Trumpace

You are south and hold K, AJ76543, K2, KT3 RHO is dealer and bids 1♠. You decide to overcall 2♥, and partner bids 4♥. LHO leads the ♣Q and you see: [hv=d=r&v=y&n=sqt32hqt92dk4ca42&s=skhaj76543d82ckt3]133|200|Scoring: IMPS Lead ♣Q. Contract 4♥.[/hv] You win the ♣K in hand and plunk down the ♥A. LHO discards a ♣. Plan the play.

You are South and manage to reach a small slam in spades. LHO leads the ♥A and you see [hv=d=s&v=n&n=st32h2dajt9876ca3&s=sakqj8hq3dk4cjt65]133|200|Scoring: IMP Lead ♥A and ♣ switch. Contract 6♠.[/hv] LHO wins the ♥A and switches to a club, which you decide to win :ph34r: Plan the play. (As usual, Adv/+ please don't spoil it too early).

You are West, and hold 72, AT32, KQ3, Q532 Opps are vul and RHO opens with 3D which gets passed out. You decide to lead the ♠7 and see [hv=d=s&v=n&n=skj983hkqj4dca876&w=s72hat32dkq3cq532]266|200|Scoring: IMP You lead ♠7. Contract 3♦[/hv] Declarer plays the ♠J from dummy, partner wins the ♠Q, declarer playing the ♠T. Partner shifts to the ♣J. Declarer wins the ♣K in hand and plays the ♥7. How will you defend? (As usual, Adv/+ please don't spoil it too early).

I think a diamond is right too. A club ruff, is too unlikely, given partner's silence over 1H, holding so many spades. Also, declarer will pretty much have the Spade AKQ for going to 6. Give partner the Qxx or Jxxx of trumps, then a diamond return beats the contract if declarer does not take a first round finesse. With Qxx remaining declarer may take the first round finesse, but with Jxxx missing, it seems unikely that declarer would do so. With Qxx missing it seems like declarer pretty much will make no matter what you do (7 trumps, 2 clubs, 3 spades). The actual hand was AKQxx, AQ9xxx, Jx, _ Incidentally, on this hand, playing double dummy, the only return to give away the contract is a diamond. Both club and spade work, as declarer is one entry short to hand to ruff a diamond, take a trump finesse and draw trumps. Playing a diamond gives him the extra entry.

You are East, playing IMPs and hold 8, _ , AKQ98654, Q964. LHO is dealer (opps playing 2/1) and opens 1H. Bidding: LHO Pard RHO You 1H pass 2C 5d pass pass 5H pass 6H all pass. (Opps are vul and you are not, if that matters). Pard leads the Diamond T and you see: [hv=d=s&v=n&n=st3hkt7d3cakjt853&e=s8hdakq98654cq964]266|200|Scoring: IMP Pard leads ♦T.[/hv] (LHO will follow with the D2 if you win). Plan the defence. As usual Adv/+ please don't spoil it too early.

Lurker.

Partner bid 2C, yet LHO led a club. Do you want to consider that?

You are South and hold 82,A765,AK9652,A. You open 1D, partner responds 2C, and you end up in 6D ultimately. (opps passing through out). West leads the club 2 and you see. [hv=d=s&v=n&n=skq4hk43dq4ckq643&s=s82ha765dak9652ca]133|200|Scoring: Rubber Lead Club 2. Contract 6D.[/hv] Plan the play.

Well done V! You got a top?

Strange squeeze position. Does it have a name? [hv=n=shak9xxdc&w=skhqxxxdc&e=shtxdakc2&s=sqhjxdqca]399|300|South to play in NT and make all remaining tricks.[/hv] EDIT: I guess this is just another simple squeeze, if we had the opportunity to play the HJ earlier.

