How do you play this hand at IMPS?

Discussion:

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Sandy Barnes

2017-01-27 01:08:22 UTC

This is the auction, at favorable

KQxx AJx

xxx Ax

AKJxx xx

x AKT9xx

east west

-- 1C

1D 2C

2S 3H

4D 4S

P

Comment on the bidding if you want to. Anyway the opening lead is a little heart. You choose to win the Ace and then you play the Ace and the King of diamonds. RHO plays the Q of diamonds. on the second diamond. How do you play the hand and WHY? Do you agree with the first 3 tricks?

Douglas Newlands

2017-01-27 06:08:20 UTC

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Post by Sandy Barnes
This is the auction, at favorable
KQxx AJx
xxx Ax
AKJxx xx
x AKT9xx
east west
-- 1C
1D 2C
2S 3H
4D 4S
P
Comment on the bidding if you want to. Anyway the opening lead is a little heart. You choose to win the Ace and then you play the Ace and the King of diamonds. RHO plays the Q of diamonds. on the second diamond. How do you play the hand and WHY? Do you agree with the first 3 tricks?

Looks like HA at T1 and small heart at T2.

Intend to ruff a heart, cash ace, Jack of spades.
Cross with a diamond, draw trumps and claim 10 (but making 11).
This seems to only depend on one suit being 3-3 or 4-2 (~84%).
Seems like a reasonable plan.
At teams, partners will be pleased enough with 10 tricks.

At pairs, the 3NT are likely to make 9 and the 5m players will
make 11 at best so I am only in a playing contest with those
others in 4S.

It's dependent on what the spades spots are if you try to play
any other way e.g. cashing 5 winners and cross ruffing.
I don't see how you make such a plan without seeing the small spades.
doug

Robert Chance

2017-01-27 23:26:24 UTC

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The main risk seems to be that South is 5422 shape; if you ruff a diamond in dummy next, South discards a club and you don't get to cash the second club.

The way round this is to cash the two clubs first, and then play a third club discarding your final heart. You already have five tricks, you make a sixth by ruffing a small heart in hand, and the other four by crossruffing the top trumps.

c***@berkeley.edu

2017-01-28 20:03:19 UTC

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Post by Robert Chance

The main risk seems to be that South is 5422 shape; if you ruff a diamond in dummy next, South discards a club and you don't get to cash the second club.
The way round this is to cash the two clubs first, and then play a third club discarding your final heart. You already have five tricks, you make a sixth by ruffing a small heart in hand, and the other four by crossruffing the top trumps.

That's probably best, but I don't see how to be sure. A singleton club isn't much of a worry as it is very unlikely that the second club will be ruffed by a short trump holding which is the only losing situation. But how do we play if RHO leads a 4th club?

rhm

2017-01-29 14:09:55 UTC

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Post by c***@berkeley.edu

Post by Robert Chance

The main risk seems to be that South is 5422 shape; if you ruff a diamond in dummy next, South discards a club and you don't get to cash the second club.
The way round this is to cash the two clubs first, and then play a third club discarding your final heart. You already have five tricks, you make a sixth by ruffing a small heart in hand, and the other four by crossruffing the top trumps.

It does not look best to me.
If two top clubs stand up you can not be beaten.
Is it not better to play the diamond jack at trick 4 and discard the heart loser from dummy?
RHO probably ruffs and does what?
If he returns a trump you intent to win in dummy play 2 high clubs, then ruff clubs high if South follows, while ruffing a heart low in dummy and another red suit high.
You make 5 top cards in the side suit, and 3 trumps in dummy and 2 ruffs in hand.

I would not have started that way but the start was not unlucky when the diamond queen came down.

Robert Chance

2017-01-29 20:09:33 UTC

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Post by c***@berkeley.edu
But how do we play if RHO leads a 4th club?

Ruff with the queen, play the king of trumps and over to the ace, and ruff dummy's heart low with our final trump. If this holds up, we have 10 tricks.

Superficially, it may seem to be a problem if LHO can overruff the heart. However, if this is the case, RHO must be out of trumps now (RHO must have 4 clubs and 5+ hearts in this scenario, and has followed to two rounds of diamonds, so cannot have begun with more than two trumps). This means that LHO has to concede a diamond to us, and the contract.

There is one, and only one layout that defeats us on this line (assuming the AK of clubs stand up), and that is if LHO is 6322 shape. Quite apart from the unlikelihood of this shape (it means trumps are 6-0), it also means that RHO has found a falsecard of the queen of diamonds from Qxxx. I don't think there's anyone alive - or dead - who could find that falsecard. One for the Rueful Rabbit, perhaps!

Adam Lea

2017-01-29 23:01:56 UTC

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Post by Robert Chance
There is one, and only one layout that defeats us on this line (assuming the AK of clubs stand up), and that is if LHO is 6322 shape. Quite apart from the unlikelihood of this shape (it means trumps are 6-0), it also means that RHO has found a falsecard of the queen of diamonds from Qxxx. I don't think there's anyone alive - or dead - who could find that falsecard. One for the Rueful Rabbit, perhaps!

One of the club lols might find it. Oops sorry partner, I accidentally
dropped the queen on the table.

Player

2017-01-28 06:13:09 UTC

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Duck the H, win the continuation and play AJ of trumps, cross to a D, ruff a H, cross to 2nd D, draw trumps in they break, else play a third D.