The table in the nursery

[dburn]

[hv=d=n&v=b&n=s98hj72dq4cak10763&s=shakq10864dk752c98]133|200|Scoring: Chicago[/hv]

South opens 4♥ after two passes. East bids 4♠ after two more passes. North bids 5♥ after two more passes. West bids 5♠ after two more passes, and South bids 6♥ after... but the reader will be ahead of me by now. East doubles, after guess what, and West leads the king of spades. Plan the play. (None of those passes was particularly forcing, and double was not Lightner).

[vuroth]

I see 2 paths, and I really don't know which one is more likely to succeed.

 

1. The general plan would be to rough out 2 diamonds in dummy. I think it's helpful to draw one trump (hopefully drawing 2 trump, maybe even felling the 9), then play on in diamonds. I'll need a spade ruff and two clubs ruff to get back to my hand, which is pretty yuck. I need LHO to have at least 2 spades (seems ok), and unless the 9 falls under the ace, I need RHO to have more hearts than LHO, and at least 2 clubs and 2 diamonds.

 

2. Promote the clubs. This is straightforward if hearts are 2-1 and clubs are 3-2, which given the bidding would be almost miraculous.

 

If clubs are 4-1, I can ruff the third club and lead low to the Q♦, hoping to use it as an entry to the clubs. I could then use the third heart as my entry to run the clubs.

 

...

 

Both lines start with cashing the A♥, so I'll do that. If both follow, I think I'll try line 2. If not, then I have to try line 1, and hope that I can survive it.

 

V

[dburn]

Both opponents follow to ♥A, West with the nine, East with the three. If you now play a club, West plays the queen and East the two. You're still alive. Try to stay that way.

[vuroth]

This is confusing. (I hate problems with so may possibilities - so hard to pick a way forward.) RHO could not open, but balanced at the 4 level, with what (from the discards) looks like xx in hearts and Jxxx in clubs, AND missing the king of spades?

 

Assuming the K♠ lead promised the queen, east either has the singleton A♦ or a ♦ void. I just can't construct any other hand with those round suit holdings that passes the first round but bids 4♠ later.

 

Furthermore, I can't see doubling with a diamond void, unless it was lightner (and we were told it wasn't). Ergo, I expect the diamond ace to be on my right.

 

If I was a world class player, I'd cash the J♥, ruff the last spade in hand, then play the 2♦, throwing the 4♦ off the board, getting 7♥, 2♦, 2♣ and either a diamond ruff/sluff on a spade return of the club ten on a club return.

 

Being B/I, I've probably just given away another undertrick.

 

V

[Finch]

This is confusing. (I hate problems with so may possibilities - so hard to pick a way forward.) RHO could not open, but balanced at the 4 level, with what (from the discards) looks like xx in hearts and Jxxx in clubs, AND missing the king of spades?

 

Assuming the K♠ lead promised the queen, east either has the singleton A♦ or a ♦ void. I just can't construct any other hand with those round suit holdings that passes the first round but bids 4♠ later.

 

Furthermore, I can't see doubling with a diamond void, unless it was lightner (and we were told it wasn't). Ergo, I expect the diamond ace to be on my right.

 

If I was a world class player, I'd cash the J♥, ruff the last spade in hand, then play the 2♦, throwing the 4♦ off the board, getting 7♥, 2♦, 2♣ and either a diamond ruff/sluff on a spade return of the club ten on a club return.

 

Being B/I, I've probably just given away another undertrick.

 

V

I think you have miscounted your tricks.

If the CQ really is a singleton, you have a guaranteed 12 tricks now.

 

But what if it isn't?

[vuroth]

Ahh I have the T9876 of clubs. I missed that.

[dburn]

If I was a world class player, I'd cash the J♥, ruff the last spade in hand, then play the 2♦, throwing the 4♦ off the board, getting 7♥, 2♦, 2♣ and either a diamond ruff/sluff on a spade return of the club ten on a club return.

 

Being B/I, I've probably just given away another undertrick.

 

Don't be so hard on yourself - the line you suggest is ingenious and the lie of cards you envisage is certainly possible (though perhaps not all that likely). But if you were a world-class player intending to throw East in with the singleton ♦A, you might change the order of your plays slightly. Ruff the second spade when in dummy with ♣A, cross to ♥J and play a diamond. This succeeds just the same when East does have the singleton ace, and avoids looking remarkably foolish when he does not.

[vuroth]

Why didn't I see that. That IS a clearly better line.

 

If clubs are 4-1, the only way to make is to finesse the J♣ now. This is a ridiculous situation, and I certainly would not do this at the table.

If clubs are 3-2 or 2-3, line 2 above works. RC notwithstanding, this only makes sense if west had QJ doubleton of clubs.

If clubs are 4-1, I can use a ruffing finesse in clubs to pick up the jack.

 

I must have spent half an hour thinking about this problem, and I'm obviously still missing something. How discouraging.

 

V

[y66]

I think RHO has something like AJTxxx x Axxxx x or AJTxxx xx Axxx x or AJTxxx x Axxx xx.

 

If I try ruffing diamonds, I'm not sure I can get back to my hand after ruffing the second diamond. So I'll draw 2 rounds of trump and hope clubs are 3-2. If LHO plays the queen on the first club, as stated above, I'll change my plan and play for LHO to have 4 clubs instead.