[kayin801]

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EDIT: Sorry, format is MP.

Imagine kayin801, a huge jerk, came up to your table and made this call without your permission, then ran away giggling.

W's 1♦ bid shows 3+♦s and his X is penalty. E's 1NT denies a 4 card major.

West leads the ♦2 (2/4 leads, UDCA) to East's A, and East sends back the ♥6. Regardless of what ♥ you play, West will play the 8. (you can win in hand or in dummy). How are you playing clubs, and why?

Assume opponents are competent players. A/E please hide answers to start.

[quiddity]

Spoiler

From the bidding it seems likely that West is exactly 4441:
- East's 1NT bid means west has 4 spades and 3-4 hearts.
- The lead marks West with 4 diamonds.
- West's double must be based on values (he doesn't have a trump stack). He didn't open 1NT so either he has 18+ or is unbalanced.
- East passed the double despite a known diamond fit. He probably has a side honor. Therefore west is unbalanced and must be 4441.

From the lead there is an inference that East's side honor is a spade since West might have led from ♠AKxx. I think that's a pretty strong inference given that West's actual lead from the king of diamonds doesn't look very attractive, so I'm going to play West for the stiff king of clubs.

[VM1973]

kayin801, on 2011-June-22, 17:28, said:

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EDIT: Sorry, format is MP.

Imagine kayin801, a huge jerk, came up to your table and made this call without your permission, then ran away giggling.

W's 1♦ bid shows 3+♦s and his X is penalty. E's 1NT denies a 4 card major.

West leads the ♦2 (2/4 leads, UDCA) to East's A, and East sends back the ♥6. Regardless of what ♥ you play, West will play the 8. (you can win in hand or in dummy). How are you playing clubs, and why?

Assume opponents are competent players. A/E please hide answers to start.

Well the way you state the problem seems to indicate that East is marked with the A♦ and the A♥ so he can't have the K♣, too, so you have to hope for stiff K♣ with LHO.

In real life we can assume that you would let the heart ride to the J♥ and so you wouldn't necessarily know where the A♥ was (although the 8♥ is worrysome). In that case you have to hope that a good number of EW are bidding and making 3NT (5♦, 1♥, 2♠ or maybe more and a 1♣ assuming most Souths lead fourth-best ♣). That will give them +400 or +430 so you just need to hold your score to -200 so time to count losers. You're losing 2♠, 1♥, and 2♦ so you can allow 1 loser in ♣. It's hard for me to imagine a shape for RHO that includes a void in clubs so I guess the only real danger is that LHO will win the K♣ and play A♥ and another ♥ for RHO to ruff. So I guess I would play for 2-2 ♣ and/or hope that RHO has the A♥ and so I won't get any adverse ruffs. Cashing the A♣ will also expose an (unlikely) void with LHO (maybe he forgot their conventions and meant it as takeout? Unlikely considering his partner has already denied a 4CM). If that happens you need to hope for 3-3♥.

I look forward to your criticisms and downraves.

[mgoetze]

VM1973, on 2011-June-23, 07:58, said:

It's hard for me to imagine a shape for RHO that includes a void in clubs [...] So I guess I would play for 2-2 ♣

Let's think about RHO's shape a bit more systematically. He has ...

... denied 4 hearts by not bidding 1♥,
... denied 4 spades by not bidding 1♠,
... denied 5 diamonds by not bidding 2♦/3♦,

and thus needs at least 3 clubs to have any chance of getting to 13 cards.

[matmat]

mgoetze, on 2011-June-24, 11:40, said:

... denied 5 diamonds by not bidding 2♦/3♦,

I feel like there might not be 13 diamonds in the deck. Or someone has lied.

I am pretty sure dummy and declarer both have 2, leaving 9 for EW.
West led the ♦2 with an agreement of 2/4 leads, so at face value W has 4.
East has failed to raise diamonds, so, by your logic, has less than 5.