[Fluffy]

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IMPs, all vul, Partner leads ♦10 consistent with many diamond holdings such as 109, Q109 or doubleton, declarer plays low from dummy and wns the ace.

next comes ♠Q ducked around to you, partner playing ♠10

[Hanoi5]

♥6.

I suppose ♣K and another is also possible, but I see it as a guess...

[inquiry]

Hanoi5, on 2012-July-04, 07:50, said:

♥6.

I suppose ♣K and another is also possible, but I see it as a guess...

It is really not so much a guess. Couple of things, partner has one spade, and probably 2 clubs, but 1 club is remotely possible. Declarer has 15 to 17 hcp. With dummy and your hand's points, that means your partner has five to seven hcp....

Your partner can only have the heart king among the kings (you see the other three), and he WILL NOT have heart AK (he would have started a heart), and he has no HCP in spades (his ten is a singleton). Also, partner can not have the ♣Q, ♥Q, or ♠Q because you see those cards. So what 5 to 7 hcp can partner hold? You can't construct a hand with just low honors for partner, so ♦Q, ♥J, ♣J is only 4 hcp. So partner will have at least one of these three cards: ♥A, ♥K, ♣A, and he might have ♥K and ♣A (not ♥AK as he might have started that suit).

So the answer is what major honor is most useful to you. The club Ace makes the defense easy (see below) you get 2♣, 1♠ and a diamond ruff. The heart ace works only if partner has the ♥A and the ♥J, or the ♥A and the ♣K. So to defeat the hand, you need partner to hold just the ♣A or two cards (♥AJ or ♥A ♣K). I go for the one card holding rather than the two card holding. And, if partner has the ♣A, the defense is clearer to partner so you can assure setting it with ♣K and then small club.

Why club king? After you win the ♣K and play a club to partner's presumed Ace, he will count your ♣K and ♠K and know the only way to defeat the contract after that would be if you had a singleton diamond.

[Phil]

Misread

[y66]

Nice analysis inquiry.

[wclass___]

Are you sure that ♦T isn't suit preference?

Although previous poster was reluctant to take into account that declarer may still guess wrong with KJT and didn't mention that with hand like ♠ QJxx ♥ KJx ♦ AQx ♣ ATx declarer will still be down (even if he guesses correctly) ♣ return is probably slightly better than ♥, but it won't make you rich.

Trust your partner. Situation was quite clear for him and he might have made an excellent play.

[inquiry]

wclass___, on 2012-July-04, 15:23, said:

Are you sure that ♦T isn't suit preference?

Fluffy described the ♦10 as top of sequence like QT9(X). T9(X) or top of doubleton. There was no mention of suit preference. To add a new meaning to the lead outside of the established (and reported) partnership agreement seems both unwarranted and unwise.

[perko90]

I think there's a slight edge to the heart switch.
As inquiry said, ptr has 5-7 HCPs. Assuming declarer has the ♦Q (didn't cover the T) and ptr doesn't have ♥AK (didn't lead it), what are the ways to arrange 5-7 HCPs and how do they fair for the defense? I'll assume if ptr has just the ♣J that declarer will lose a club trick due to the frozen suit as long as we don't lead clubs.
So we have the following layouts where a heart switch is the only answer:
1) ♥KJ ♣J
2) ♥AJ ♣J
3) ♥AJ
4) ♥A ♣J gives declarer a guess
and the following layouts where a club is the only answer:
1) ♥J ♣A
2) ♣AJ
3) ♥J ♣AJ
(♥K ♣A is a win-win for either lead)

So the heart switch wins by a narrow 3.5 to 3 margin.

[Zelandakh]

wclass___, on 2012-July-04, 15:23, said:

Are you sure that ♦T isn't suit preference?

I assume you mean the ♠10. It definitely seems to be relevant information what the opponents' super-accept style is here. If Opener cannot hold 4 spades then the 10 is not a singleton!

[gszes]

intriguing hand my initial thought was a heart return seemed best overall but after
further analysis I like a club but not the club K. I would lead whatever clbu had
the best chance of convincing declarer I had nothing in clubs (dependent on
partnership style). The main reason for this is because it also caters to
declarer holding say QJx KJx AQxx Axx. Leading the club K here is an obvious
disaster but the club 8 (for ex) might also convince declarer to rise with the A to avoid
losing to partners theoretical K and giving me a dia ruff. Declarer might consider
this LOP because they will have 9 tricks and can score 10 by guessing hearts.

If p has the club A they will also know my heart holding was insufficient to build tricks
before decarer ran home so their only option will be to try for a dia ruff.



This switch might also work if declarer has the QJx Kxx AQxx AJx where we might
convince declarer to go down in a cold contract. and even though a heart switch
could work here I am unsure how to make it clear a dia ruff would be the only way to go
when I lead a heart.

[Fluffy]

partner had ♠10-♥Jxx-♦Q109xx-♣Axxx