Play a Grand

[hatchett]

[hv=d=n&v=n&n=sa3hajt8dk2cakj54&s=sq5hk5daqj763ct62]133|200|Scoring: IMP[/hv]

 

North opens 1♣, East overcalls 1♠ and you arrive in 7♦ after no more opp bidding.

The lead is a ♠ play on

[Gerben42]

My try: Take ♠A, draw trumps, ♣A, ♥K, a ♣ finesse, ♣K ruff a ♣ and discard the losing ♠ on the 5th ♣ (use ♥A as entry to long ♣).

 

It seems trying to ruff out ♥Q does not help that much.

[Finch]

Unless RHO is insane he should have all the outanding HCP, so one easy line is

Ace of spades

Draw trumps (discarding a spade and if necessary a club)

K, ace of hearts and the ruffing heart finesse, ditching a club if he doesn't cover.

Assuming he doesn't cover, ruff the last heart to hand and play the last trump discarding a club from dummy (if he did cover, do the same then cross to the CA in order to cash the H10).

 

That ensures the contract as long as East has the CQ, HQ and SK - East is squeezed in the blacks if he started out with 5 spades and 4 clubs.

 

Whether this is the right line or not depends on RHO's overcalling proclivities. If we'd had an uncontested auction (except East had doubled a spade cuebid, say) I would ruff one heart in hand incase the queen is doubleton or trebleton and if that doesn't work run trumps and end up taking the club finesse.

[mikeh]

Unless RHO is insane he should have all the outanding HCP, so one easy line is

Ace of spades

Draw trumps (discarding a spade and if necessary a club)

K, ace of hearts and the ruffing heart finesse, ditching a club if he doesn't cover.

Assuming he doesn't cover, ruff the last heart to hand and play the last trump discarding a club from dummy (if he did cover, do the same then cross to the CA in order to cash the H10).

 

That ensures the contract as long as East has the CQ, HQ and SK - East is squeezed in the blacks if he started out with 5 spades and 4 clubs.

 

I think that this may be the first time I have ever disagreed with a line suggested by Frances, and (being that I have not yet finished my first coffee of the day) I may regret it :)

 

But I think that Frances' line reduces to a 5 card end position, assuming east covers the ♥J:

 

   void

   10

   void

   AKJx

        KJ

        void

        void

        Qxx

   Q

   void

   x

   10xx

 

with S on play.

 

If south crosses to the ♣A to cash the ♥, east has an easy ♠ pitch and now North cannot get back to his hand to take the (losing) ♣ finesse...if he pitches a ♣ so as to ruff the club back, he retains the ♠ loser.

 

If he cashes the last trump before crossing to dummy, it is true that east is squeezed out of the ♠K on the play of the good ♥, but only because he keeps the Qxx♣, with declarer locked in dummy.

 

Note that giving East K x void Qxx in the 5 card end game (swapping the ♠J for a small ♥) does not change the dynamics of the position.

 

If East did not cover the ♥J, and has the Q♥, he must be 5-4 in the majors (or 6-4 etc) and if he showed up with 2+ trump, we may want to consider playing for the drop in ♣: if no other line presents itself. If he had a stiff ♦, he may well be 5413. Now if he has failed to cover the ♥J, we do follow Frances' line of pitching a ♣, and ruffing the last ♥, which reduces to a 4 card ending in which east is squeezed when we cash our last trump.. he cannot hold the ♠K and the Qxx♣. So I am with Frances on her primary line, but it requires a defensive error: not covering the ♥J.

 

I am still looking for a better line :P

[mikeh]

How about this: assume east has all the high card.

 

Win the ♠A and draw trump, pitching a ♠ and, if needed, a♣.

 

Cash the ♣AK and lead a ♥ to hand.

 

Run the trumps, keeping all the ♥ in dummy.

 

The last trump is played in a 4 card end position:

 

dummy has void AJ10 void J and declarer has Q x x 1O

 

East has to keep the ♠K and Qx♥ and theQ♣: and he can't do it.

 

We pitch the useless ♣J from dummy.

 

If east keeps the black suit guards, he has to give us the entire ♥ suit. If he pitches either black guard, we cash that winner, inflicting a simple squeeze on him.

[Finch]

Yes, that works much better.

I didn't think through what happens if he covers carefully enough.

(my original original line was simply to discard a club on the heart and then set clubs up, but then I realised we must be able to make on a squeeze even if clubs are 4-1)

 

I bet you 100% East won't cover the heart with Qxxx. After all, you might just be about to ruff it and take the club finesse instead. But of course he has no choice holding a 5314.

