[slothy]

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You play in 6C. South leads the J!S. You take with the Ace of !S and lay down the A K Q of trumps. North follows to the trump pull with 2 small trumps and discards the K of !H on the Q.

I got the ending wrong and on reflection know i most likely should have made it.

Plan the play.

[helene_t]

I cannot think of anything better thn three rounds of ♦ and then exit with a trump, diamonds have to be 3-3

[mikeh]

Deleted original post: the hand is trickier than I thought.

[mikeh]

I had thought we would simply cash the second spade and exit a trump, We'd be ok with that unless S exited a diamond, which would screw us completely when N guarded both red suits, S being 6=1=2=4.

We have to cash the spade anyway. Maybe S is 7=1=1=4, in which case we cross in hearts, cash the spade, pitching a heart, and come to hand with a diamond and now exit a club. LHO has to return a spade and we ruff and cash the last trump, squeezing N.

However, if N follows to the second spade, a competent S will return the diamond to break up the squeeze, which should be easy to work out.

However, a second time, a lot of S's don't recognize squeezes when defending, and a lot of Souths would reflexively play a heart if they have one, because of the fatuous heart K from N.

So against non-experts or even lazy experts, I cash the spade and exit the trump. Against really good players, or any expert on form, I would play for the improbable 3-3 diamonds, since that is the only legitimate line (unless S has 7 spades, but I would know that before committing to the play)

[Fluffy]

You are missing an ending mike.

[mikeh]

Fluffy, on 2014-May-28, 09:55, said:

You are missing an ending mike.

I'm preparing for a month long jury trial so shouldn't be browsing BBF anyway. However, if you are referring to a criss cross, I don't see it. We have the red suit matrix that is necessary, but we can't get to that position, as best as I can see.

[inquiry]

I cash the ♠Queen and exit a trump.

Here is why in the spoiler.

Spoiler

The first decision point comes after three rounds of trumps, and you cash the ♠Q. If North shows out, South is either 7=1=1=4, 7=2=0-4, or 7=0=2=4. How this works in these ending and how it relates to the other plays is shown in the two hand diagrams.

If he is 7=1=1=4 or 7=0=2-4. He can not protect North from a red suit squeeze, If he is 7114 and exits a heart, win the ace, cash spade king, cross to king of diamonds and finish the trumps. If he exits a diamond, use a trump squeeze. Win the Ace in hand, cash one trump, setting up a trump squeeze (criss-cross basically). CAREFUL.. cross to dummy in diamonds (you need entry to hand opposite the trump in the threat suit in the hand in the trump suit... that is the criss-cross nature of the trump squeeze). Then cash the ♠King. That does East in.

Here south exited with a diamond when he won his trump. East won in hand and will now lead a diamond to the King and cash the spade King, Squeezing north

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Here south exited with heart won in dummy, spade king cashed, diamond to king, and run then play on trumps. The club five does north in.

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If he is 7=0=2=4, you can play the same line with the same trump to trick 6 (after cashing ♠Q and learning of the 7=1 spade split).

If South is 6=1=2=4, again the cash the ♠Q and throw him in with a trump leads to the same two squeeze options regardless of his exit (heart, diamond, or spade). This is because he can not stop either red suit. ..as well as if he is 6=2=1=4 with ♥62

If he is 6=0=3=4 you will set up diamonds on he same line easy enough as the heart ace remains in dummy. You will think you are squeezing North in the reds, but when you eventually ruff a ♦ they will be good and you will have the heart reentry.

That leaves us with the dreaded 7=2=0=4, 6=2=1=4 and 6=3=0=4. The good news is you can not come up with a hand where South will have three hearts and North will throw away the ♥K. (Surely he would have at least ♥KQJ for a discard of a heart and no one would throw one from just KQJ as heart ace and a might set the hearts it sounds like declarer may have for his takeout double, losing jus tone).

So we have 7=2=0=4 and 6=2=1=4 as the possible distributions. I can't see any reason why North would not hold on to his ♥Tx (his three choices are ♥T6 ♥T2 or ♥62, as are sure North started with ♥KQJ+1 more at least. So there is a 1/3 chance when South has two hearts, they will both be small. So I would play the same way, hoping if West has the ♥T2 or ♥T6 he leads the ♥T to "help" his partner locate the high hearts. No other play works, as South will clearly hold onto this ♥Tx and North can see the diamonds so he has to keep those.

[winkle]

There is a trump squeeze. Unblock spade before exiting club. South has to exit diamond to break up the simple squeeze. Win ace, 1 more trump, diamond to dummy, and last spade. The end position is below and north is trump squeezed:

- A xx - / - xx - x

[slothy]

Well done Ben!

The point of the hand is not to play for the unlikely 6-0-3-4 hand in South, cashing the ♦ immediately (as alas i did) as playing for the more likely alternative 9 card holdings in North where the squeeze is the only legitimate line to bring in the lottery ticket. As you pointed out, the 3-3 ♦ split can be catered for anyway.

Well done again.

Alex.

[benlessard]

With S at least 6-2 why didnt I finesse clubs on T2 ?

[benlessard]

I was asleep here, im in the wrong hand at T2 and going to dummy cost an important entry.