quiddity

Oops, LHO just ruffs in with the ace and cashes two spade tricks. Ok, play CA, CK (spade discard), club (spade discard). Win the spade return, ruff a diamond, and ruff the last club, playing as described in the previous post.

How about: duck a club at trick 2. Win the spade return and ruff a diamond (covering whatever trump LHO plays). Cash the C-AK for spade discards and lead the 4th club. If RHO follows, then LHO was 4324. Ruff and lead the HK. If RHO shows out, then LHO was 4225. Ruff as cheaply as possible and play a low heart to drop the ace.

LHO led the doubleton DA holding a singleton HA? In any case the lead is a bit bizarre - does he really think his partner will get in to give him a ruff? But I think LHO is either 4225 or 4324 with the HA. The question is how to get the diamond ruff. If he has A7, we need to draw two rounds with the K and Q before getting the ruff with dummy's small heart - but if he has 3 that's not going to work.

The first line that comes to mind is: ruff the C5, then cash the D-QJ. Assuming trumps are 3-2, you can ruff a heart high and draw the last trump. If hearts are 3-3 you're home; otherwise you run the clubs and take the spade finesse. This requires 3-2 trumps, since there's no other way to return to hand after ruffing the club. Another possibility is to cash D-QJ without ruffing a club. If trumps are 3-2, ruff a heart and draw the last trump. This requires either 3-3 hearts or the spade finesse AND 4-4 clubs. On the other hand, it preserves a small chance when trumps are 4-1. I'm not sure which line is better; I'd guess the first.

Another B/I perspective (so take it with a grain of salt) :-) Case 1: If I had a minimum balanced opener with no fit, I would pass. If I had a fit for partner or some extra shape, I'd try to get this across even though my hand may be minimum just in case the hand becomes competitive. I tend to ignore the double and just make the normal rebid unless my hand is particularly featureless. Case 2: Again, with nothing special to say I would pass. I think the meaning of subsequent doubles from our side is a bit different due to the fact that we're in a forcing auction. However, I don't think that pass shows "weakness" here. You can pass with quite a good hand if you don't have an obvious rebid (depending on your agreements for redouble). I think Case 4 is completely different. Here you are investigating a heart slam and the opponents have doubled your spade cuebid. This gives you an extra couple of bids (pass and redouble) that you can use to distinguish between first and second-round control. Usually responder's redouble will show first-round control, and responder can pass to find out if opener has first round control. Pass is definitely stronger than 4H though, since it shows interest in the nature of opener's control.

psycho

top diamond.

Yes, public humiliation is so often the right answer to partnership difficulties.

How about 1S-2C; 2H-3H; 4C-4S (diamond control and spade honor), followed by keycard? Or 1S-2D; 2H-3H; 3S-4S and keycard?

A few questions: What is East's double? Would redouble be support? If not, wouldn't 2S promise heart support?

I see - a diamond, since you need a ruff. DK onside is required.

doh! :-)

I don't understand - why does the club lead matter?

More to the point, I think East was pretty cowardly for not finding a bid with his hand after hearing a 2/1. A diamond jump might help West's judgment (though I'd probably still double at MP).

You mean after they won the first heart and returned a second trump? Or if they ducked the first heart?

It's probably right to cash the SA first if entries permit. I guess that depends on the trump split. Lead H7 to the K, and a low trump back; if they split 2-2 you have 2 guaranteed entries, so you can cash the SA, lead toward the J, and untangle the suit later if East goes up with the K. If trumps split 3-1 I guess we draw the third trump and lead a S->Q to cater for doubleton SK onside.

Edit: lol, beaten by jdonn's edit.

You specified upside-down count but didn't specify attitude conventions to the first trick. I'm assuming standard. If East has the HK, why didn't he play it? If he has 3 hearts without the K, why did he (apparently) signal encouragement? I don't understand the entry argument - if he had Kxx, he could win the HK and play a second round for partner to take or duck as needed. At least that doesn't leave West in the dark. Depending on opening lead agreements, maybe East is worried about losing his K to a doubleton HA in declarer's hand - if the H7 could be led from 97xxx for example. On the other hand, perhaps declarer has Ax K432 Qxxx AQx and is falsecarding, hoping West can't find the spade switch.

[hv=d=e&v=n&n=saj973h63daqj864c&s=sq65hk54d97cqj962]133|200|Scoring: MP E S W N --------------- 1♣ P 1♥ 2N P 3♠ P P X P P P [/hv] Lead: C3 Here's a hand I butchered in a recent sectional. How would you play it?

If you play the hearts in the right order you can check for a 3-2 break and still have a chance to try the diamond finesse if they break badly.

Perhaps. I agree the bid is unsound with the given hand, but 4S is about one singleton short of being a good sacrifice even considering that partner's hand is a balanced piece of garbage. Change the hand to QJ98xx x xxx xxx. Is 2S still terrible? Doubling 3NT is not any less of a disaster opposite this hand. (edit: removed the T since east has it.) The point about lead direction is taken, but I think this is a spot where East should just pass. He can tell from his hand that partner is unlikely to have an outside honor. His hand is full of potential defense against 3nt which rates to be worthless against 4H. The opponents could easily be in the wrong spot here even if they make 3nt, and partner could easily lead a spade even without the double.

I had exactly the opposite impression. I don't mind the 2S bid (though it would be better if he had a singleton somewhere). The double is completely terrible. What is East going to do if the opponents run to 4H - look sad and say 'doh'? And if they don't run they're probably making 3nt-x. I don't see any upside to doubling here. And East really should give West some room given the vul and the fact that he's a passed hand.

Did West really double 3NT, or is that a mistake in the auction?

If the auction goes 1NT-P-2D-X; 2H-P-P-4S he might. He may be unsure of whether we have 5 or 6, but he will be clear on the fact that our shape is extreme and that we have strong diamonds. Meanwhile, I don't see how bidding 2H will get the 6 spades across. If you follow up by bidding diamonds partner may think you're 5-6. If you follow with more spades, partner won't appreciate the diamond strength. He might not even know for sure which minor is ours, and there's a very real chance of LHO bidding 3H over our 2H and making life difficult.

The bidding could easily be at 4H when it gets back to us, and it won't be so easy to mention diamonds at that stage. Would it be terrible to make a lead-directing double now and hope to bid 4S later? Edit: lol. Vuroth beat me to it.