[pilowsky]

This is a manufactured hand that I was playing in practice. During bidding, I was able to see all four hands but tried not to look. Even though I had specified the rough parameters of the deal (4/4 in the majors 11+ South and 5+ North), I wanted to practice playing this type of hand. So, after bidding through a Jacoby 2NT to 4♥, West leads the ♠9.
Imagine that you are playing matchpoints, so every trick counts. Here is the hand without West and East.
Here is the LIN file and the PBN file of makeable contracts. fwiw - I'm pretty sure I still don't know what's going on here.

West leads S9

---

[DavidKok]

The South 4♥ bid seems like a stinker to me. The main advantage of the Jacoby 2NT is to start slam investigations at a comfortably low level. South has a non-minimum thanks to the extra shape, and should bid 3♠ (if that shows length).

That being said, 6♥ seems to depend on the club K/J guess on top of finding the queen of hearts. I have absolutely no desire to bid it. I don't play Jacoby 2NT so never have this problem, but hopefully responder will show shortness (4♦) over 3♠ instead of values, which will let you stay comfortably low.

[pilowsky]

There are no secrets here. Just click on LIN to see the full layout. I can't figure it out even when I see all the hands!

[Cyberyeti]

pilowsky, on 2020-July-13, 02:35, said:

There are no secrets here. Just click on LIN to see the full layout. I can't figure it out even when I see all the hands!

Just don't butcher your dummy entries so early by cashing your black suit winners beffore drawing trumps, you have 12 top tricks, you just didn't allow yourself to lead trumps from dummy enough times because you cashed the second spade and top club too early.

Win the spade, heart to the K, heart finesse, club, and now you can ruff a diamond, finesse the heart again, draw the trump and you have 5 hearts, a diamond and a diamond ruff, 4 spades and a club for 12. That said it's a bad slam, no heart loser and a club guess.

[pilowsky]

thanks - I'll play it through again.
Outstanding. Thank you Mr Cyberyeti.

[johnu]

Cyberyeti, on 2020-July-13, 02:52, said:

Just don't butcher your dummy entries so early by cashing your black suit winners beffore drawing trumps, you have 12 top tricks, you just didn't allow yourself to lead trumps from dummy enough times because you cashed the second spade and top club too early.

Win the spade, heart to the K, heart finesse, club, and now you can ruff a diamond, finesse the heart again, draw the trump and you have 5 hearts, a diamond and a diamond ruff, 4 spades and a club for 12. That said it's a bad slam, no heart loser and a club guess.

Cashing random side winners before finishing drawing trump.... For a minute, I thought GIB was playing the hand

[pilowsky]

johnu, on 2020-July-13, 15:16, said:

Cashing random side winners before finishing drawing trump.... For a minute, I thought GIB was playing the hand

It's no wonder nobody ever gets to be a World Expert when they can't see all the cards at once .

[nige1]

Lucky Slam. Pilowski's line:
♠J, ♣ to West's ♣A, West exits ♦K to ♦A, ♦ ruff, ♥K, ♠A.
Declarer diced with death but the slam is still makeable.
Belatedly, declarer should heed John Matheson's advice
"A good declarer counts his tricks"
John's aphorism often saves me from ignominy.
A this point, declarer can count 12 tricks ...
- 4 ♠ tricks (♠AKQJ)
- 6 ♥ tricks (with 2 marked ♥ finesses and a ♦ ruff)
- 1 ♦ trick (♦A).
- 1 ♣ trick (♣K)
So from the given position, declarer plays
♥ finesse, ♣K, ♥ finesse, draw trumps. claim

---

[Cyberyeti]

pilowsky, on 2020-July-13, 15:31, said:

It's no wonder nobody ever gets to be a World Expert when they can't see all the cards at once .

Well it's all trivial when the heart void turns up except for the flat out guess of whether to play the club jack or king.

[tsankaR]

It is useless for south to try slam with 2 quick losers.

[Huibertus]

Take the lead in Dummy, play ♥ K, you'll see the 4-0 split. Lead a ♥ and cover cheap whatever East plays. Then lead a club and guess right if West plays low (not describing how to play if west takes the ace, it is similar). Then after ♣ K, ♦ to the ace, ♦ ruff, and lead the final ♥ for a repeated finesse. Draw the last ♥, cash spades and concede the last trick to ♣ A and Q.

But please don't bid this slam, OPPS will think you have peaked.

