[luke warm]

2 part question, 2nd part coming later... first part, here's the bidding and the hands, plan your play

♠6
♥Q964
♦T653
♣AQJ2

♠QT83
♥AJT872
♦Q
♣T3

W..........N..........E..........S
1♠.......P.........2♠.......3♥
P.........4♥ all pass

standard leads (K from A, K or K, Q, etc)... west leads the ♠K and switches to the ♦2... east wins the ace and returns the ♦4... your play

[PMetsch]

Ruff the diamond and then ♣T, taking a finesse to locate ♣K.

[beatrix45]

Looks like RHO started with the ace of diamonds and probably the jack. Might have the jack of spades, too. If RHO has the club king, then LHO must have the heart king. A simple discovery play to locate the club king seems in order. Club ten, ducking in dummy. If RHO has the king, then I have to try to drop the trump king offside. If RHO ducks the club king, bye bye.

[luke warm]

ok, well done you three.. this is from m. lawrence's book on reading opps cards... i love the book, and what he teaches is valid, but what bothers me is how actually doing what he recommends is received when you try it... what i'm actually doing is ranting a little

you're playing this hand in the main room on bbo... you should:

- analyze the lead (shows A and K of spades since you have the Q)
- review the bidding (west shows an opening hand, 5+ spades.. east shows 5-9 or so with 3 spades)
- count (points, whatever.. tentatively assign 12/13 hcp to west for his bid)
- plan your play

on this hand, east has shown 4 out of the 22 missing hcp.. his play of the ♦A marks west with the ♦K (lower of equals is usually played).. so west has shown, so far, 7 hcp in spades and 3 in diamonds... he needs either one or both of the remaining kings for his opening bid (as a rule)

so you're both right, play the ♣10 and let it go.. it loses to east's king and now you know the heart finesse can't win... so when it's your turn, you play the ♥A hoping to drop the king (which happens in lawrence's book )

this leads to my 2nd question (my rant), which is, how long did it take you to work out this relatively easy hand? no matter how long it was, in a "normal" game it would have been too long for the opps (and maybe even for your partner)...

to me the game is much more fun when the opps (some of those who do it are expert/world class) don't pressure you to play too quickly... thanks for listening, i'm okay now

[PMetsch]

It took me about 10-15 sec., but my reasoning is different from yours. I counted losers, one in each suit. There is one way to play clubs (finesse) and two ways to play hearts (finesse or drop). Problems arise when trumps are 3-0, then I cannot draw trumps and ruff 2 spade losers.

I never play a suit combination where I can choose my line of play, unless I need to (just an easy rule I use). Either start cross ruffing spades and diamonds or take the club finesse. The cross ruff has dangers of an overruff and I may go down even if the trumps break 2-1. So club finesse it is.

In the end when I have to play hearts then I start counting points and shape.

[luke warm]

i agree, this particular hand isn't all that hard, and it still took 10 to 15 seconds... i've played with some good players who start doing ......... or !!!!!! after 10 seconds, and it bugs the hell outta me... different folks have different thought processes, and think at different speeds

[scoob]

luke warm, on Jun 26 2005, 10:46 AM, said:

i agree, this particular hand isn't all that hard, and it still took 10 to 15 seconds... i've played with some good players who start doing ......... or !!!!!! after 10 seconds, and it bugs the hell outta me... different folks have different thought processes, and think at different speeds

my standard response is "are you paying by the minute?"

people who use .... or !!!!!! never last at my table very long - i ask them once to stop, and then i boot them. when a medium such as the internet has made it possible for all of us to play bridge at any of several hundred tables at any given time of day, there is absolutely no reason to tolerate anything but a perfectably hospitable table environment - that is simple economics

[civill]

After ruff 2nd ♦,you can deal with ♥K,then cross-ruff ♠ & ♦ 2 turns,there seems a recognition of a squeeze.
Is it?

[PMetsch]

There will be no simple squeeze against east, because it can only be a simple squeeze in both minors and east is sitting behind the length (dummy has to discard first). There is only one entry (♣A) so a trump squeeze is also no option (I think).