[lamford]

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West leads a fourth best four of clubs. If you play low from dummy, East will win with the ace and return the six of clubs, consistent with A62. How do you play? Could the defence shine?

[mikeh]

Test

[mikeh]

Clubs appear to be 5=3…although we’d have more info on this we’re we to see west’s second club. However, I doubt that info would change anything….if clubs were 4=4, east would have returned the 2….it’s unlikely that he’d think fooling partner (making him think I had Jxxx) was more important than fooling declarer.

Unlikely is not impossible but we need to assume 5-3.

That means west has Qxx left and will cash the setting trick if either he or east win an early trick.

We could try to sneak a spade through but that’s playing for very weak defence. So…what’s the alternative? QJ tight in hearts is very low percentage but, if it exists, it’s a legitimate make. However, it’s so improbable that one shouldn’t try for it unless it’s risk-free….

Ok, what else?

What happens if we run off our diamonds, pitching two spades from dummy?

That’s 7 tricks played, of which we’ve won 6. Neither opp can keep more than 6 cards. If west started with the QJx(x) of hearts, the spade ace, and 5 clubs, he can’t keep QJx in hearts, the spade ace and three clubs…he has to pitch a club and now we just play on spades.

QJxx is somewhat unlikely….he might have attacked the unbid major rather than Q108xx in clubs….but, even allowing for that very uncertain inference, QJx is possible. Plus I don’t see how running the diamonds can ever be wrong.

There’s an extra possibility, which is quite neat. West may not have the spade ace but what does he reduce to? He needs to keep 3 clubs and if he has QJx in hearts, he has to pitch his spade! Now we have an endplay position in hearts. We reduce to K10x K102 in the majors, in dummy, opposite Q9 K83 Void Jack.

We exit the club and west cashes his clubs…if he doesn’t, we can drive out the spade ace. We pitch all of dummy’s spades and west has to break hearts. He shouldn’t be down to H9x because, with that holding, he could have pitched one and kept his spade spot….he should know his partner has the ace because he’s had a chance to signal on the run of the diamonds (no matter how many diamonds he has, he can give information by the sequence of his plays).

So I have two options in the six card ending….if west pitches a club, play a spade. If he pitches a spade, play a club. This gives up on QJ tight in hearts but that’s a very low probability.

Ok….I’ll shortly learn both where I went wrong and the meaning of the post title (unless it simply means one has 8 tricks and need ‘one over the eight’.

[lamford]

Spot on. And another reason not to play for Q9x or J9x remaining is that West can exit with the nine, one over the eight. And a complete answer mentions that East misdefended by not ducking the opening lead after which there is no way home.

If you are playing against world-class opponents, I think it is right to not exit with the jack of clubs, but to cash the top hearts. If West began with AJx QJx xx QTxxx there was no defence, but if he began with Jx QJxx xx QTxxx his partner could have shone and ducked the opening lead. But I think I would prefer to insult both opponents at the same time by exiting with a club.

[mikeh]

This hand is an example of a very common theme: one that can arise in many everyday contracts.

When one is one trick short of a make, and can’t afford to lose the lead, try the effect of running a long suit if you have one. The opps may find themselves in trouble. Here, you’re planning to squeeze the danger hand out of either a trick itself (if he holds the spade ace, he may have to surrender a club) or of the ability to play a spade to his partner’s ace, in the end game.

It’s probably even more common to face a situation in which you might have a queen in one hand and the ace in another….if the danger hand holds the king, you may be able to force him to choose between stiffing the king or throwing a winner and getting endplayed. Stiffing the king is often the best solution against good declarers, but partner needs to understand what’s going on and not give away the situation by throwing ‘useless’ cards in that suit, or otherwise giving declarer enough information that h3 can work out to drop the king.

So a useful hint: if you find yourself, as you often will, with a running suit but one trick short….run the suit, paying particular attention to the defensive carding….sometimes you stumble into a position ev3n if you didn’t recognize it.

The first double squeeze I ever pulled off….I had zero idea of what was going on but I ran a long suit and, at the end, led my club 7 and was astounded to find that it was good. A friend complimented me on making….only when he said ‘you found the squeeze’ did I realize what had happened. So this technique can work even for people with no particular declarer skill.

[fuzzyquack]

If W holds QJx(x) of ♥ and five ♣ and no ♠A, the defense may shine by ducking the ♣ lead