Rate a Slam #19

[inquiry]

[hv=d=e&v=b&n=sakj2hk542daqcak7&s=sq6543h7djt9542c2]133|200|Scoring: MP

(Pass)- Pass - (1 ♣) - DBL

(4 ♣) - Pass - (Pass) - DBL

(Pass) - 4 ♠ - (Pass) - 6 ♠

All pass

 

Opening lead ♣T, East plays the queen.

 

T1. CT-A-Q-2

T2. SA-♣3-S3-S7

 

Take it from here. [/hv]

[CSGibson]

Presumably opps are 4-4-2-3 and 0-4-3-6. I'm pitching a heart on the King of clubs, ruffing a heart, taking the diamond hook (winning, presumably, or LHO is opening on rags, even 3rd seat), ruffing a heart, diamond to the ace, ruffing the last club, diamond (overruffing in dummy if necessary, pitching a heart if LHO refuses to ruff). endgame is fairly obvious at this point. I'd rate it a 2 at most - a bad intermediate player might fall on this line without any of the reasoning that makes it a good line of play.

[quiddity]

I thought this was a choice between the "safe" play (discard heart on club and play off the AQ of diamonds) and the try for an overtrick (ruff heart to hand, diamond hook, DA). The second line is pretty safe if West is certain to have the king of diamonds - if it doesn't drop you can usually cross-ruff 12 tricks - but it's not risk-free.

 

The choice will depend on our estimation of the field's chance of reaching slam and our read on West. My gut reaction was to play safe (distributional slam after the opponents open the bidding?) but maybe this is too conservative. West won't open at most tables so perhaps we need to try to punish him here. Anyway, I don't think this is a trivial problem - I'd rate it 3.0.

[inquiry]

I'm pitching a heart on the King of clubs, ruffing a heart, taking the diamond hook (winning, presumably, or LHO is opening on rags, even 3rd seat),

Perhaps it is highly unfair to show a hand where an opponent makes a psyche when opening. I don't know, but this is what happened at the table, so that is what I show here. Here is the full hand.....

 

[hv=n=sakj2hk542daqcak7&w=st987ha863d86ct64&e=shqjt9dk73cqj9853&s=sq6543h7djt9542c2]399|300|As you can see, West was just a little bit light for his opening bid.

 

The fact that West psyched really doesn't change the correct playm imho. Which I think is after you find the 4-0 trump split to cash the ♣ACE and then lead the ♦Q. There are other lines that work, but I think this line handles the large number of distributions, including the diamond king offside.

 

All things given, this hand may not be as good a problem as I was hoping it would be. [/hv]

 

So far we have gotten ONLY six votes for an average of 2.42