[gnasher]

---

You reach 6♠ after the equivalent of:
1♦-2♣
2♥-3♠ (nat)
4♠-4NT
5♠-6♠
West leads ♥9, playing 4th best and standard honour leads.

How would you play?

[mikeh]

I hate this hand, because I can't work out the odds at all!

I've oscillated between 2 lines and have no idea which is better.

So much depends on what happens in the early stages....I started to write a long post dealing with options, but it's too complicated and I don't type fast.

So: I win in dummy and run the spade Q.

If it is covered (in my dreams!), I am virtually cold...and won't detail the play further.

If the spade Q loses...what do they return?

if the spade Q holds, I am not playing another spade, lest LHO win and return the 3rd round. Instead, I am playing the club 10 to my Q. If it holds, club Ace and, absent the K appearing, a third round of clubs. What I do next depends on how clubs break.

if the club loses, I am basically back to the spade hook...the only wrinkle being if LHO wins the club and returns the suit...do I ruff high and play clubs to be 5-1 and spades to the 3-2/2-3 or do I pitch, catering to the 1-4 spade break and failing on the 5-1 clubs?

The latter is more likely a priori, but the heart lead is consistent with, tho not proof of, heart length in RHO and thus more likely club shortness than spade length. Anyway, I will cross that bridge if and when I get there.

(Don't tell me the club A gets ruffed at trick 4....tho I reserve my right to keep playing the hand if it is )

[gnasher]

 mikeh, on 2011-December-12, 13:04, said:

If the spade Q loses...what do they return?

I expect that some of the time they'd return a trump, and some of the time a diamond.

[Fluffy]

I also feel like running ♠Q and assume LHO will not duck this smoothly, if trumps in dummy come down to 1 I will try ruffng club finese as last resource, if they come down to zero then there are still some remote squeeze options in the minors against RHO.

[nige1]

Gnasher asks "You reach 6♠ after the equivalent of:
1♦-2♣
2♥-3♠ (nat)
4♠-4NT
5♠-6♠
West leads ♥9, playing 4th best and standard honour leads. How would you play?

While waiting for Rainer to reveal all ♥A, ♦A, ♠Q. If that wins, then ♠A (not another finesse), ♣A, ruff finesse ♣s. playing LHO for black-suit length (because, seemingly, LHO is short in ♥).

---

[phil_20686]

Running the spade Q feels like a crap line. In the words of Terrence Reece `Any kind of bridge player' will hold off with Kxx. I will play the club T and overtake with the J. If this holds I will ruff with the 4 and play the spade Q. I seem to make trivially then when its spade K onside or Kxx or Kx onside in clubs. Obvio. Cant seen anything better.

Obvio if its Kx onside and spade K offside I might look like a tool guessing wrong to ruff high after a spade loses and a club is returned. In reality would be prepared to pay off to stiff KS offisde and Kx club onside, and would back myself to pick up any other position whre lho does not have both black Ks,

[TWO4BRIDGE]

How about taking your side-suit winners and X-ruff.... and just give up the trump K near the end.
[i.e. Don't lead trumps ] .

You need ♥ no worse than 5-3

You need ♦ no worse than 4-3

And ♣ no worse than 4-2

---- you need to be able to ruff the 3rd round of each red suit in hand w/ 7 and 2 of ♠

---- and ruff one ♣ in dummy with the 4 of ♠

---- then continue the X-ruff using high ♠ ( except for the King of course ).

If the Opp w/ the ♠ King over-ruffs early and leads another ♠, your high trump in dummy will win.

Your tricks will be ♥AK, ♦AK, ♣A, 3 ruffs w/small trumps and 4 separate high trumps ( between hand and dummy ) = 12 .

[TWO4BRIDGE]

Part 2
Another line is the ruffing finesse in ♣.... to set the suit up.
If it succeeds, you then can play on trumps.

[phil_20686]

 TWO4BRIDGE, on 2011-December-12, 21:35, said:

Part 2
Another line is the ruffing finesse in ♣.... to set the suit up.
If it succeeds, you then can play on trumps.

This line appears to succeed only against stiff K or Kx or Kxx with LHO, since with Kxxx he can duck until rho ruffs this.

