pran, on 2011-February-15, 15:49, said:
That is what I might consider "normal" for a player at a lower level, but at this level I would be extremely surprised if the player didn't automatically (almost without thinking) cash his two minor Aces before running spades. The position will then be ♥KT,♦Q and ♣Q in North and the four hearts in South. A small heart to the King now ends the board unless one defender holds ♥Jxxx and the other both minor Kings. Even I would make that play automatically, and I am definitely not a top level player.
iviehoff, on 2011-February-16, 05:32, said:
It is a normal line, but who cares? It is not the only "normal" line in the sense meant in the laws, which includes "careless" and "inferior". Moreover it is not a 100% line, and it isn't usual to claim all the tricks without qualification when you don't have a 100% line. So it is unlikely that is what he had in mind when he claimed.
I am not saying that it is the
only "normal" line, but IMHO it is definitely not "normal" for a player at this level to just run all his spades without first getting rid of his two minor aces and have the minor Queens for a possible squeeze. If either defender holds both the hearts and at least one of the minor Kings the squeeze will show off by itself.
Other "normal" (although inferior) lines of play include trying one of the minor suit finesses, but as I have said before: I have yet to see a "normal" line that will fail as the cards lie.
According to Law 70
the Director shall not accept from claimer any successful line of play not embraced in the original clarification statement if there is an alternative "normal" line of play that would be less successful. Correspondingly, if the Director is unable to find any such alternative and less successful "normal" line of play he must accept the claim, even if the claim statement is unsatisfactory in any way.