[Phil]

Very busy the last few days but heres one from Monday night. Imps, v/nv. You play 6♦ after LHO preempts your 2/1 with 3♥:

Scoring: IMP

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LHO leads the ♣Q. Plan the play.

[WesleyC]

Looks like LHO has something like 2731 or 3721.

The best I've come up with is win the Ac, AKs and a diamond to the T.

[gnasher]

LHO probably has seven hearts, even at this vulnerability. I assume the club is a singleton. That suggests that RHO has ♦K.

Suppose that I play LHO for 3721 and try to set up the long spade. I could cross to a spade and play a diamond to the 10, but now I don't have the entries to set up the spades. Instead, playing LHO for ♦Jx would work: ♠A, spade ruff, ♦A, diamond, and eventually set up the spades.

Another line, which works against 2731 with ♦J, is to draw trumps without letting RHO in, and come down to:

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with the lead in dummy. East can't keep three clubs and two spades.
So: cross to a spade; diamond to the 10; win the spade or trump return; draw trumps, dropping RHO's king; cash ♥K, a fourth trump and ♥A to reach the above ending. I'd play that line, because if I'm going to play LHO for ♦J it's more likely to work when he's 2731 than when he's 3721, and also because a trump squeeze is more fun than suit-establishment.

[Fluffy]

I like Wesley's approach

[gnasher]

I can't see how cashing a second spade is supposed to gain. If LHO has 2731 with ♦Hxx, he'll return a second diamond, and you're no better or worse off than if you'd left the spades alone. If LHO has 3721 with ♦J9, he'll return a spade, and you can't both pick up trumps and set up the spades.

The second spade does lose if LHO happens to have x Q10xxxxx J9xx Q or xx Q10xxxx J9xx Q.

[655321]

Interesting hand, don't know what is right.

I am not convinced that West would avoid leading his singleton when he has Kx of trumps, it is not as though he has any really attractive leads.

I quite like Ace and another trump, which works when LHO has Hx in trumps. For example, RHO wins the K from Kxx, and can return a 3rd round of trumps to prevent a club ruff, but that allows a double squeeze - the spades will make an extra trick without needing to be ruffed out.

It might even be better (if playing Ace and another trump), to play ♠A, ♠ ruff first, but somehow leaving the spades alone looks appealing.

[Fluffy]

gnasher, on Aug 5 2009, 12:06 PM, said:

I can't see how cashing a second spade is supposed to gain. If LHO has 2731 with ♦Hxx, he'll return a second diamond, and you're no better or worse off than if you'd left the spades alone. If LHO has 3721 with ♦J9, he'll return a spade, and you can't both pick up trumps and set up the spades.

The second spade does lose if LHO happens to have x Q10xxxxx J9xx Q or xx Q10xxxx J9xx Q.

True but I like the psicological impression for returning a trump after winning ♦J, he might think that a heart is better.

[pooltuna]

where is the auction? You need to provide it since it is important to know what information you gave the opponents and when the 3♥ preempt occurred altho I assume if was the opening call.

[Fluffy]

pooltuna, on Aug 5 2009, 02:34 PM, said:

where is the auction? You need to provide it since it is important to know what information you gave the opponents and when the 3♥ preempt occurred altho I assume if was the opening call.

1♠-(p)-2♦-(3♥)

That's what I deduced from the opening post.

[Fluffy]

Now I think of it, we are all assuming ♣Q to be singleton, but is it true?

if LHO had ♠Qx, ♠QJ, ♠Qxx or maybe ♠xxx he might feel desperate of dummy's spades and lead agressively from ♣Qx.

[gnasher]

Fluffy, on Aug 5 2009, 03:13 PM, said:

True but I like the psicological impression for returning a trump after winning ♦J, he might think that a heart is better.

But if we bring the trumps in for one loser we're making regardless of what he returns.

[Phil]

pooltuna, on Aug 5 2009, 09:34 AM, said:

where is the auction? You need to provide it since it is important to know what information you gave the opponents and when the 3♥ preempt occurred altho I assume if was the opening call.

1s - p - 2d - (3h)
3N - p - 4c - p
4d - p - 4n - p
5s - p - 6d - ap

[gnasher]

I can understand your initial reluctance to share that auction with us.

[Phil]

I toyed with a few lines, but settled on playing LHO for 2=1 in the minors. I played ♠ to the A, and a ♦ to the 10, hoping that RHO wouldn't split, although I think Gnasher's trump squeeze works if RHO does split and plays back a 3rd trump.

LHO was 3=7=2=1 with ♦Kx, so my line would have worked (win return, one trump, ♣J, to hand, ruff club, etc..)

LHO actually returned a heart, so it solved my problems.