[pilowsky]

Huibertus, on 2020-July-14, 05:28, said:

Take the lead in Dummy, play ♥ K, you'll see the 4-0 split. Lead a ♥ and cover cheap whatever East plays. Then lead a club and guess right if West plays low (not describing how to play if west takes the ace, it is similar). Then after ♣ K, ♦ to the ace, ♦ ruff, and lead the final ♥ for a repeated finesse. Draw the last ♥, cash spades and concede the last trick to ♣ A and Q.

But please don't bid this slam, OPPS will think you have peaked.

No chance I felt piquey just looking at it and I could see all the hands when I tried to play it!!!
heel erg bedankt voor het advies Dude

[miamijd]

Why is everyone leading the club so early? That is needlessly risky. What if someone has a stiff spade?

No, this hand is easy-peasy.

Win the spade
H to the K, revealing the break
H back, hooking
Ad, ruff the d
last H back and hook
Draw the last trump

Now you still have a trump in your hand, along with three spades and two clubs. Lead a club and hope to guess it right. I would guess wrong if West didn't fly with the Ace.

Cheers,
Mike

[njcatlover]

I looked at the hand and my first question was "Why are we not in Spades by North?" There is plenty of time to show Heart support! And besides, you can discard something from the North hand on the 5th heart, in theory. Plus, it protects the Club holding to be in Spades.

[nekthen]

You don't want to practice Jacoby with an unsuitable hand! N bid is 4♦ not 2N

[dsLawsd]

nekthen, on 2020-July-14, 10:38, said:

You don't want to practice Jacoby with an unsuitable hand! N bid is 4♦ not 2N

Very correct sir! Use Jacoby to ask but first here is to tell partner about shortness. Partner declines unless desperate for an unusual result, of course.

I much appreciate Mr. Broggeland's methods for J NT in place of the original- check out his book if interested. At matchpoints declarer play usually gives a good result anyway instead of seeking marginal slams when not very distributional.

[johnu]

nekthen, on 2020-July-14, 10:38, said:

You don't want to practice Jacoby with an unsuitable hand! N bid is 4♦ not 2N

I think this hand is too strong for a splinter in most people's agreements. And that's discounting ♦Q which could be a valuable card on some layouts. If partner signs off over your splinter, how confident are you that there isn't a slam?

[Huibertus]

miamijd, on 2020-July-14, 10:11, said:

Why is everyone leading the club so early? That is needlessly risky. What if someone has a stiff spade?

That certainly is true. But the other side of the coin, the earlier you play clubs, the more difficult it gets for west to count the hand and work out he has to duck the ace as the KJ decision is for the 12th trick.

[KingCovert]

nekthen, on 2020-July-14, 10:38, said:

You don't want to practice Jacoby with an unsuitable hand! N bid is 4♦ not 2N

dsLawsd, on 2020-July-14, 13:22, said:

Very correct sir! Use Jacoby to ask but first here is to tell partner about shortness. Partner declines unless desperate for an unusual result, of course. I much appreciate Mr. Broggeland's methods for J NT in place of the original- check out his book if interested. At matchpoints declarer play usually gives a good result anyway instead of seeking marginal slams when not very distributional.

I'm with Johnu on this one. Splinters really are best played as a limited range, I like 11-13. Otherwise the auction goes 1♥ - 4♦, and sometimes you have both players wondering if they should continue. It's somewhat silly.

Now, I have heard and agree that it's poor to bid Jacoby 2NT with a shortage. And, I tend to agree. Perhaps this is a situation where you delay showing support for hearts.

1♥ - 2♣ - 2♠ - 4♦ ...
1♥ - 1♠ - 2♠ - 4♦ ...

If partner doesn't have spade support, you can find a 3♥ bid somewhere (making sure you've established a game force) and look to cue-bid.

[dokoko]

miamijd, on 2020-July-14, 10:11, said:

Why is everyone leading the club so early? That is needlessly risky. What if someone has a stiff spade?

No, this hand is easy-peasy.

Win the spade
H to the K, revealing the break
H back, hooking
Ad, ruff the d
last H back and hook
Draw the last trump

Now you still have a trump in your hand, along with three spades and two clubs. Lead a club and hope to guess it right. I would guess wrong if West didn't fly with the Ace.

Cheers,
Mike

Unless playing against an expert West, I would lead a club up after discovering the trump break. So:

Take spade in hand, heart to K, heart to 9, club (inserting the jack if West ducks smoothly). I think the chance to get help in clubs (West rising or breaking tempo) is far bigger than the danger of a spade ruff once I know West has no trumps. Against expert opposition I won't get help in clubs anyway so I need not risk an improbable spade ruff.