masonbarge

Nice job Bill. Trusting your methodology, hehe, the unbid major rules again!

From a Bot tournament, IMPs [hv=pc=n&s=sq98hj763da8ckqj8&n=sk7hk9dkq9432c732&d=e&v=b&b=10&a=p1cp1dp1hp3dp3nppp]266|200[/hv] Trick 1: ♠J, ♠K, ♠A, ♠8, East winning Trick 2: ♠5, ♠9, ♠10, ♠10, West winning Trick 3: ♥A, ♥9, ♥10, ♥3, West winning Trick 4: ♣A, ♣2, ♣5, ♣8, West winning Trick 5: ♠2, ♦2, ♠6, ♠Q, South winning [hv=pc=n&s=shj76da8ckqj&n=shkdkq943c73]133|200[/hv] How do you continue?

Good one. And, for that matter, you could lead a heart as long as you'd ensured he didn't have a club left. Playing IMPs, a heart lead at trick two or three might be fun anyway. Assuming E has to win it, no telling what he might return. Sadly, although I don't have a copy of the hand any longer, I'm sure I would have noticed if he only had 3 hearts.

Double out of respect for partner's pre-empt. His bid was voluntary, but E's was forced and, at least, you should set him. Partner has no way of knowing I hold an Ace if I pass. Maybe with two outside Aces and solid hearts, a double will let him bid 7NT. In that sense, a double might be read to mean "I don't have the Ace of Spades".

Chances aren't as bad as they look. Which is to say, better than hoping for a singleton ♠10 or doubleton ♠108. E. is leading from club shortness to keep from giving a trick, so he rates likely to have honors in the other suits. This is an actual hand from a Bot tourny. E had ♥AQJ and ♠K108x! (And the ♦A.) Nate wins a flat top. It's an amusing hand (although it would be more amusing if it happened with someone you knew playing E).

A true expert will not rely on an inference from the bidding if there is a line of play that will win without having to rely on the inference. I changed it because, as usual, there have now been eight or nine posts about the problem, only one of which even attempted to give an answer. It is a lot safer and easier to criticize than perform.

At IMPs, you have to assume partner has a card, since if he doesn't, declarer will make 4 or 5 depending on the heart situation. Assume partner has a heart trick, as he rates to have 4 of them. It seems to me your big chance is that dummy has KQxxx or KJ10xx. That's still only three tricks, and he's making 3NT even if you get your ♣Q. Low from Axxx in an unbid suit is worse (or should I say even worse) than Jxxx in terms of possibly giving away a trick. But it seems less likely to give away the suit - you get a major fail only with four diamonds to two honors in dummy, possibly giving away a trick you would have gotten with the club Q. Even with the slight preference for a major suit - unlikely that dummy has 4 spades! - I'm leading a low diamond at IMPs. It looks like the best chance to set the contract, although not a high percentage shot. You also have the possibility of killing dummy's only outside entry. At matchpoints the story changes. I want to lead passively, and a low spade is somewhat less terrible than a low diamond in terms of giving away a trick. I really wouldn't think about it much. I'd lead a low ♦ at IMPs, which just looks like the best attacking lead, and a low ♠ at matchpoints, which looks like the least dangerous of the four suits.

Thank you for helping to improve the problem. If your answer is that you take a second club finesse based on the bidding, however, your play is less than optimal.

