[msjennifer]

South :S-K8,H-A87642,D-AK1064,C-VoidNorth: S-A654,H-Q5,D:52,C:AK432Contract :SIX Heart.By South.Lead :C Q What’s the best line?

[FelicityR]

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Q♣ lead

[Cyberyeti]

It's a bad slam, it needs more than just hearts 3-2 with the K onside which is like 34% to start with. I ruff the opening lead and play a heart to the Q, (if K goes in and a spade is returned I win in hand), heart to the Q, club ruff, draw the trump pitching a spade, spade K(iff I still have it) and A and see if the clubs run, and if they don't see if somebody was squeezed in the minors or the pointies.

[ahydra]

Thanks FelicityR for the hand diagram. This is a horrible slam, but ah well.

Win CA, CK, ruff a C and play H to Q. Hope that trumps are 3-2 with K onside. Win SK, DA and play trumps to come down to Ax - x x opposite x x Kx -. Play the last heart and hope for what I think is a non-simultaneous double squeeze: Qxx - - J opposite Jx - QJ -. Maybe not best but certainly scores a few style points?

ahydra

[nullve]

msjennifer, on 2018-March-28, 03:46, said:

What’s the best line?

The auction?

[Cyberyeti]

ahydra, on 2018-March-28, 06:01, said:

Thanks FelicityR for the hand diagram. This is a horrible slam, but ah well.

Win CA, CK, ruff a C and play H to Q. Hope that trumps are 3-2 with K onside. Win SK, DA and play trumps to come down to Ax - x x opposite x x Kx -. Play the last heart and hope for what I think is a non-simultaneous double squeeze: Qxx - - J opposite Jx - QJ -. Maybe not best but certainly scores a few style points?

ahydra

I think this is worse than my line, example, K♥goes in from KJx, and plays a fourth club which is uppercut with the 10, now you have a second trump loser when ♦QJ were dropping all the time

[ahydra]

Cyberyeti, on 2018-March-28, 06:04, said:

I think this is worse than my line, example, K♥goes in from KJx, and plays a fourth club which is uppercut with the 10, now you have a second trump loser when ♦QJ were dropping all the time

Yes, of course. I thought of your line initially but then spotted a possible double squeeze and decided to go for the full-on memes.

The actual best line is of course to not be in this overambitious contract in the first place...

ahydra

[aawk]

We got to 6♥ and it looks pretty hopeless so find away to make it.

Trump has to be 3-2 with the K of ♥ in west.

There are 2 chances being QJ ♦ in east or the ♣ have to be 4-4.

If you play on QJ of ♦ west needs 2-3 ♦ and you have to finess twice to make 6♥.

So playing on ♣ being 4-4 looks best (assuming opponents kept silent during bidding).

Trump the first c and play small to Q ♥ after second round of ♥ trump another ♣ take the last trump and hope the last ♣ will drop.

So never give up and always look for a chance how small it is.

Johan Cruijff would say if something is very difficult it makes it easy.

[GrahamJson]

aawk, on 2018-March-29, 00:35, said:

We got to 6♥ and it looks pretty hopeless so find away to make it.

Trump has to be 3-2 with the K of ♥ in west.

There are 2 chances being QJ ♦ in east or the ♣ have to be 4-4.

If you play on QJ of ♦ west needs 2-3 ♦ and you have to finess twice to make 6♥.

So playing on ♣ being 4-4 looks best (assuming opponents kept silent during bidding).

Trump the first c and play small to Q ♥ after second round of ♥ trump another ♣ take the last trump and hope the last ♣ will drop.

So never give up and always look for a chance how small it is.

Johan Cruijff would say if something is very difficult it makes it easy.

As others have pointed out there are also squeeze possibilities, quite good ones in fact.

