[PhilKing]

The spade switch beats it as long as partner has at least KJ, and similarly AJ.

Will partner cash the ace with specifically Axxxx? It's tough. After all, we have told him not to play a spade by following 9T in hearts. But who knows? Even a blind squirrel occasionally finds a nut.

[lamford]

MrAce, on 2012-September-13, 06:31, said:

Unless pd is sadist, he would have won the ♥ with Q not K.

I am not so sure. Unless declarer is Mystic Meg, she would not play ace and another heart with AQ, either. She would take the heart finesse as West is surely more likely to have the king of diamonds than the king of hearts. West will know that East knows this, and by winning with the king he says "play a spade" rather than "play a club". He does not know about the ten of clubs, so he cannot afford to cash the other top heart.

So, if West has KQx of hearts, a spade is right, and if he has Kxx, then a spade is right.

[PhilKing]

lamford, on 2012-September-16, 04:58, said:

I am not so sure. Unless declarer is Mystic Meg, she would not play ace and another heart with AQ, either. She would take the heart finesse as West is surely more likely to have the king of diamonds than the king of hearts. West will know that East knows this, and by winning with the king he says "play a spade" rather than "play a club". He does not know about the ten of clubs, so he cannot afford to cash the other top heart.

So, if West has KQx of hearts, a spade is right, and if he has Kxx, then a spade is right.

The heart finesse only really caters for Kx with East. It's the way to make the contract with ease when West has a mouldy 5341 hand, but rejecting the finesse is not irrational. In fact, declarer should consider a low heart at trick two, which would give West a real problem.

If partner has KQx of hearts, declarer does not have much of a 4♥ bid.

Also, if partner does win the ♥Q we are playing a spade for sure.

It's a shame we are not playing reverse suit preference though - then partner can switch to the ♦Q to request a ruff.

But the thing that really worries me about this hand is that partner is defending like a man who wants a ruff. After all how did he know we don't have the heart queen?

[lamford]

MrAce, on 2012-September-13, 06:31, said:

Unless pd is sadist, he would have won the ♥ with Q not K.

I predict something like

---

You can give pds ♠ Q to declarer and J to pd, it wont change much, you can even give ♦ T to pd, i think we should win K and play ♠ and only ♠.

If pd has ♠ A we dont have to worry about defense i think.

The problem with the layout you suggest is that declarer has rejected the more likely layout of swapping round the red kings, when West would be more likely to make a two-suited overcall. Instead of taking the normal heart finesse, he has played for a less likely layout and a misdefence. That does not seem probable. If partner has KQx of hearts, he might also want to win deceptively with the king, and hope you work out he has the queen.

[lamford]

PhilKing, on 2012-September-16, 05:25, said:

The heart finesse only really caters for Kx with East. It's the way to make the contract with ease when West has a mouldy 5341 hand, but rejecting the finesse is not irrational.

We pretty much know that West has a mouldy 5431. It would be less mouldy with KQxx in diamonds and nothing in hearts than Kxx of hearts and Qxxx of diamonds. And, from South's point of view, West could be 5-2-4-2 as well.

[PhilKing]

I can think of no rationale for partner winning with the ♥K from KQ, since by winning with the queen he makes the defence easier.

[gnasher]

PhilKing, on 2012-September-14, 19:02, said:

Will partner cash the ace with specifically Axxxx? It's tough.

From partner's point of view, when is cashing SA wrong? I agree it may not be easy to find, of course.

lamford, on 2012-September-16, 04:58, said:

He does not know about the ten of clubs, so he cannot afford to cash the other top heart.

I think partner knows about ♣10. Why would we have covered from Qxxx(x)?

lamford, on 2012-September-16, 08:54, said:

The problem with the layout you suggest is that declarer has rejected the more likely layout of swapping round the red kings

In that layout (declarer having AJx AQxxx 10x Axx, partner having KQxxx xxx KQxx x), declarer's line still works, doesn't it? If we give a club ruff, he can set the clubs up and score four hearts, three clubs, two diamonds and a spade. If instead we play a spade through, he just ducks, threatening to score a spade ruff and ♦J. To prevent that partner has to play a third trump, but now declarer cashes ♣7 and then sets up a diamond trick.

[PhilKing]

Scrub post.

Answering a different diagram.

