[nige1]

Against West's 3N contract, North leads ♦7.
1. Should declarer hold-up ♦A?
2. After winning ♦A, how should declarer play?

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[gszes]

nige1, on 2013-March-26, 15:48, said:

Against West's 3N contract, North leads ♦7.
1. Should declarer hold-up ♦A?
2. After winning ♦A, how should declarer play?

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since the lead looks like 4th best it is much better to win the A at trick 1 and not let
rho know how many dia lho has (two cards under the 7 hidden in your hand).


Your only legitimate chance is doubleton/singleton club king but we also have one extra chance
because defense is difficult. At trick 2 we lead the club 9 and "finesse". If Rho is holding the
club K they may be worried we are trying to steal our 9th trick and they may very well choose
to win the trick with the K and continue diamonds hoping p led from a 5 card suit. Note that this
play does not risk your contract as you will still make if the club K is singleton/doubleton you are
giving the opps an extra opportunity to go wrong.

[nige1]

I've corrected the ♣ suit, putting ♣9 in dummy

[PhilKing]

nige1, on 2013-March-26, 18:48, said:

I've corrected the ♣ suit, putting ♣9 in dummy

That makes it a textbook hand, but somewhat above novice/beginner level, I would have thought - otherwise the game has got too tough!

[Cyberyeti]

You win the first diamond for 2 reasons.

1: they're breaking
2: you don't want a heart switch

Spoiler

Cash the spade AKQ.

I presume you want to play a club to the 9 with the adjusted suit meaning you force an entry to dummy. Now if S wins you have 9 tricks, if it holds you have to guess whether N had Kx or S had K to 3 or more which is better odds in abstract but it depends how often you think S would win the K wrongly and how often N would fly the K from Kx, so cash the J♠ and take the club hook on the way back is probably best.

[WGF_Flame]

To make you the diamonds to break and the K club with south (or some mistake).
win the A of diamond, take out the spades AKQ, play club to the 10, if this holds, play the J spade and take the club finnese for your 9th trick. 4S3C1D1H.

[billw55]

PhilKing, on 2013-March-26, 20:14, said:

That makes it a textbook hand, but somewhat above novice/beginner level, I would have thought - otherwise the game has got too tough!

Mostly agree, I would consider this a late novice or early intermediate level problem. It assumes knowledge of the basic hold up, which itself is a novice level issue. When not to hold up is then a step ahead.

[ArtK78]

WGF_Flame, on 2013-March-27, 03:58, said:

To make you the diamonds to break and the K club with south (or some mistake).
win the A of diamond, take out the spades AKQ, play club to the 10, if this holds, play the J spade and take the club finnese for your 9th trick. 4S3C1D1H.

If the club finesse loses you have only 8 tricks (only 2 club tricks). But, as has been mentioned earlier, it is probably your best play for 9 tricks. And you did say that you were playing South for the ♣K. So your line works if your assumptions pan out.

[Phil]

This is not a novice hand. I wouldn't expect a lot of intermediates to immediately grasp it either. Better players probably fall into the right line after the club to dummy holds.

There is a tricky timing issue and I wouldn't be surprised if some reasonable good layers played ♣A, club, so I consider it a low advanced problem - BM3 or 4.

[nige1]

Any comments by beginners? The deal allows few plausible play options, so you can reach the right answer by trial and error. Although the options could have been slightly reduced, as on the left. Against West's 3N contract, North leads ♦7.
1. Should declarer hold-up ♦A? (No, as Cyberyeti says).
2. After winning ♦A, how should declarer play? (♦A, ♠AKQ, ♣T)

The simple themes are
a. Hold-up -- by declarer and defender.
b. Hobson's choice for South with ♣K, provided declarer retains ♣A .
c. Finesse -- in ♣

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