[inquiry]

Scoring: IMP

 P -- (P) -- 1♣ - 1♥
2♥ - (3♥) - 5♣ - ALL PASS

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The Defense Starts ♥AK from WEST, east plays ♥3 then ♥5.

West shifts to the ♦9, east plays the ♦3 (I will force you to win in hand).

How do you play clubs? Discuss the problems (is it easy?) and how you will deal with potential problems.

Help me rate the skill level necessary to play this hand correctly (yes, yes, better to play 3NT but that ship sailed during the bidding).

[bluecalm]

We have 11tricks on top unless clubs are 4-0. (4clubs in dummy, 3diamonds, 1 heart, Ace of spades and two spade ruffs).

Which defender can have a void ? Surely E, the overcaller can easily have a distribution with 4 clubs (3-5-1-4) but he can't really have a distribution with a club void (4-5-4-0 but then he would play 9 from JT9x of diamond...).
This is why I play ace of clubs. If E doesn't follow then I have decision to make :
a)play for K of spades with East
b)play for K of spades with West

a) is very easy, we have a choice of plays, squeeze, finesse, whatever
b)we need to have K of spades with W and J with E, then we play Q of spades and if W cover we have a squeeze again, because 9s is a threat.

What is more likely ? Of course A beacause maybe E would pass with one jack in his hand and we need both spades honours in specific hands to play for b.

So I play for A, I play top clubs, then Jh, then finesse clubs, then one more clubs. I can make my decision in 5card ending but if nothing strange happen (like someone pitching diamond) I will play for K of spades being onside or diamond splitting (show up squeeze is the best way i guess)

I all look fairly easy so either I am missing something or the hand is rather difficult to play at the table...

[nigel_k]

I mostly agree with bluecalm's analysis.

But it does mean you are playing for East to have passed green with Kxxxxx xxx JTxx -. Though it is in second seat some of us could not resist so you'd want to call on any knowledge of the E/W tendencies that you may have.

The alternative is East to have bid 3♥ with Jxxxxx xxx JTxx - and West to have refrained from doubling with Kxx AKxxx x J9xx. I can certainly think of opponents against whom this is more likely.

Also, if you do play QS and West follows low you can still ruff and make if East has both king and jack. I would be surprised if many Wests would not cover from Kxx if you do it early.

[inquiry]

Nigel has it dead right. Double fear, singleton diamond with someone, club void with some one. If the distribution is WEST with Four clubs, the only person who can have four diamonds is EAST (else east has like a million spades and didn;t bid).

So club ACE find "bad news", East is void. Spade finesse is now against the odds, so you play EAST to have the precise hand pictured by Nigel and hinted at by bluecalm.

You need the trump in dummy to transfer the spade menace from West to East, so after pulling trumps you have this position and a choice of plays.

You have two obvious successful lines. Straightfoward, spade to ace, spade Queen (transfer the menace), diamond ACE, cash the heart JACK to squeeze east.

A little more complicated is cash Diamond ACE (to see if diamonds are 3-2 (note, not diamond Q), spade ACE, cash heart jack for a trump squeeze.

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Without thinking, most will get the club suit right by playing "normal". The "trick" is not to play a diamond to the queen after pulling trumps (to test diamonds before falling back on the spade hook -- both which as nigel points out are highly likely to fail).

This hand was from a Dec 1 BBO ACBL tournament.

[dellache]

I came up with a very slightly different conclusion about the final choices.

The problem is clearly : East having 6=3=4=0 distribution. What do we do playing single dummy ?

1. I really don't think that West failure to cover an early SQ means anything : it's difficult to see why you would intend tu run it at this stage so it looks like a "if they don't cover they don't have it" play (discovery play looking at the given dummy). Most of the West I know would routinely play low without second thought, unless they have KJ.

2. The trump squeeze routinely covers all winning cases, you just reach the following position implied by Ben (South to play) :
S Void
H Void
D 87
C 7
==
S Q9
H Void
D Q
C Void
If East is not 6340 you have already claimed, and at this stage, East has kept 2 Diamonds and one Spade. Now you can still decide on East having kept the King or Jack of Spades.
The rationale for playing him to have the Jack is OK because as Nigel pointed out, more oppos would bid 2S with the Kxxxxx(6) than Jxxxxx(6).

OK but then, what happens if your oppos won't open a weak 2 because :
a. the play the Fantunes system ;
OR
b. their religion forbids them to open 2S in second with a void and a 3 card possible Heat fit (a religion that has many adepts (not me) in France).

This considerations appear to change nothing unless... the Spade Jack appears from East at trick 10. Now, do we think that East played a deceptive Jack having Jx all the time ? Mmmm... Let's lead the SQ now. What will West think ? "Where is the Spade 9 ? Did West play the J because he had J9 (the T was in dummy)". Well, I guess West will cover the Queen now if he has K8. So if East had the SKJ we will also most likely make this.

Well it means I don't exactly agree with bluecalm when he says that "the squeeze needs to place 2 specifics spade honors in order to make".

Hope I didnot miss something which would make the above analysis a complete mess

[bluecalm]

Quote

Spade finesse is now against the odds

Hmm, the whole problem of the hand is in deciding if that's the case. Rest is easy technically. Can you elaborate why you think it's "against the odds" ?

[inquiry]

bluecalm, on Dec 4 2009, 09:46 AM, said:

Quote

Spade finesse is now against the odds

Hmm, the whole problem of the hand is in deciding if that's the case. Rest is easy technically. Can you elaborate why you think it's "against the odds" ?

IF there had been no bidding clues, I would play for the spade hook once diamonds failed. Fortunately, this hand was not played in a vacuum!

Well, I would play the trump squeeze. Cash the diamond ACE (keep the diamond queen in hand). When West shows out of diamonds, his distribution is known.

3S, 5H, 1D, 4C....

So a simple math might tell you the spade King is onside (East 6S, West 3S, so EAST is "twice" as likely to have the spade king.

However, East in second seat passed. With
K(J)xxxx (six times), xxx, JTxx, void, surely he would have opened 2S. Even if not, West overcalled on AKxxx of hearts, Jxxx in clubs, and a stiff diamond.

Their bidding (both the initial pass, and the overcall) point to the spade king with WEST (at least imho, and I think Nigel is agreeing).

I am not convinced enough to play the straight forward squeeze, as that requires the ruffing finesse BEFORE testing diamonds (Diamond to queen would send you down in the ending I gave earlier). I prefer to confirm the 4-1 diamond split, then play the trump squeeze. It is true that many consider trump squeeze more difficult than the simple squeeze, but it really isn't if the position is so well known.

[dellache]

inquiry, on Dec 4 2009, 10:41 PM, said:

I am not convinced enough to play the straight forward squeeze, as that requires the ruffing finesse BEFORE testing diamonds (Diamond to queen would send you down in the ending I gave earlier). I prefer to confirm the 4-1 diamond split, then play the trump squeeze. It is true that many consider trump squeeze more difficult than the simple squeeze, but it really isn't if the position is so well known.

The trump squeeze allows you to make even if East has ♠KJxxxx. Actually there's no case where the simple squeeze is better than the trump squeeze.