[PhilKing]

gnasher, on 2012-September-16, 12:48, said:

In that layout (declarer having AJx AQxxx 10x Axx, partner having KQxxx xxx KQxx x), declarer's line still works, doesn't it? If we give a club ruff, he can set the clubs up and score four hearts, three clubs, two diamonds and a spade. If instead we play a spade through, he just ducks, threatening to score a spade ruff and ♦J. To prevent that partner has to play a third trump, but now declarer cashes ♣7 and then sets up a diamond trick.

If we play a spade through, West wins and switches to the diamond king. If declarer clears diamonds, partner then plays his trump (or any red card).

Declarer has to lose a black trick of some sort in the wash.

[FrancesHinden]

There are two reasons why partner does not have KQx of hearts:
(i) winning with the king is just a partner-punishing false card (as PhilKing says, there's absolutely no reason to win with the king while winning with the queen tells you what his heart holding is)
(ii) leading a singleton club with KQx in trumps is a very odd play

I'm not entirely certain why partner felt the need to win the second heart. Why couldn't we have had Q9 doubleton? I have some additional information that declarer is a much better player than dummy who is also not shy of opening 14-count 1NTs

[gnasher]

PhilKing, on 2012-September-16, 05:25, said:

But the thing that really worries me about this hand is that partner is defending like a man who wants a ruff. After all how did he know we don't have the heart queen?

If the spades are AQx-KJxxx, it's still necessary for partner to play ♥K. And he knows that with AQx Axxxx Kx Axx declarer was cold just by ruffing a spade in dummy.

[PhilKing]

gnasher, on 2012-September-17, 04:23, said:

If the spades are AQx-KJxxx, it's still necessary for partner to play ♥K. And he knows that with AQx Axxxx Kx Axx declarer was cold just by ruffing a spade in dummy.

Good point, which I am sure my partner will spot.

That's a big hand though, but Axx Axxxx Kx Axx is quite likely from partner's perspective. Basically whenever declarer has Axxxx he will play on spades.

[lamford]

sorry duplicate

[lamford]

FrancesHinden, on 2012-September-16, 15:02, said:

There are two reasons why partner does not have KQx of hearts:
(i) winning with the king is just a partner-punishing false card (as PhilKing says, there's absolutely no reason to win with the king while winning with the queen tells you what his heart holding is)
(ii) leading a singleton club with KQx in trumps is a very odd play

I'm not entirely certain why partner felt the need to win the second heart. Why couldn't we have had Q9 doubleton? I have some additional information that declarer is a much better player than dummy who is also not shy of opening 14-count 1NTs

Leading a singleton club is not that odd from K98xx KQx Qxxx x. If the ace of hearts were in North, we may get a ruff to go with our trump trick, and all leads are dangerous.

If West does have Kxx of hearts and East a doubleton, then West ducking the second round is fatal, as declarer will just establish the clubs. However, that might add something to the play of ace and another when declarer does have AQxxx.

[lamford]

gnasher, on 2012-September-16, 12:48, said:

In that layout (declarer having AJx AQxxx 10x Axx, partner having KQxxx xxx KQxx x), declarer's line still works, doesn't it? If we give a club ruff, he can set the clubs up and score four hearts, three clubs, two diamonds and a spade. If instead we play a spade through, he just ducks, threatening to score a spade ruff and ♦J. To prevent that partner has to play a third trump, but now declarer cashes ♣7 and then sets up a diamond trick.

East should play a spade when he wins with the king of hearts in your layout. West can then just lead a top diamond, and declarer can indeed ruff a spade, but when he tries to get off dummy with a diamond to the 10, West just wins and puts him back there with another diamond, and he cannot get off the dummy. (Just saw that PhilKing made a similar point, but if declarer ruffs a spade in dummy first, only locking him in dummy will do).

And I am not sure that East should not cover the jack of clubs with Qxxx. Certainly if he is looking at Kx of hearts it seems the only chance.

What was the whole hand?

[gnasher]

lamford, on 2012-September-19, 04:04, said:

What was the whole hand?

Partner had Axxxx Kxx Q1085 x. He thought (and I agree) that his ♦5 should be suit-preference. I think (and I think he agrees) that he should have cashed ♠A before playing a diamond.

Edit: I won the king and played a spade.