[Walddk]

Scoring: IMP

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1♥* (3♣) 3♥ pass
4♥ all pass

* 2NT would have been a better opening.

Lead: ♣A.

You are in an excellent 4♥ after LHO has made a weak jump overcall (3♣). West cashes ♣A and continues the suit, RHO following with the 3 and jack.

Over to you.

(if you are not a beginner/intermediate and you insist on replying, please use hidden text).

Roland

[Trumpace]

Ok. I will bite.

If trumps are 3-1, we have no problems. Just draw trumps and knock out the ♦A and ♠K.

If trumps are 4-0:
Looks like we cannot catch 4 trumps with east (not enough entries to finesse, even if we play a heart to Q on the first round) and need the spade finesse to work.

So play A of trumps. If East shows out cash HK, finesse the HT and cash HQ. Now take the spade finesse. If that loses (and club comes back, forcing you to ruff with last trump), there are pretty good chances that East has the ♦A and you are still protected from club leads.

If West shows out, play K and Q of trumps and run the spade Jack and then spade to Q. Now revert to diamonds.

[HeartA]

Spoiler

If someone is void in H, it is most likely West.
At trick #2, win club continuation with CK and
#3 finesse SJ:

1) if it loses, any return will go to south's hand (unless D to A and ruff). Assume no D ruff (otherwise West would have swithed to D at trick #2).
At trick #4(or 5): small H to Q, if both follow, we are home. If West shows out, go for the marked finesse (use S entry to dummy).

2) SJ is covered with SK by East, we can afford to a trump loser (cash 3 top hearts).

3) SJ wins, cash HAK. If H 3-1 (or 2-2), we are home with an overtrick (no more S finesse, 3rd S goes on 4th D). Assume H4-0, leave 2 trumps outside and play diamonds, ... SQ will be entry to cash 4th D for 3rd S discard.

[jocdelevat]

Let's see:

-first i will play a round of trumps(stating with ace) thinking to take all trumps out then promote diamonds and spades but after first round I wil start cursing about my bad luck that always bad distribution then rethinking my strategy. so west had 7 clubs and rest he has diamonds and spades. east had 4 hearts, 2clubs and rest diamonds and spades. my sure loosers ace club ace diamond then possible loosers king spade and jack trump. so bad thinking to starts trump out with ace(a rule says always come from board if possible) because now im down anyway I play. so the right line after 2 rounds of clubs is to play smal trump to queen for first round of trumps then finese spades which king will won by west. he will return club I put 10 or 8 trump east cover i cover then smal spade to 10 follow by smal trump if east not cover i take with seven if cover I cover. so in the final i can take all trumps and give a diamond contract made it. my conclusion here is: the 9 never rule will failed the contract in this case for most players at my level (beginner-intermediate) then a question: is there any logic in lead a small trump to q instead of playing ace first when you have 9 trumps wiht ace king in hand and q at board?

best regards
jocdelevat

[pclayton]

Spoiler

Clubs appear to be 6-3. Hearts can be 4-0 in either hand and the position allows us to pick up a 4-0 in either suit, but not both. Start with the Q♥. If LHO shows out (more likely), run the 10♥; covered and win. K♦, Q♦ (East does best to duck to deny the entry to dummy) and ♦. East wins and plays a spade and finesse the queen. If it loses to the King, I have the late entry for the heart finesse. If it wins, I play A♠, ♠ and they have to put the board for a heart play.

If West has 4 hearts, I need the spade hook to work.

This hand might be over the heads for some of the B/I's out there. But it is very instructive.

[DWM]

Assuming a 4-0 break in ♥'s, otherwise this is not a problem hand.

If RHO has the 4 hearts there is a possibility for finessing the J and 9, although I am not sure how to guarantee the entries into dummy. I would hope that they both don't get blocked. Then I will lose A♣, A♦ and K♠

Can't see anything apart from a finesse in spades if LHO has 4 hearts. Unless there is a way to clear him of diamonds and leave an option of ruff and sluff with clubs or free finesse in spades/hearts.

[FrancesHinden]

To HeartA:

Spoiler

What if LHO ducks the Jack of spades, holding something like
Kx(x)
-
xxx(x)
A9xxxx(x)

[HeartA]

FrancesHinden, on Aug 1 2006, 04:54 AM, said:

To HeartA:

Spoiler

What if LHO ducks the Jack of spades, holding something like
Kx(x)
-
xxx(x)
A9xxxx(x)

If West holds Kx, -, xxxx, A9xxxxx, SK would fall on SA as I would play Ace when East retuns S (after winning DA).

If West holds Kxx, -, xxx, A9xxxxx, it's even easier. Assume East ducks 2 rounds of D and wins DA at 3rd D. If he returns S, I win with SA, and HQ to dummy to cash 4th D and discards 3rd S no matter East ruffs or not.

[FrancesHinden]

I've been waiting for Roland to post the full hand. I'll prompt this by adding my answer:

Spoiler

I like the line I think HeartA actually meant, rather than the line written(!), which is a low spade to the queen at trick 2, rather than running the jack.

If that loses you have an entry to take a second heart finesse if East has 4.
If the SQ wins you have time to set up diamonds.

[Walddk]

Sorry for the late reply; I have been quite busy, but here is the full layout:

Scoring: IMP

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1♥ (3♣) 3♥ (pass)
4♥ all pass

Lead: ♣A and another club to dummy's king, East following with the 3 and jack.

Assuming that trumps are 4-0, it's much more likely that East has them all; therefore it must be wrong to play a low heart to the ace. As has been pointed out by others, you can cope with 4-0 in either hand if only you know who has 4.

I like Frances' line of a low spade to the queen at trick 3. We shall never know what happens if West ducks! It's a hand from BBO, and declarer went down when he played a heart to the ace at trick 3. Now he had to lose one trick in each suit.

Roland

[HeartA]

FrancesHinden, on Aug 9 2006, 10:52 AM, said:

I've been waiting for Roland to post the full hand.  I'll prompt this by adding my answer:

I like the line I think HeartA actually meant, rather than the line written(!), which is a low spade to the queen at trick 2, rather than running the jack.

If that loses you have an entry to take a second heart finesse if East has 4.
If the SQ wins you have time to set up diamonds.

I realized that, as a matter of fact. I was thinking to correct it but was too lazy. Thank you, Frances