[CSGibson]

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The lead, thank goodness, is a spade through that relatively disappointing dummy. You play the ace, pitching a heart, and finesse the J of clubs, the 9 falling on your left. Do you agree so far? What's your line of play from here on out?

[inquiry]

CSGibson, on 2012-January-29, 11:21, said:

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The lead, thank goodness, is a spade through that relatively disappointing dummy. You play the ace, pitching a heart, and finesse the J of clubs, the 9 falling on your left. Do you agree so far? What's your line of play from here on out?

i agree so far. East will have 15 to about 18 hcp on this auction, leaving three to six hcp for his partner. If we trust the club nine, we can expect 1=4 club split. I will exit with a heart now.

1.) who wins the heart?
2.) what did they exit?
3.) At trick one, did east seem to indicate he held the spade king? Was west's spade consistent with this signal (did he led like top of nothing when east played an encouraging spade, did he led a low spade when east denied spade interest).

[CSGibson]

inquiry, on 2012-January-29, 12:23, said:

i agree so far. East will have 15 to about 18 hcp on this auction, leaving three to six hcp for his partner. If we trust the club nine, we can expect 1=4 club split. I will exit with a heart now.

1.) who wins the heart?
2.) what did they exit?
3.) At trick one, did east seem to indicate he held the spade king? Was west's spade consistent with this signal (did he led like top of nothing when east played an encouraging spade, did he led a low spade when east denied spade interest).

1) East wins the heart king
2) East exits the heart Ace
3.) East encouraged in spades, West led a systematic 4th best spade (the 5)

[wank]

ruff the heart, get out on the 10 of ♣ to east, ruff king of ♠ exit i expect, get out on ace and another club to east who'll be forced to open the diamonds for us.

[inquiry]

CSGibson, on 2012-January-29, 13:32, said:

1) East wins the heart king
2) East exits the heart Ace
3.) East encouraged in spades, West led a systematic 4th best spade (the 5)

This is not good for us. East seems to have ♠K (maybe not), ♥AK, ♣KQ. IF so that is 15 hcp, meaning the most he can have is the ♦K or Q, and my not have either. We may have to guess east distribution. Surely with east having the both heart ak, west would have given count (in case east has to hold up to block the suit). And we should have some clue if east has 3♠ or 4♠ from the 4th best lead by west (if it was the 2, east has 5spades, which is good for us, as he is 5-2-2-4, easy make). If west led the 3, he is five at most, and if he lead the 5, he rates to be 5 but maybe six cards long. The heart signal should help us guess, but we probably need east to be 4-3-2-4 anyway with one of the two diamond honors.

I ruff the second heart with the five of clubs (it is a good idea when you have long suit like this to keep the lowest one, just in case you want to use it to endplay someone who doesn't want to be endplayed, just as a mtter of good form), and play the club Jack. West will show out, and probably pitch a heart... east will win. He can not return a heart, he may return a diamond or the spade king. I let the heart or diamond run to dummy, I ruff the king of spades again, not with the club two, The tricky part is if East exits a small spade. Do I trust his first signal.

Anyway, lets assume east tries to exit with the spade king, as wank proposes. If west showed odd number of hearts, that gives me the desired distribution for east (most likely 4-3-2-4). I ruff, and have options on how to continue. I like the idea of club ace and a club (throw in with the 2 in not necessary here, sadly, I will gladly accept east unblcoking in clubs for me on this ending). This line also works if east is 3-4-2-4.

[Statto]

I'd ruff the ♥ return then run ♦7, covering if West plays the 9. I'm hoping to endplay East somewhat, but what I really want to do is get to table to play ♥.

[Poky]

Play heart.
Ruff return.
Give club to RHO.
Ruff the spade king.
Play the A♦, and duck a diamond (preserving the J♦ to avoid the club throw in).

If RHO has something like KJx-(A/K)xxx-(K/Q)x-KQxx, we make it.

[CSGibson]

Statto, on 2012-January-31, 21:25, said:

I'd ruff the ♥ return then run ♦7, covering if West plays the 9. I'm hoping to endplay East somewhat, but what I really want to do is get to table to play ♥.

This just can't be right. The only reason to get to the table to play the hearts is to discard losers. The only losers you can discard on the good hearts are in the diamond suit, and you are sacrificing any chance of discarding them by playing diamonds from hand.

[Statto]

CSGibson, on 2012-January-31, 22:23, said:

This just can't be right. The only reason to get to the table to play the hearts is to discard losers. The only losers you can discard on the good hearts are in the diamond suit, and you are sacrificing any chance of discarding them by playing diamonds from hand.

You're probably right, but we do have a lot of ♦ losers to discard

The main reason I want to play ♥ from table is to pick up one of RHO's trump honours.