[Trumpace]

You are in 3NT, playing Rubber Bridge. West leads a heart and RHO plays the Q.

You see:

Scoring: Rubber

Lead heart, RHO plays ♥Q

---

Plan the play.


(As usual Adv/Adv+ please refrain from posting spoilers too early).

[FrancesHinden]

Trumpace, on Mar 17 2009, 02:29 PM, said:

(As usual Adv/Adv+ please refrain from posting spoilers too early).

All I shall say is that this is quite a lot harder than it looks at first sight.

A hidden hint follows

Spoiler

It is an easier problem if you make the spade suit AJ87 in dummy and Q109 in hand

[ArtK78]

Hidden:

Spoiler

I believe that the best play would be to cash the AK in both minor suits, looking for a singleton or doubleton Q to fall (which gives you 9 tricks immediately) and, failing that, play for 4 spade tricks by leading the 9 of spades for a finesse.

The only other point is that the last minor suit winner that you cash must be a diamond winner in hand so that you can be in hand to take the spade finesse at trick 6.

[Trumpace]

ArtK78, please! Spoiler = solution, whether hidden or not. I believe you fall in the Adv/Adv+ bracket...

[Trumpace]

FrancesHinden, on Mar 17 2009, 09:51 AM, said:

Trumpace, on Mar 17 2009, 02:29 PM, said:

(As usual Adv/Adv+ please refrain from posting spoilers too early).

All I shall say is that this is quite a lot harder than it looks at first sight.

I agree, but I still think this is the right forum for this.

[vuroth]

Win 1, try to drop both minor queens. Failing that, Queen ♠ discarding the Ten, then run the 9?

The obvious play seems to be repeated ♠ finesses using ♦ entry to return to hand, but I think the above line is 1-2% better at rubber?

[Trumpace]

vuroth, on Mar 17 2009, 10:18 AM, said:

Win 1, try to drop both minor queens. Failing that, Queen ♠ discarding the Ten, then run the 9?

What if the 9 gets covered? Say, LHO has K87x.

[vuroth]

Ahhh. So run the 9 first?

[Trumpace]

vuroth, on Mar 17 2009, 11:25 AM, said:

Ahhh. So run the 9 first?

Yes!

So, just so it is clear to other B/Is, can you please state your line of play starting at trick 2 and if possible try to explain the reasoning of why you chose it?

[ArtK78]

Sorry. Will refrain in the future.

[vuroth]

Trumpace, on Mar 17 2009, 02:04 PM, said:

vuroth, on Mar 17 2009, 11:25 AM, said:

Ahhh.  So run the 9 first?

Yes!

So, just so it is clear to other B/Is, can you please state your line of play starting at trick 2 and if possible try to explain the reasoning of why you chose it?

I can try.

It's rubber bridge, so my criteria is to give myself every chance to make, even taking risks along the way.

Assuming I win the first trick (and it would be exceedingly dangerous and probably pointless not to), I have 6 top tricks - 1 spade, 1 heart, 2 diamonds, 2 clubs. There are 3 possible sources of 3 more tricks:

♠ - finessing the King with LHO. Note that if LHO has Kxxx, we may need to finesse 3 times
♦ - either opponent has singleton Q or doubleton Qx
♣ - either opponent has singleton Q or doubleton Qx

In theory, combining my chances (i.e. picking up 4 clubs tricks and 4 diamond tricks) is possible, except that I'm going to lose a LOT of heart tricks, so I'll be down before that ever happens.

Line:

Win K♥
Cash AK♣. If the Q falls, I have 9 tricks.
Cash AK♦. If the Q falls, I have 9 tricks.
If not, then I need the spade finesse to work. If it fails, I'm going down a lot, but if it fails I was never making anyways.

Since I've burnt all my entries to hand, I have to ensure that I stay in hand for the first AND second round of spades. At first, I thought the order I played the first 2 rounds of spades didn't matter, but I was wrong. We need to start with the 9 of spades, playing low from dummy if the K does not appear. Next, we play the Queen. Then, low to the jack.

If I play the queen first and THEN, the 9, a clever LHO can put the King on my 9. I would need to win the Ace, but that would leave me with J3 on the board. If either opponent started with 4 spades, I'm down now.

If I start with the 9, it does LHO no good to cover at any point.

V

[vuroth]

These hands are a bit harder to learn when you play in a world where no defender EVER holds up an honour.

[hanp]

Nice to see Art getting a compliment, he's been treated harshly lately.

[Trumpace]

vuroth, on Mar 17 2009, 03:40 PM, said:

<snip>

If I play the queen first and THEN, the 9, a clever LHO can put the King on my 9.  I would need to win the Ace, but that would leave me with J3 on the board.  If either opponent started with 4 spades, I'm down now.

Nice writeup, V.

Just a minor point: if you play the Q and drop the T from dummy, then LHO shouldcover the 9. If you don't drop the T, LHO should play low on the 9, leaving you stranded in dummy (you will have to overtake the 9).