[inquiry]

Scoring: IMP

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West North East South
 -     -     2♠    3♣
 3♠    3NT   Pass  4♠
 Dbl   6♣    Pass  Pass
 Pass  

2♠ showed exactly 5 ♠ (edited to reflect this after several replies) and a minor suit (4+), less than an opening hand.

Opening lead was ♦3 to the ♦K and your ♦ACE. What is your line.

[the hog]

Just thinking about this quickly, I am going to duck a H at trick 2 and play for H 3-2 and C 3-1.

[Fluffy]

East has 6♠ and 3♦ so he is either 2♥ + 2♣ or 1♥+3♣

Only way to protect to first option is to try a red suit squeeze, the problem is West will win the ♥Q if we try to finese and give his aprtner a ruff, or alternativelly cash a ♦ (if we drawed trumps), only way to catter this option is to play for a bare ♥10 in East (or a failed cocodrile when bare ♥9), and to do it you need to play it from your hand at trick 2.

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East wins ♥10 (playing ♥Q doesnt help) and can´t do anything better than return a ♣, you win ♣A, and cross ruff ♠+♦, before playing trumps, and west is squeezed in ♥+♦

If ♥ happen to be 3-2 you have an easy way to 12 tricks still.

[cnszsun]

I believe East's 2♠ is Muiderberg, so he has 5 ♠s and 4 or 5♦s.
I will start to cross-ruff in ♦ and ♠,
If ♦s are 4-4, i will ruff 3 ♦s and 3 ♠s, cash trump K and Q, if 2-2 i'm ok, if west has 3, play ♥K to dummy and ruff 4th ♠, and cash ♥ A.
If East has 5♦s, then West has to pitch one card when i ruff last ♦. if he pithched a ♥ , my plan keeps unchanged, if he pitched a ♠, i ruff 3rd ♠ to return to my hand then play top trumps, if west has 3 trumps i play 3rd trump to try to endplay West (he is left with only ♥s).

[Free]

Damn, I've seen this hand yesterday, can't reply But it was a nice hand...

[joker_gib]

If 2♠ is Muiderberg, east has 5 ♠ (I hope !) and 4 or 5♦. So, general principle is to ruff the ♦ and endplaying west in trump (hoping he has not more than 3).

So I take the lead, ♦ ruff , ♠ ruff , ♦ ruff, ♠ ruff, ♦ ruff with the ace :

If west follows then ♠ ruff, two top trumps and trump endplaying west who has to play ♥

If west throw a ♥ : same line

if west throw a ♠, i come back to hand with the ace of ♥ and I endplay west in trump hoping he has ♥Q

[Fluffy]

ups... sorry, I missed 2♠ explanation. Delete that post Ben!.

Joker´s line looks good, I can´t find anything better.

[EarlPurple]

easiest line seems to be:

win DA, d-ruff, s-ruff, d-ruff, s-ruff, d-ruff, s-ruff

If West hasn't discarded a spade on the last diamond ruff then cross to HK and ruff the last spade, then take top 2 trumps and the top heart and concede the last trick. This would happen if West was 4-3-4-2 or 4-2-4-3 to start and East was 5-2-4-2 or 5-3-4-1.

If West did discard a spade on the last diamond ruff the cash the top 2 trumps and if West has 3 throw him in and he must lead a heart.

The contract appears to be unmakable if West started with 4-4-4-1 and East with 5-1-4-3.

[Trpltrbl]

I would look on opps CC and see what their leads are.

Mike

[Fluffy]

Hi Ben, you forgot to post the full hand and solution here?

[inquiry]

Hi Fluffy,

Sorry for not publishing full hand. Didn't think the actual hand was all that interesting. First, yes 2♠ was muilderberg, showing exactly 5♠'s of 4+ in either minor (presumably ♦'s). But here is is....

Scoring: IMP

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West North East South
 -     -     2♠    3♣
 3♠    3NT   Pass  4♠
 Dbl   6♣    Pass  Pass
 Pass  

Ok, this hand was played by a “self- proclaimed expert”, who went down in a very easy contract. He won ♦A, cashed ♣K, then ruffed a ♦, after which he had no play. Pretty much any of the lines above would work, for instances ron's duck a ♥ at trick 2 (i would ruff a ♦ and hook, but ok).

Crossruffing the hand (three diamonds in dummy, three spades in hand) can lead to some interesting endings, for instance, you can overcome a 4-1 heart split, if clubs are 2-2 and West has JT of clubs or Jx and fails to unblock. But that is the hard way. The basic idea is to duck a ♥ (you can combine with ♥ hook first round, so that the ♥K will be entry to dummy. Plan to win 1♦, 6♣, 2♦ ruffs, and four ♥, but of course you might lose 1♥ and win only 12 tricks. Setting up ♥ while maintaining the ♥ entry to dummy seems a good way to attack the hand.


Ben