[pclayton]

Scoring: XIMP

(3D) - double - (4cl (lead and support)) double
(pass) pass (4D) 5D
(pass) 5N (pass) 6D
(pass) 6S AP

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LHO leads a low diamond. You draw trump in 3 rounds (RHO has 2) and finesse the club which wins.

Now what?

[Fluffy]

♥A, and ♥ to the Jack looks the normal line.

[mikeh]

I object to the early play.

My preferred start: win the diamond, play 2 rounds of trump (low to the K, back to hand) hook the club, then draw the last trump, ending in hand, and hook the club. This loses only when RHO is 3=0 in the blacks, and he almost certainly is not.... I'd expect a double if he were void in clubs.

We would be hugely ahead, in terms of communications, had we done this.

Consider RHO as 2=xxx=6=2. We are cold for 13 tricks with the nice lay of the heart suit, yet we cannot take the heart hook because we get frozen out of our hand should the hook lose... we need to burn one entry to take the second club hook, another to take the heart hook, and now they tap us if the heart hook loses and we never enjoy our 13th heart...

So, if rho is 2=2 in the blacks, we will be in dummy forced to play hearts from the top.

But we still make.

Back to the main problem: what if clubs are 5=1? The RHO is presumably 2=4=6=1, unlikely tho that is... I mean, would LHO bid to 4♦ on a near yarborough 3=3=2=5? Not to mention the low diamond lead, suggestive of a 3 card holding.

I think the best line to combine chances is:

ruff a diamond to hand, hook the heart J. Ruff the diamond return and hook the club. Cash the top club.

If rho shows in to 3 rounds of clubs (and so does LHO) claim. If he shows out on round 3, hearts are probably 3-3 and I will play them that way. If he shows out on round 1, I place him with 2=4=6=1 and hope that LHO had 9x or 10x: cash the heart K and hook against the 9/10 if LHO plays the other one under the K.

I'd really like to have started differently

[inquiry]

Not sure why i don't know vul... but lets assume rho actually followed to the club (no mention). He surely has at least 6♦ at imps, 2♠ and already 1♣, so at most 3♥, and easily less. West club bid should have shown 5♣ so when East followed we are thinking clubs are 5-1, giving EAST 2-4-6-1 or 2-3-7-1. You didn't say which club EAST played. If Ten or nine, the option of a deep finessee for 4♣ tricks is present (should you decide to play for that), if the club was small, no such chance.

There are a number of reasonable squeeze chances. The ♣8 against WEST, the ♦4 against EAST (if east held 7♦), and hearts against EAST or WEST). There is also an endplay chance. What did EAST throw on the 3rd round of trumps, i assume a diamond. Anyway, here is my line..

I duck a heart. I guess diamond back is good as any, I ruff and take ♣ hook. If East follows suit, his distribution is either 2-2-7-2, 2-1-7-3, 2-3-6-2. The solution here is easy. I ruff another diamond, and hook clubs again. If clubs are 3-3, i have 12 tricks (4C, 5S, 2H, 1D). If East has 2C only, then he has either 3 Hearts (2-3-6-2), and my 4th heart will be good, or he has 2 hearts (2-2-7-2) and West will be subjected to a ♣-♥ squeeze when I used my last trump to ruff the last diamond. Position will be something like this...

I give both EW the heart queen as it will not help them. If hearts are 3-3, so west has another diamond, hearts run, no need to finessee... now imagine West has Qxx or xxx of hearts, ruffing the diamond crushes him. If he throws a hearts, hearts run, if he throws a club, the ♣8 is high. At matchpoints, you might not be able to afford this line.

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Should EAST surprise us with 4♣ (Kx with LHO), or RHO ducks from Kxx twice. the first time, he will have only one ♥ at most but we maynot be able to take advantage of this.

[pclayton]

The player that held this hand continued ♥to the A and heart back to the J. He could no longer make the hand as RHO held ♥Q9xx. It seemed evident that RHO was probably 2=4=6=1 on the bidding.

Judging from the title you can deduce that a very, very good player was at the helm here.

[han]

Judging from the title I thought you had misplayed a hand Phil.

[pclayton]

inquiry, on Feb 25 2008, 05:32 PM, said:

Not sure why i don't know vul... but lets assume rho actually followed to the club (no mention). He surely has at least 6♦ at imps, 2♠ and already 1♣, so at most 3♥, and easily less. West club bid should have shown 5♣ so when East followed we are thinking clubs are 5-1, giving EAST 2-4-6-1 or 2-3-7-1. You didn't say which club EAST played. If Ten or nine, the option of a deep finessee for 4♣ tricks is present (should you decide to play for that), if the club was small, no such chance.

There are a number of reasonable squeeze chances. The ♣8 against WEST, the ♦4 against EAST (if east held 7♦), and hearts against EAST or WEST). There is also an endplay chance. What did EAST throw on the 3rd round of trumps, i assume a diamond. Anyway, here is my line..

I duck a heart. I guess diamond back is good as any, I ruff and take ♣ hook. If East follows suit, his distribution is either 2-2-7-2, 2-1-7-3, 2-3-6-2. The solution here is easy. I ruff another diamond, and hook clubs again. If clubs are 3-3, i have 12 tricks (4C, 5S, 2H, 1D). If East has 2C only, then he has either 3 Hearts (2-3-6-2), and my 4th heart will be good, or he has 2 hearts (2-2-7-2) and West will be subjected to a ♣-♥ squeeze when I used my last trump to ruff the last diamond. Position will be something like this...

I give both EW the heart queen as it will not help them. If hearts are 3-3, so west has another diamond, hearts run, no need to finessee... now imagine West has Qxx or xxx of hearts, ruffing the diamond crushes him. If he throws a hearts, hearts run, if he throws a club, the ♣8 is high. At matchpoints, you might not be able to afford this line.

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Should EAST surprise us with 4♣ (Kx with LHO), or RHO ducks from Kxx twice. the first time, he will have only one ♥ at most but we maynot be able to take advantage of this.

Hi Ben:

I don't think ducking a heart works when RHO is 2=4=6=1 right?

RHO followed the to the club with a small pip.

[pclayton]

mikeh, on Feb 25 2008, 04:16 PM, said:

If rho shows in to 3 rounds of clubs (and so does LHO) claim. If he shows out on round 3, hearts are probably 3-3 and I will play them that way. If he shows out on round 1, I place him with 2=4=6=1 and hope that LHO had 9x or 10x: cash the heart K and hook against the 9/10 if LHO plays the other one under the K.

WD Mike.

[inquiry]

i miscounted East possible distributions... i thought i had figured out that East could have at most 3hearts... after showing up with 2S and 1C... but he can have 4, you are correct, i will think on it some more.