[kfay]

Should you make this at the table?

You were hyper-aggressive in the bidding:

Scoring: IMP

1♠-(P)-2♠-(3♦)
4♦-(P)-4♠-(P)
4NT-(P)-5♣-(Dbl)
6♠- All Pass

---

Lead: ♣ jack, seven, two, QUEEN

[billw55]

To do better than the heart finesse, I guess I need to look for a squeeze. I can draw trump and play a diamond, setting up J♦ and J♥ as threat cards, but can't reach the J♦. Please put one of the top hearts in dummy so I can solve this

[jdonn]

billw55, on Nov 23 2009, 11:41 AM, said:

To do better than the heart finesse, I guess I need to look for a squeeze. I can draw trump and play a diamond, setting up J♦ and J♥ as threat cards, but can't reach the J♦. Please put one of the top hearts in dummy so I can solve this

I don't think you are doing any better than the heart finesse even if the opponents are kind enough to crash their A and K of diamonds together on the first round.

[billw55]

jdonn, on Nov 23 2009, 11:43 AM, said:

I don't think you are doing any better than the heart finesse even if the opponents are kind enough to crash their A and K of diamonds together on the first round.

hmm .. yes .. lol

ah well I will wait for a solution from those who know what they are doing

[ONEferBRID]

Quote

You were hyper-aggressive in the bidding?

Yes.
Not only do you have a ♥ problem, you have a trump problem.
Partner didn't promise 4 card support.
I think you should have asked for the trump Q before making a final decision.

[kfay]

ONEferBRID, on Nov 23 2009, 12:19 PM, said:

Quote

You were hyper-aggressive in the bidding?

Yes.
Not only do you have a ♥ problem, you have a trump problem.
Partner didn't promise 4 card support.
I think you should have asked for the trump Q before making a final decision.

Not a bidding problem.

[paca1987]

Good slam guys. (sarcasm)
Im always going down on that type of slams to be fair.
This looks familiar to me, a South American SLAM!!

1) The heart finesse has to be on.
2) We have a problem with the trump lady.
3) In case Hearts are 4-2 we have to ruff a ♣ and a ♥ in dummy

I guess im playing for spades 2-2, or stiff Q. Winning the Q♣, playing the A♥, and A♠ and ♠ to the King.

I guess this line wont work because this hand is posted on the forums, but it will be the line i would play at the table.

[maggieb]

First of all I think it's weird to double 5♣ with ♦AK and only the ♣K, so I'm going to assume he doesn't have the ♦AK (maybe a little dubious, someone can comment if they think this is wrong). If this is the case he is light with 6♦. Also I think it's weird to double 5♣ with Kx of clubs, not only because opener's could easily have a second suit with clubs, but also because it's not clear at all that you want partner to lead clubs anyway. So there are a few types of hands that he is likely to hold:

Qx Qx ATxxxx Kxx
xx Qx ATxxxx Kxx
x Qxx ATxxxx Kxx
x Qx ATxxxx Kxxx
void Qxx ATxxxx Kxxx

I think the second is unlikely, but 3 4 and 5 are likely/possible.

There are three lines to consider:

1) Play ♠AK and hope they're 2-2.
2) Play the spade A and run the ♠J.
3) Run the ♠J at trick 2.

3 is clearly better than 2, since we only lose to singleton queen while picking up Qx of hearts and Qxxx of spades, so it's just 1 vs 3. I think singleton is just more likely than doubleton, so I'm going to play for that.

Cash the heart ace at trick 2 (assuming the Q doesnt appear), then run the spade jack. Assuming it holds, I'm going to cash the club ace, ruff a club, then cash the ♠K and take the heart finesse and try to ruff my heart in dummy if necessary. Assuming RHO doesnt have 7 diamonds or 5 clubs I can just exit a diamond without any risk of a trump promotion.

If I cash the ♥A and the Q appears on my right then I'm going to play for spades 2-2. It would be an epic falsecard from x Qx ATxxxx Kxxx or x Qxx ATxxx Kxxx though, heh.

Edited a couple times, the initial post had some errors.

[paca1987]

Agree with Maggieb, if you are going to play for trumps 3-1, you have to run the J♠.
Playing A♠, and running the J♠ is worse because in many cases you will have to ruff one ♥ and one ♣ on dummy.

[kfay]

maggieb, on Nov 23 2009, 12:57 PM, said:

x Qx ATxxxx Kxxx

3) Run the ♠J at trick 2.

wd maggieb

can do other things, but definitely don't cash the ♠A!!!

[Hanoi5]

Did you say thin slam? More like European-fashion-model-slam!

[kfay]

Hanoi5, on Nov 23 2009, 02:06 PM, said:

Did you say thin slam? More like European-fashion-model-slam!

Am I allowed to bid marked finesses?

[Jlall]

Why on earth are you all committing so early in the play? You figured out the 2 possible lines, wd, now try to figure out which one is going to work.

Cash the HA, cash the CA and ruff a club and then hook the heart.

Has RHO dropped the CK? Sure he always "should" but if he hasn't we have some more info.

Has RHO dropped the HQ? Maybe he "should' but he probably won't. Note this is why it's better to cash the HA first, it's easier to drop the queen if you just play heart to the jack then ace of hearts than it is if you cash the ace, cross, and act like you're going to hook. I mean from RHOs point of view if he has Qxx of hearts maybe his partner has Jx so he will look quite dumb to drop the queen. Anyways, it's not an obvious play to everyone.

After you have all of this information, figure out what you want to do, you will be much better placed.

[Fluffy]

If we are finesing the trumps I will do to RHO.

The reason is he amde a trash double so partner doesn't lead a trump.

But finesing creates further problems since we might have to ruff twice in dummy.