[Gerben42]

Last weekend the German Team Qualifying had its Round Robin stage. Here are some problems.

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Plan the play on the lead of the ♠K

[Fluffy]

need to endplay LHO on a minor that is 3-3 when a trump is still in dummy. Heart 4-1 don´t hurt much, but I need LHO to have to win the third round of a minor, so better play for diamonds to be 3-3. since clubs might be unblocked more easilly.

Duck ♠K and win the retrn to play ♥Q. Win the return again and play ♥J

if trumps 3-2 then draw trumps and play ♣AK+ ♦AKx hoping LHO has to win with ♦QJx with only spades left

If trumps 1-4 then play ♣AK+♦AKx and hope LHO has to win with only spades left, we ruff high in dummy and come to hand drawing trumps to score the 4th diamond.

[inquiry]

Looks like a rough hand. The question is how good does west need to be to bid a vulnerable 3♠?

I think 6+ spades to KQJ is a start, even 8 spades is possible, so not ducking first trick. He could muster an opening bid without the heart ace, but doubt he could rebid 3♠ without it. We are going to need to either endplay WEST for a ruff and sluff, or endplay east to give up a trick on his return. In case one, we have to catch WEST where he can not unblock to prevent the throw in, in the other case, we will have to catch east with something like jxxxx in diamonds or QJXXX in diamonds, ow even Jxxx and qxxx where west has to unblock under ace of diamonds and we can throw east in with a club.

Since I can't guess which line to play for now, I will start with the obvious beginning line.
win spade ace, WITH somewhat interested in what card east plays (did he show even or odd..number?)
play heart queen, and if that holds play heart jack. My working assumption is west will win the first or 2nd hearts (if he wins the first, he may have singleton, if he wins 2nd he surely has tripleton heart), and cash a top spade.

After WEST cashes a top spade he has to exit something other than a spade. This is an important card. A heart is what I expect if he can (with singlton ace, he can not). The line of play varies at this point.
IF west had at least two hearts and east followed to both spades,


I am thinking west needs a hand something like:
♠KQJxxxx
♥A
♦Hx
♣QJx

or similiar (reverse minor holding). It is great if west has qj of diamonds, as he can not unblock!
He could also be a little better with something like, which makes the winning line very easy to find:
♠KQJxxxx
♥Axx
♦QJx
♣-----

but different lines can work against other holdings. WHAT happens when west wins the heart ace, cashes a 2nd spade and exits with what?

[Gerben42]

If you exit in trumps, opener will win the ♥A, cash a top ♠ and return a trump.

[Fluffy]

I think I screwed it, even if diamonds are better for the endplay double dummy, playing first ♣AK will put pressure on LHO, because he doesn´t know if he has to unblock something like ♣Q10x or ♣Qxx. We might very well need ♣J, and we could be about to make a diamond finese into his ♦Qx

BTW If LHO has 2 hearts, plays 2 clubs under ♣AK, and drops a honnor under ♦A I think its free to assume he is 7213 or 7222 with ♦QJ stiff. So it is better then to play a club and try for the endplay Ben envisioned (if he has 6 spades this might fail but I doubt it).

[inquiry]

Gerben42, on 2012-January-26, 15:08, said:

If you exit in trumps, opener will win the ♥A, cash a top ♠ and return a trump.

OK, it can't hurt to cash a third trump, winning in either hand. I assume east followed to first two hearts and spades, since you didn't say otherwise.


==== if west shows up with three hearts =====
My working assumption is west has 7♠ for his bidding, this could be terribly wrong, but he was vul opposite no support. IF west has 3♥'s, he has only three minor suit cards. Against most east, they would discard from their long minor (he is either 4-5 or 6-3 in the minors). I guess i will believe him.

