Bidding and play problem

[1eyedjack]

[hv=pc=n&s=sakt3hk4dk854cjt9&n=s942haqt8dj972ca4&d=n&v=n&b=5&a=pp1dp1hp1sp3dp]266|200|MP, 3 x robots at W, N and E, best hand South[/hv]

 

First the bidding:

 

No complaints about the bidding to date, please, you are playing GIB's system

 

So, Pass or 3N?

 

On to the play: You have bid 3N, all pass. Lead C:5

[Codo]

At imps, I had bid 3 NT too...

Now, I can see not many hands where I do not lose 3 clubs...I see no sense in raising now, not many hands where the have just Hx, so I let it flow in the small hope that he lead from KQ85 or so...

As I do not have the entries to try the diamond finesse for the ninth trick, I try king of hearts, heart finesse instead, hoping to survive with 4 spades, 4 hearts and a club. The chance should be about 10 % or so, but what shall I do?

[bigbenvic]

I'm happy to let this run, win the 2nd round and play Jd from dummy.

 

Hopefully there is a stiff 10 in wests hand or a stiff Queen where East covers (highly unlikely)

 

If the Q pops from East I think ducking hoping for stiff Ace is my only chance now.

 

It would be so much easier if North declared the hand, sigh.

[1eyedjack]

Sorry, I should have mentioned. You play low from dummy at trick 1, RHO follows low, and your Jack wins.

So the prospects are a little brighter, but there are communication problems if you want to tackle the Diamonds from dummy

[gszes]

ducking trick 1 just in case seems automatic and it works well here

i now count 2c 2s 3h and need 2 more tricks while not giving up

to many tricks to the opps.

 

Attacking diamonds for those 2 tricks looks like the best approach

since we have a fallback position of a double spade finesse and

a 33 spade break or a double spade finesse and something nice

happening in hearts.

 

Trick 2 small dia from hand intending to insert the 9. If this forces

an honor somehow we can continue our pursuit of the dia suit if

the opps win the T we abandon diamonds and fall back on the

double finesse in spades using the club A and the hearts as the

2 entries we need.

 

This LOP requires clubs to break 44 and if the play in the club suit

convinces you they do not break 44 immediately abandon diamonds

and go with the much lower % probabilty of the double spade finesse

and hopw for something good in hearts or spades distributionwise.

 

The huge upside of attacking diamonds is the need to only lose 2

diamonds (along with the theoretical 2 clubs) to score our 9 tricks

and for once we even have a backup plan available (tiny chance that

it is).

[gnasher]

I'd bid 3♥, hoping that partner will bid 3NT. Even if he bids 4♥, that may well be better than 3NT played from the wrong side.

[nige1]

[hv=pc=n&s=sakt3hk4dk854cjt9&n=s942haqt8dj972ca4&d=n&v=n&b=5&a=pp1dp1hp1sp3dp]266|200|

MP, 3 x robots at W, N and E, best hand South

First the bidding:

No complaints about the bidding to date, please, you are playing GIB's system

So, Pass or 3N?

On to the play: You have bid 3N, all pass. Lead C:5

[/hv]

I like gnasher's 3♥ attempt to right-side 3N :)

But you're quite likely to languish in 3N by South :(

You duck in dummy hoping LHO has ♣KQ.

When RHO wins a ♣ honour and returns a ♣ you try to work out how ♣ split.

If you think ♣ are 4-4, then you can start with a ♦ to ♦K because RHO may be unable to go up ace without presenting you with 3 tricks in the suit.

If you think ♣ are 5-3, then you can start with the long shot of finessing ♠.

If RHO has ♠QJ doubleton or ♠QJx, you are up to eight tricks.

And the spade winners may squeeze or pseudo-squeeze defenders.

Otherwise the finesse of ♥T may be your last resort.