Free Posted November 27, 2011 Report Share Posted November 27, 2011 I had this hand yesterday, and I wonder what the best play is. Team game, imps scoring. [hv=pc=n&s=sj7hjt8752d5c8765&n=sak62hk4dkt64cakq&d=n&v=0&b=1&a=2c(strong)p2h(negative)p2n(22-23)p4d(transfer)p4hppp]266|200[/hv] LHO leads ♠5 (3rd/5th). Plan the play. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlexJonson Posted November 27, 2011 Report Share Posted November 27, 2011 Win the Ace and play a heart to the Jack. After I get trumps out, diamond to the King. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BunnyGo Posted November 27, 2011 Report Share Posted November 27, 2011 I'll duck the spade to the Jack. This wins if LHO has underled the Queen (can now avoid a diamond loser) or if he has the Queen of hearts doubleton (as I can now get to hand to finesse). It may also be hard for them to cash the diamond before it disappears anyways, as RHO will be on lead. If I don't have the courage for this play at the table and win the Ace, I start hearts with the King of trump (stiff queen is better than stiff ace for picking up the trump suit, and are both equally likely). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhm Posted November 27, 2011 Report Share Posted November 27, 2011 West is unlikely to have led from the queen after this bidding and letting the opening lead run to hand risks immediate defeat. Win in dummy and play the ♥K. Compared to playing trumps from hand this looses only against a singleton ♥A with West and even then you might recover with a trump coup later. The advantage is that you keep your entries fluid. If you block trumps you also might run into a trump promotion. Opponents do not know much about your hand and they may well discard ♣s if you do not tell them much about your side suit distribution. If opponents do not attack your ♣ entries at every opportunity there are trump squeeze possibilities in the minors. If East or West holds originally 4 or more ♣ and the ♦A this would be the ending: ♦Kxx♣AK ................ ♥52♦--♣876 When you play the penultimate trump,discarding a ♦ from dummy, the opponent, who controls the minors, must either blank his ♦A or give up ♣ control.So when you play a ♦ to dummy and West plays low it could be right not to play the ♦king.The trouble is of course to diagnose whether this scenario exists with any certainty. You could go down when when the ♦A was with West or ♣s 3-3 all the time. However, I might not be able to resist the temptation to play for the trump squeeze. Probability wise it is better to give up on the trump squeeze, but you could try a similar squeeze against an opponent holding 5 or more ♦s with length in ♣s if the ♦ finesse fails. Rainer Herrmann Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlexJonson Posted November 27, 2011 Report Share Posted November 27, 2011 Playing a low trump from the King is a cheap shot against Qx with East. It costs little to nothing versus playing the King. If this post was in the A&E section, I would have been reluctant...of course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gnasher Posted November 28, 2011 Report Share Posted November 28, 2011 2♥ probably denied an ace, so RHO shouldn't go wrong if he has ♥Qx. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Free Posted November 28, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 28, 2011 2♥ probably denied an ace, so RHO shouldn't go wrong if he has ♥Qx.Indeed, 2♥ showed no Aces, no Kings, and less than 2 Queens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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