[inquiry]

Two heart slams in less than 12 hours. Both look great, both at imps. How do you plan for potential disasters...

HAND ONE

Scoring: IMP

West North East South

 -     -     -     1♥
 Pass  1♠    2♣    Pass
 Pass  3♣    Pass  3NT
 Pass  4♣    Pass  4♥
 Pass  4NT   Pass  5♦
 Pass  7♥    Pass  Pass
 Pass  

---

Opening lead ♣6


HAND TWO

Scoring: IMP

West North East South

 -     -     -     1♥
 Pass  1♠    2♣    Pass
 Pass  3♣    Pass  3NT
 Pass  4♣    Pass  4♥
 Pass  4NT   Pass  5♦
 Pass  7♥    Pass  Pass
 Pass  

---

Opening lead ♣2 to Jack-Queen.

Plan your play.

[hotShot]

Hand one:

♣ to the King,
small ♥ to the king,
ace of ♠, followed by a small ♠ to ruff,
small ♥ to the ace, a small ♠ to ruff,
♥Q (if ♥ where not 2-2), ace of ♣ dump the last ♠
and claim

Hand two:
What do you mean with "Opening lead ♣2 to Jack-Queen." ? Your diagramm shows KQ!

I don't like that one, i'll try to make the ♠ run. Take the ♣ at south, ruff a small ♠ at the table, play a small ♥ to the ace hopping to see two trumps from opps,
ruff another small spade, ♥ to the K, ruff another small ♠ might lose that to the J♥. I win ♦ and ♣ at the table, draw A♠ drop ♦ and if ♠ are not high yet i car ruff another spade, ruff a ♦ and home i am. (Hopefully!)

[cherdano]

Hmm, maybe I am missing s.th., but the obvious line for hand 1 seems to be:
Ruff heart in dummy, cash ♥A; claim one down if LHO has all hearts, and claim making by drawing trumps and having 13 top tricks otherwise.
I don't see any reasonable line to cater for LHO to have 4 hearts.

[TimG]

I think hand one does sort of play itself. Ruff the opening lead, ♠A, ruff a spade, high club. I think you're home even if west has all the trumps as long as you guess to play your winners in the right order. You know LHO will be the one ruffing any clubs and presume RHO will be the one ruffing any spades, so you're not in danger of an over ruff. So, I don't think this will cost when trumps are 22 or 31. But, there could be some point where you have to decide whether to play for trumps 40.

[junyi_zhu]

inquiry, on Feb 18 2005, 03:13 PM, said:

Two heart slams in less than 12 hours. Both look great, both at imps. How do you plan for potential disasters...

HAND ONE

Scoring: IMP

West North East South

- - - 1♥
Pass 1♠ 2♣ Pass
Pass 3♣ Pass 3NT
Pass 4♣ Pass 4♥
Pass 4NT Pass 5♦
Pass 7♥ Pass Pass
Pass

---

Opening lead ♣6


HAND TWO

Scoring: IMP

West North East South

- - - 1♥
Pass 1♠ 2♣ Pass
Pass 3♣ Pass 3NT
Pass 4♣ Pass 4♥
Pass 4NT Pass 5♦
Pass 7♥ Pass Pass
Pass

---

Opening lead ♣2 to Jack-Queen.

Plan your play.

For the first one, I'd win in hand, pitch one spade, and play HQ, if H 4-0, I'd then ruff S with HT, double finnesse H, ruff S with H8, finesse and draw trumps and claim. If somebody holds 4 hearts, it must be west because east has shown long clubs and it's extremely unlikely that east holds long clubs and 4 trumps and west holds at least 11 cards in spades and diamonds.