[inquiry]

The first one, with the really funny bidding, I believe is more difficult than this one. But since we were on a 6♣x theme, I thought this one might be interesting too. Once again, real BBO auction, I didn't play it, bid it, or kibitz it in real time (I was looking for a specific 6♣x hand down one and found these hands by accident, thanks bridgebrowser).

Scoring: IMP

West North East South

 -     Pass  Pass  1♣
 1♦    1♠    2♥    3♣
 Pass  3♥    Pass  3NT
 Pass  5♣    Pass  6♣
 Dbl   Pass  Pass  Pass
 

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This one, i will get you started. West begins with ♠King, could be from AK or KQ, but apparently not AKQ. You ruff, east plays the three, which by agreement should show an odd number of spades. The two heart bid gives you some hope the heart hook is on if you need it, so you play a low club to the ACE. EAST discards a low heart on the round of clubs. Take it from there.

[jdeegan]

I think I would go for a scramble approach. Hook the heart, ruff two hearts in dummy, and hope LHO has to ruff my diamond loser. I end up winning two hearts, two diamonds, six clubs in hand and two ruffs in dummy.

So, hook the heart. Play ace of hearts . Play AK of diamonds. Ruff a heart. Ruff spade back to hand (with small club). Ruff last heart. Ruff spade in hand. Play diamond loser.

My hand at this point would be:

-----
-----
x
K10

Or, if LHO started with only two hearts and discarded two spades on the third and fourth round of hearts, I can ruff the last spade high and endplay LHO into the 108 of spades. My hand would be:

---
---
x
108

On some E-W distributions (esp. where my RHO holds the diamond queen), LHO can underruff at trick 10 and let my RHO win the diamond trick in order to get off the endplay. Let them find it, if it is really the case. This is a situation where one's table feel and demeanor might prove to be important.

[inquiry]

jdeegan, on Mar 29 2007, 01:44 AM, said:

So, hook the heart. Play ace of hearts . Play AK of diamonds. Ruff a heart. Ruff spade back to hand (with small club). Ruff last heart. Ruff spade in hand. Play diamond loser.

A fairly reasonable plan, but the timing is just off a bit. The opponents did a fair amount of bidding on 15 hcp. And West diamond suit is anemic at best, plus he has four clubs to go along with a lot of diamonds. How might this demand an alteration in your otherwise excellent line?

[Apollo81]

We need to ruff a second spade early so West can't pitch his other spade on the hearts.

So I think take the ht finesse, ruff a heart, ruff a spade, ruff a heart, d to A, cash the cKT and the hA. If West refuses to trump this then throw him in with the club and watch him get endplayed in diamonds.

[1eyedjack]

Just out of interest, how can you learn so much about the defenders' carding methods from the information captured by BridgeBrowser?

[inquiry]

1eyedjack, on Mar 29 2007, 10:11 AM, said:

Just out of interest, how can you learn so much about the defenders' carding methods from the information captured by BridgeBrowser?

I can see all four hands, and I make my own interpretation of their carding. If I am really curious, I can look up every hand they have ever played on BBO and see how they card... and I can do it by specific partnerships if I desire. Normally, I am not that curious. so I just reach a simple conclusion based upon what is held, if I think it is relative.

[temp3600]

If West started with HH xx Q10xxx 9762, he can be endplayed by playing on trumps, as Apollo81 stated. Nice!

[inquiry]

temp3600, on Mar 29 2007, 09:29 PM, said:

If West started with HH xx Q10xxx 9762, he can be endplayed by playing on trumps, as Apollo81 stated. Nice!

Yes, Apollo is on a roll. The key here is to take the heart finessee and then DONT CASH THE HEART ACE!!! but rather ruff two hearts small. Then you can endplay west by cashing the heart ace and let him ruff, or throw him in with a trump for a forced diamond exit.

But be sure to study the hand if you don't see why cashing the heart ACE before ruffing two hearts is wrong.

Scoring: IMP


West North East South

 -     Pass  Pass  1♣
 1♦    1♠    2♥    3♣
 Pass  3♥    Pass  3NT
 Pass  5♣    Pass  6♣
 Dbl   Pass  Pass  Pass
 

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