[the hog]

This is a hand from last night's Open Pair's Final. Pd and I bid unopposed to 6D. How will you play it? J of C was led.

942
AKQ932
J82
5

AJT6
T
AKT93
AK7

Fwiw, I like the line I took.

[Poky]

Hard to make it against trumps 4-1 unless hearts are 3-3. So, I will play for a 3-2 trump break.

- Take the CA
- Play immediately trump to D8, to preserve communications.
a) Opps take the DQ: take return, H to A, H ruff high, DA, D to dummy...
Opps don't take the DQ (trumps most probably 4-1): C to K, C ruff, DA, DK, H to dummy (hoping in 3-3 split or HJx in hand with 4 trumps)* throwing 3 spades...

* Very unlikely as the defender with 4 trumps should have taken DQ and returned H, but a defensive slip is always possible...

[Free]

I take CA, play HT to the HA, ruff small H with DA, DT, small D to the 8 until I'm finally in dummy to take the rest of the hearts. Works when trumps are 3-2 and Hearts 3-3 or 4-2.

[inquiry]

Quote

This is a hand from last night's Open Pair's Final. Pd and I bid unopposed to 6D. How will you play it? J of C was led.

942
AKQ932
J82
5

AJT6
T
AKT93
AK7

Fwiw, I like the line I took.

1) Win Club ACE.

2) Cash Diamond ACE (if DQ falls, you have 12 tricks, in form of 2C, 5D, 1S, 3H, 1C ruff, and if same hand has SKQ and 4th heart, you have a squeeze for 13. So assume DQ does not fall, but both follow. And of course, if hearts are 3-3 you have 13.

3) Now I revert to line of playing on hearts.. heart to the ACE, then... cash the heart KING. If all follow to the second heart, I ruff a heart with the Ten, and lead low diamond to the 8. This makes if hearts are 4-2 or 3-3 and diamonds are 3-2.

4) However, if East ruffs the heart KING, I will play East to be 3-1-3-6. I overruff, pull the last two trumps with Diamond king. Cash club ace, ruff a club (stripping all major cards out of WEST's hand, and lead a low spade from dummy, and insert the JACK if EAST plays low. Now, no matter where spade KQ are (both with either player or split), I make, losing just a spade. If east has both, the jack wins. If West has one or two, he wins, but is endplayed. A heart back into the Q9 provides two spade pitches, and a spade from xx or Hx gives me two spade tricks.

And if East with 3-1-3-6 refuses to ruff the HEart king? Switch immediately to a spade to the JACK. Ruff the club continuation, and lead the HEART QUEEN. IF east refuses to ruff, pitch spade, lead diamond JACK and let ride. If he ruffs, overruff, cash club king for spade discard, the spade ace followed by spade ruff and another heart ruff, then claim.

So all in all, my line is very similar to poky and Free, but cash one top diamond caters to singleton QUEEN, and cash two top hearts handles 5-1 heart split with EAST having singleton, along with 3 diamonds.

This is a good slam, so I play the same way at imps or matchpoints, even though you didn't say which.

[luis]

Quote

This is a hand from last night's Open Pair's Final. Pd and I bid unopposed to 6D. How will you play it? J of C was led.

942
AKQ932
J82
5

AJT6
T
AKT93
AK7

Fwiw, I like the line I took.

CA, the cash dA and dK, if the queen falls then we are home ruffing a club and back to hand with the sA (5d, 3c, 3h,1s).
If the diamond queen doesn't fall then heart to dummy, play 3 hearts dicarding 2 spades if hearts are 3-3 just discard another spade on the hearts and they can take the dQ whenever they want.
If hearts are not 3-3 but 4-2 then ruff a heart, I have an entry ruffing a club to discard the last spade in the 4th heart.
I think this line has a lot of chances....

[the hog]

As the cards lie, any sensible line will get you home. (Qx of D onside, H are 4-2 and KQ of S tight). Best thing about this was that not many bid it.

My initial thought was to play the T to the J. Now provided all follow, you are home. Win the return, ruff a H high and then cross to the 8 of D.

Luckily we had no time problems, so second thoughts led to line described by Ben. As it transpired, rho ruffed 3rd H with the Q of D, so now your problems are solved.

Full hands
xxx
AKQxxx
J8x
x

KQ xxxx
Jxxx xx
xxx Qx
xxxx Qxxxx

AJTx
T
AKT9x
AKx

Reason I thought the hand was cute was the J8 of trumps in dummyt which gives you additional lines to play the hand.