[sfi]

 Cyberyeti, on 2019-March-04, 16:07, said:

We play 2♣-2♦-2N 22-23 so it means you have to force to game with a flat 24 which we don't like, and you can see why bidding on over 3N is bad from this hand.

Fair enough. We have made the opposite decision and force to game on those hands. But you're right - the tradeoff needs to be considered.

[thepossum]

 Tramticket, on 2019-March-04, 17:39, said:

No not a doubleton. A five-card suit. And you are right not to duck, West won't continue hearts. But maybe you can force west to play hearts later? ... giving you an entry to dummy?

And yes, it is possible:)

OK

So if W has QJ9xx hearts giving E two hearts

Hoping that there are 4-2 breaks in Clubs and/or Spades with honours positioned correctly. Spades is the best bet, having the Jack because QJ clubs out could cause problems

I'm struggling a bit but I would play three rounds of diamonds and if that is friendly play 4th round and see what drops

You play a single round of each suit

I cant think it all through but would play from the top of most of my suits seeing what dropped/discarded from each

See which suit E was protecting, assuming W protected Hearts

Then at some stage hope to throw the lead to the appropriate hand who is then forced to lead back to dummy

Play A hearts on trick 1, squeeze other suits from the top, protecting them all, look for discards, and then later lead last small heart to W or lead small from another suit to East

I think you have to hope for some 2-4 breaks, that one or more honours will break and that when you lose the lead it is on the right side

I cant think of all possible combinations

I tend to have a broad strategy, play my longest suits, protect against a run when I throw the lead. I cant always think everything ahead and update as I go so I cant get much further

Please put me out of my misery

[Tramticket]

 thepossum, on 2019-March-04, 18:38, said:

Then at some stage hope to throw the lead to the appropriate hand who is then forced to lead back to dummy

Yes, this is the general idea. You need West to hold precisely ♠QXX as well as ♥QJXX(X). You start with ten top winners. Win the opening lead and play off all of your minor suit winners, then the two top spades and exit with a spade to West's queen, arriving at:

---

West is end-played and forced to lead away from the Jack of hearts, conceding the eleventh trick. But this gives dummy an entry and the ♠J is the twelfth trick.

Nige1 or one of the others may be able to name this type of play (stepping stome?), but I think that it is pretty.

[thepossum]

 Tramticket, on 2019-March-05, 02:07, said:

Yes, this is the general idea. You need West to hold precisely ♠QXX as well as ♥QJXX(X). You start with ten top winners. Win the opening lead and play off all of your minor suit winners, then the two top spades and exit with a spade to West's queen, arriving at:

---

West is end-played and forced to lead away from the Jack of hearts, conceding the eleventh trick. But this gives dummy an entry and the ♠J is the twelfth trick.

Nige1 or one of the others may be able to name this type of play (stepping stome?), but I think that it is pretty.

Thankyou! I wasnt 100 miles off in concept but am not at the stage of being able to execute anything like that unless partly by chance at the moment. At least I picked Spades as the right target and guessed the hearts reasonably accurately. I didnt pick the EW part for the spades though