[inquiry]

Opening lead ♥Jack

Matchpoints.

You have 8 tricks off the top barring a 5=0 spade split (and. BTW, when you play the first round of spades both will follow). It is safe to assume of the missing AK, AK combination, East will have at least three of those cards. How will you play? BTW, the field rates to be in spades I would guess.

How would you play (same conditions) if the contract was only 2NT?

---

[TWO4BRIDGE]

You have better chances in Diam than Cl.

Win in hand ( w/A or Q )
Lead small Diam to Ten.

[mtvesuvius]

In 2N I'd play a diamond to the ten. In 3N I think I'd lead a club to my hand.

[inquiry]

mtvesuvius, on 2011-February-11, 12:08, said:

In 2N I'd play a diamond to the ten. In 3N I think I'd lead a club to my hand.

Don't they then win the nine or ten or clubs, then four top minor suit honors fairly quickly?

[BunnyGo]

inquiry, on 2011-February-11, 12:08, said:

Don't they then win the nine or ten or clubs, then four top minor suit honors fairly quickly?

perhaps he meant "towards the Q" confusing "hand" with "South" (which in this case is the dummy).

[mtvesuvius]

BunnyGo, on 2011-February-11, 12:24, said:

perhaps he meant "towards the Q" confusing "hand" with "South" (which in this case is the dummy).

Yeah, thanks. I was directionally challenged for a moment.

[inquiry]

mtvesuvius, on 2011-February-11, 12:36, said:

Yeah, thanks. I was directionally challenged for a moment.

Ok, my bad. How do you get to your hand to lead a club, at trick 1? At trick 2? at some other trick? Eventually, I think club towards QJ is better than diamond. question is how to manage entries/reentries I think.

[nigel_k]

We can set up a ninth trick in clubs, but if the top clubs are split we will need to overtake in spades in order to establish and cash the nine winners. That means we could be down two if spades are 4-1 and lose to (or unnecessarily tie) pairs that play 4♠. So we would like to discover a bad spade break in time to cash out for eight tricks if the club honours are split, but still play to make when East has both.

If you take the view that East might lead a top club if he has both, then you should win ♥K, cash ♠A and lead a low spade to hand. If spades are 4-1 you can unblock them and still have a heart entry for down one. If spades are 3-2 you can make by setting up a diamond as East is known to have both ace and king. Of course this will fail miserably if West has a top diamond and when East has both ace and king of clubs you can make regardless of the spade break as the second club can be led from dummy.

I think I prefer this line. If spades are 3-2 then East is probably 2434 and West 3433 and I'm not sure West would bid 2♥ on four small with that shape. East 1444 and West 4423 seems more likely and in that case 4♠ is down two so my down one will be ok even if East does have ♣AK and I could have made.

[mtvesuvius]

I think I'd win the first heart in hand, I can untangle my entries in time.

The question is whether to later overtake the ♠J if West wins the first club. I think I would, and risk going off 2, but such is life.

[inquiry]

While waiting for other input on how to play 3NT, I see no one addressed how to play 2NT.

A question I have is must you play 9 tricks in 2NT or would you be happy with your contract and take the cowards way out and cash your 8 tricks. If you take the cowards way out, is there a way to play for 9 tricks while not harming your chance for 8? If you are not happy with 8 tricks (in 2NT), then I assume your line would be the same as the one you pick for 3NT (to beat potential 140's your way).

[mtvesuvius]

In 2N I think it's best to win the heart in hand with the Queen and lead a diamond to the ten. If this loses to the jack, we still have 8 tricks (assuming we get the remaining position right on best defense), and on non-optimal defense we still have the same 8 tricks, while now knowing people in 2♠ will also take 8.

If the diamond loses to the Ace or King, then we play for 9 (or more) tricks by overtaking the SJ and leading another diamond up.

[whereagles]

Win heart in hand and cash all the spades discarding a spot in each minor. If opps shed hearts meanwhile, cash hearts and lead a club to the Q. If not, just lead a club to the Q and wait for opps to play hearts.

[nigel_k]

Say East takes the club and plays a heart. If you don't cash the third heart you will never score it, but if you do cash it you squeeze the dummy.