[MFA]

jdonn, on Apr 29 2010, 06:37 PM, said:

cherdanno, on Apr 29 2010, 11:27 AM, said:

sathyab, on Apr 29 2010, 11:08 AM, said:

Declarer has shown up with a stiff ♠, he definitely won't have two small ♥s for his bidding. So even when partner has the ♥A, we're never going to beat this more than one.

Cashing the ♣A postpones the problem by a trick, as he plays the 8 spot and you still won't know what to do. As it turns out declarer has x Ax AKQxx JTxxx.

Why is this hand a 5C bid, but x xx AKQxx KJTxx is not?

I don't think anyone else has said it, but I still think with Jxx Axxxx xxx xx partner should (will?) lead the ace of hearts.

I don't think I would lead the ♥A from that. 3♠ sounds like a 6-card suit only. The risk of having the heart ace ruffed with ♥K(Q) in dummy is significant, while on the other hand if declarer should be void in spades, which we have no particular reason to think, there is a good chance that partner's spades are good enough to neutralize dummy.

[MFA]

sathyab, on Apr 29 2010, 06:08 PM, said:

Cashing the ♣A postpones the problem by a trick, as he plays the 8 spot and you still won't know what to do. As it turns out declarer has x Ax AKQxx JTxxx.

Yeah, it took no master's degree in deduction to figure out that ♣A wouldn't work out when it wasn't even included in the poll. I still think it's the best shot though.