FrancesHinden, on 2011-March-21, 14:58, said:
It's difficult to comment on the first board because I know the hand.
On the second I would play the 10 of heart from dummy. When RHO doesn't play the jack, I know the lead is from length and they are 4-2 or 3-3. It's a slightly odd lead, but you didn't give the auction.
Win the heart in hand. Ace of clubs and a ruff. Trump to dummy. Club ruff. If they break 4-3, trump to dummy, club ruff (with the queen), DK-Ace-ruff, winning club, claiming 12 tricks when spades didn't break. This is one possible line. There are others. I'm not worried about overtricks given the standard of the field.
If an honour came down on the second round of clubs from either hand I would draw trumps (assuming in 3 rounds) ending in dummy and take a ruffing club finesse/concede a club, losing to KQx on my left but making the contract. I don't think that LHO has KQxxx in clubs.
ON the last I would have opened 1D.
Yes the first is difficult, you can in that case guess what I did, didn't realise they used the same hands at all venues.
On the second I did as you suggested at trick 1, no J
♥, won the Q
♥, K
♦-A-ruff,
♥ to K,
♦ ruff,
♠AK finding 3 on my right, and I can now play for
♥3-3 and make the overtrick, but risk going off if the lead is from Jxxx, or just play A
♣ and a ruff and claim 12. That was the decision I had left.
On the third, 1
♦ wasn't an option, we open weakish balanced hands 1N, never one of a suit so the option was pass or a 12-14 1N. We also got unlucky, in the we met the one man in the world that plays 1
♠-P-P-2
♦-X for penalties, and he had a 5251 17 count, his partner found the pass with a 2515 queen and 2 jacks and this dialled 500.
The other interesting hand we actually scored well on.
Your bid, your method is that immediate X shows clubs. It's not clear what 1N-2C-P-2M-P-P-X would be.