[Fluffy]

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You lead ♥3 (4th best) and partner wins ♥K, partner returns ♦2 (attitude) declarer plays ♦Q, how do you defend?

[mikeh]

This is a classic and if a B (or even an I) player 'gets' this right for the right reason, then that person has the makings of a bridge player.

[wyman]

Had not seen this before. Nice problem.

[mike777]

My first thought was to lead the QH to knock out the entry but since we play attitide leads I wonder what the heck pard has in d he cannot have say....J8xxx. Pard must shift to 2d for somereason and not continue a h.

[wyman]

Spoiler

he also cannot have the ♦J9xxx since the ♦9 is in dummy.

Should probably spoiler for B/I...

Ahh, I see you ninja edited away the 9

[mike777]

ya if you play attitude leads with J8xxx the 2 is wrong card but that does give declarer QTX and he cant have QX

I sitll worry that pard has played a misleading 2d and declarer has stiff AC and that makes sense given the bidding..

5431


but why would pard shift to a d?
i guess pard could be void in h and have 6 d but I guess I will just lead the QH.

[flametree]

Spoiler

I'll have a stab.

I'm winning the A♦ whatever. It can't be right to block that suit.

Instinctively I want to lead Q♥ to take out the A♥ entry in case declarer can't run all the clubs. Doing this gives declarer an extra heart trick (assuming he/she has the Jack), but cuts off any club winners.

From the bidding I guess declarer is 5-4-3-1, maybe 5-4-2-2. From partner's lack of a heart return, declarer might be 5-5-2-1, which makes her bidding a little suspect.

If declarer has something like AKQJx of spades, and void in clubs, then a heart return will be fatal (if declarer holds precisely AKQJx-Jxxxx-KQT for instance), but I think that sort of holding is a lot less likely than AKxxx-Jxxx(x)-KQ(x)-A.

[Antrax]

The idea is probably to win the ace and play the heart Q and continue a heart if declarer ducks. In any case if partner holds the club A declarer can't return to dummy after knocking it out. (and if partner doesn't, then declarer has 7 tricks we can see and probably something in spades for his bid, so we're doomed anyway)
Partner probably started with something like ♠xxx ♥Kx ♦KTxxx ♣Axx as with 5-5 majors E would've rebid hearts and they'd end up playing 4♥ most likely.
That leaves declarer with five spade tricks, two hearts and a diamond, if we switch to the heart Q now. Not sure why partner didn't return a heart, though, which would hold declarer to 7 tricks if we know to unblock the diamond A.

[mike777]

so after hours and hours not seconds at the table no one has answered why:

1) pard did not return a h
2) pard leads 2d att lead...

again this is why b/i players just give up and return qh following rote rules.....that experts condemn.

[Antrax]

I guess from partner's POV, if he returns a heart he might give declarer a second heart trick rather than denying him that. Maybe he's worried about AQ tight with declarer? (In which case his plan is for declarer to hop with the A, win his club A and run his diamonds)

[bigbenvic]

The only sane reason is that Partner has only 1. Why would declarer hold up the suit? From partners POV I've lead low in a suit Declarer has bid, Dummy has Axx and Declarer allows his K to win! Why would I lead low from JTxx on an auction where ♦ seems to be the weak suit. Partner should trust I'm not crazy and continue the suit, he didn't so he couldn't.

AQ tight in what suit? He can't be worried by that as the only suit it could be is [diammonds] and he lead into it.

Edit. If Pards has Kxxxxx♦ he's taken a big view to the hand, his lead could be into AQ and give tricks and tempo. I can't see partner with enough points to make a switch right, if he held a second ♥

[Antrax]

If partner has one heart declarer has five. Why didn't he bid his shape en route to 3NT?
If partner doesn't have the K of diamonds, why did he lead the 2, and why did declarer play Q from KQ? Does he want partner to know I don't have the K either?

[cloa513]

Antrax, on 2011-November-29, 05:01, said:

If partner has one heart declarer has five. Why didn't he bid his shape en route to 3NT?
If partner doesn't have the K of diamonds, why did he lead the 2, and why did declarer play Q from KQ? Does he want partner to know I don't have the K either?

If declarer has five hearts, then his partner might find it difficult after 3♥ and choose to bid 4♣ with only 2 ♠, 2 ♥ and no diamond cover.

The obvious question is Q♦ a false card and so it is spades that partner wants you return.

[Vampyr]

cloa513, on 2011-November-29, 06:05, said:

The obvious question is Q♦ a false card and so it is spades that partner wants you return.

Is ♦2 also a false card then?

[Fluffy]

Wow, this is the BIL yet people are thinking of ways to twist this hand because partner or declarer didn´t play perfect. I mean this as a compliment.

I modified the real hand a bit, because real hand made even less sense!

Neither partner nor declarer would rate themselves as BILs, yet, on the real hand partner had ♥Kx and stupidly switched, even worse declarer, who actually had ♦A10x, and ducked this trick not seing what was coming next, and found himself down 4 blocked with stiff ♣A in hand. People make mistakes, and you gotta be there to punnish them for doing so (or to fix partner´s damage )

[han]

I think that declarer holds AKQJx Jxxx KQ xx. It needed a cooperative effort, but if partner switches to diamonds and you switch back to hearts, you've made their contract.

[Slmplicity]

han, on 2011-November-29, 11:10, said:

I think that declarer holds AKQJx Jxxx KQ xx. It needed a cooperative effort, but if partner switches to diamonds and you switch back to hearts, you've made their contract.

Now that would be classic

[billw55]

han, on 2011-November-29, 11:10, said:

I think that declarer holds AKQJx Jxxx KQ xx. It needed a cooperative effort, but if partner switches to diamonds and you switch back to hearts, you've made their contract.

I admit I am having a hard time coming up with a layout that accommodates all the evidence. Yours is close, but wouldn't partner lead the ♦J from JT8xxx with 9xx in dummy? With the related question of why he didn't return a heart.

Failing to sort out the situation, I guess I just follow partner's request and send back a diamond.

[Vampyr]

Fluffy, on 2011-November-29, 09:18, said:

Wow, this is the BIL yet people are thinking of ways to twist this hand because partner or declarer didn´t play perfect. I mean this as a compliment.

I modified the real hand a bit, because real hand made even less sense!

Neither partner nor declarer would rate themselves as BILs, yet, on the real hand partner had ♥Kx and stupidly switched, even worse declarer, who actually had ♦A10x, and ducked this trick not seing what was coming next, and found himself down 4 blocked with stiff ♣A in hand. People make mistakes, and you gotta be there to punnish them for doing so (or to fix partner´s damage )

So partner misplayed and declarer misplayed, and you want B/I players to diagnose the situation and come up with a solution?

LOL

[Fluffy]

Vampyr, on 2011-November-29, 23:56, said:

So partner misplayed and declarer misplayed, and you want B/I players to diagnose the situation and come up with a solution?

LOL

I´m happy that your lack of understanding of the hand leads you to have a happy laugh, however some would say that you should check what you say before trolling to share it in public, or you might look like a fool.