Plan the play

[jillybean]

[hv=pc=n&w=skj752hqtda63cakj&e=saq3h653dk98c6542&d=s&v=b&b=7&a=p1s2n(5-5minors%2C%20strength%20unknown)3sp4cp4dp4sppp&p=hah3h9hth7h5hkhqc8]400|300[/hv]

[smerriman]

Very nice hand!

 

 

The 8 must be singleton, so the club finesse has no hope. We're also not going to get anywhere by losing the lead before we draw all trumps, since North would just give South a ruff, or South could exit in trumps. So we're generally forced into the winning line - leave ourselves with ♦x ♣AJ, and if North retains two clubs, throw them in with the last diamond.

 

Goes to show the dangers of using two suited bids..

[mikeh]

Why didn’t south return a heart? That might give us a big problem and usually beats us, I think. In fact, it’s such a bad position that I think we’re reduced to playing north for a stiff 4 or 6 of trump!

 

Anyway, south did something silly, for which we silently thank him. We’re cold now if trump are 4-1, and in fact we have options. The one I like, because it’s not intuitive is:

 

 

Win, draw three rounds of trump, ending in dummy. Assume north showed in on one round…if not, change course, but south would need to be really bad not to tap us if he had 5=6=1=1 shape. Then exit the heart..pitching a diamond. That’s the non-intuitive bit. Win whatever south returns, and play all your remaining trump, pitching clubs.

 

You don’t even have to pay attention! Just cash the club king and, if the queen doesn’t drop, take three diamond tricks. I love squeezes and here we made south help inflict the squeeze on his partner, by letting him win that heart trick.

 

[jillybean]

This is how I played it, I will have to take a look at your lines.

 

[hv=pc=n&w=skj752hqtda63cakj&e=saq3h653dk98c6542&d=s&v=b&b=7&a=p1s2n(5-5minors%2C%20strength%20unknown)3sp4cp4dp4sppp&p=hah3h9hth7h5hkhqc8cac7c2s2s6sqs4sas8s5c3h6h8s7d5skd2s3s9sjc9c4stdad7d8d4d3djdkdtd9]400|300[/hv]