[Phil]

Sathya called me this morning and saw a hand in one of the syndicated columns today, and its a theme that is interesting but easily missed:

---

The opening lead is a trump. Plan the play - here's a mild spoiler:

Spoiler

LHO has three trump and ♦Kxx.

[HighLow21]

 Phil, on 2012-March-28, 13:58, said:

The opening lead is a trump. Plan the play - here's a mild spoiler:

Spoiler

LHO has three trump and ♦Kxx.

...Then he has at most 2 clubs and can be thrown in on the 3rd round of diamonds if he doesn't dump KD.

[Phil]

 HighLow21, on 2012-March-28, 14:04, said:

...Then he has at most 2 clubs and can be thrown in on the 3rd round of diamonds if he doesn't dump KD.

...makes the routine unblock on the diamond.

[ArtK78]

Perhaps the theme is that if you have to take the diamond finesse at some point during the hand, do it early so that the opps may not be able to work out the unblock until it is too late.

[BunnyGo]

Spoiler

1 suit strip and endplay? Does LHO have AQJT9 of spades? That's too unlikely

[Phil]

 BunnyGo, on 2012-March-28, 15:42, said:

Spoiler

1 suit strip and endplay? Does LHO have AQJT9 of spades? That's too unlikely

no

[BunnyGo]

 Phil, on 2012-March-28, 15:48, said:

no

Spoiler

silly me...he has any 6 spades?

[Phil]

 BunnyGo, on 2012-March-28, 15:52, said:

Spoiler

silly me...he has any 6 spades?

No, LHO has AQTxx xxx Kxx Jx.

[AlexJonson]

I can play East for just one of the spades above the 8 - so eliminate diamonds and play AK of clubs before finishing trumps in dummy and playing a spade covering East's card.

[kenrexford]

 AlexJonson, on 2012-March-28, 15:58, said:

I can play East for just one of the spades above the 8 - so eliminate diamonds and play AK of clubs before finishing trumps in dummy and playing a spade covering East's card.

;-)

[Phil]

 AlexJonson, on 2012-March-28, 15:58, said:

I can play East for just one of the spades above the 8 - so eliminate diamonds and play AK of clubs before finishing trumps in dummy and playing a spade covering East's card.

That works, but the size of RHO's card isn't really relevant.

Hopefully someone can say why - since I don't like to be the "I'm smarter than you, you figure it out..guy"

[dwar0123]

Pretty sure I got it, but never would I get it at the table.

Spoiler

Take two rounds of hearts, ending in hand, preserving the 2-3 of hearts. Take the diamond finesse, ace of diamonds ruff the diamond(again preserving the low heart). Take the ak♣ and then force west in with a low heart. He has to lead a spade, if he leads ace and out, take king and exit a spade, he is now forced to give a sluff and ruff, allowing you to dump your club loser. Same thing if he leads a small spade, take king and exit a spade.

[MickyB]

 dwar0123, on 2012-March-28, 16:12, said:

Pretty sure I got it, but never would I get it at the table.

Unless I'm missing something - your line works, but wasn't the one intended!

[AlexJonson]

 Phil, on 2012-March-28, 16:11, said:

That works, but the size of RHO's card isn't really relevant.

Hopefully someone can say why - since I don't like to be the "I'm smarter than you, you figure it out..guy"

yes of course - it doesn't matter if both E cards in spades are higher than the 8 - we get a ruff and discard from one or other of the opps. Nice concept.

[Phil]

MickyB is right as usual.

Always fun to read the forums and to see what goes on in the minds of the posters.

If I were grading a test, I would give extra points to Dwar0123.

[MickyB]

Interesting position, if I've got it right.

If the K♣ gets ruffed, you are still home on an endplay similar to Dwar0123's.

If LHO pitches on the K♣, you now can't throw him in, because if he is 5341 he'll give a ruff-and-discard and you'll have only one trump left between the two hands. At that point, you have to draw the last trump and exit the ♠K.

Edit: Sorry, you can still cross to the trump queen and lead a spade up, but playing the K out is just as good so long as the overcaller has the ace - very likely given the non-spade lead. Oh, and obviously leading a trump when holding a stiff club would be a little odd too...

This post has been edited by MickyB: 2012-March-28, 16:53

[kenrexford]

 MickyB, on 2012-March-28, 16:29, said:

Interesting position, if I've got it right.

If the K♣ gets ruffed, you are still home on an endplay similar to Dwar0123's.

If LHO pitches on the K♣, you now can't throw him in, because if he is 5341 he'll give a ruff-and-discard and you'll have only one trump left between the two hands. At that point, you have to draw the last trump and exit the ♠K.

Huh?
You pull trumps, eliminate the club Ace and King, hook the diamond and eliminate the diamond, and then just play a spade toward hand (you might need to leave a trump outstanding to get to Dummy).

If LHO wins this cheap, you either get the spade King or a ruff-sluff, as LHO is out of clubs.

If RHO plays something that you must cover to keep him from winning, LHO is in. If he wins two more spades, he must give you a ruff-sluff because he has no clubs. if he leads a spade to RHO to cash a club, then RHO must give you a ruff-sluff because he will now be out of spades.

If RHO has the spade Ace, you just win.

[MickyB]

 kenrexford, on 2012-March-28, 16:37, said:

Huh?
You pull trumps, eliminate the club Ace and King, hook the diamond and eliminate the diamond, and then just play a spade toward hand.

Helicopter coup?

[Cyberyeti]

 kenrexford, on 2012-March-28, 16:37, said:

Huh?
You pull trumps, eliminate the club Ace and King, hook the diamond and eliminate the diamond, and then just play a spade toward hand (you might need to leave a trump outstanding to get to Dummy).

If LHO wins this cheap, you either get the spade King or a ruff-sluff, as LHO is out of clubs.

If RHO plays something that you must cover to keep him from winning, LHO is in. If he wins two more spades, he must give you a ruff-sluff because he has no clubs. if he leads a spade to RHO to cash a club, then RHO must give you a ruff-sluff because he will now be out of spades.

If RHO has the spade Ace, you just win.

This looks pretty good, I just hope you find it against me on one of the occasions I've decided it's a good time to overcall 1♠ on 4 of them

AQJ10, xxx, KJx, QJ10 is a particularly epic fail for this line as most other things work.

[Trumpace]

Reminds me of a hand from Logical Bridge Play by Kelsey. Great book.

In the hand in the book, in a similar situation he gets additional style points by plonking down the SK!