IF he discarded a club, I WILL cash a high diamond. IF west drops a diamond honor, he maybe unblocking from QJ, Q9 or J9 doubleton. I will then lead a club to the Ace (dang if west' singlelton club was the queen), and lead the diamond 8 and run it. IF west wins the other top honor (qj doubleton) all is right with the world. If west win the nine, he is endplayed. HE will have to turn a spade, i ruff in dummy, discarding a spade. I play the diamond ten to my king, and cash the last heart, squeezing east in the minors.

IF east discards a diamond, I think I have to play for west to be alseep or to be dealt the QJ of clubs. I overtake the heart from dummy, and play a low club, then cash one diamond and then duck a club. I hope west either fell asleep or had the desired qj doubleton.


==== if west shows up with 2 hearts (more likely) =====
This seems to be the hardest to get right (when it is right). He can be 7=2=2=2 in which case if the diamond QJ are not falling, you almost have to play west for QJ tight of clubs. ANYWAY, i pull the third round of trumps, and assume west discards a spade. We need to find west to be 7=2=3=1 or 7=2=1=3 to have a realistic chance. I cash the diamond ace. Did west follow with an honor. IF so, i cash two clubs. Did west follow to the 2nd club? IF so, I play a third club from dummy. The concept is if east wins and west follows suit, east is forced to lead away from his diamond honor. IF west wins, he is forced to give me a ruff and sluff (and my 13th club is good). IF west shows out on the third club, I have to play him for qj doubleton of diamonds. IF west shows out on the 2nd club, I CASH the 2nd diamond, hoping west began life with qjx of diamonds.

if WEST plays a low diamond on the first round of diamonds, that forces me to try to catch west with ♣qjt or napping and not unblocking the suit. I would therefore led club ak (assuming west followed to both rounds), and attempt to throw him in with the third round. IF he shows out on the 2nd round of clubs, then I PLAY him to hae started with ♦qjx and didn't start to unblock, so I try to throw him in with the third round of diamonds.

My favorite line would be the minor suit squeeze on east, so I hope west has the third heart.

[inquiry]

Fluffy, on 2012-January-26, 15:18, said:

So it is better then to play a club and try for the endplay Ben envisioned (if he has 6 spades this might fail but I doubt it).

I only discussed seven card suits in my answer above, because it is hard to imagine a six card suit unless west is just loaded with all the missing queens and jacks, in which case you can probably endplay him anyway. Maybe i should worry more about a six card suit, but his partner didn't make a weak raise over the double, so I decide that with the vulnerability for the 3♠ bid makes seven (or eight) more likely.

[phil_20686]

well, its not that obvious what to do, but lets win the first spade and play a trump. If its ducked Ill play a second round. If RHo has Axx this might be his only chance to lead a minor through,and if he fails to cash the spade now I can make when west is 7222 or 6322 aswell as when he is 32 or 31 in the minors and I guess right.

[phil_20686]

Gerben42, on 2012-January-26, 15:08, said:

If you exit in trumps, opener will win the ♥A, cash a top ♠ and return a trump.

Ok so now I should know easts count in the spade suit, and the heart count, I can cash an extra heart to make sure. Then I will try the ak of clubs what happens now?

[whereagles]

Take spade, pull trumps. Then at some stage play for LHO to have some 6322 and try and guess which is his 3-card minor from the pips.

[Gerben42]

phil_20686, on 2012-January-27, 05:55, said:

Ok so now I should know easts count in the spade suit, and the heart count, I can cash an extra heart to make sure. Then I will try the ak of clubs what happens now?

As expected, opener discards a ♠ on the 3rd ♥. On ♣AK he follows with the 10 and the J.

[gnasher]

If you were going to cash two clubs, you should first have cashed one diamond. As well as allowing for Inquiry's suggestion of playing for LHO to be 7213 with a singleton honour in diamonds, it also lets you play him for 7222 with ♦J9.

[Gerben42]

Opener had:

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Although the hand can be made, no one did. But I think I had enough clue to make it anyway. Flat board if you go down, win 12 if you made it.