[Fluffy]

IMPs, EW vul

♠A109876
♥84
♦J
♣10854

♠K542
♥A105
♦K7
♣AK62


1NT-2♥
3♠-4♠
p

lead is ♣Q. Plan the play.

Hidden:

spades....

Spoiler

are 2-1

♦J....

Spoiler

won't be covered

[655321]

Win the club, then ♠K and Ace, then run ♦J.

Assuming this is a misguess (and LHO doesn't help us by playing another club), we can eliminate the red suits, after which we are in dummy. Now play a low club from dummy, and either rise King and play towards the T (if RHO shows out), or duck the club (if RHO follows), losing a heart, a diamond and a club.

[nige1]

Thanks, Fluffy. Fascinating deal. My guess:
Win ♣K, ♠KA, Lead ♥.
If RHO follows small, then finesse ♥T and claim.
But a cunning RHO plays a ♥ honour so you win ♥A.
You cross to ♠T and hopefully lead another ♥.
Bad luck. Nasty RHO wins with another ♥ honour and leads a ♦.
You duck (unless RHO led ♦Q) but cruel LHO wins with ♦Q and exits in a red suit.
Making the best of a bad job, you ruff LHO's return eliminating one red suit.
Anyway, you guessed it:
When you lead a ♣, RHO covers dummy's card and LHO shows out.
You take your last despairing chance:
You win ♣A to lead your red honour, discarding a ♣.

[Jlall]

655321, on Sep 26 2009, 07:47 PM, said:

Win the club, then ♠K and Ace, then run ♦J.

Assuming this is a misguess (and LHO doesn't help us by playing another club), we can eliminate the red suits, after which we are in dummy. Now play a low club from dummy, and either rise King and play towards the T (if RHO shows out), or duck the club (if RHO follows), losing a heart, a diamond and a club.

Aren't you missing the entries to strip the red suits if you do this? Like if the DJ loses to the queen they play a heart you duck they play a heart you win and ruff a red card and you still have one red card left.

[Jlall]

nige1, on Sep 26 2009, 08:46 PM, said:

Thanks, Fluffy. Fascinating deal. My guess:
Win ♣K, ♠KA, Lead ♥.
If RHO follows small, then finesse ♥T and claim.
But a cunning RHO plays a ♥ honour so you win ♥A.
You cross to ♠T and hopefully lead another ♥.
Bad luck. Nasty RHO wins with another ♥ honour and leads a ♦.
You duck (unless RHO led ♦Q) but cruel LHO wins with ♦Q and exits in a red suit.
Making the best of a bad job, you ruff LHO's return eliminating one red suit.
Anyway, you guessed it:
When you lead a ♣, RHO covers dummy's card and LHO shows out.
You take your last despairing chance:
You win ♣A to lead your red honour, discarding a ♣.

Yeah this seems good but if RHO exits a low diamond you are supposed to pop king I think. Depends on their level etc, but I would expect them to generally shift to the queen if they had it and they're good (though if they know you will pop king they should shift to low from queen empty in case you have KT since you should pop K then also... blah blah).

[andy_h]

Jlall, on Sep 27 2009, 07:20 PM, said:

655321, on Sep 26 2009, 07:47 PM, said:

Win the club, then ♠K and Ace, then run ♦J.

Assuming this is a misguess (and LHO doesn't help us by playing another club), we can eliminate the red suits, after which we are in dummy.  Now play a low club from dummy, and either rise King and play towards the T (if RHO shows out), or duck the club (if RHO follows), losing a heart, a diamond and a club.

Aren't you missing the entries to strip the red suits if you do this? Like if the DJ loses to the queen they play a heart you duck they play a heart you win and ruff a red card and you still have one red card left.

That's what I thought first then realised if ♦J loses to the queen and they switch to a heart, win the first heart, ruff a diamond and exit a heart. Then they're forced to complete your elimination.

[655321]

Yes, the point being that the defenders cannot play clubs, so they have no choice but to help with the elimination.

[nige1]

655321, on Sep 27 2009, 04:40 AM, said:

Yes, the point being that the defenders cannot play clubs, so they have no choice but to help with the elimination.

Curses!
But well done 655321 and andy_h!
And great problem, Fluffy!
I spent ages on this and still got it wrong