6NT with a 4-4 heart fit and void

[BudH]

[hv=d=w&v=n&w=sakqhatxxdjxxckxx&e=shq8xxdakqxxcqjxx]266|100|Scoring: MP

♠4 (4th best) led[/hv]

 

After a bidding sequence too embarassing to admit, you end in 6NT from the West seat. ♠4 (4th best) led.

 

The contract was made at the table. It appears you need 3-3 clubs or a heart/club squeeze. If you play a club from hand at trick 2, South wins dummy's queen with the ace and returns the ♠5. The spot card x's are very small and insignificant.

 

How would you play this to maximize your chances for 12 notrump tricks?

[rhm]

Run ♦. Maybe you get some useful discard, e.g. an opponent may discard a club from his doubleton or tripleton. Then play to the king of ♣.

Now you play your squeeze card, the third ♠, and need to decide whether ♣ broke all the time or you can squeeze somebody in ♥ / ♣.

 

If North holds the long ♣ you can squeeze him if he holds

1) the ♥ jack, by discarding a club and running the queen of ♥

2) the ♥ king , by discarding a club and not running the queen of ♥

 

If South holds the long ♣ you can squeeze him only if he is in sole control of ♥, either 4 cards in ♥ or both honors in ♥, in which case you might as well discard a heart from dummy.

 

If you play for the squeeze and it looks like North controls ♣, I would be inclined to play him for the jack of ♥ rather than the king, because South could have broken up the squeeze by switching to ♥, if he did not have the king.

 

Rainer Herrmann

[benlessard]

If South is a good defender he can duck his A of clubs 3rd or 4th. When he won he has a tempting H switch but that doesnt break a squeeze. (vienna squeeze by perforce unblocking A of H). So all point to south having the K of H and north having long clubs. So a switch guard squeeze look very tempting. However knowing the bidding and knowing the opps will help greatly here.

 

Anyway cashing 5D discard 2 H in hand is ok. If south 4D ill assume clubs dont break.

In normal circumstance a switch guard is inferior by 2 to 1. (need south have the K of H and north to have the J while a reg squeeze need north to have the K of H) but here the chance that south has the K look pretty good. ( i expect only top notch defender are able to refrain from switching H when not holding the K)

 

If D are 32 than the chance that clubs break are good enough that im not willing to go down in a risky switch guard squeeze while clubs are 3-3.

[nigel_k]

I agree that long clubs with North is more likely because South could have ducked, and if North does have long clubs he is more likely to have ♥J than ♥K. But that line does involve guesswork and you could go down with clubs 3-3 all the time. North may also discard ♥J and you have to guess if he started with KJ or Jx.

 

A possible alternative is to discard down to stiff Q of hearts at the end, making whenever clubs are 3-3 or the long club hand has KJ of hearts. I don't know if this is better but I prefer lines that avoid guesswork so I can sleep well afterwards.

[Vilgan]

I dislike squeezes where I need to guess who has what at the end, as its usually not very useful at higher levels (or my ability to read top players is not good enough). I'd probably put the K of hearts with S and then just go for the simple squeeze. This also has the advantage of working when clubs are 3/3 as long as S did have the K :P

 

win 2nd spade, cross to dummy, run the Q (hopefully its covered) then go for the simple squeeze.

[pooltuna]

My initial gut reaction is to lead up to the QJ♣ twice this catches all 33 splits and 42 splits where North has Ax. That option gone at trick 2 I try for a ♥♣ squeeze which has a couple of variations.

[BudH]

One thing I was looking for is whether it is possible to delay as long as possible playing for four clubs on your left with the heart king or the chance that four clubs are on your right holding heart king AND jack.

 

I will tell you that at the table, I ended up squeezing RHO holding both heart honors, but wasn't sure if I could arrange to squeeze LHO if that had been necessary.

 

The play was spade led, club to queen and ace, spade returned, run the diamonds pitching two hearts, club to king, spade pitching down to stiff queen of hearts in dummy on which RHO pitched the heart jack from ♥KJ ♣T9.

 

The irony is that a lead of our suit (hearts) sets 6NT.

[gnasher]

South would have done much better to duck ♣A.

 

One of the things you might do after that is play a diamond to the jack and another club. Now your entries for the squeeze are messed up.

 

Alternatively, you might have played a second club from dummy, which you'd also duck. Now he has to guess whether to play for clubs 3-3 or for a strip squeeze against you.

 

I don't know what your bidding was, but it probably wasn't impossible for him to work out that ducking is best. He probably knows of five diamond tricks, three spades, two clubs and a heart, and so the risk of a squeeze is staring him in the face.

[Pict]

I'd play QH early on and if it's not covered, take the Ace and hope for 33 clubs, with some extra chance in hearts. If it's covered I've more of an extra chance in hearts.

[Fluffy]

One of the things you might do after that is play a diamond to the jack and another club. Now your entries for the squeeze are messed up.

Seems to methe hand will make still if south takes the second club, with south having all the stuff you just squeeze with diamonds instead of spades.

 

However south could duck both ♣QJ, wich should be the normal play if he knows where ♠AKQ&J lie.

[gnasher]

One of the things you might do after that is play a diamond to the jack and another club.  Now your entries for the squeeze are messed up.

Seems to methe hand will make still if south takes the second club, with south having all the stuff you just squeeze with diamonds instead of spades.

The defender can win the second club and play back a heart. Are you running that?

 

However south could duck both ♣QJ, wich should be the normal play if he knows where ♠AKQ&J lie.

Yes, that works as well, although with all of these defences declarer can make if he plays South for ♥K and the club guard.

[Fluffy]

The defender can win the second club and play back a heart. Are you running that?

though it was the only chance, I forgot for a sec ♣3-3 was also an option :D