[alansc]

Lots of money at stake. I saw 3NT being played (I believe misplayed) on the following hand by what I think are the current leaders. None of the VuGraph commenters mentioned the correct play(although I tried sending chat.


Play 3NT at IMPs with a low spade lead. South bids hearts.

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[alansc]

West bids hearts

[glen]

You can always edit your original post to correct a problem (see a posting of mine on April 1st for example).

I take it by presenting the problem at this point, you think declarer should hop up with ♠ ace, playing ♠s to be 4-3/3-4/1-6 or picking up 3♦s with no loser.

Edit: As noted below by Peter Gill, the hand is discussed on the last page of:
Cav Sat Bulletin (duck ♠, win ♥ shift with ace, cross to ♣, finesse ♦s into safe hand)

For problems like this, perhaps the specs could have BridgeCrowd like:
CrowdChess vs. GM

[catatonic]

well , you don't give the auction ,the pips , or the lead methods so it is impossible to be definitive but I am probably with the last poster

[PeterGill]

Their Daily Bulletins at www.cavendishinvitational.com analyse this hand fully.

[alansc]

I didn't realize the hands was in the bulletin. Here are the N-S hands with the pips. The solution wasn't discussed at all on VuGraph.

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[jdonn]

West overcalled hearts so he won't have five spades, so obviously you duck the first spade in case east has KQxxx. Assuming east wins and returns a heart you win it and use your club entries to finesse the second round of diamonds into the safe hand. You can't finesse the heart or you have a tough guess when west returns another spade and are in danger of losing 3 spades, 1 heart, and 1 diamond or another heart.

[jdonn]

Jlall, on May 10 2008, 05:41 PM, said:

How can east have KQxxx when they led a low spade? I think popping ace is obvious, spades must be 4-3 or 6-1 when they lead a low spade.

Ducking is 100% to make unless west has exactly five spades without the KQ. What are the odds of that when he overcalled 1♥, <1%? Also OP didn't tell us the exact spade or the auction but unless it was the absolute lowest I don't see why it couldn't be a doubleton.

Just because it's you and I know you wouldn't screw up an easy one, I really think you misread the problem or missed that west bid hearts or something, or maybe it's just that you are interpreting 'low spade' to mean 'lowest spade' but I'm not. Short of that, popping ace is awful IMO. What does it even gain you if spades are 4-3 or 6-1 as you say?

[xcurt]

jdonn, on May 10 2008, 07:07 PM, said:

Jlall, on May 10 2008, 05:41 PM, said:

How can east have KQxxx when they led a low spade? I think popping ace is obvious, spades must be 4-3 or 6-1 when they lead a low spade.

Ducking is 100% to make unless west has exactly five spades without the KQ. What are the odds of that when he overcalled 1♥, <1%? Also OP didn't tell us the exact spade or the auction but unless it was the absolute lowest I don't see why it couldn't be a doubleton.

Just because it's you and I know you wouldn't screw up an easy one, I really think you misread the problem or missed that west bid hearts or something, or maybe it's just that you are interpreting 'low spade' to mean 'lowest spade' but I'm not. Short of that, popping ace is awful IMO. What does it even gain you if spades are 4-3 or 6-1 as you say?

I just finished reading the bulletin. It's the last hand in the Saturday bulletin.

The relevant information left out by the OP:

LHO held T52, KJxxxx, Qx, xx.

You dealt at equal red.

[alansc]

The opening lead was the S2. Declarer can make by going up Ace unless its from a doubleton but actually ducked. The more interesting play occurs when RHO wins the spade and returns a heart when declarer had a 100% play. Again this was not mentioned by the VuGraph commentators, only how declarer went wrong in the end position when there wasn't a 100% play.

[ArtK78]

Declarer "can make" by going up Ace? Sure, he "can make" that way, but as Jdonn said, ducking and winning the heart return is 100% to make.

Why is this even a problem?

[alansc]

I would consider both plays, particularly the HA counterintuitive. The Cavendish declarer did not find either one of them.

[jdonn]

alansc, on May 13 2008, 04:55 PM, said:

I would consider both plays, particularly the HA counterintuitive. The Cavendish declarer did not find either one of them.

Perhaps the reason the spade ace play is counterintuitive is because it's wrong