Hand from Costa Mesa; 1

[pclayton]

You are called up by Gene Simpson on Tuesday who needs a 4th for his KO team and you gladly accept. The team cruises through day 1 and dispatches Fred Hamilton's team by 45 in the semis. Here's an interesting hand from the final misplayed by a platinum LM who was on my left:

 

[hv=d=e&v=b&n=saq62h5dq62cq9xxx&s=sj75hjxdat4cakxxx]133|200|Scoring: IMP[/hv]

 

You play in 5♣; RHO (me) opens 1♥; you pass, LHO bids 3♥ (preemptive). Your pard doubles and your 5♣ closes it out.

 

The lead is a small heart to the A. A heart is returned to the J and K. You draw trump in 2 rounds (RHO follows; LHO pitches a heart).

 

How do you continue?

[mike777]

Well done Phil and Congrats!

 

No expert here, my Int level would play rho, you, for Kx of spades and the K of D.

So Ace of spades, low spade.

 

Another option is to play lho for Kx of spades and throw you in with the 4th spade but I do not think lho has two Kings.

[Codo]

Opps have 17 HCPs, lho had opened and shown 6 so far, his pd has preempt and shown 3.

I need an endplay and I think, that the easiest is to play for a singelton or doubelton King of spade in openers hand. So I play Ace of Spade and a spade.

[HeartA]

Well, the only chance I see is RHO (you) holds ♠Kx, ♥Axxxx, ♦Kxxx, ♣xx. I would cash SA and then small S. East, asfter winning SK, would have to give you a ♦ trick or give you a ruff-sluff (another D pitched on S). If my RHO drops SK on SA, I would have to throw LHO in with 4th S (pitching D in hand) and play DKJ split.

[inquiry]

RHO has 6♥, 2♣. So is probably 3-2 in the other two suits. RHO also holds AQ of hearts (who had the club jack?), and at most KJ of spades and diamonds (for 14 points). Remove either of the kings, and it reduces to 11 hcp (or 12 with the club jack). Why RHO with six hearts? With five hearts and singleton club LHO is more likely to have bid 4H.

 

One option is to play RHO for 2S. Cash spade ace and exit small spade. East is endplayed, of sorts. If he wins king he has to exit a diamond or a heart. On a diamond, we score 2D, 5C, 1H ruff, 3S. If a heart, we get 1D, 5C, 2H ruff, 3S.

 

So that is the obvious line. Why not play RHO for 3S and 2D with both kings? then you can't make it. Nor does KHO having four hearts, 1C and Kx doubleton of spades looks very likely either. West could have three spades to the king and the jack of diamonds, so you could spade hook. Cash spade ace, and throw west in with the third spade...now on diamond back or heart back you are in control. It seems more consistent with the bidding to place the kings with RHO.

[kenrexford]

The obvious play is the obvious play -- spade Ace, then duck.

 

There is, however, a conspiracy theory justification for an unusual line. The opening lead is strange. With Kxxx and out, I'd be inclined to start with the King, to maintain lead flexibility in case a switch through dummy is needed. This seems expected at this level. The failure to pursue this line suggests that LHO is not actually Kxxx and out. (A weak suggestion, but let's play with it.)

 

The next "clue" in the conspiracy theory is the heart return. If RHO holds both kings, and his spade is short, he should be able to visualize the ending and will realize that he is in trouble. With KJ of diamonds, a juicy trick play looks promising, namely the return at trick two of the diamond Jack. This offers some prospect for a hop of the Ace by Declarer. Declarer might be lulled into believing that 5♣ is hopeless, but hopping Ace allows the contract to at least be held to -1. This seems remote, but I am pursuing a conspiracy theory, after all.

 

So, perhaps Opener, at IMP's, actually holds 109xx-AQxxx-KJ-xx? Plausible, a seven-loser hand with both majors. Now, a simple spade finesse, then the Ace, drops the King. I cross to the Jack, back to dummy, ruff a spade, and then play Ace and out a diamond.

 

Naaaaaaaaaaaah!!! Ace and out a spade.

[pclayton]

He simply played a spade toward his jack. I hopped K and exited a spade; -1.

 

Yes I think A♠, ♠ is indicated, but he didn't find the play. About 10 minutes (and 2 boards) after the hand, he mentioned he could have made 5♣.

 

I said, maybe, but I was already prepared to drop the K under the Ace. He gave me a funny look and said, "well if youre good enough to find that play...."

 

Say your RHO does drop the K♠? How do you continue?

[inquiry]

Unblocking the spade king turns it back into a guessing game. There is a line to make if the diamond jack is with opener, and a different line to make if the jack is with the 3H bidder. Cash a second spade (the jack).

 

I guess i would play it as 3h bidder holds the diamond jack, because he will have four slots to hold the jack to two for the opener. I suspect the simpliest way is to cash another spade and throw EAST in with the spade (or ruff the third spade and exit a small diamond from both hands).

 

The good news, discarding the spade king gives you a chance as it is back to a guess.

[HeartA]

Say your RHO does drop the K♠? How do you continue?

I have already mentioned in my previous post.

[pclayton]

Yes, the K♠ does give him a problem, but from my perspective we can beat the hand if pard's diamonds are as good as T8x.

 

Amazes me how any players at this level consistently get hands like this wrong.

 

My hand was: ♠Kx, ♥AQxxx, ♦KJxx, ♣Jx. Don't ask me why pard is only bidding 3♥ with 5 trump and a stiff.