[inquiry]

To See the First Trick click the NEXT button. Your partner leads the club queen, You naturally win the ACE, dropping the king from South..

South could have bid 3♣ as a forcing heart bid, or 3♦ as a limit spade raise or better. 3♠ was just showing support.

Plan your defense.

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This post has been edited by inquiry: 2011-September-02, 11:04
Reason for edit: changed south to dealer, hand was rotated but I initially incorrectly forgot to rotate the bidding

[Antrax]

I'm guessing it was North who raised to 4♠?
Did we overtake the Q and see the K drop?

[inquiry]

Antrax, on 2011-September-02, 10:25, said:

I'm guessing it was North who raised to 4♠?
Did we overtake the Q and see the K drop?

Fixed problem with bidding now. Yes, we overtook partner's club queen and saw the king drop. Probably a singleton unless partner lead club queen from QT9xx for some very strange reason.

[SimonFa]

Did west bin 2NT as Easts hand looks unlikely?

♣K could be a false card from doubleton to get us to switch but I'll trust his honesty as ♣K is a winner and there seems no reason to force a switch, so partner looks like having 5-6 in the minors for his 2NT bid. South probably has 6 spades for his game bid which means partner has 1 spade and 1 heart.

So South looks like 6421.

I'm playing ♥A and followed by ♥5 which hopefully partner will read as wanting a diamond back. This way if there was a false card and South only has 5 spades we may get an extra Heart ruff.

[BunnyGo]

Ben, you should also correct the last bid so that East doesn't bid 4 spades.

[BunnyGo]

Nice hand.

Spoiler

Partner has at least 11 cards in the minor suits. We have 3 tricks coming on Aces, time to get partner his heart ruff.

Yes, I'll give him the five to ruff, but it shouldn't matter since he won't have any more major suit cards, and clubs is clearly the wrong thing to lead.

That said, if he does return a club, declarer is getting just one pitch on hearts, and so my Ace won't be going anywhere.

[inquiry]

BunnyGo, on 2011-September-02, 10:53, said:

Ben, you should also correct the last bid so that East doesn't bid 4 spades.

Arghhhhhhhh I should just not enter hands anymore. Hope it is all fixed now....

[SimonFa]

inquiry, on 2011-September-02, 11:05, said:

Arghhhhhhhh I should just not enter hands anymore. Hope it is all fixed now....

Err no, you've now get East as declare in 4 ♠

[BunnyGo]

inquiry, on 2011-September-02, 11:05, said:

Arghhhhhhhh I should just not enter hands anymore. Hope it is all fixed now....

better now. Do you enter these with the hand editor, or just type them in?

[inquiry]

BunnyGo, on 2011-September-02, 11:36, said:

better now. Do you enter these with the hand editor, or just type them in?

I have never used hand editor. I have been making lin files by hand for years. Most of these are grabbed from various places (or typed in by hand) and rotated to have declarer as south. When I rotate, I tend to screw up auction or card played.

[wyman]

I think there's an improvement on the defenses posted, but I'll let people think for a bit.

[BunnyGo]

wyman, on 2011-September-02, 12:42, said:

I think there's an improvement on the defenses posted, but I'll let people think for a bit.

Yeah, I agree (with our off-forum discussion). Nice catch.

[Phil]

wyman, on 2011-September-02, 12:42, said:

I think there's an improvement on the defenses posted, but I'll let people think for a bit.

Me too!

[vuroth]

1. Definitely drop the K when you hold KJ as south.
2. AD, AH, small H. I'll be sad if partner can't ruff a heart, but I'd be sadder if partner ruffed a heart and south then claimed a bajillion major suit tricks. Sure I can signal, but why make partner guess?

[shyams]

I would cash ♦A and look at partner's signal. There may be hands where partner preempted with 4-6 or 5-6 in minors with the ♦K. If we play ♥A then low, declarer makes his contract when he started with 6-3-3-1 (or 7-3-2-1) missing the ♦K.

If partner has a diamond winner, the ♥ ruff is an illusion. That's why I'd play ♦A and hope for a useful signal.

[MrAce]

shyams, on 2011-September-03, 10:45, said:

I would cash ♦A and look at partner's signal. There may be hands where partner preempted with 4-6 or 5-6 in minors with the ♦K. If we play ♥A then low, declarer makes his contract when he started with 6-3-3-1 (or 7-3-2-1) missing the ♦K.

If partner has a diamond winner, the ♥ ruff is an illusion. That's why I'd play ♦A and hope for a useful signal.

Agree with this in general, with a slight difference in detail.

How about after ♣A cashing in this order;

♥A and ♦A ? This way we get the most accurate signals, no ?

[wyman]

MrAce, on 2011-September-03, 16:24, said:

Agree with this in general, with a slight difference in detail.

How about after ♣A cashing in this order;

♥A and ♦A ? This way we get the most accurate signals, no ?

this is what I had in mind

[inquiry]

Your partner made an extremely weak unusual 2NT overcall, taking advantage of the vulnerability, or after spending quite a bit of time in the pub before the game.

BunnyGo's solution would have worked on this hand, but the best defense, hinted at initially by wyman and then phil, and explained by Mr Ace and wyman is to win ♣Ace. Cash ♥Ace. Did partner show out? (yes or no). If yes, give him his heart ruff. Partner clearly will return a diamond but try to make that clear by leading a high heart. If partner followed to the heart, cash ♦A (did partner signal positive attitude or negative attitude). If partner gave a negative attitude in diamonds, give him his heart ruff, if he gave a positive signal (lead diamonds again) then he can not ruff a diamond, hope he has the ♦King.

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