Oh it's in the right forum. I appreciate the kindness of your answer and so will be kind enough not to give you a grade. :)

A friend emailed me this last month: IMPs [hv=pc=n&s=sa54haq6da2cjt865&n=skq63h43dq983ca92&d=s&v=b&b=7&a=1np2c2h2np3nppp]266|200[/hv] W. leads ♥7. ♥3, ♥10, ♥Q. You play ♣J, East wins with the ♣K and leads the ♥K which you duck (W. plays ♥5) You win the ♥2 with your ♥A, West discarding ♦4. Your play from dummy to trick 4. What do you discard and what's your plan? [hv=pc=n&s=sa54hda2ct865&n=skq63hdq983ca9&d=s&v=b&b=7&a=1np2c2h2np3nppp]266|200[/hv]

Unless I'm mistaken, there's no show-up squeeze here. Take a look and see what you think. You'd need to cash 2 hearts first, I think, and you can't do it because of the entry situation. I brought up the possibility of the heart J dropping, in regards to the overall advisability of the line of play vs. the finesse. I.e. the observation "With diamonds breaking 4-2, the chances of the heart finesse working go down, I accept that. However, is West having Jxxx(+) of hearts and either KQ or 5+spades really more likely than West having 3 small hearts?" My point being, the line of play succeeds only a little less than 50% of the time, even if no squeeze is present.

I'll open 1NT with a good-texture 6-card minor, but not 5 spades.

IMPs This hand from last night is a nice intermediate challenge. This is speedball and the declarer has 15-20 seconds, so if you want to time yourself it might be a good hand for more advanced practice. You sit down across from a stranger and find yourself at the helm with this hand. W leads the ♥J. Plan the play. [hv=pc=n&s=saqj9543h76d652c7&n=st62hak4dk3cakj96&d=e&v=0&b=14&a=p3sp4np5dp6sppp]266|200[/hv]

If the overtrick is a little nuance for you, you may safely ignore the hand.

The squeeze works anytime either opponent has ♥Jxxx and ♠KQ, or if ♥J does not have three or more small cards with it. And the finesses is still an option, although a dangerous one. And the pseudo-squeeze will work sometimes, believe it or not.

Yeah, there's a trick to composing hands for teaching. I suppose it would have been a better pedagogical problem, certainly a more focused one, if I manipulated the actual play and had E win the diamond A and return the lowest outstanding heart, then you play a diamond and West shows out - "what now?"

Why did W lead the ♣8?

These forums and all forums can get so weird. A play that BBO will put into a headline in news from its tournament, and a self-styled expert fails to execute, becomes trivial in people's minds when they get to a forum. I was trying to do something nice by providing a lesson for intermediate-advanced players. Unless W is suicidal or drunk, the diamond lead is from shortness, but it doesn't matter. You play diamonds, East takes his Ace and returns anything. If the ♦J was single - as it was IIRC - the heart finesse looks like a <50% chance for the overtrick. Just in passing, unintended point #1 is that you are playing for the overtrick. (At MP, it's a very big deal. At IMPs for pairs, NV, I think it's usually worth @ 1 IMP.) It looks like point #2a and #2b is that the lead was probably from shortness and you are going to find out in the normal course of play. So if you don't assume W is short in diamonds, you need 2 contingencies. Do you really want to finesse E for the ♥J if and when you realize W has a singleton in another suit? The main point is that (unless you just want to play E for ♥Jxxx(x)) you have to play the ♠A before you run the clubs. This wins any time the ♥J drops and any time the player with the ♥J has the ♠KQ - most likely, and in the actual hand, West. In addition, you might get a player with ♠Kx and ♥Jxxx to pitch a heart. This happens often enough to be worth mentioning. The "expert" I kibitzed when I was finished with the tourny just ran the clubs, baring the Ace of Spades, and then played to drop the ♥Q.

Well, you are half right.

IMPs [hv=pc=n&s=saj753hkdq6432caj&n=sq9ht75dktckqt532&d=s&v=0&b=11&a=1sp1np2dp2np3nppp]266|200[/hv] E leads ♣8. ♣A, ♣9, ♣2. How do you rate your chances, having escaped a heart lead? Opponents lead 4th best from a sequence below 1098x.

I think that's exactly right. RHO might also play the ♠A on the second spade from dummy from AJxx, which is what actually happened. It's easy to sit and ponder the hand and say "of course he should duck", but it's a different matter to do it at the table.

Ditto.

2♦-2NT-3NT