[Stephen Tu]

Scoring: IMP

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Opps silent, west leads a spade, you insert the 7, east plays the ♠T.
Now what?

[Echognome]

I win the Ace.

[manudude03]

I play the ace, cash the ♣A, run the spades throwing 3 diamonds and a club, then cash 3 top hearts. If they are 3-3 I'm home, if they are 4-2 (4 with LHO) i exit a heart for a sure endplay. If neither happen, I try the diamond finesse, who knows I might lose to stiff K (and therefore hopefully forcing him to lead a club), not that we can count on that.

EDIT: oops just realised I'll have to discard from AQ KJ in the throwin. I'll simply try the diamond finesse if hearts aren't 3-3

[Echognome]

Ah well. I should probably give a non sarcastic answer.

Win the Ace. Cash two rounds of hearts. Does the J fall? Yes. Then playing for the overtrick.

No. Then cash my spade winners and ♣A. Finally cash the ♥Q and see where I'm at.

I have options in both minors as well as the ♥ throw in possibility.

[Mbodell]

Why not win ♠A, ♣ to the A, 2♥, 3♠ pitching 1♣ and 2♦. Now take diamond finesse. Now if West has 4 ♥ we don't automatically lose (we'll play for 3-3 on the heart exit), but we can play for someone to have Qx of clubs for instance. There might also be a diamond club squeeze on East if West exits a heart and we play for 3-3 and fail and we now play the last ♠. If West exits a ♦ to the A we can cash the K♣ pitching a diamond and gain on the Qx of clubs or either player squeezed in the reds.

[gnasher]

Mbodell, on Jun 30 2009, 07:06 AM, said:

Why not win ♠A, ♣ to the A, 2♥, 3♠ pitching 1♣ and 2♦.  Now take diamond finesse.  Now if West has 4 ♥ we don't automatically lose (we'll play for 3-3 on the heart exit), but we can play for someone to have Qx of clubs for instance.  There might also be a diamond club squeeze on East if West exits a heart and we play for 3-3 and fail and we now play the last ♠.

It would be careless for West to allow that. He can see that he doesn't have a club or diamond guard, and he can count eleven tricks for declarer, so it should be clear that a minor-suit squeeze is threatened.

Quote

If West exits a ♦ to the A we can cash the K♣ pitching a diamond and gain on the Qx of clubs or either player squeezed in the reds.

I don't think this squeeze works - you haven't cashed the long spade, and you have no communication in diamonds.

[gnasher]

I play a heart to dummy, cash the spades (throwing diamonds and a small club, cash ♣A, and take a diamond finesse. If that loses, I play for a squeeze in hearts and a minor. I make if the diamond is right, hearts are 3-3, the same hand has ♣Q and the heart guard, or LHO has three diamonds and the heart guard.

I've had to give up the chance of ♥J falling in two rounds, in order to preserve my squeeze chances involving the heart suit.

Edit: corrected "throwing clubs and a small diamond" to "throwing diamonds and a small club".

This post has been edited by gnasher: 2009-June-30, 03:58

[se12sam]

gnasher, on Jun 30 2009, 09:03 AM, said:

I play a heart to dummy, cash the spades (throwing clubs and a small diamond, cash ♣A, and take a diamond finesse.  If that loses, I play for a squeeze in hearts and a minor.  I make if the diamond is right, hearts are 3-3, the same hand has ♣Q and the heart guard, or LHO has three diamonds and the heart guard.

I've had to give up the chance of ♥J falling in two rounds, in order to preserve my squeeze chances involving the heart suit.

South needs to make 4 discards on the run of spades. It will most likely be 1♥, 1♣ and 2♦ cards. Throwing two clubs eliminates that suit from any squeeze equation etc.

So at trick 8 when you take the ♦ finesse, West wins (with the presumed King) and plays back a heart. You are forced to play the third heart winner from dummy and (if hearts are not 3-3) guess which minor suit to unguard. Doesn't this reduce some of the chances you listed?

[gnasher]

se12sam, on Jun 30 2009, 10:23 AM, said:

South needs to make 4 discards on the run of spades. It will most likely be 1♥, 1♣ and 2♦ cards. Throwing two clubs eliminates that suit from any squeeze equation etc.

So at trick 8 when you take the ♦ finesse, West wins (with the presumed King) and plays back a heart. You are forced to play the third heart winner from dummy and (if hearts are not 3-3) guess which minor suit to unguard. Doesn't this reduce some of the chances you listed?

What I intended was to throw three diamonds and one club (sorry, I made a typo in my original post). That retains all the chances I listed - after a heart continuation I'd still have an other small heart in my hand, so I'd have diamonds+hearts against LHO, and clubs+hearts against anyone.

However, your comment has made me think of an improvement: don't touch hearts at all, but cross to a club, cash the spades throwing a heart, a club and two diamonds, then take a diamond finesse. Now I still have a small diamond in hand, so I can also squeeze RHO in diamonds+hearts. All I've given up is the chance of singleton jack of hearts. That ♥10 is a bit of a distraction.

The ending is this, with West on lead:

Scoring: IMP

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and I can squeeze either opponent in hearts and a minor

[Stephen Tu]

I think gnasher's final line is best. I was stupid & let that silly T of hearts distract me from calculating that the squeeze chances were a good deal higher than Jx doubleton/J singleton.

[Dwingo]

SA. CA. Cash all Spades. Cash top Hearts. If ♥ is 3-3 game is over. If ♥ is 4-2 with LHO having 4, play 4th H and end play in ♥'s for an additional trick in ♦ or ♣. If RHO has 4 ♥'s, then play a low diamond and cover whatever ♦ East plays.

So knowing what those ♦ pips are will be useful

[se12sam]

Dwingo, on Jul 2 2009, 12:37 PM, said:

SA. CA. Cash all Spades. Cash top Hearts. If ♥ is 3-3 game is over. If ♥ is 4-2 with LHO having 4, play 4th H and end play in ♥'s for an additional trick in ♦ or ♣.

When you play the 4th ♥ to LHO, you are playing to trick 10. Which three cards do you retain in hand?

[Dwingo]

OOps