What about immediate Spade to K and back to A and then cash heart AK? If spades split 3-2. If second heart is ruffed, they have no good return, you can ruff one club and throw another on HQ, losing 1C, 1S and 1D. If spades split 4-1 (likely with RHO), heart AK rate to cash. You ruff club and play HQ. if RHO ruffs, you overruf, lose 2 clubs and 1 D. If RHO plays low, you throw club and lose at most 1 spade, 1 D and 1 C. Not sure how good this is. (EDIT: I see pooltuna tried the same line)

I think we had a discussion about this earlier, if only I could find the thread :) My main concern was that it had not even been 18 hours since the hand was posted when han posted the solution and most of that was sleeping time for most readers I believe. Anyway, I understand that hanp did it to generate more interest in the hand and it worked! About posting solutions too quickly, I don't agree it is ok to post a complete solution which is hidden. Not knowing the difficulty of the solution, people might give up too quickly and look, or maybe get a peek accidentaly (high contrast settings/text to speech) etc. This is a discussion for a different thread I suppose.

Matchpoints? IMPS? I would think that would matter too.

I suppose we will soon hear that he is actually colour blind.

I would expect it to be asking for a club lead if we didn't have any prior agreements.

I agree and thank you for that. But since this is B/I forum, IMO, we should avoid posting complete solutions (hidden or not) till there has been at least one attempt at a solution (or too many days go by).

Last of page 99?

Perhaps I should have stated some specific time period when I said 'early' :). I hope people still try this and not just read Han's post right away (which has the right line).

I don't think so! If LHO has all 3 trumps then after AK of trumps you can cross to the heart and run the ♣J, basically this is exactly the same line as the winning trick 1 line. Or you can play ♦Q, ♦A and the ♥A is still in dummy. If the ♣K is onside, all you can ever lose is 1 trump and one heart. Oops yeah! Forgot about the Heart Ace :)

I have tried to construct a hand which is similar to a hand devised by Paul Lucaks. So any goofs are mine. You are South in a small slam in spades. LHO leads the Heart Jack and you see: [hv=d=s&v=n&n=st973hak3daq6c642&s=sakq865hq2d73caqt]133|200|Scoring: Rubber Lead Heart J.[/hv] You win the heart Q in hand and play the Spade A, to which RHO discards. Plan the play. Adv/+ please don't spoil it too early.

You say there is no harm in ducking, but there is. Imagine trumps 2-1, RHO holds a singleton diamond and LHO holds the Club King. After winning trick 1, LHO switches to a diamond. Now you probably will go up with the DA and run the CJ, which loses and a diamond gets ruffed. If you win DK play two rounds of trumps, you might find LHO with 3 trumps and singleton diamond (and Club King with RHO) and you go down again when you didn't have to. I would say this is more likely than an aggressive opening lead of an unsupported K, but of course depends on your opponents.

Assume east has QJx. You intend to strip the hand of diamonds, exit hearts first and then trumps? You have to play East for the CK and you might go down if East can ruff the second or third round of diamonds, play a heart to Q and LHO exits a club/diamond. It might be better to play as the the other line: D to A, club J. Now strip diamonds and exit heart. If RHO manages to ruff 2nd or 3rd diamond and plays a club, you guess whether to play Q or finesse. It might be better to play Q, cash remaining diamonds and exit heart, hoping LHO held a doubleton club. An even better line is to just exit a heart without even trying to strip diamonds, which is probably what you had in mind I suppose.

text follows West has the third trump. And you need to play DA before touching DK and Q, as if you play DKQA intending to play CJ after stripping diamonds, you could go down if LHO has a doubleton diamond: he can ruff, cash the HQ and exit a club.

Yup! You need East to hold the CK and you have to play the CJ when in dummy with the DA. If you try the endplay (play diamonds and exit heart/spade) without taking the club finesse, opps can play a club. You will probably have to play LHO for the T (by playing low from dummy on LHOs club exit), as you don't have further entries to dummy to repeat the finesse. If you play the CJ first (likely covered by RHO) and then exit after stripping hand of diamonds, you make irrespective of the position of the club T.

You are south and reach the contract of 5 spades. West leads the heart King and you see. [hv=d=s&v=n&n=s65432ha3da65cj92&s=sakt98hj4dkq3caq8]133|200|Scoring: Rubber Lead ♥K.[/hv] You win the heart Ace and play a spade to the King. East discards a heart. Plan the play. As usual, adv/+ please refrain from spoiling too early.