switch to that). So we count 8 tricks for ns (5♦, 1♠, 2♥). If we lead a low spade to partners presumed jack, we will be toast on a possible vulnerable stopper strip squeeze if south has the heart ♥AJ... The play after the wins spade ace would be five diamonds, we have to keep a spade, so we need to find three discards, we can't afford a heart if south has AJ, we can't afford more than 1♠ if we lead a low one. So we ahve to throw away a spade and three clubs. GACK.

Best defense will include unblocking the spades and letting your partner keep his jack. But first try the club KING, just in case partner has the ♣Q (four quick clubs would solve the hand. Assuming partner does not have the club queen, we then exit the top spade. As declarer runs his diamond, U throw smal club and two spades. This leaves you with QT9 of heart, AJ of clubs. He can throw you in with a club, you cash the last club and exit a heart. Even if he can win the JACK, he has no entry ot the jack and your partner should score the spade JACK at the end (this defense assumes declarer is 3-2-5-3.. if he is 3-2-4-4 you have no defense when declarer has the heart AJ doubleton and the club queen).

[xcurt]

inquiry, on Jun 23 2009, 11:12 AM, said:

...

Almost very nice defense inquiry. But you do beat the hand when declarer is 3244, provided you do two things

• remove dummy's club by cashing one high one
  
• play a high spade (not the low one)

You can do these in either order, and then exit with a third round of spades. When declarer cashes all his winners, you reduce to a club winner and ♥QT9. Since dummy is heart-tight at this point, declarer has to play a heart to the ace and duck down your remaining high club, but you can now exit ♥Q to pin the ♥J and force declarer to let you win trick 13 with the ♥9.

My hand was ♠A72, ♥AJ, ♦KJ95, ♣Q964. Handviewer. Yes I downgraded my 15-count (but I could have easily not held the ♦J).

By the way, momo1947 defended correctly on this hand, single dummy. Very nice. You can follow the line recommended above with GIB's trick-by-trick analysis here: Handviewer

[inquiry]

xcurt, on Jun 23 2009, 10:45 PM, said:

inquiry, on Jun 23 2009, 11:12 AM, said:

Best defense will include unblocking the spades and letting your partner keep his jack. But first try the club KING, just in case partner has the ♣Q (four quick clubs would solve the hand. Assuming partner does not have the club queen, we then exit the top spade.

Almost very nice defense inquiry. But you do beat the hand when declarer is 3244, provided you do two things

• remove dummy's club by cashing one high one
  
• play a high spade (not the low one)

You can do these in either order, and then exit with a third round of spades. ((((SNIP))))

Well, this seems odd... I did say cash one top club, then lead a (second) high spade. What is it you think I did wrong?

Yes, Mono1947 played it well. He continued immediately with a second high spade. That worked ok on this layout, but as I said, if partner was giving a encouraging signal in spades just to prevent a heart switch, then this line would have failed. Imagine partner with ♠xxx ♥xxxx ♦xx ♣Qxxx. My line would, after collecting the first spade, rattled off 4 club tricks when partner played an encouraging club. Without an encouraging club signal, the switch back to top spade is clear. Just as you said, and just as I said I would play. It sure seems like that is the correct defense to me.

[xcurt]

I guess I should say "very nice defense." I was confused by you saying you couldn't beat it facing a 3244 closed hand with ♥AJ. You did state both key plays, so full credit .

You're right about cashing the club first being an improvement. But 3NT on ♣xxx(x) would be weird (although maybe normal after my pd bid like he had something else).

[inquiry]

xcurt, on Jun 23 2009, 11:25 PM, said:

I guess I should say "very nice defense." I was confused by you saying you couldn't beat it facing a 3244 closed hand with ♥AJ. You did state both key plays, so full credit .

You're right about cashing the club first being an improvement. But 3NT on ♣xxx(x) would be weird (although maybe normal after my pd bid like he had something else).

The problem comes in that I didn't look far enough into the hand... the ending is quite cute... on seceond spade (not cashing the club, declarer could decide not to hold up), and on cashing a club and continuing spades, declarer should not hold up.

I forsaw the following position with one diamond to cash...

I forsaw, leading the last diamond, south throws a spade and if West did too, south would play heart AK and exit a heart to expose you to an endplay. However, at this point you can safely throw a club. The heart play no longer works. It was the "vulnerable" stopper (the club jack) that i saw would be a problem with my statement, but I suspect if I was at the table, I would have worked out the need to keep the spade winner rather the potential club winner in plenty of time. I should probably not answer problems before lunch

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[xcurt]

And I should probably not analyze hands at 2 am .

One interesting point is that declarer can execute the throw-in using either black suit. You need to defeat both the spade throw-in and the club throw-in. Defeating the club throw-in is easier, just cash one high club before giving up the lead. Defeating the spade throw-in is trickier, you need to play spades counterintuitively by continuing with the ♠Q (or the ♠T) -- if you play a low spade at trick 2 (or trick 3, after a high club), forcing partner to part with the ♠J, declarer takes the second spade and throws you in with a spade. Momo's partner unblocked the ♠J under the ♠Q, and declarer missed his chance by not taking trick 2.

Anyway, nicely done. It's always satisfying to find a problem difficult enough that you get only one reply, yet still one with a solution that is (close to) demonstrably correct. I should probably have posted the hand with a 1NT opening and Stayman auction, since that places the hidden cards with a little more certainty. Of course, if I opened 1NT I wouldn't have learned enough about the enemy hands to do anything other than hook the ♥J. When my opponent switched at T2, I could take the heart finesse anyway, with the vigorish that if LHO held ♥QT9, which is necessary for the endplay to work, I would make the hand anyway when the high spots all fell.

[Fluffy]

I Was about to post a ♠Q continuation before cashing the clubs, then read Ben's line and though I better shut up .