Make the strongest play

[Finch]

Justin said in another thread "People routinely make slightly sloppy plays no matter who they are."

 

This was played by a world class declarer in the Camrose last weekend. He played the hand well, but he could have played the hand better.

I'm sorry I don't know the auction.

 

[hv=pc=n&s=sat8642h6djckjt87&n=skqhkj72dakt7caq4]133|200[/hv]

 

You are in 6♠ having shown a heart control.

You get the 10 of hearts lead, Jack, Queen.

RHO thinks and returns a club.

 

I'll start you off:

- you win the club return, cash the SK in dummy, and ruff a heart.

- you cross to the other top spade in dummy and LHO shows out.

- you ruff another heart, on which all follow (so RHO started with J9xx AQxx in the majors)

 

Now what?

[jallerton]

I'm sorry I don't know the auction.

 

The auction (uncontested) was:

 

2♠ (constructive weak 2)-2NT (relay)

4♣ (6/5)-4NT (RKCB)

5♣(1KC)-6♠

[JLOGIC]

 

Play the CJ, if LHO follows then hook the diamond, club to dummy AK of diamonds. If LHO shows out then cash 4 clubs and play the AK of diamonds. This assumes I won the CA already.

 

 

Spoiler in case I got it right which Im not sure I did.

[CamHenry]

OK, the position is now:

 

--

K

AKT7

Q4

 

AT

--

J

KJT8

 

RHO has:

...J9

...A

...??

...??

 

He's already played one club, and has four remaining minor-suit cards. I can't afford to ruff the remaining heart, as then I lose trump control. I'm currently in hand.

 

Let's think about original shapes. LHO was 1=4=?=?, and RHO was 4=4=?=?, both having at least one club. It's obvious that I have to play a trump coup, and fortunately my trumps are the same length as RHO's. Obviously, once he ruffs in I need to be able to overruff. If he pitches the heart ace, I can continue the same line with the HK. The difficulty is going to be guessing how many clubs he has, because if he can ditch clubs instead of ruffing my red cards I can't make.

 

So, the minor suit positions. I started with 4-1 diamonds and 3-5 clubs, so there's 8 diamonds to place and 3 remaining clubs. If RHO started with 4=1 minors, I can't make: I need to play four rounds of diamonds without playing any clubs, and the entry position won't work. If his minors were 3=2, I need 4 diamond winners again (three to ditch clubs), and if his minors were 2=3, I need three diamond winners. Obviously 1=4 minors with RHO (leaving LHO with 1=4=7=1) is possible but unlikely.

 

I'm therefore assuming RHO was dealt at least 3 clubs. I also have to choose between his shape being 4=4=1=4 (in which case I need to cash three more clubs then play on diamonds) and 4=4=2=3 (in which case I need the diamond finesse, and have to play two clubs before cashing high diamonds).

 

I'm going for the latter option, so I start off by cashing the CT then running the DJ. If the J holds, I overtake a club then play diamonds.

 

EDIT: Justin's line involves less thinking aloud than mine, and a contingency that I hadn't realised!

[mikeh]

We need to score all 6 trumps, including being in dummy at the end with A10 in hand and J9 in rho.

 

We have already achieved our trump shortening, which is why we took the precaution of ruffing a heart early.

 

We therefore need 6 minor winners.

 

If clubs are 1=4, we can make easily by playing a 2nd round of clubs, seeing LHO show out, and then simply cashing 4 clubs, crossing to dummy in diamonds and leading the remaining top diamond from dummy....rho can ruff in, to be overruffed, now or the next trick.

 

I don't think there is any way of making if RHO has only 2 clubs, since we can't score more than 3 diamonds and we have to have 6 minors.

 

So if we learn that we can't cash 4 clubs (which seems an unlikely proposition given that LHO has already shown one stiff), we have to assume rho is 4=4=2=3, and we won't play him for Qx in diamonds! So we cash the second club in hand. Given that we knew to ruff a heart early, I am sure we won the first club with the A.

 

Now we advance the diamond J. If it holds, we do a double cross.....one with our fingers and the other, to dummy, with a club.

 

Having survived, we now cash the top diamonds, allowing RHO to ruff in whenever he pleases.

 

I will now look at Justin's spoiler and hope I don't have to edit this :P I suspect it took him a lot less time than it took me: I had to game out the play to be sure we can't make on 3=2 clubs (at least I think I'm sure).

[Mbodell]

I will now look at Justin's spoiler and hope I don't have to edit this :P I suspect it took him a lot less time than it took me: I had to game out the play to be sure we can't make on 3=2 clubs (at least I think I'm sure).

 

I don't think you should play for it, obviously, but can't you make on 3=2 clubs if RHO has specifically 98x of diamonds?

[mikeh]

I don't think you should play for it, obviously, but can't you make on 3=2 clubs if RHO has specifically 98x of diamonds?

Yes, but since we'd never play for it, why play for it?

[wynsten]

I don't think you should play for it, obviously, but can't you make on 3=2 clubs if RHO has specifically 98x of diamonds?

No. LHO will refuse to cover the Jack of diamonds. You get only two club discards on diamonds, not the three you need. If RHO has Qx of diamonds (4S 5H 2D 2C) you can get three pitches on diamonds by dropping the Queen.

[nige1]

[hv=pc=n&s=sat8642h6djckjt87&n=skqhkj72dakt7caq4&d=s&a=2S(constructive weak)P2N(relay)P4C(6-5)P4N(RKC)P5C(1 key)P6SPPPP ]200|300|

FrancesHinden wrote "Justin said in another thread "People routinely make slightly sloppy plays no matter who they are." This was played by a world class declarer in the Camrose last weekend. He played the hand well, but he could have played the hand better. You are in 6♠ having shown a heart control.You get the 10 of hearts lead, Jack, Queen. RHO thinks and returns a club. I'll start you off:

- you win the club return, cash the SK in dummy, and ruff a heart.

- you cross to the other top spade in dummy and LHO shows out.

- you ruff another heart, on which all follow (so RHO started with J9xx AQxx in the majors)

Now what?"

 

Good problem, Frances :) Clever stuff, Justin, Mikeh :) Rising with [HE}K at trick one is another tiny improvement :)[/hv]

[wynsten]

Good problem, Frances :) Clever stuff, Justin, Mikeh :) Rising with K at trick one is another tiny improvement :)

More than tiny! How did we all miss that? Thanks Nige1.

Or maybe not. If Jack draws the Ace, then King becomes available for club discard in trump coup so you don't need the diamond finesse.

It is not a guarantee that heart Jack was wrong.