Trick 1 decision

[f0rdy]

[hv=pc=n&s=sjhakj5dakj4cqt92&n=saqt972h7643d5c43&d=e&v=n&b=2&a=p1dp1sp2hp4hppp]266|200[/hv]

 

Teams of 8 IMPs (4th 8 board stanza, 35 IMPs down, if you care)

Our brief system discussions hadn't reached continuations after reverses, so we stumbled into 4H, which doesn't look great.

 

However, LHO leads the 3♠ (3rd and 5th) and things are looking up.

 

What's your plan?

[Antrax]

Cross ruffing?

[dkham]

I find these very difficult, interested in what other people say.

 

My thoughts - don't think we can set up dummy's spades so trying for ten tricks via:

5 top tricks.

A diamond ruff and two club ruffs in dummy

Two spade ruffs in hand.

 

So at the start win the ace of spades, play two diamonds, ruff a diamond, then play a club up. If defence now play trumps I'll finesse the Jack.

[phil_20686]

if you are going to start with a cross ruff line, it is surely right to start of with ace of spades a spade ruff akd pitch club a diamond ruff and a club now. If they return a club i need lho to have three spades or not have the heart Q, and both the minors to stand up for three rounds. If rho rises and plays a diamond and lho ruffs just pitch a spade from dummy. ditto if lho wins the club and plays a diamond. Ruffing a spade early just seems to improve the position and gets rid of the chance of lho pitching a spade from xx, in which case you will be in serious trouble, although I admit that chance of that looks remote on the carding.

[dkham]

At trick two - if we don't come back to hand with a diamond now, doesn't that mean that in order to get three ruffs in dummy we need to return to hand three times by ruffing spades?

[ahydra]

Hehe, I know this hand. We played in 4S after I decided to open a very weird 2NT with the south hand.

 

Phil's line looks pretty intuitive. Certainly on the spade lead you expect spades 3-3.

 

ahydra

[Phil]

Any line that does not involve utilizing dummy's spades seems too far-fetched to me.

[phil_20686]

Any line that does not involve utilizing dummy's spades seems too far-fetched to me.

 

Even if the spades are 4-2, and you choose to hook the spade at trick one, and it wins, you still will have trouble setting up the spades and gettin back to dummy at the right point. if you rise with the ace, and get rid of a club loser its now impossible. Scoring 5 trumps by ruffing a spade low, a spade with the J and three minor suit cards in dummy does not seem like a big ask. I would ruff one diamond and two clubs, relying on both minors being 5-3 and lho not having a singleton spade, or a doubleton with the heart Q.

[f0rdy]

if you are going to start with a cross ruff line, it is surely right to start of with ace of spades a spade ruff akd pitch club a diamond ruff and a club now. If they return a club i need lho to have three spades or not have the heart Q, and both the minors to stand up for three rounds. If rho rises and plays a diamond and lho ruffs just pitch a spade from dummy. ditto if lho wins the club and plays a diamond. Ruffing a spade early just seems to improve the position and gets rid of the chance of lho pitching a spade from xx, in which case you will be in serious trouble, although I admit that chance of that looks remote on the carding.

 

Have I missed something again? What happens when rho wins the club and leads a trump?

[phil_20686]

Have I missed something again? What happens when rho wins the club and leads a trump?

 

I win. I need to score 10 tricks. I have aS AKH AKD, if I score three small trumps in dummy by ruffing, and JH and small heart in hand that gives me ten tricks.

 

The losing side to my line is that I might lose when west is, say 3334 with the heart q, and rho can win the club, and then play a diamond, allowing west to throw a spade and later over ruff the J. However, I might be able to avoid that if west has the spade K. Now i would ruff the diamond return in dummy (second diamond ruff there), and play a winning spade pitching a club from hand, now lho has to lead a trump from hand or let me score all four of dummies small trumps by ruffing two clubs.