[marcindz]

---

Matchpoints. You are playing against two grandmasters.

Lead: 8♣. How would you play this?

[wank]

Is this from a book? It looks like rubber bridge bidding from the 50s.

[Fluffy]

This hand seems to be very straightforward, I don't know the eact math on the heart suit when East drops 9 or Jack, but it is a restricted choice position so finesse is better.

[phil_20686]

Fluffy, on 2015-November-09, 07:03, said:

This hand seems to be very straightforward, I don't know the exact math on the heart suit when East drops 9 or Jack, but it is a restricted choice position so finesse is better.

Its really not, as with J9xx rho is supposed to play the 9 every time when you play low towards the QT or Q. Obviously that is a bit dependent on who you are playing against...

[Mbodell]

phil_20686, on 2015-November-09, 12:33, said:

Its really not, as with J9xx rho is supposed to play the 9 every time when you play low towards the QT or Q. Obviously that is a bit dependent on who you are playing against...

So far I've seen an opponent do this to me exactly once. And ironically enough despite them doing it utterly smoothly I played them for J9xx and was right!

[Fluffy]

phil_20686, on 2015-November-09, 12:33, said:

Its really not, as with J9xx rho is supposed to play the 9 every time when you play low towards the QT or Q. Obviously that is a bit dependent on who you are playing against...

It doesn't matter what he plays from J9xx we are down anyway if he has that.

[phil_20686]

Fluffy, on 2015-November-10, 17:11, said:

It doesn't matter what he plays from J9xx we are down anyway if he has that.

Were you planning to unblock the ten of hearts and finesse? I guess that is a slightly better line than playing for 3-3 hearts.

[KurtGodel]

Even once we've played hearts for four tricks don't we need to decide whether to play towards Q♦ or to strip-squeeze RHO? I guess I'd probably to play towards the king, given that with low cards in both minors LHO might have led a diamond. I could be persuaded to show off depending on their discards.

[phil_20686]

KurtGodel, on 2015-November-10, 18:38, said:

Even once we've played hearts for four tricks don't we need to decide whether to play towards Q♦ or to strip-squeeze RHO? I guess I'd probably to play towards the king, given that with low cards in both minors LHO might have led a diamond. I could be persuaded to show off depending on their discards.

Yes, and you have to decide even before you play on hearts, as to play on diamonds you need to keep a trump and pitch a club on the heart. You would have to check out their lead agreements. If you are confident that the 8 is from small cards you might try the strip squeeze, as lho might well have underlead a king against a slam if he had the diamond K, but its a priori much more unlikely than just leading up the diamond Q, which I imagine was fluffy's plan.