[willow23]

I would go up with the A♠ pull trumps and depend on the ♣ spot to play the ♣ suit ...10♣ to A!c..and decide if to play for the drop or finesse next time around..

 

♥ ruffing finesse is a possibility ...but contract still depends on ♣ play..:P..

 

Nice marginal grand to be in ... :)

[mikeh]

Yes, that works much better.

I didn't think through what happens if he covers carefully enough.

(my original original line was simply to discard a club on the heart and then set clubs up, but then I realised we must be able to make on a squeeze even if clubs are 4-1)

 

I bet you 100% East won't cover the heart with Qxxx. After all, you might just be about to ruff it and take the club finesse instead. But of course he has no choice holding a 5314.

I bet 99% that you would cover the ♥J :) ... altho I agree that many would not... the position is actually fairly clear at that stage if at the table.... after all, we all tend to focus on defence against grands, and declarer probably took some time before adopting this line. We will have a pretty good count on the hand... and the entry position will be apparent.

[Finch]

If East has 4 hearts it´s all pretty irrelevant, because he doesn´t have four clubs and if he choses to cover we´ll just ruff out the clubs.

 

We could always run the HJ at trick 2, instead.

[bid_em_up]

If we are assuming RHO has all the outstanding HCP......

 

Just Vienna coup him.

 

spd A, draw trump, AK clubs, heart to the K, run the rest trump.

 

My last 3 cards in hand are the spade Q, the club 10, and the heart 5 with dummy holding AJ10 of hearts.

 

If neither outstanding black card have dropped, play a heart to the A and the Q will fall under it. If a black suit winner has been established, cash it and it will squeeze RHO out of either his remaining heart guard, or establish the other black suit for your 13th trick.

 

This may be the same as mikeh's second line (which I saw later, then added this line to my post) except I am only concerned with the last 3 cards (after the last trump is played).

[hatchett]

I thought this was a pretty straight forward hand. GIB didn't and went off.

 

GIB drew trumps in 3 rounds, RHO having 2. It then played, KA of hearts and RHO blew. ouch. A club to dummy before any hearts would have revealed the 0-5 club split and the simple black suit squeeze against east.

[Gerben42]

Hmm didn't see the overcall. With 32 combined HCP overcaller should have the rest of the HCP, so take ♠A, ♦A and K, now lead ♥ Jack right away. If that holds cross with a ♥ and finish drawing trumps. ♣A is next to pick up the 3rd ♥ trick, now you can ruff the 4th ♥ and finish the trumps, squeezing East.

 

If the ♥J is covered even simpler: Draw trumps, finish the ♥ ruffing the last round, finish the trumps squeezing East.

[Finch]

I thought this was a pretty straight forward hand. GIB didn't and went off.

 

GIB drew trumps in 3 rounds, RHO having 2. It then played, KA of hearts and RHO blew. ouch. A club to dummy before any hearts would have revealed the 0-5 club split and the simple black suit squeeze against east.

A club to dummy early would indeed reveal a 5-0 split, but I don't think this is either obvious or straightforward, as

i) Most people holding KJ10xx x xx Q9xxx would either Michaels or make a weak jump

ii) playing a club to dummy early gives up on making with clubs 3-2 or 4-1: if everyone followed to the club, what are you planning to do next? You are pretty committed to playing for clubs 3-2 with the queen onside.

 

So playing a club first I think is _only_ right if clubs are 5-0.

[hatchett]

Most people holding KJ10xx x xx Q9xxx would either Michaels

 

Not many people Michaels when one of their five card suits is the one opened

 

ii) playing a club to dummy early gives up on making with clubs 3-2 or 4-1: if everyone followed to the club, what are you planning to do next? You are pretty committed to playing for clubs 3-2 with the queen onside.

 

So playing a club first I think is _only_ right if clubs are 5-0.

 

Rubbish. Mikeh repeating triple squeeze line involves cashing both club honors after drawing trumps!

[Finch]

Good point about the Michaels.

Mikeh's repeating triple squeeze line is a very good line, but it is not by any means "straightforward".

[mikeh]

The line I suggested works on the given hand, since, after pulling trump, a ♣ to dummy reveals the split, making the ♥ K and low to the Jack almost guaranteed (it only fails when east is 4=2=2=5 with Qx of ♥ and his partner did not blast away in ♠ with 5=5=3=0 shape). Now cash the top ♥, pitching a ♣, and ruff the last ♥ and run trump, pitching down to KJ of ♣, preserving ♠Q and ♣10 and east is finished.

 

BTW, I agree that this is NOT a straightforward hand (I suspect that only a handful of players in the world would find this a straightforward hand, altho many more than that would find the play at the table)