Rate a Slam #4

[inquiry]

Ok, this one might be cooked. However, I have almost convinced myself that the winning line is findable, but it probably is not. Don't waste a lot of time on it unless you are a masochist or are having trouble sleeping. But if it is solvable at the table, wow......

 

[hv=d=e&v=n&n=sjt9hk952da93cj86&s=sak843hajdk75ca43]133|200|No bidding by opponents

 

2N-6N-all pass

 

Opening lead ♦J[/hv]

[Mbodell]

My intuitive line is ♦K, club to the J (if they popped in front of the J then we cash the ♣A earlier to win on KQ tight and to make only one person guard clubs). Then assuming I don't get help in hearts travel to the board on the ♦A, finesse and run the spades pitching a ♦ and a ♣. Cash the ♣A (assuming they didn't exit clubs) then assuming neither minor card is a winner play. ♥A and ♥J to the K and hope that the ♥95 is good. But I doubt this is the right line nor that it makes.

[nigel_k]

Not very promising and will need good things to happen.

 

If the queen of diamonds is singleton this will be very helpful because it gives us three diamond tricks as well as an extra entry so we can make any time East has both major queens.

 

Otherwise I'm just going to rely on dropping the ♠Q. It it does drop, I'll cross with a spade and take the heart finesse and cash the ace.

 

If the ten of hearts appears from West, I'll play East for both top clubs so I can throw him in to give me a heart at the end. Or if East plays an honour on the second heart I'll make if he has Q10x.

 

Otherwise just run spades and maybe West will get into difficulty, e.g. if he has 10xxx of hearts and 1097x of clubs he'll have to abandon diamonds. Then I cross with ♦A, cash ♥K and concede a heart to West, squeezing East in the minors.

 

I thought there might be a guard squeeze involving the ♦9 but I couldn't make it work. Anyway squeezing someone with a loser should be sufficiently unusual to be the answer to an inquiry problem.

 

There are ways to make by taking the spade finesse plus finding doubleton KQ of clubs or stiff honour in East but then you also need to win the first diamond in dummy which gives up too many other chances.

[inquiry]

An excellent start nigel, impressive! The hardest part to this hand is to see that you need two spade entries to dummy which means you can't afford to take a spade hook. IF that statement is absolutely true (you mentioned some lines with KQ doubleton of clubs which is what I am also thinking), then this hand is not cooked. I should have stated that advancer plays the ♦4 regardless of which diamond you play from dummy (no singleton ♦Q). I will say the hand makes rather you win the first the first diamond in dummy or your hand (you can not "correct the count" by ducking the diamond at trick one).

 

The heart hook also has to win. When you cash the heart ACE, the TEN does appear, but it appears from WEST not EAST (so QTx tripleton does not exist). So this gives you five spades (assuming luck in spades) and three hearts, and of course the two diamonds. Now we are getting somewhere.

 

So far good and bad things have happened for you. West had the stiff ♠Q and the heart hook won (all good), the ♦Q was not singleton and the EAST did not have ♥QTx precisely.

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If I have followed your play correctly, you are now at this point....and you are proposing running spades (what do you pitch from dummy?) and throwing East in with a heart (thus you keep K9 of hearts) at least. What ending are you hoping for? (EAST is known to be 4♥ and 4♠ and at least two diamonds).

[/hv]

 

Edited... in one plays I mispoke about East and West and the heart ten, the text made it clear I meant as now corrected (corrected part underlined).

Edited February 2, 2010 by inquiry

[nigel_k]

I'm not sure what you mean about the heart ten. If it appears from East, then Q10x tripleton is likely. If it appears from West I can throw East in if he has KQ of clubs.

 

1. If East played ♥10, I'm just going to play him for Q10x

 

2. If West played heart ten I'll cash spades, discarding a club and a diamond then cross with ♦A. If East has the two top clubs his last four cards will have to be Qx of hearts and KQ of clubs so I throw him in. It is possible that West may falsecard with ♥10 from 10xx and East then reduce to stiff Q. I'll have to congratulate them on their defence in that case.

 

3. If no heart ten I can still make if West has long hearts and 1097x of clubs. The full layout after one more spade might be:

 

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Now I play a spade pitching a diamond, West can afford one club and East the ♥Q. On the next spade West has to keep two clubs else I lead to the jack and have a finesse position against East. So West unguards diamonds. Now I play a diamond to the Ace, ♥K discarding a club then another heart for West to win and just keep whatever suit East discards.

 

If East has the long hearts but no ten drops I don't think there is a line.

 

UPDATE: Actually I can play East for a stiff club honour - don't know why I ruled that out. If West appears in no pain on the fifth spade and/or no ♣9 or 10 appears I probably should just pitch ♥9 and cash ♣A.

[inquiry]

In your last position, you still had them with the ♥T, of course that was played on the second round of hearts, as I noted.

 

When this hand was played. the opening lead was the club KING!!! *giving you a a club entry to dummy after you win the ace. With the heart hook winning, it looks like a lot of tricks, but the declarer, reasonably wanted to pick up the spade suit in case of bad split, so he crossed to diamond honor and took FIRST round spade hook, when that lost, West didn't cash club for down one, but instead switched to a diamond and the roof caved in and he ended up down three!!!

 

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Now to the actual hand. Let's start off winning first diamond in dummy, take the heart hook, cash top heart, cash spade -- dropping stiff queen from west. Now all you need is West to have KQ of clubs (presumably not doubleton) and you have him. Cross to dummy, cash heart heart (throw diamond not club!!!), the run spades leaving dummy 'entryless'... Careful, do not use the diamond as the entry, simply overtake the spade jack.

[/hv]

 

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Now to the actual hand. Let's start off winning first diamond in dummy, take the heart hook, cash top heart, cash spade -- dropping stiff queen from west. Now all you need is West to have KQ of clubs (presumably not doubleton) and you have him. Cross to dummy, cash heart heart (throw diamond not club!!!), the run spades leaving dummy 'entryless'... Careful, do not use the diamond as the entry, simply overtake the spade jack.

[/hv]

 

Ok, lets assume you win the first diamond in hand.

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Now to the actual hand. Let's start off winning first diamond in dummy, take the heart hook, cash top heart, cash spade -- dropping stiff queen from west. Now all you need is West to have KQ of clubs (presumably not doubleton) and you have him. Cross to dummy, cash heart heart (throw diamond not club!!!), the run spades leaving dummy 'entryless'... Careful, do not use the diamond as the entry, simply overtake the spade jack.

[/hv]

 

I thought this was the hardest hand of the first 23 I posted. Two of the initial choices are to play for KQ doubleton (about 1.5% chance), or singleton spade Queen (4.6% chance). Hopefully this problem is not cooked, as I like this one a lot (no I would never get this right at the table). The 14 votes so far rate this one 4.36, I guess I have to say that is very accurate rating to me.

[nigel_k]

I think you can make after winning in hand without East being involved. After the heart finesse and cashing ace, run all trumps but one to reach:

 

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Now don't play last trump, instead lead a diamond to the ace and cash ♥K discarding a diamond. If West keeps two diamonds he can only keep two clubs so you duck one, if he comes down to one diamond only you ruff dummy's diamond and lead a club up.

 

I don't know if this is better than playing for stiff club honour in East though, since East is known to have few club cards and West didn't lead one. But with my line I can leave the decision to the end and they may give it away with their carding.