IMP defense at T2

[sathyab]

[hv=d=s&v=n&n=s9xhkj9xdxxcj9xxx&e=sq8xxhaxxxdkxxcxx]266|200|Scoring: IMP

1nt(12-14)-all pass D2 led[/hv]

 

My favorite problem is "MP defense at T2", but prefixing that with an 'I' should make this easier. You can chuck any number of over-tricks as you see fit in an effort to beat this contact, as long as you can construct a reasonable lay-out.

 

You're playing 4th best leads vs NT. You play mult-landy over 1nt.

 

When you play the King at T1, it holds the trick, declarer playing a spot card lower than 7 (that's all I can remember, no hand records, this one's from the last match in the finals of OpenSwiss).

[whereagles]

A spade back. From the lead, declarer probably has a diamond stopper and we're going to need more than 3 diamonds tricks to set this. Better a spade now, while we have a heart stop. Then, after cashing our would-be spade tricks, revert to diamonds.

[Fluffy]

it can be a funny moment to switch to a heart to kill dummy's entry if declarer has 4243. Spades do not necesarilly need to be played from our side. But anyway it looks like a big gamble.

 

I'd switch to a low spade.

[sathyab]

it can be a funny moment to switch to a heart to kill dummy's entry if declarer has 4243. Spades do not necesarilly need to be played from our side. But anyway it looks like a big gamble.

 

I'd switch to a low spade.

That's the other line of defense that could easily work here. Partner has four ♦s and three ♠s it looks like. And if his rounded suits are 3-3, heart shift shuts out dummy and we get our ♠s in time. What happens if partner has 2 ♥s and 4 ♣s ? Now with a ♥ shift, it appears that declarer makes 2♥s, and may be 2♣s, and 1 ♦ for sure, but if partner has ♠HTx which is what makes a ♠ shift successful, he will have trouble making two tricks in the suit before we take two tricks ourselves, right ?

 

At the table I reasoned up to the point that we can beat it a trick if partner has three ♥s, but could not convince myself that it's right even when he has two ♥s, so I shifted to a ♠ which presented no problems as declarer did have KJTx Tx JT9x AKx.

 

We know so much more about the hand than partner does, so ♦ continuation is unlikely to help partner to switch to a heart himself. He might switch to a ♠ however with HTx.

[mikeh]

I only just saw this thread and wish I hadn't read the actual hand (tho I paid no attention to the actual layout beyond seeing declarer held 2 hearts).

 

I actually think that the low heart switch is fairly easy, if counter-intuitive.

 

partner led from a diamond suit...4 cards long. It is highly likely that he has no 4 card major (most defenders tend to lead a major on this auction...dummy may have long diamonds but won't have a 5 card major very often) and lacks 4 clubs most of the time because we can see 7 of them, and restricted choice suggests that he has only 3 clubs...with 4, he might well have chosen that suit when 4-4 in the minors.

 

Therefore he counts out as probably 3=3=4=3 and we need him to stop the clubs. But hoping that he stops them twice (and that he plays a heart when he wins his first club, rather than continuing the spade suit to which we probably switched) is low percentage.

 

And it probably doesn't matter whether we or partner play on spades first.

 

I must say, I have never made this play at the table, but I think it's because it is an uncommon position, not that it is a hard one to figure out. I will now look at the actual hand in detail.