[zenbiddist]

Tonight a game slipped through.
I've started imagining it from the defender's point of view to see if there were clues.
Is there a solution?

You are East, pard leads ♦J to South's 3NT contract:

---

T1: Declarer covers with ♦Q, you win and..
T2: Return a diamond to pard's ten.
T3: Pard plays ♦A, you pitch a heart, declarer a heart
T4: Pard clears the diamonds, playing her lowest of two remaining, you and declarer both pitch a heart.
T5: Declarer plays a heart to his king, partner dropping the queen
T6: Declarer cashes ♥ ace, partner playing a low(ish) heart...
What do you pitch, a club or a spade?

-

My (probably flawed) thinking:
Declarer has ♠A (pard would have suit pref'd it) + ♥AK + at least ♣K(J) to make up a 1NT opener.
Tricks: that's 2♠+2♥+♦+2♣ = 7... (probably ♣J and hook = 8)
A hand consistent with the play?
Declarer is ditching hearts, has no diamonds, and so probably has clubs (and will try to set them up), or spades, and wants to save a spade guess / play the suit for four tricks and not need a club hook. Outside chance declarer had hearts but gave up on setting them up.

When my thinking goes past there, it's full of "if this, then bla...", but no certain answer. Does someone have clear logic?

Thanks!

[alok c]

Out of 7 nos of black suit cards,if decarer has ♠Axx defence can not do anything(3♠,2♥,1♦,3♣with a J hook).Thus hoping declarer having 5carder ♣,preserve♣.

[jogs]

Why the rush to cash the diamonds and set up dummy's ♦9?
I would have returned a heart on trick 2.

[hokum]

alok c, on 2016-August-11, 12:52, said:

Out of 7 nos of black suit cards,if decarer has ♠Axx defence can not do anything(3♠,2♥,1♦,3♣with a J hook).Thus hoping declarer having 5carder ♣,preserve♣.

Nice punchy logic.
If declarer has ♠Ax, partner has ♠T9x, which can theoretically be crushed for three spade tricks (♠A, ♠K, ♠J crush). Then they can hook a club and they're home. But will declarer notice the potential of their ♠6? Probably not. And on the off-chance declarer has upgraded with five clubs, you certainly want to keep the suit guarded.

[FrancesHinden]

My thinking is simple. The long spade can never take a trick so I shall discard it. The cq might take a trick if I keep all my clubs so I shall keep it.

But I can't see how the contract can be beaten double dummy whatever I discarded

[alok c]

Let us put it this way,from East's perspective
1.Declarer with ♣j,no matter contract makes.
2.Declarer with 4carder♣w/ O j,no matter contract fails.
3.decarer with 5carder♣w/o J,cotract makes if East discards a club.

[jogs]

FrancesHinden, on 2016-August-13, 00:04, said:

But I can't see how the contract can be beaten double dummy whatever I discarded

Double dummy? Who has the ten of spades?

[FrancesHinden]

jogs, on 2016-August-13, 09:27, said:

Double dummy? Who has the ten of spades?

Well, if declarer actually has 15-17 then he has Axx AKxx xx KJxx or Ax AKxx xx KJxxx. After our spade discard he can just take 3 clubs with the aid of the finesse and throw us in with the fourth on the first hand, or he can set up clubs with the second. If instead he takes the spade finesse, the fourth round of spades will now be good and can eventually take the club finesse for the 9th trick.

If he upgraded Ax AKxx xx K10xxx I'm not convinced he would have discarded two hearts, but although a spade discard gives him a third spade trick he's still only got 8 tricks. That seems the only way to beat it.

[jogs]

---

I still like my line better.
T1: ♦J, ♦Q, ♦ K
T2: ♥5, ♥A, do not drop the queen or jack.

This way declarer would need to win 9 tricks without winning the ♦9.
That doesn't mean declarer can't make 3NT. West-East didn't assist.
Not every declarer will find the backward finesse in spades.

[zenbiddist]

FrancesHinden, on 2016-August-13, 09:55, said:

Well, if declarer actually has 15-17 then he has Axx AKxx xx KJxx or Ax AKxx xx KJxxx...

If he upgraded Ax AKxx xx K10xxx I'm not convinced he would have discarded two hearts, but although a spade discard gives him a third spade trick he's still only got 8 tricks. That seems the only way to beat it.

Thanks for your answers everyone. The last hand you mentioned is the hand I had at the table Frances (as South), and luckily for me RHO pitched a club so I just played club-club-club. Maybe wrongly I cashed A-K hearts because righty had the feel of someone who was hoing to struggle with two more disards.

It's good to hear other players boil their thinking down to a couple of sentences. Thanks for that

[FrancesHinden]

jogs, on 2016-August-14, 07:40, said:

---

I still like my line better.
T1: ♦J, ♦Q, ♦ K
T2: ♥5, ♥A, do not drop the queen or jack.

This way declarer would need to win 9 tricks without winning the ♦9.
That doesn't mean declarer can't make 3NT. West-East didn't assist.
Not every declarer will find the backward finesse in spades.

You might like your defence 'better' but that wasn't the problem given.
I also don't really like returning a diamond at trick 2, but it doesn't let the contract through; it's still cold.

Anyway, it's not that tough to make 3NT on this hand without needing the backfinesse in spades.
Diamond to the queen and king.
heart back ducked to the jack
Now what? On another heart back declarer wins and plays a diamond. If West wins this and cashes the third diamond, that's the ninth trick. If West doesn't cash the third diamond declarer can play on spades and will have three spade tricks without bothering with the backwards finesse.

[FrancesHinden]

deleted - duplicate post

[jogs]

FrancesHinden, on 2016-August-14, 09:24, said:

You might like your defence 'better' but that wasn't the problem given.
I also don't really like returning a diamond at trick 2, but it doesn't let the contract through; it's still cold.

Anyway, it's not that tough to make 3NT on this hand without needing the backfinesse in spades.
Diamond to the queen and king.
heart back ducked to the jack
Now what? On another heart back declarer wins and plays a diamond. If West wins this and cashes the third diamond, that's the ninth trick. If West doesn't cash the third diamond declarer can play on spades and will have three spade tricks without bothering with the backwards finesse.

I concede that East can't break 3NT. After losing the ♥J, South doesn't know for sure that there are 3 heart tricks. West can exit a club. Give South the club finesse South will surely take. Needed to add East must play a small club. Save the queen. Passive defense forces declarer to manufacture 9 tricks. 2 spades, 3 hearts, and 3 clubs. South must play carefully for the ninth trick before defense can win 5 tricks.