[nige1]

A friend asked me to post this play problem.
Defenders use normal leads and signals.
LHO leads ♥8 against South's 6♠.
if you win with ♥A, then RHO follows with ♥2.
(But if you duck, then RHO wins with ♥K
and returns ♦Q, LHO following with ♦3).
Please plan the play.

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[ggwhiz]

♥A and a ruffing finesse in clubs. Unless I'm missing something all the other lines need hearts 3-3, less likely than this 50-50 shot

Your "if you duck" part hints that this will fail but them's the breaks

[alok c]

ggwhiz, on 2017-January-28, 11:28, said:

♥A and a ruffing finesse in clubs. Unless I'm missing something all the other lines need hearts 3-3, less likely than this 50-50 shot

Your "if you duck" part hints that this will fail but them's the breaks

Yet you are expecting ♣A with East with either ♣ 3-3 or short ♣ with East.Then play 2 rounds of ♠ ending in dummy before starting ♣ to minimize the chance of West ruffing with short♣.

[GrahamJson]

alok c, on 2017-January-29, 04:36, said:

Yet you are expecting ♣A with East with either ♣ 3-3 or short ♣ with East.Then play 2 rounds of ♠ ending in dummy before starting ♣ to minimize the chance of West ruffing with short♣.

Not quite. You can play clubs from dummy. If the first or second round is covered your problems are over, barring a 4-0 trump split. After the second round of clubs, having discarded two hearts, you can play K and A of diamonds discarding a third heart. You can then finish drawing trumps and claim, conceding one heart.

There are other factors to be considered in deciding the best line. If opponents are not strong and play small on the king of clubs without a thought you may decide that east is unlikely to hold the ace and playing to ruff a heart is a better option. Also, how do oppo lead? The H8 looks like from one or two, do they play mud or top of three as that will give a clue as to whether hearts are likely to split evenly. Note that as west did not lead a club he has S unlikely to hold a singleton.