[vuroth]

Partner played this hand, but before he'd even picked his line, I had already selected a different line. Possibly a worse line.

Just curious what people make of this

Scoring: MP

We bid to 6♦, east having first passed then overcalled 2♠. Overall, the less said about the auction, the better.

QS led by west

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[rogerclee]

I would win in dummy, cash one diamond, go to my hand in hearts, and take the diamond hook. Cashing AK of diamonds just leaves us in too terrible a position if it's Q9xx onside (likely given the bidding).

If it is Q9xx onside though, things are quite tricky, and I would not draw the last trump and run the heart jack.

[jukmoi]

I would probably just tried ♦AK since the hand is cold if ♦ brake 3-2. East has bid ♠xxxxxx though, so is likely to have some distribution and a ♦ singleton is very possible. Maybe I am just being lazy.

[vuroth]

rogerclee, on May 31 2010, 08:59 PM, said:

...I would not draw the last trump and run the heart jack.

What exactly is run the heart jack?

[Free]

vuroth, on Jun 1 2010, 02:44 PM, said:

rogerclee, on May 31 2010, 08:59 PM, said:

...I would not draw the last trump and run the heart jack.

What exactly is run the heart jack?

You play the ♥J and don't cover/ruff it. Basically you play RHO to have the Q. I think he forgot to mention to play his second high ♥ before doing this...

[vuroth]

The problem with cashing out the AK♥ is you lose a ♠ trick by doing so, since you'll have to overtake the ten to get into your hand later.

I've spent way too much time thinking about this problem, and am probably still getting it wrong, but I think I like cashing the AK♦ immediately. I think ♦s being 3-2 are still a slight favourite, and as jukmoi says if they're 3-2 AK♦ wins (take 4 spades, 2 hearts, 5 diamonds (if the queen falls, 4 + 1 ruff, if the queen does not fall, 3 + 2 ruffs) and 1 club.

A♦ then finesse is no better if LHO has 3♦s. If LHO has 4♦s, you have problems - if you draw 4 rounds of trump you're 1 trick short, and will have to rely on the heart queen dropping or a club finesse. If you don't draw trumps, you can't unblock spades safely, so you're still a trick short. (The finesse also loses immediate to RHO having Q or Qx in ♦s.)

If I'm wrong, I look forward to being straightened out. I've lost sleep over this danged hand....

V

[rogerclee]

vuroth, on Jun 1 2010, 07:30 AM, said:

The problem with cashing out the AK♥ is you lose a ♠ trick by doing so, since you'll have to overtake the ten to get into your hand later.

I've spent way too much time thinking about this problem, and am probably still getting it wrong, but I think I like cashing the AK♦ immediately.  I think ♦s being 3-2 are still a slight favourite, and as jukmoi says if they're 3-2 AK♦ wins (take 4 spades, 2 hearts, 5 diamonds (if the queen falls, 4 + 1 ruff, if the queen does not fall, 3 + 2 ruffs) and 1 club.

A♦ then finesse is no better if LHO has 3♦s.  If LHO has 4♦s, you have problems - if you draw 4 rounds of trump you're 1 trick short, and will have to rely on the heart queen dropping or a club finesse.  If you don't draw trumps, you can't unblock spades safely, so you're still a trick short.  (The finesse also loses immediate to RHO having Q or Qx in ♦s.)

If I'm wrong, I look forward to being straightened out.  I've lost sleep over this danged hand....

V

You have a great extra chance - that you can reach a position where RHO will be squeezed in the black suits (I would not play LHO for the ♣K).

[vuroth]

Actually, the only time you need to guess the K♣ is when you've found both red queens with LHO. If RHO covered your T♥, you can ruff, cross to dummy with the A♣, draw the last trump, and cash your ♥ and 3 ♠s for making 6.

So if the question is did RHO bid 2♠ with 3 HCP or 0 HCP, I'll play him for 3, as well.

Nice - I would never have seen the squeeze.