[mikeh]

The opening lead is the ♦K, overtaken by the A. E returns a diamond to the 10, and pitches a discouraging spade on the 3rd round as you ruff in. Plan the play.

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[flametree]

I will cross my fingers that west didn't open with 10 points (seems reasonable since east is fairly unlikely to pass 1S with 8HCP, but if they are playing a strong club system, I'm not sure that applies...).


Having seen an ace in east's hand already, it seems reasonable to play west for the AH (singleton). West also has the KS so a spade finesse can't help.



We can map out the West and East hand perfectly :

Spoiler

Spades : west didn't open 1S, and had five diamonds, so must have no more than four spades. Hence east also has four.
Hearts : west needs the AH for her opening bid, east has the other four having bid the suit.
Diamonds : we've seen the suit split 5-2.
Clubs : the hand shapes of the other suits are known, so clubs must be 3-3. The J might be in either hand, but doesn't matter.

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(Ignore the spots apart from those in hearts, which matter. I couldn't figure out how to do "x"s on the diagram.)



So... that was the easy bit. If east in fact has all the missing hearts, then I don't think I can make this contract, so I'm assuming the above layout is correct. It looks like I have an easy 10 winners - 4x hearts, 5x clubs and AS. But the play took a little more thought :

1. Diamond lost to ace in east
2. Diamond lost to the 10 in west
3. Diamond J ruffed low by south, spade discard from east
4. AS
5. ruff a spade
6. club to Q
7. ruff a spade
8. AC
9. KC, throwing last spade
10. Club off table

There are various permutations now, but east must ruff with something, I over-ruff, and no matter whether west takes her AH now or at trick 11 when I lead towards the J, I'll make my ten tricks.


On working out that west was very likely to be holding the singleton AH, I initially thought a low heart to table at trick four would work, since I'd have KQJ as winners, but a fourth diamond shortens my trumps. (Sadly, I believe that is what I would have done at the table when trying to play the hand in 7 minutes.)

Likewise, it looked tempting to cash all black winners and cross-ruff, but I think that a high ruff from east on the fourth club kills the ending. (I could be wrong about that?)

[han]

Absolutely beautiful hand.

It probably doesn't matter, but at trick 10 it seems better to lead a diamond as LHO still has a diamond left. Then you also make if LHO has the stiff 9 or 10 of hearts.

Unlikely that LHO opened a 9-count but why take that chance.

[Antrax]

West started with 5 diamonds and 4 spades. Assuming rule of 20, he must have at least 11 HCP. 6 are in diamonds, but still he must have the heart ace. East bid hearts so he must have at least 4, which means west started with a singleton ace of hearts. That means 3 clubs.
Thus, E is 4-4-2-3.
So play ♠A and ruff a spade in dummy. Club to Q and ruff another spade. E still has 2 clubs and 4 hearts. Cash AK of clubs, discarding my spade. Now west has three diamonds and the ace of hearts. Lead the last diamond and cover whatever E ruffs with. Finally lead my lowest remaining trump, which W wins, and then finesses the last two heart tricks for me.

[lmilne]

There are lots of lines that work, e.g. 3 rounds of clubs and duck a heart. Now on a diamond return we ruff, cash the ace of spades, ruff a spade low then cross-ruff the last 3 tricks with the KQJ of hearts.

[phil_20686]

i dont understand - it seems like you are basically cold when west is 4-1-5-3 - surely his most likely distribution.

now play ace of spades ruff a spade club to the Q ruff a spade and now club club and play a diamond - you can ruff this low or overruff as required and still ruff a spade witht he J or whatever, you are sure to get ten tricks.

[bigbenvic]

Could west have Ktxx x KQJxx JTx and opened? I wouldn't but would he?

I guess it doesn't matter as long as E follows to 3 spades which we are home. If he ruffs with the A on the 3rd club we dump our 4th ♠ and if not then we overuff and ruff the last spade.

Is there any danger of West being Kxxxx x KQJxx Jx or even Kxxxx - KQJxx Jxx? we'd go down as he'd ruff the K♣. I'm not prepared to play for it but I've seen stranger things happen at the table.

[mikeh]

bigbenvic, on 2011-November-21, 21:27, said:

Could west have Ktxx x KQJxx JTx and opened? I wouldn't but would he?

I guess it doesn't matter as long as E follows to 3 spades which we are home. If he ruffs with the A on the 3rd club we dump our 4th ♠ and if not then we overuff and ruff the last spade.

Is there any danger of West being Kxxxx x KQJxx Jx or even Kxxxx - KQJxx Jxx? we'd go down as he'd ruff the K♣. I'm not prepared to play for it but I've seen stranger things happen at the table.

opener has about 9000 mps and you can trust her to have a normal shape and not to be abnormally weak

The analyis has been good....I liked han's comment because I did, at the table, think it was a beautiful hand, and was tempted to claim at trick 3.

[JLOGIC]

This will teach east to pass 1S. He could have just played in 2S NV