How do you make 6C here ?

[edNZ]

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I didn't beat myself up for not finding a winning line for 6C at the table, but I still can't find it now ! Our auction was an inelegant 3C - 6C and Deep Finesse says 6 is makeable from either side of the table.

 

I received a KD lead. Seems you eventually need to pitch a D on a S, because it seems tricky even double dummy to shorten your trumps sufficiently in preparation for a possible coup. A C loser is inevitable perforce.

 

So, can anyone unravel the necessary timing to show me how to make this slam ?

 

Cheers,

Ed

[gnasher]

No, I can't. For a moment I thought this would work:

 

Win, top hearts throwing diamonds, heart ruff, club to dummy, heart ruff, spade to the queen, heart ruff, ♠K to the ace, heart ruff, diamond exit.

 

Finding the flaw in this line is left as an exercise for the reader.

[matmat]

Got one of your diamonds mixed in with the hearts? :-)

[Fluffy]

The key is to use both ♠AQ as entries, and to make a double heart finese to strip east's hearts in time

 

♥10 covered and ruffed, ♠Q, ♥ covered and ruffed, ♠A, cash ♥A and now, instead of playing top heart that west ruffs, play a top spade with

 

[hv=n=s1098hk9djca&w=shdc8&e=shxxdxcq109x&s=shdxxckj76x]399|300|[/hv]

 

east can pitch a heart or ruff, but whenever he ruffs we overruff, get to dummy and cash last heart before playing the trump coup.

 

EDIT: sorry I though ♥8 was in dummy for some reason B).

[Simplicity]

say ♦ lead tho i think they are all much the same:

 

win, ♥AK, ruff, ♠AQ, the play the T:

 

If there is no ruff we can pitch the diamond and use the ♣A to ruff RHO remaining two red cards and exit a trump.

 

If he ruffs, overruff, ♣A, top spade pitching our diamond

 

Hope ive not bodged it!

[matmat]

say ♦ lead tho i think they are all much the same:

 

win, ♥AK, ruff, ♠AQ, the play the T:

 

If there is no ruff we can pitch the diamond and use the ♣A to ruff RHO remaining two red cards and exit a trump.

 

If he ruffs, overruff, ♣A, top spade pitching our diamond

 

Hope ive not bodged it!

rho ruffs in on the fourth spade as well, and you still have a club and diamond loser, i think..

[Simplicity]

say ♦ lead tho i think they are all much the same:

 

win, ♥AK, ruff, ♠AQ, the play the T:

 

If there is no ruff we can pitch the diamond and use the ♣A to ruff RHO remaining two red cards and exit a trump.

 

If he ruffs, overruff, ♣A, top spade pitching our diamond

 

Hope ive not bodged it!

rho ruffs in on the fourth spade as well, and you still have a club and diamond loser, i think.

 

I think he'll be ruffng my diamond loser with his trump trick, the ruff leaving him with only one trump and I holding a bigger one in hand

[matmat]

Nevermind.

[edNZ]

Yes, I think you have the answer..... Firstly, they MUST ruff the 3rd ♠ (else you can just pitch your last ♦ loser and you are home. So, they ruff (I think it irrelevant which trump they use), and you must overruff.

 

Then, cross to A♣ and play that 4th spade. Again, they must ruff otherwise you are home, but when they do ruff, you pitch your ♦. Now you can trump any continuation, and draw RHO's remaining trump.

 

Well done, and thanks !

[inquiry]

[shyams]

...if he never ruffs, after you ruff a card from dummy at trick 10, you exit a small spade and have KJ over east QT.

Herein lies the problem. You have too many trumps in the South hand to reach this position at trick 10

[twcho]

Fluffy's line is correct but of course this is only a double dummy line. One will never get this right at the table.

[Fluffy]

yeah Ben all you had to do is ruff a heart instead of cashing spades first, I used 2 spade entries, but you used none, and the correct answer is at elast 1.

[barryallen]

I can't see any escape, with the most likely reduction leaving dummy on lead with something like

 

[hv=d=w&v=n&n=s1098hdjc&w=sxxhdqxc&e=shdxcq109&s=shdxckj7]399|300|[/hv]

 

Note the difference when you don't get a diamond lead, letting everything fall into place when dummy comes to lead a spade

 

[hv=d=w&v=n&n=s1098hdjc&w=sxxhdqxc&e=shdxcq109&s=shdxckj7]399|300|[/hv]

[Fluffy]

barry the key is to play 2 spades from dummy, not to reduce yourself

[Cyberyeti]

I think fluffy is basically right, but it's slightly more complicated than he indicates.

 

AD

AH

H ruff

S to Q

H ruff

S to A

 

 

[hv=n=s1098hk10djca&w=s75hdq1098c8&e=shq7d3cq1094&s=shd75ckj765]399|300|[/hv]

 

Now lead 10S.

 

If E pitches, throw a diamond and lead another top spade. If he leaves himself with 4 clubs and a diamond, throw your diamond, ruff a diamond, cross to the ace of clubs and beat his card next, if he comes down to 4 clubs and a heart, ruff the winning spade, cross to the AC and pitch the last diamond on the heart.

 

If E ruffs the 10S low, you can simply overruff, cross back to the AC, cash the KH pitching a diamond and the 9S finishes him off, you lose a club or a diamond.

 

If E ruffs the 10S with the 9, overruff, cross to AC, cash KH and now lead the 10S, and if E ruffs with the 10 or Q, pitch the diamond.

