[inquiry]

Scoring: IMP


 (1♦) pass (Pass) Dbl
(pass) 1♥ (pass) 2♦
(pass) 2NT (pass) 3NT
All pass

Ok, i have to admit i was north and never raised hearts (unless you take the 2♦ bid as a raise) and I didn't jump in notrump. Still 3NT is not a totally horrible contract.

Opening lead ♦9, low from dummy (would you?) and EAST plays the ♦Ten!! as you win the queen. What do you think of the bidding? What is your strategy to win 9 tricks.

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[jtfanclub]

Um, take three hearts ending with the ten in hand and then lead the jack of spades. Assuming it loses and there's a diamond return, play the last heart to the hand and lead the nine of spades. No elimination play that I can see going on here, sorry. RHO can always lead diamonds, LHO can always lead clubs.

If I get some nice discards on the hearts, I'll change my mind.

[han]

Unless something dramatic happens in hearts I'd play RHO for the KQ of spades and AK of clubs. That means taking all 4 hearts and guessing RHO's shape.

[FrancesHinden]

Why didn't I bid 2NT as North over the 1D opening, showing about 19-21 HCP and a balanced hand?

I would have won the opening lead in dummy. Not sure yet why, but seems a good idea to maintain a late entry to hand.

Anyway, if opener has everything (KQ of spades, AK of clubs) which is quite likely, then 4 rounds of hearts will do him in at once, whatever his shape... but we will have to read it. It will be easier to read if he has the CJ as well.

He has to come down to 8 cards. These must include KQx of spades (or ace and another spade sets up a trick), AKJ of clubs (or we can duck out the AK) and three diamonds (or we can just cash the last two diamonds and play a spade to endplay him).

So all we have to do is decide which suit is now down to two cards only. The most likely layout is that he discards his diamonds, in which case we take two more rounds of diamonds ending in hand and take a spade finesse. This endplays him even when West has a spade honour.

If West has the A or K of clubs we are probably off whatever we do.

[pclayton]

I like the bidding.

My general plan is to play RHO for most, if not all of the goodies since there's only 14 points outstanding, but there's room for LHO to have a black card. I don't think I can legitimately make if RHO doesn't have both high clubs, since they can break up an endplay easily enough.

I'm putting RHO on 5 or 6 diamonds based on the lead.

I think I like the diamond won on the board, since entries to my hand are a little scarce. ♥ to hand, plunk down ♠J. If I get a cover I'm golden, so assume it loses to RHO. I'll get a diamond exit surely. LHO may or may not cover the spade with Hxxx so the ending is a little vague.

Win the ♦ in dummy and play 4 hearts reducing to a 6 card ending: ♠9x ♥-- ♦Q ♣Txx / ♠AT ♥-- ♦x ♣Q9x.

What does RHO pitch on the 4th (or 3rd)? RHO needs to keep 2 spades if they are guarded and two high clubs and reduce to 1♦ presumably.

[inquiry]

Phil's line of course works. There are a number of option here, in order, they are,

• Play west for the ♣Jack, win ♦, hook club.
  
• Play west for Queen of spades (unlikely he can have the king), and hook spades twice.
  
• Play East for the worlds fair (♠KQ, ♣AK and maybe ♣J) and play along a squeeze without a count line. This is a nice example of the delayed duck/vulnerable stopper squeeze

 (1♦) pass (Pass) Dbl
(pass) 1♥ (pass) 2♦
(pass) 2NT (pass) 3NT
All pass

♦9=♦7=♦T-♦Q (♦ look to be 5-2 or 6-1 from lead)

I prefer just win ♦ and immediately play out 4 ♥s, but phils line of floating the ♠ at trick two is just as good. Also note that Francis is 100% correct, bidding 2NT immediately by north will right side this 3NT. On a club opening lead 3NT has no chance played by south.

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 (1♦) pass (Pass) Dbl
(pass) 1♥ (pass) 2♦
(pass) 2NT (pass) 3NT
All pass

♦9=♦7=♦T-♦Q (♦ look to be 5-2 or 6-1 from lead)

I prefer just win ♦ and immediately play out 4 ♥s, but phils line of floating the ♠ at trick two is just as good. Also note that Francis is 100% correct, bidding 2NT immediately by north will right side this 3NT. On a club opening lead 3NT has no chance played by south.

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The immediate club hook is 50%, the double spade hook in theory might be 75% but on the bidding has to be less than that. Anyway, it was interesting to me at least.

[helene_t]

I butchered this one. Lead the J♠. Tx for posting this, Ben.

[inquiry]

helene_t, on Feb 5 2008, 09:39 AM, said:

I butchered this one. Lead the J♠. Tx for posting this, Ben.

Actually, you can recover after leading the jack and winning the ace... i am not sure what is the best line... sadly, you can see all four hands as dummy, so I knew at the table the endplay worked and the different finessees failed.

Still, it is an interesting one... !