temp3600

Your partner evaluated his hand as a limit raise for hearts, and so redoubled first, and then raised hearts. I think his hand is not worth a limit raise, only a good 2♥.

I think an important point is that 2♠, in the original post, is a playable spot. It is possible to construct a sequence where player 1 has made a non-forcing bid, player 2's following bid does not show any extra strength or lenght (typically, a preference), and player 1's next bid is natural, but cannot be a playable spot, and therefore has to be forcing 1 round : 1♥ 1NT 2♣ 2♥ 2♠ Spades are at most 3-3, so responder cannot pass 2♠. So I would say that if player 1 has made a non-forcing bid, player 2 makes a bid that does not convey anything extra, and player 1's next bid is a playable spot, then it is non-forcing. If it is not a playable spot, it is forcing 1 round.

It seems natural to start the clubs, so ♣K and a club. We now know a lot about West's hand, and the only problem is to determine whether he has 4 or 5 diamonds. Now West is a competent player, and therefore must have spent some time reading the BBO forums. If he has retained even a fraction of the knowledge here, he cannot possibly be 7-4 for his 3♥ opening. So he is 0=6=5=2, and it is now a pretty straightforward double-dummy problem. If he has psyched with a 0=7=4=2, to protect the ♦Q that he may or may not hold, well that was very cunning of him.

How did East signal on the first trick? If it looks like he has 3 clubs or more, I run the ♣9 at trick two. If not I run the ♠J.

First I don't duck, because if I do they can switch to spades, set up 5 tricks, and my chances are now very thin. Since I am going to need some club tricks, I want to knock out the ♣A immediately. I would like to play twice from my hand towards ♣QJx, but entries are a problem. I take the first trick with the ♥K, and lead a club to the Q. I then continue clubs (♣J and club) until they take their ace. Here's what I'm thinking about at this point : 1) do I know if I have 2 or 3 club tricks? 2) do I duck a heart return if I'm sure West will win the trick? probably yes 3) what if East wins the ♣A and fires the ♠Q or ♠J? depends heavily on 1) 4) don't forget to unblock the ♦6 under the ♦A. The fourth round of diamonds might be a vital entry to dummy

This was the full hand given : [hv=n=sa54h2dak98763cj8&w=s6h953dqjtcat9765&e=skqj93h764d542c32&s=st872hakqjt8dckq4]399|300|Scoring: IMP[/hv]I agree the lead makes no sense, except maybe for hiding the solution a little more. And with - xxx xxx Axxxxxx, West could have defeated the slam via ♣A, club ruff. As several posters have already stated, the key is to throw the ♣KQ on the ♦AK, in order for the ♣J to become a second entry to dummy's good diamonds (who have to be 3-3).

You seem to play that encouragement when partner has led the A from AK means 'please continue with your K'. It's an interesting agreement, but I think the standard meaning is simply 'please continue the same suit'. Holding Qxx, if I wanted partner to underlead to my Q, I would encourage and hope he works it out. If I discouraged partner would not play me for the Q. (Q7 doubleton is the only exception)

[hv=n=sa54h2dak98763cj8&s=st872hakqjt8dckq4]133|200|Scoring: IMP[/hv] The bidding goes : (3♣) 3♦ (3♠) 5♥ (p) 6♦ (p) 6♥ all p West leads a small trump. What's your plan? (trumps are 3-3)

we play different methods (and had a different auction than what i posted) but the decision is identical to the one I posted The fact that responder cannot have 4+ spades for his 1NT bid is important. Here, that point is actually what - to me - tips the scale in favor of bidding 4♥. I would pass after 1♥ - 1♠ - 2♣ - 3♥.

In the line you described, it is slightly better to take an immediate finesse against East's ♥J after cashing the ♥A. You can then play exactly the same way, setting up the 5th diamond as the 13th trick, and at the end pull East's bare ♥J with the bare ♥K, cash the top clubs, cross to dummy with the ♠A, and cash the good diamond. Both lines work when East has 5(+) diamonds because he has to follow to the fifth round, but if he had only 4, he could ruff, killing the 13th trick. By taking the early finesse in trumps, you can establish the 5th diamond without giving him a chance to ruff it.

Pass, but X is tempting. I really dislike 5♥.

Same here.

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

5♠.

Declarer has several possible ways of setting up a ninth trick at trick 6 : 1) the diamond finesse, 2) playing West for the ♠10 (10xxx - AQ or 10xx - AQx), 3) playing East for ♠AQ10(x) and the ♦Q. Declarer went for 2). I find East's double aggressive. From declarer's point of vue, East has already shown ♣K10xxx and the ♠AQ. He probably needs the ♦Q for his double, but the bidding suggests that card will be poorly placed in East's hand. (Again, I think the double is very optimistic.) Declarer seemed to believe that East had it, and was right. Does he need the ♠10 too? Are the poor club suit and the likely badly placed ♦Q enough indication that East holds AQ10, and not simply the bare AQ? Tough decision...