[han]

Qxx
Axxxx
x
Qxxx

AJx
K
AKQJxxx
Ax

After an optimistic auction you reach 6D from the south. West leads the jack of clubs, which denies a higher honor. Assuming that this is an honest lead, what is the best chance for the contract?

[Fluffy]

there is no problem when RHO has ♣Kx and ♠K, or stiff ♣K, if that fails stiff ♠K is last resource.

ducking to rectify the count doesn't seem to work very well cos LHO will switch.

[AlexJonson]

It's a choice between ducking and hoping for a club continuation, or winning the Ace and hoping to read the end position when I cash the diamonds and overtake the heart.

Winning the Ace seems right if West is a good player. So that's what I'll do, and I'll tend to assume that East discards down to Kxx spades and K of clubs bare, if there is no clear indication. If he holds a Heart at the end...too bad.

[ArtK78]

At first I thought that this was a stepping-stone position, but it turns out that there is a squeeze on RHO without a stepping stone. But it does have some stepping-stone aspects to it.

You are going to play RHO for both the ♠K and the ♣K.

Run all of the diamonds, and try to figure out what 5 cards RHO has come down to.

If RHO comes down to Kx of spades at any time prior to your playing your last diamond, you can overtake the ♥K with dummy's ♥A and finesse the spades for 3 tricks. So, RHO must hold onto 3 spades.

If RHO bares his ♣K at any time before you play your last diamond, you can cash your ♥K and throw RHO in with a club. He will be forced to lead a heart to dummy's Ace or lead away from his ♠K. Therefore, RHO must hold on to Kx of clubs.

If, after you have played all of your diamonds, RHO holds onto Kxx of spades and Kx of clubs, then he cannot have any hearts. Lead your ♥K to dummy's now bare ♥A. RHO will be squeezed and forced to either come down to Kx of spades (in which case you take the spade finesse) or the singleton ♣K, in which case you exit a club from dummy.

The ending you are looking to create is the following:

---

By the way, the reason that I say that there really is no stepping-stone here is that you do not have to execute the stepping-stone even if the opportunity presents itself. Just go ahead to the end position shown. On the play of the ♥K to dummy's ♥A RHO will either have to follow suit or pitch a black card. He will have ♠Kxx and ♣K or ♠Kx and ♣Kx. You just have to guess which.

If he still has a heart left, then he has one less black card. So either he has ♠Kx or he has already thrown away his ♣K.

Question: Why is this in the Beginner and Intermediate Bridge Discussion Forum?

[lmilne]

A slightly different line which is the same (in essence) is to overtake the king of hearts early, take a winning spade hook then run trumps to strip-squeeze RHO. Running trumps first seems better to help read the ending.

[ArtK78]

Another addition to my line of play set forth above. In the end position, it doesn't hurt to play a spade to the J. You need the spade finesse on in any event and you may gain some additional information. You can still continue with the ♠A (if you believe that the ♠K will drop) or a club (if you believe that RHO has a singleton ♣K) after taking the spade finesse.