Safety play

[han]

A8632

A942

9

QJ3

 

KJ7

K

AKJ842

AK6

 

All red at IMPs, East opened 3H and the auction continued:

 

(3H) - Dbl - 4S

4NT - 5H (two no queen)

6D - 6NT

 

Any comments on the auction?

 

But I am mostly looking for suggestions for the play. The heart 8 was lead and I won my king. Now what?

[655321]

Can't think of any safety plays, but I like crossing to the club to run the ♦9.

 

If diamonds come in for 5 tricks you are cold. If not, you still have the extra chance of the ♠ queen onside.

 

Crossing to the club to take a spade finesse is also possible - now you are cold if you have 5 spade tricks, again with the extra chance of a 3rd trick in diamonds. If the spade finesse loses, you will often have 4 spade tricks, for 11 in total, but there isn't really any squeeze possibility (OK, perhaps a showup squeeze if East turns up with 1741 with the singleton 9 or 10 of spades).

 

Anyway, the chances of taking 5 diamond tricks by running the 9 (West has less than QTxx) seems to me much better than the chance of taking 5 spade tricks (spades 3-2 with the Q onside)

[han]

Here are two alternatives:

 

2. Cross to dummy and lead the diamond to the jack.

 

3. Cash the AK of diamonds. If both follow low you play a third diamond.

 

Line 3 loses when somebody (most likely west) has Q10xx of diamonds and you cannot fall back on spades. However, it wins when west has 5 diamonds and east Qxx of spades.

 

Line 1 (653321's line) loses when west has Qx or 10x of diamonds (unless someone has Qx of spades). Line 2 loses when west has Qx of diamonds (unless someone has Qx of spades). The only situation where line 2 loses over line 1 is when west has the stiff queen of diamonds, correct? So line 1 doesn't seem best.

 

I think line 2 (suggested by Josh) is better than line 3 (which I took at the table). All 3 lines would win in practice.

[nige1]

West opened 3♥, red, at teams, so is unlikely to hold many pointy cards. Hence you should also consider

Line 4:

Win ♥K, ♠A, and finesse ♠J

If LHO wins ♠Q or shows out, then fall back on finesse of ♦J

[655321]

Line 1 picks up Qx offside, but loses to Tx offside.

Line 2 picks up Tx offside, but loses to Qx offside.

Line 3 picks up both doubleton honors offside.

 

Actually, I can't see any difference between Lines 1 and 2.

 

Line 1 and 2 give you the extra chance of the spades coming in, at the cost of losing to one doubleton honor combination.

 

The main differences seem to be:

Line 3 beats Line 2 when West has Qx diamond (and East is not Qx,QJTxxxx,Txxx,-)

Line 3 loses to Line 2 when West has QTxx and East has Qx or Qxx of spades.

 

But Line 3 also loses to Line 2 whenever East has QTxx diamond. And of the 4-2 breaks, West has 6 ways to hold a small doubleton, but only 4 ways to hold a Qx doubleton.

[gnasher]

West opened 3♥

It was East who opened.

 

Can't think of any safety plays, but I like crossing to the club to run the ♦9.

 

If diamonds come in for 5 tricks you are cold.  If not, you still have the extra chance of the ♠ queen onside.

You have only two entries to the North hand. If you use one of these to run ♦9 and one to take the spade finesse, you won't have any left for cashing the spades.

 

If you want to lead the first diamond from dummy, the best you can do in combining chances is Line 5: cross to a spade to run ♦9. If diamonds don't come in, you still have a chance of ♠Q dropping, with ♣Q as entry to cash the spades.

 

An alternative is Line 6: lead ♦A, ♦J (or, equivalently, ♦A, low diamond); test the diamonds; use your two entries to dummy to take a spade finesse and cash the spade suit. Compared with Line 5 that loses to ♦Qx (10x) onside but picks up ♦10x (Qx) offside, but gains against ♠Qxx onside.

[InTime]

Sorry - I had the hands wrong - no comment - cannot delete my previous comments.

Regards

[nige1]

It was East who opened.

Oh :) Sorry :( That does make a difference :)

Can't think of any safety plays, but I like crossing to the club to run the ♦9.

If diamonds come in for 5 tricks you are cold.  If not, you still have the extra chance of the ♠ queen onside.

You have only two entries to the North hand.  If you use one of these to run ♦9 and one to take the spade finesse, you won't have any left for cashing the spades.

If you want to lead the first diamond from dummy, the best you can do in combining chances is Line 5: cross to a spade to run ♦9.  If diamonds don't come in, you still have a chance of ♠Q dropping, with ♣Q as entry to cash the spades.

An alternative is Line 6: lead ♦A, ♦J (or, equivalently, ♦A, low diamond); test the diamonds; use your two entries to dummy to take a spade finesse and cash the spade suit.  Compared with Line 5 that loses to ♦Qx (10x) onside but picks up ♦10x (Qx) offside, but gains against ♠Qxx onside.

You can combine both chances. Line 4 wins immediately when RHO has ♠Qx(x) but keeps the ♦ finesse in reserve.

 

Given that RHO opened 3♥, however, line 6 is worth consideration.

♥K. ♦AK

• If both follow then lead a 3rd ♦, winning when ♦ are 3-3 or either opponent has ♦Tx or ♦Qx.
  
• If an opponent shows out in ♦ then rely on the ♠ finesse and split.
  

[lilboyman]

What's wrong with starting with the King & then Ace of Spades first? If you drop the doubleton Spade Q, there is no problem. If you drop the singleton Q or Spades break 3/2 or 2/3, you arrange to give up a Spade and finesse the Diamond Jack at the first opportunity. If opps have 4 Spades to the Q, you need the Diamond finesse and a 3/3 Diamond break or drop Q10 doubleton in any event.

[gnasher]

You can combine both chances. Line 4 wins immediately when RHO has ♠Qx(x) but keeps the ♦ finesse in reserve.

That might improve your chances in the spade suit, but it gives up loads more in the diamond suit - you lose to both Qxx-xxx and Qxxx-10x.

[sathyab]

Given that West has a stiff heart and that you're missing 5 spades, 6 diamonds and 7 clubs, his most likely shapes are 3145, 4135, 4144 in that order probably. So I'm willing to give up on chances that place shortness in the rounded suits in the West hand, ie, Qxx of spades on-side or Txxx of Diamonds on-side and play instead for Tx or Qx of Diamonds with the preemptor first, failing which I'll fall back on trying try to pick up Qx of spades.