Wishful thinking

[han]

[hv=d=s&v=b&n=skxxxhxxda1097xc10x&s=saqhaq9xxdjxxcaxx]133|200|Scoring: IMP[/hv]

 

I had the south hand in a team match yesterday. I opened 1H, rebid 2NT and partner put me in 3NT.

 

Lefty lead the king of clubs, ducked. The queen of clubs took both dummy's 10 and RHO's jack, I ducked once more. Lefty played a third round of clubs, I pitched a spade from dummy, righty pitched the 8 (!) of diamonds and I won the ace by force.

 

When I played a low diamond to dummy lefty pitched a club and my ten lost to the queen. Now righty lead back the 7 of hearts, I played the queen which held. Believe it or not, the hand is now cold. How do you play?

 

B/I please hide your answers.

[655321]

If East is 3352 with the heart King we can make by unblocking the spades and playing a diamond to the 10. East must duck this. Now cash the spade King, pitching the J♦.

 

In this 4 card position, East has Kx of diamonds, Kx of hearts. Play a heart from dummy, and duck the King, otherwise play the Ace and return a heart.

[Echognome]

Edit: Prior nonsense as misread the diamond split.

[han]

Okay may still be interesting :P

[han]

If East is 3352 with the heart King we can make by unblocking the spades and playing a diamond to the 10. East must duck this. Now cash the spade King, pitching the J♦.

 

In this 4 card position, East has Kx of diamonds, Kx of hearts. Play a heart from dummy, and duck the King, otherwise play the Ace and return a heart.

I like the diamond jack pitch, I was thinking about a heart pitch which would also do the job.

 

What was the last mistake by East-West?

[Cascade]

B/I please hide your answers.

LOL

[mikeh]

Neat hand.

 

As it is, I am having trouble seeing how we are 'cold' at this juncture... unless we are lucky in the major suit layout.

 

We can't attack diamonds again unless we first unblock the spades... else rho wins the diamond and returns the suit.

 

So AQ spades.

 

Now we play a diamond to the 9: we do not play the Jack.

 

It doesn't matter which card we play if rho wins, since we then have 9 easy tricks, with red suit communication intact.

 

But if he ducks the J, we are left hoping rho has KJx in hearts or Kxx and fails to unblock the K under our Ace

 

While if we are in dummy on the second round of diamonds, we can cater to rho being 2=4=5=2, by cashing the spade King, which squeezes rho in the reds... he has to hold onto Kx of diamonds, so has to reduce to Kx or KJ in hearts.... while his partner holds a stiff at this juncture... rendering an ublock impossible.

 

So unblock the spade AQ, and a low diamond to the 9 wins whenever rho is 2=4=5=2 or is 3=3=5=2 with the KJx of hearts, or is 3=3=5=2 with Kxx in hearts and fails to unblock.

 

edit: I was writing this when the better line was posted.. I like the pitch of the diamond J on the spade K, and the line works against 2=4=5=2 shape as well, since east is squeezed on the spade King... of course, so does my line B) In fact, I think my line stumbles into the same endgame :P so long as one ducks when east 'unblocks' in the endgame, which I think would be easy to see at the table when holding only 4 cards.

[awm]

The one thing I'm having trouble with here is, what if RHO is 4-2-5-2?

 

Certainly we can make by cashing the two spades and the heart ace before diamond to nine, planning that if RHO ducks the trick we will play more diamonds and RHO will be forced to play a spade back to dummy so we can enjoy our last diamond trick.

 

But this line is an obvious disaster if RHO is 3-3-5-2 or 2-4-5-2, since it leaves him with hearts to cash and/or hearts as transport to LHO's hand.

[CSGibson]

...the hand is now cold. How do you play?

with mittens on?

[han]

I shouldn't have said cold, I meant you can make as the cards lie.