[pescetom]

I missed this thread and see it petered out.

Please could we see the North hand and know what happened?

[DavidKok]

Sorry, of course.

---

Here is partner's hand. Those of you who managed to get to 6♦ at least did well. Now that I've shown both hands I am confident everybody would have found the slam.
If you want, plan the play on the lead of the ♣3, ostensibly promising an honour.

At the table I was stuck over 3♦. The 3♥-then-4♠ plan seems good to me - I did not think of it at the time. I was worried that 4♦ (generic slam try) would fix partner in the auction. In the end I just blasted 6♦ and resolved to discuss it after the board.

[mike777]

Agree over my 3S, North will rebid 3NT and I pass.

Especially at MP

[pescetom]

I would have bid 3♥ and then 4♥ over 4♣, but we get to 6♦ all the same. North has a tricky choice deciding whether to show third level spades control, which could set partner worrying about the vital trumps Queen.

[DavidKok]

pescetom, on 2026-July-17, 08:45, said:

I would have bid 3♥ and then 4♥ over 4♣, but we get to 6♦ all the same. North has a tricky choice deciding whether to show third level spades control, which could set partner worrying about the vital trumps Queen.

I'm afraid this would have been an offer to play for me with a 5-6 hand.

[pescetom]

DavidKok, on 2026-July-17, 07:49, said:

If you want, plan the play on the lead of the ♣3, ostensibly promising an honour.

I would start with ♣A and then ♦A to see how the land lies: what happens?

[DavidKok]

pescetom, on 2026-July-17, 09:10, said:

I would start with ♣A and then ♦A to see how the land lies: what happens?

The ♣A holds, East playing the ♣4 (encouraging). On the ♦A East plays the ♦4 and West plays the ♦J.

[Cyberyeti]

DavidKok, on 2026-July-17, 09:20, said:

The ♣A holds, East playing the ♣4 (encouraging). On the ♦A East plays the ♦4 and West plays the ♦J.

Do I now need diamonds 2-2 ?

Was wondering about diamond to the Q without cashing the ace. If this holds and E follows I'm in shape as I am if it goes K small 8 or J. If it loses, I need diamonds 2-2

[mikeh]

DavidKok, on 2026-July-17, 09:20, said:

The ♣A holds, East playing the ♣4 (encouraging). On the ♦A East plays the ♦4 and West plays the ♦J.

spade AK ruff a spade. If that survives, heart to ace, ruff spade with the queen. Play trump. Alternative is to play for either trump 2-2, or misdefence (no third round of trump when RHO wins his K). I considered a black suit squeeze of trump are 3-1 and RHO correctly returns a third trump but, even if I could isolate the club guard in the hand with long spades, I think the entries are screwed up. And the chances of there being KJx in clubs, such that I can establish the 10, look remote. I think the plan of ruffing spades is somewhat better.

[pescetom]

Cyberyeti, on 2026-July-17, 10:36, said:

Do I now need diamonds 2-2 ?

I think that after J falls, the line of ruffing two spades (second with Q) will work with either J-Kxx or KJ-xx.

Cyberyeti, on 2026-July-17, 10:36, said:

Was wondering about diamond to the Q without cashing the ace. If this holds and E follows I'm in shape as I am if it goes K small 8 or J. If it loses, I need diamonds 2-2

My doubt in chosing to cash the ace was not an immediate diamond to the Q but running the Q instead.

[DavidKok]

---

This was the full deal. The plan of ruffing two spades works, playing for trumps 2-2 does not. There is no squeeze.
I was also wondering whether playing the ♦Q the second trick, instead of small to the ace, was better. At the table I couldn't figure it out. As the cards lie leading the queen gives you the ability to make +1, but different layouts (singleton ♦K in West and short spades in East) present risks. A fun hand with a difficult bidding problem and (in my opinion) some challenge during the play!

Some final confession: we were playing a modified version of bridge with an extra rule to close out the season, for fun. The rule that was added was that 'dummy picks which cards they play, declarer is not allowed to choose for them'. It was a lot of fun, but on this deal the lack of ability to coordinate resulted in us going one off. Of course we were the only ones (out of 21 tables) in slam, so this was a poor score. I wanted to present it as a plain bridge deal because I think that is way more interesting than our actual result under these special rules.

[Cyberyeti]

pescetom, on 2026-July-17, 15:13, said:

I think that after J falls, the line of ruffing two spades (second with Q) will work with either J-Kxx or KJ-xx.

You are correct, it fails to KJ/84 where the 84 has a doubleton spade

2JQK also works as you draw a second trump, find they're 3-1 and now revert to the plan of ruffing spades

[mikeh]

DavidKok, on 2026-July-18, 01:26, said:

---

This was the full deal. The plan of ruffing two spades works, playing for trumps 2-2 does not. There is no squeeze.
I was also wondering whether playing the ♦Q the second trick, instead of small to the ace, was better. At the table I couldn't figure it out. As the cards lie leading the queen gives you the ability to make +1, but different layouts (singleton ♦K in West and short spades in East) present risks. A fun hand with a difficult bidding problem and (in my opinion) some challenge during the play!

Some final confession: we were playing a modified version of bridge with an extra rule to close out the season, for fun. The rule that was added was that 'dummy picks which cards they play, declarer is not allowed to choose for them'. It was a lot of fun, but on this deal the lack of ability to coordinate resulted in us going one off. Of course we were the only ones (out of 21 tables) in slam, so this was a poor score. I wanted to present it as a plain bridge deal because I think that is way more interesting than our actual result under these special rules.

The ace first is demonstrably correct. The key is figuring out the losing cases for the two lines…queen off dummy, intending to double finesse if it loses to the king offside, and Ace first. The double hook loses to KJ offside and KJx offside (I’ll temporarily ignore the rare 4-0 break). The ace first loses to KJx on our right but, and this is the key, does not lose to KJ tight on our right. So, in terms of either defender holding KJx, it’s a wash. Each one loses to one and picks up the other. But the Ace first never loses to KJ tight while the double hook loses to one of those holdings. Thus, if the suit is 3-1, the lines are equivalent but when the suit is 2=2, the Queen first loses to one specific case while the Ace never loses.

The 4-0 break is more complex because often we can’t afford 4-0 because of entry problems or the need to ruff something. But in broad terms they are equivalent…if there are no reasons why we can’t handle 4-0 so long as we guess who has the 4. If it’s RHO, the queen gets the job done and if it’s LHO, the ace works. But often one can’t afford either and if it’s say Q10xx opposite A9xxx running the queen doesn’t pick up KJ87 onside but the ace picks it up on your left.

So the Ace is always correct unless the action has suggested that RHO has trump length and/or strength.