Assuming clubs aren’t 4-4, if the defender with the long clubs also has three or more diamonds he can be squeezed in the minors. If the partner of the defender with the long clubs has the diamond length then a double squeeze operates, with neither defender being able to guard spades. The problem is, I think, that you can’t play for both possibilities, although you can delay your final decision until the last four cards are played. So you ruff clubs, draw trumps etc (obviously they need to be favourably places) and come down to A6 void 2 4 opposite 8 void AK10 void. At this point you either cross to the spade ace, hopefully executing a minor suit squeeze, or you cash the top diamonds squeezing LHO in the black suits (I don’t think a squeeze works if east guards the blacks and west diamonds). You should get some good clues as to how to play the end game from watching the discards.

[nige1]

If ♣s are 4-4 you can set them up.
If LHO has 5+ ♣s, and a ♦ quack, then you might benefit from another compound or mutate-squeeze
Ruff the ♣ lead. Lead a ♥ towards ♥Q. RHO wins ♥K and exits in ♠ (say). Win ♠ exit in hand with ♠K. Use the ♥Q entry to dummy to ruff a 2nd ♣. You discard a ♠ on ♥A to triple-squeeze LHO.
- If LHO abandons ♠s, then discard a ♦ from dummy. Now, ♠A ♣AK execute a double-squeeze.
- If LHO abandons ♦s (and you can read the position), then you have a guard-squeeze. On your last trump, LHO bares his ♦ honour and you discard a black card from dummy. Now, cash ♦A ♠A ♣AK and take the ♦ finesse.
If you risked cashing one top ♣, discarding a ♦, at trick 1, that might help you to read the position, later.

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[msjennifer]

nullve, on 2018-March-28, 06:01, said:

The auction?

THE BIDDING; I was SOUTH and system Weis Precision Club

S N WEST had S-QXX,H-KJX D-QX C-QJ10XX EAST had S-J10XX,H-10X,D-JXXX,C-XXX
I scored the contract on the double squeeze as pointed out already by the experts.However the opponents were blamed for poor defence by their team pair in the other room.
1H 2C
3D 3S
4H 4NT
5H 6H

[nige1]

msjennifer, on 2018-March-29, 07:33, said:

THE BIDDING; I was SOUTH and system Weis Precision Club

WEST had S-QXX,H-KJX D-QX C-QJ10XX EAST had S-J10XX,H-10X,D-JXXX,C-XXX
S N I scored the contract on the double squeeze as pointed out already by the experts.However the opponents were blamed for poor defence by their team pair in the other room.
1H 2C
3D 3S
4H 4NT
5H 6H

Well played MsJennifer. IMO, on that layout, with a ♣ lead, the only legitimate successful line is the guard-squeeze.

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[Cyberyeti]

nige1, on 2018-March-29, 08:06, said:

Well played MsJennifer. IMO, on that layout, with a ♣ lead, the only legitimate successful line is the guard-squeeze.

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Yup, end position:

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On the last heart, W clearly can't discard a club, a diamond allows the finesse, and a spade exposes his partner to a squeeze in the pointy suits. It would however be slightly unfortunate if he discarded the Q♦ and either he had the J left instead of a spade or you guessed that you'd actually squeezed him out of that holding.

[0deary]

Brilliant Jennifer! Thank you!

After looking at Nige1’s exposition there was nothing I could add, but looking at it now on a whim I googled “whats the best line (at Bridge)” and up came:-

Garozzo “slams must be attacked”

After smiling I wonder that if I take that pretty literally the Q Clubs is natural and safe but hardly attacking. Does a spade lead and spade exit torpedo the slam for lack of entry? If so who would lead that!? Not me for sure….

[msjennifer]

Cyberyeti, on 2018-March-29, 09:45, said:

Yup, end position:

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On the last heart, W clearly can't discard a club, a diamond allows the finesse, and a spade exposes his partner to a squeeze in the pointy suits. It would however be slightly unfortunate if he discarded the Q♦ and either he had the J left instead of a spade or you guessed that you'd actually squeezed him out of that holding.

Thanks. This exactly is the line that I chose and those who know about the compound squeeze heartily congratulated me for performing it ON THE TABLE.

[Cyberyeti]

msjennifer, on 2018-March-30, 10:47, said:

Thanks. This exactly is the line that I chose and those who know about the compound squeeze heartily congratulated me for performing it ON THE TABLE.

Did he discard a spade, or give you the real test by throwing the diamond ?