[kgr]

IMP's

---

LHO leads ♠Q encouraged by RHO and you duck.
LHO continues with a small ♠ for ♠J of RHO.
You play 4 rounds of ♣.
RHO discards ♥T (lavinthal) on the 4th ♣.
LHO discards a small ♦ and a small ♥.
Do you agree with the play till now and how do you continue?
Remark: Opps are good players but no experts (they can easily make mistakes)

[kgr]

Do you think that the best chance is:
- ♦Hx (or ♥Hx) with one opps and other opps has no 5-card ♠ (or ♦HHx and short ♠)
- Or Play ♦K and finesse
- Or play ♠ and hope for a Squeeze or misdefence?

[gnasher]

I'm puzzled by what's going on in the spade suit. Has LHO shown Qx? And did I win the second spade?

[gszeszycki]

I have 8 tricks and need either luck (a squeeze or honors dropping like flies) or poor defense. It seems to me automatic to duck the 2nd spade so at least we have a much better idea of who the danger hand is if there is one. Ducking the 2nd spade also helps rectify the count for a squeeze. Too difficult to imagine a decent LOP from here since we really have no clue how the spades divide and which player has them.

[BunnyGo]

gszeszycki, on 2011-January-26, 19:29, said:

I have 8 tricks and need either luck (a squeeze or honors dropping like flies) or poor defense. It seems to me automatic to duck the 2nd spade so at least we have a much better idea of who the danger hand is if there is one. Ducking the 2nd spade also helps rectify the count for a squeeze. Too difficult to imagine a decent LOP from here since we really have no clue how the spades divide and which player has them.

Actually, I was wondering why we didn't just lead a third spade at trick 3 (or at this new decision point). It seems like that's the best way to get some information and rectify the count for a squeeze...but I'm not really sure where to go from there.

[kgr]

gnasher, on 2011-January-26, 17:51, said:

I'm puzzled by what's going on in the spade suit. Has LHO shown Qx? And did I win the second spade?

Yes; or LHO started the Q from KQxxx but would normally not do that

[quiddity]

From the lead it appears LHO led the ♠Q from Qx, and he showed up with two clubs so he has a 5-card red suit. Since he didn't lead it, he probably has a terrible suit and a hand with few entries. Also, he discarded a diamond despite AT9x on the board so he likely started with either 5 diamonds or 4 small. He probably didn't have a 6 card suit since otherwise he might have made both discards in that suit. So East started with either HT,QJx in the reds and has blanked his heart honor, or he started with HTx,Hx or HHT,Hx and we can drop his diamond honor.

In the first case there are 10 combinations (2 ways to make HT in hearts, 5 ways to make QJx in diamonds).
In the second case there are more: 8 ways to make HTx in hearts + 1 KQT, 10 ways to make Hx in diamonds + 1 QJ.

So I would try 3 rounds of diamonds.

[gnasher]

I think I now understand the early play. LHO led ♠Q, which I ducked. LHO led another spade to RHO's jack, and I ducked again. RHO now switched to a club. Is that what happened?

If so, I play LHO for ♠KQxxx. I plan to play ♦K and a diamond to the 10, which works when LHO has Hx, Hxx, or xxxx. Before that, I'll cash some clubs in case something interesting happens.

If LHO started with KQxxx Hx Hxxx xx, he will be squeezed on the third round of clubs. A red-suit discard gives me an extra trick in that suit immediately. If he throws a spade, I can now play two rounds of hearts to endplay him. For that endplay to work, I'll need a late entry to dummy, so when I cash the clubs I should play the AK in the first three rounds.

Similarly, the fourth round of clubs will squeeze him if he started with KQxxx Hx QJxx xx or KQxxx Hxx QJx xx.

[Edit: the next two paragraphs are nonsense, but I've left them here as an example of why it's bad to try to think before lunchtime. They're nonsense because I still have ♠A.]

However, I have to guess which of these squeezes has happened.

I think that's the position that KGR got to - LHO has thrown a heart and a diamond, and we have to decide whether to play him to have bared a heart honour in order to keep ♦QJx, or to have kept ♥Hx and ♦Hx. RHO's discard might suggest the former, but it's hard to decide without being at the table.

[Edit: end of nonsense]

Another option is to play for RHO to have all the red-suit honours - when you cash the clubs he can't hold onto both ♦QJxx and ♥KQx. The lead makes that unlikely, though - a player with no semblance of a side entry is more likely to lead a low spade than the queen.

This post has been edited by gnasher: 2011-January-27, 06:35

[quiddity]

gnasher, on 2011-January-27, 05:07, said:

I think I now understand the early play. LHO led ♠Q, which I ducked. LHO led another spade to RHO's jack, and I ducked again. RHO now switched to a club. Is that what happened?

Eh? It's late here but I think LHO led ♠Q ducked around, and continued with a small spade to the J and A.

[gnasher]

quiddity, on 2011-January-27, 05:50, said:

Eh? It's late here but I think LHO led ♠Q ducked around, and continued with a small spade to the J and A.

If so, then I wouldn't have started from here. Why would I leave myself guessing what the spade layout is? And why would I give up the chance to keep my spade guard when he's led a silly card?

This post has been edited by gnasher: 2011-January-27, 06:37

[kgr]

quiddity, on 2011-January-27, 05:50, said:

Eh? It's late here but I think LHO led ♠Q ducked around, and continued with a small spade to the J and A.

right.
Maybe it is better to duck the Spade once more, but I wanted to keep the option to return a Spade myself.

[kgr]

quiddity, on 2011-January-27, 04:46, said:

From the lead it appears LHO led the ♠Q from Qx, and he showed up with two clubs so he has a 5-card red suit. Since he didn't lead it, he probably has a terrible suit and a hand with few entries. Also, he discarded a diamond despite AT9x on the board so he likely started with either 5 diamonds or 4 small. He probably didn't have a 6 card suit since otherwise he might have made both discards in that suit. So East started with either HT,QJx in the reds and has blanked his heart honor, or he started with HTx,Hx or HHT,Hx and we can drop his diamond honor.

In the first case there are 10 combinations (2 ways to make HT in hearts, 5 ways to make QJx in diamonds).
In the second case there are more: 8 ways to make HTx in hearts + 1 KQT, 10 ways to make Hx in diamonds + 1 QJ.

So I would try 3 rounds of diamonds.

RHO had ♠KJxxx ♦Hx
Three rounds of diamonds was the winning line.
I don't know why, but I returned a Spade and did go -1