[barryallen]

barry the key is to play 2 spades from dummy, not to reduce yourself

Understood Fluffy, what I could not see is how you cannot avoid having one extra trump than RHO, forcing you to concede either two trump tricks immediately, or one then another when forced to take RHO's ♥ or ♦ return?

 

The only way of avoiding that is to reduce your trumps to the same number as RHO, but no longer with the communication with dummy. Leaving the opposition to pick up a ♣ trick and a ♦ trick, or two ♣ tricks?

 

If I understand you correctly, you win the ♦A, ruff a small ♥, ♠ to dummy, cash AK♥, discarding 2♦, then lead winning ♠'s? RHO would ruff the 3rd ♠ with the 10 or 9, forcing you to over ruff with the J? with a losing ♦ and ♣ still to come? Apologies if I have misinterpreted the situation.

[barryallen]

I think fluffy is basically right, but it's slightly more complicated than he indicates.

 

AD

AH

H ruff

S to Q

H ruff

S to A

 

 

[hv=n=s1098hk10djca&w=s75hdq1098c8&e=shq7d3cq1094&s=shd75ckj765]399|300|[/hv]

 

Now lead 10S.

 

If E pitches, throw a diamond and lead another top spade. If he leaves himself with 4 clubs and a diamond, throw your diamond, ruff a diamond, cross to the ace of clubs and beat his card next, if he comes down to 4 clubs and a heart, ruff the winning spade, cross to the AC and pitch the last diamond on the heart.

 

If E ruffs the 10S low, you can simply overruff, cross back to the AC, cash the KH pitching a diamond and the 9S finishes him off, you lose a club or a diamond.

 

If E ruffs the 10S with the 9, overruff, cross to AC, cash KH and now lead the 10S, and if E ruffs with the 10 or Q, pitch the diamond.

:ph34r: excellent timing

[gnasher]

I think fluffy is basically right, but it's slightly more complicated than he indicates.

Is it?

 

AD

AH

H ruff

S to Q

H ruff

S to A

 

Now lead 10S.

 

If E pitches, throw a diamond and lead another top spade.

...

if he comes down to 4 clubs and a heart, ruff the winning spade

There's no need to do anythig so flashy. We can just pitch the last diamond and lead a diamond. If East ruffs, we overuff and just have one trump loser; if he doesn't we ruff, cross to ♣A and lead something from dummy.

 

In other words, we just do what Fluffy said (disregarding the bit about the heart pips).

[Cyberyeti]

I think fluffy is basically right, but it's slightly more complicated than he indicates.

Is it?

 

AD

AH

H ruff

S to Q

H ruff

S to A

 

Now lead 10S.

 

If E pitches, throw a diamond and lead another top spade.

...

if he comes down to 4 clubs and a heart, ruff the winning spade

There's no need to do anythig so flashy. We can just pitch the last diamond and lead a diamond. If East ruffs, we overuff and just have one trump loser; if he doesn't we ruff, cross to ♣A and lead something from dummy.

 

In other words, we just do what Fluffy said (disregarding the bit about the heart pips).

He didn't cover the wrinkles that come from E ruffing with 9 and then 10.

[inquiry]

Fluffy is right, I actually had the ruff a heart then play spades, just didn't write it down in post correctly. Actually the ruff doesn't matter which one..

 

So...

DA

HA

HK

H ruff

SK

SA

SQ.... now the play is forked... one with a ruff by EAST, one without... give it a try, south always wins out...

[gnasher]

He didn't cover the wrinkles that come from E ruffing with 9 and then 10.

Personally I thought it was covered by this:

 

whenever he ruffs we overruff

 

followed by this:

 

get to dummy and cash last heart before playing the trump coup.

[Cyberyeti]

He didn't cover the wrinkles that come from E ruffing with 9 and then 10.

Personally I thought it was covered by this:

 

whenever he ruffs we overruff

 

followed by this:

 

get to dummy and cash last heart before playing the trump coup.

No, if you overruff the 3rd spade when ruffed with the 9, and then overruff the 4th spade when ruffed with the 10, you have a trump and a diamond loser, you have to discard the diamond when he ruffs with the 10, consuming his trump trick too.

 

Edit -

 

Threw this at my partner, he came up with a slight variation on the timing which I haven't found a hole in yet.

 

1. Win AD.

2. Heart ruff

3. Spade to queen.

4. Spade ace.

5. Ten of spades

 

If East doesn't ruff, discard diamond

 

6. AH, discard daimond.

7. KH, discard diamond.

8. Spade ruff.

9. AC.

10. Diamond ruff.

11. Low club endplays East.

 

It East ruffs, over-ruff

 

6. AC

7. AH, discard diamond.

8. KH, discard diamond.

9. Spade nine, discard diamond regardless of whether East ruffs again or not.

 

This in many ways is simpler still.

[gnasher]

Perhaps we interpreted Fluffy's "whenever" differently. It seemed obvious to me that it meant "at whichever time", but maybe you interpeted it as meaning "every time".

 

Anyway, I wish I'd left Fluffy to fight his own battles.

[Cyberyeti]

Perhaps we interpreted Fluffy's "whenever" differently.  It seemed obvious to me that it meant "at whichever time", but maybe you interpeted it as meaning "every time".

 

Anyway, I wish I'd left Fluffy to fight his own battles.

I think we did:

 

dictionary.com gives for whenever "at whatever time; at any time when", and the second of those was how I took it. I'm not clear if the first is any different or not.