[gnasher]

 Fluffy, on 2011-December-12, 18:42, said:

I also feel like running ♠Q and assume LHO will not duck this smoothly

'phil_20686 said:

In the words of Terrence Reece `Any kind of bridge player' will hold off with Kxx.

Against this LHO, you definitely wouldn't be able to infer anything from his tempo in the spade suit.

[TWO4BRIDGE]

 phil_20686, on 2011-December-13, 03:52, said:

This line appears to succeed only against stiff K or Kx or Kxx with LHO, since with Kxxx he can duck until rho ruffs this.

You are right ... [ I lost some sleep over this last night] .

Even on my first line ( post # 7 ), the ♣ K needs to come down in at least the 3rd round.
[ Leading the ♣ Q as an inducement to cover certainly won't work against a good player with K-4th; and if West over-ruffs the 3rd round w/♠ K and plays another trump, you still have that ♣ loser in hand ( no more trumps in dummy )] .

[gnasher]

The plan I chose at the table was:

♥A, ♣A, club ruff.

If ♣K comes down in two, run ♠Q, then play a spade to the ace (to avoid going down when LHO has been clever with ♠Kx and ♣xxxx).
Otherwise, ruff a heart and ruff another club with the queen.

If clubs are 3-3, guess whether to play trumps, or to cash the red winners and crossruff.

If clubs are xx=Kxxx, or Kxxx=xx with RHO unable to overruff, cash the red winners and crossruff.

If clubs are Kxxx=xx with RHO overruffing, go down (unless it was singleton ♠K).

[phil_20686]

Did it work?

[gnasher]

 phil_20686, on 2011-December-18, 18:49, said:

Did it work?

Yes. RHO had xx J10xxx Qxxx Kx.

The board was played four times. One other declarer played in 6♠, but from the short hand. He got a low club lead. He took a spade finesse followed by a ruffing club finesse, so he went down.

[rhm]

I do not know what the best line is but the line I favor is to play RHO to hold one of the black kings.
This looks better to me than a cross-ruff and playing LHO for the ♣K is not as helpful, since RHO might then be short in ♣.
The alternative of trying to ruff ♣s until the ♣K appears weakens your trump holding.

T1-2: cash top ♥ (to avoid a later ♥ discard by LHO on the third round of ♣s)
T3: ♣T to the ♣J
If the ♣ finesse looses take the trump finesse. Likewise if the ♣K appears on trick 4 ♣A, you can switch to playing trumps from dummy, making sure a high trump remains in dummy after the second round of trumps.

Otherwise if the ♣ finesse holds and no ♣K appears on the next trick:
T4: ♣A, Should LHO ruff in (high or low), try a cross ruff with reasonable chances.
Otherwise:
T5: ♣ ruff
If LHO discarded on this trick, discard another ♣ on the top ♦s, ruff a ♦ with the ♠7, ruff your last ♣.
Your remaining cards are high trumps except for the trump king.

Rainer Herrmann

[phil_20686]

 rhm, on 2011-December-19, 07:53, said:

I do not know what the best line is but the line I favor is to play RHO to hold one of the black kings.
This looks better to me than a cross-ruff and playing LHO for the ♣K is not as helpful, since RHO might then be short in ♣.
The alternative of trying to ruff ♣s until the ♣K appears weakens your trump holding.

T1-2: cash top ♥ (to avoid a later ♥ discard by LHO on the third round of ♣s)
T3: ♣T to the ♣J
If the ♣ finesse looses take the trump finesse. Likewise if the ♣K appears on trick 4 ♣A, you can switch to playing trumps from dummy, making sure a high trump remains in dummy after the second round of trumps.

Otherwise if the ♣ finesse holds and no ♣K appears on the next trick:
T4: ♣A, Should LHO ruff in (high or low), try a cross ruff with reasonable chances.
Otherwise:
T5: ♣ ruff
If LHO discarded on this trick, discard another ♣ on the top ♦s, ruff a ♦ with the ♠7, ruff your last ♣.
Your remaining cards are high trumps except for the trump king.

Rainer Herrmann

I always feel like a winner when Rhm suggests the same line as me.