[jillybean]

Taken from the other thread

mikeh, on 2025-April-01, 15:07, said:

The lead was a slow club Jack. Plan the play.

I need the hand diagram

---

3 spades, 4 hearts, 2 diamonds, 2 clubs

♣J top of nothing?

Win ♣K
Play low club to 9 ?

oops

[jillybean]

mikeh, on 2025-April-01, 17:30, said:

You may wish to reconsider. If you play the club king at trick one, which card do you play from your hand? Your line isn’t bad if you can pitch a loser from your hand on trick one…but I’m afraid clubs are 4-1 so that isn’t enough, even if they don’t notice that you revoked at trick one

We can play east for the diamond Q but if it won you a Canadian title, I doubt it’s that simple

mikeh, on 2025-April-02, 00:58, said:

4 hearts, 3S, 2C, and guessing the diamond gets you 12 tricks….a trick short. What reason could declarer have to get that guess ‘right’?

[jillybean]

Club jack was a singleton 4 - 1 break
Does the slow lead suggest East had another choice or is a slow lead against 7nt normal.
Does he have length in diamonds?
Diamonds could be split 2 - 5 1 -6 but I still only have 3 tricks

clubs are dead
My only hope is a 4th trick in the spade suit but the 7 isn't going to take a trick

Ooof

[eagles123]

East obviously has some pretty awkward holdings to lead from, therefore I'm picturing a layout such as:

---

I.e. the plan is squeeze W in the blacks.

[Cyberyeti]

eagles123, on 2025-April-02, 10:06, said:

East obviously has some pretty awkward holdings to lead from, therefore I'm picturing a layout such as:

---

I.e. the plan is squeeze W in the blacks.

This was my first thought

[mikeh]

The squeeze is clearly required. But it’s not that simple. Provide a detailed line of p,at, including the reasons for your choice.

A hint….when you’re hoping to inflict a simple two suit squeeze on one opponent, it is necessary to rectify the count…iow, you need 12 winners and see the squeeze to create the 13th. Where are your 12 winners and how do you propose to get them?

[eagles123]

Ace clubs, three diamonds (finessing East for Queen), AK hearts, Q spades, spade to AK, heart Q. Come down to:

7
J
-
9

opp

-
-
-
KT8

if W has the hoped for 4 clubs and 4 spades, he will be down to

T
-
-
Q7

and the last heart squeezes him in the blacks. What am I missing?

[mikeh]

eagles123, on 2025-April-02, 13:43, said:

Ace clubs, three diamonds (finessing East for Queen), AK hearts, Q spades, spade to AK, heart Q. Come down to:

7
J
-
9

opp

-
-
-
KT8

if W has the hoped for 4 clubs and 4 spades, he will be down to

T
-
-
Q7

and the last heart squeezes him in the blacks. What am I missing?

That was how I played it at the table but it is the second best line. Do you see the error?

[Cyberyeti]

mikeh, on 2025-April-02, 14:19, said:

That was how I played it at the table but it is the second best line. Do you see the error?

I don't see how you tell, if you cash the hearts first, W will discard a club if this is the layout and you can't know if he has ♦Qx or xx. I can't visualise a situation where it's actually E you're squeezing and he makes that lead. I suppose if W is 4234 with ♦Q he might give you some sort of tell on one of the hearts, but if good, maybe not, and his partner might have selected a heart from 5 small.

[smerriman]

I'd probably cash the second club immediately just to confirm the lead was indeed a singleton. Don't need to have the last trick played by North for the squeeze to work.

[mikeh]

Cyberyeti, on 2025-April-02, 14:40, said:

I don't see how you tell, if you cash the hearts first, W will discard a club if this is the layout and you can't know if he has ♦Qx or xx. I can't visualise a situation where it's actually E you're squeezing and he makes that lead. I suppose if W is 4234 with ♦Q he might give you some sort of tell on one of the hearts, but if good, maybe not, and his partner might have selected a heart from 5 small.

The key, and it’s subtle and won’t tell you exactly how to play, is to cash two hearts first.

You need west to have at least 8 black cards…to be 4=4 in the blacks…5=4 is just as good. But you don’t have much information about the red suits. Sure, giving west 4=4 blacks suggests that east probably has longer diamonds. And, yes, there’s an inference that if west is 4=1=4=4, east might have lead a heart.

However, it costs nothing to cash a couple of hearts. If west follows then, assuming the squeeze works, he can have no more than 3 diamonds and playing east for the queen becomes even more clear than it seems initially. It’s truly a small edge, but if you found that west had a stiff heart, the diamond guess becomes less clear. I’d still hook east since he didn’t kead the suit plus west might be 5=1=3=4.

At the table, I spent so long trying to decide whether east was leading from QJ tight (he is a very good old-time rubber player and would, imo, definitely be capable of it) before deciding that he’d probably hope for a restricted choice misguess by me rather than make a very committal lead. Recognizing the squeeze was pretty easy…and I didn’t get past the ‘he has 8 black cards, east has 4…so hook east in diamonds’ part of the analysis. Fortunately my guess worked, lol. We won by more than the pickup but going down might have cost us the event.

[smerriman]

mikeh, on 2025-April-02, 15:31, said:

I’d still hook east since he didn’t kead the suit plus west might be 5=1=3=4.

So, to clarify, you cash two hearts:

- if West follows, you hook East
- if West has a singleton heart, you think for a bit, and then.. hook East

How does this make the original line of hooking East an error?

[Cyberyeti]

I would kinda naturally do that anyway, The best way to do it if you're going to assume the lead isn't awful is I suspect is to win ♣K, cash 2 hearts, go to hand to ♣A and if the lead wasn't from QJ tight,cash 2 more hearts pitching clubs, this leaves you flexibility in the diamonds, but whether you're going to do anything differently is unclear.

[mikeh]

smerriman, on 2025-April-02, 16:19, said:

So, to clarify, you cash two hearts:

- if West follows, you hook East
- if West has a singleton heart, you think for a bit, and then.. hook East

How does this make the original line of hooking East an error?

Because if west shows out on an early heart, you play him for diamond length….he could be 4144 or ( very, very unlikely) void. Tiny edge but good technique caters to every possible situation

[smerriman]

But you said you would still play East for the diamond queen, despite the length, thus gaining nothing..

[mikeh]

smerriman, on 2025-April-02, 17:54, said:

But you said you would still play East for the diamond queen, despite the length, thus gaining nothing..

I did say that. Whether, at the table, I’d have done that I can’t say. The lack of what should look like a safe, passive heart from 6 or 7 cards would probably sway me, but I think I’d have to be at the table again. I’m not great on table presence….I know some who are….but it’s definitely a real thing.

[helene_t]

After reading Victor Molo my immediate thought was that E made a desceptive lead holding ♣QJx despite not playing Rusinov.

[Huibertus]

I might miss something here, but as far as I'm concern there are only 2 lines of play that can possibly work.

1: Play the ♣s for no loser.
2. Find ♦Q and squeeze either opponent who holds the ♣ and ♠ stoppers.

1. ONLY possible if the lead was from QJ, QJX or JXX. Not playing for someone to lead like this, unless we're in the Bermuda bowl knock out stage. And if it turns out they did, we're congratulating them on the lead after the board. So assuming the J is J singleton or doubleton;
2. This is what we'll go for assuming the !d Q to be in the hand with the lead because of the assumed shorter ♣s.